The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-05-22
He Urges That Good Roads Be Built
and Maintained.
Meeting Favors a Forty-Six Foot Road
way, Including Ditch.
From Wednesdays Daily.

resentative gathering. 1t was called for |
the purpose of considering ways and
means of doing the most effective road
work this season. Necessarily, the great
est part of the time was taken up with |
Geo. W. Cooley's address. That gentle |
man is a practical road builder, having |
charge of the road work in Hennepin |
county. He has made a long study OF
the subject and is thoroughly posted on
methods as well as on the most approx
ed kinds of road machinery.
The meeting was presided over by +.
W. Lossow, president of the Blue Earth J
county good roads association, and a
most excellent spirit was shown by all
present. Each one seemed to be de-
sirous of profiting by the experience of
Mr.. Cooley, and the meeting cannot help
but have good results, as most OF his
suggestions can be made use of in this
county.
The Free Press gave synopsis yester-
day of the opening portion of Mr..
Cooley's address. Continuing, he said in
substance:
Cement, iron and lime are necessary
ingredients of the best quality of gravel
for road making purposes. This gravel
should be put on thick enough. At least
a ten ton roller should be used. Good
oil nd
the time will soon come when we will not
be satisfied with anything aside from the
best machinery for making them. II
travel is depended upon to pack gravel
road. team should be hired to start the
travel, and then the travel should be
varied little to pack it wide enough.
The more sand there is on road the
more clay is needed to mix with it, A
mixture of not over 25 to 80 per cent
of clay with sand will make really
first class road in dry times. The road
bed should be crowded in proportion to
the softness of the material.
After the roadbed comes the culvert.
Sewer pipe culvert is very good and will
last an indefinite time, but the ends
of the pipe will be broken and then the
dirt begins to fall in. The ends should be
protected with piles of stone. A stone
culvert laid dry, with large, fiat stones
laid on top, will probably be the best
that can be had. Old boiler pipe, cover
ed with tar paint, is being used in Hen
nepin county This costs so cents a
foot, and such pipe will give no more
trouble There should be a little sleeper
slope than with stone or other Gull
vert.
A good highway can never be secured
IL people are to be allowed to pillow up
part of the highway or fill up the bitches.
There is strict law against this. 1t is
q good idea to plant grass on the side
of the roads, and to cut away trees and
shrubbery that prevent the roads from
drying Fences should not be built inside
the &C foot roadway. The people are
entitled to the full road, and it may
be needed at any time.
In order to keep the roads in good con-
dition at all times, good machinery
should be procured Each spring the
roads should be gone over with a road
machine, and as often as possible through
the season. The bitches should be clean
ed out and pitch holes filed with the
same material as the rest of the road.
A road machine is needed especially
where there are gravel roads. Good men
must also be secured to operate them.
The present system of road overseers is
weak in this respect, as new and mex
perienced men are constantly being elect
ed overseers. In new counties, the
working out of the poll tax is all right,
but in county as old as this the cash
system should be adopted. Under the
old plan not fifty per cent of the tax
levy made is obtained. 1t will cost
25 to 50 cents per yard per mile to haul
gravel, and the average cost of graveling
d IOdu Will IL illllC maui IS ID cculS,
everything completed.
With macadam road, the cost here
will be about $500 a mile for sixteen
foot roadway. 1t should he rolled in
two layers. If macadam road is once
built here you will want nothing else.
The people are not going to stand
any more foolishness about road con-
struction. 1t costs as much to haul a
ton of produce a dozen miles here as to
ship it from New York to Liverpool and
back. Good roads will make every road
a postal road. Good roads will be made
an issue in the next campaign, and we
are going to get them.
In answer to questions, Mr.. Cooley
said that the public never loses its rights
tc road because it is fenced, except by
absolute abandonment. Where gravel
has to be hauled six miles it pays to
build a macadam road. Three miles is
a good haul on a good road. Creek or
river gravel is rejected where anything
else can be secured. 1t is too round to
pack Mixed with clay, it is better than