Sistersville daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1902-1905, 1904-01-04
IMPROVING A ROAD.
HOW AN INDIANA DISTRICT BUILT A
GOOD HIGHWAY.

/
where-Keeping Roads In Order.
| AS good a macadamized road as is
found in Indiana is the Pleasant View
road, in Dearborn county, between Au-
rora and Mount Tabor, says a writer
| in the Rural New Yorker. This road
is far better than the toll pike, which
runs parallel with and one mile north
of the macadamized road. At one
! time the former was almost impossible
during the winter and spring months
, on account of the mud. The older men
| say that they have seen the time when
the only way they could reach town in
the spring was by horseback. Now
there are travel and hauling the year
round.
For great number Of years the
township through which this road runs,
containing fourteen square miles, was
divided into fourteen road districts,
with the same number of supervisors,
each of whom drew yearly salary of
from SO to $40. Thus the various
roads were under so many different
arrangements that there could be no
system in working them to accomplish
the greatest good. There being plenty
of stone on some of the farms in the
township, there was no good reason
why there should not be good roads.
Finally few enterprising citizens pre-
vailed upon the trustee in 1895 to buy
a stone crusher, to redistrict the town
ship into four road districts and to
levy a road tax to the full extent OF
the law, which was 40 cents on 500, Of
which amount 10 cents was to be paid
IN money. Nearly the whole Of Pleas
ant View road fell in one district.
From this time came the greatest i'm
provement in this road.
II. d. Tufts was appointed superyis'
or. Every one was anxious to have
good roads and realized that even with
this extra tax alone they could not be
built and maintained. The supervisor
and five other men were the most in
tercsted and agreed to donate their part
Of the work on the road each year be-
sides their tax until it was completed.
These six men worked to accomplish
the greatest good and were always
ready at the call of the supervisor.
These men alone have donated $1,000.
The supervisor told every man In the
district that if he would haul out free
Of cost to the district a large pile OF
stone near the road he would use the
tax to crush and put the stone on the
public road wherever the giver might
designate. This encouraged donations,
as every one wanted good road
through his farm. The farmers who
owned farms along the road and
would not give any work were COM
PEELED to work their tax out by hand
and never allowed to work their teams.
Each spring the amount Of road that
will be stoned in the fall is thrown up
with a grader drawn by six horses.
The center of the rOadbed is well
rounded, forming a gradual slope to-
ward the bitches on each side. The
travel in the summer wears this grad
ing smooth and hard, so there is good
foundation upon which to spread the
stone.
After harvest, when the farmers are
not busy, the stone crusher is set in
convenient place, and matchmaking
the road commences. The stones are
usually hauled direct from the field I'M
less they are given and thrown on to
the crusher, when they are run through
and the crushed stone elevated into the
wagon underneath the elevator.
small pile Of stone is hauled out close
to the cruShcr so rs to have reserve in
case the teams that are hauling fail to
get to the CruShcr on time. In this way
the crusher need not stop to wait for
stone. 1t requires four good men to
feed it, and there have been crushed
100 perches per day Of ten hours.
The crushed stone is hauled in stone
beds that hold one and quarter
perchcS All beds used for this pur-
pose are the same size, as different
sized loads are apt to make an uneven
road, for it is difficult to get them
properly spread to prevent low place
where the small loads are placed. All
the travel is forced upon the crushed
stone by placing Instructions along the
side Of the road. In Il short time the
roadbed is packed and worn smooth.
One Of the essentials in keeping a
road in repair is to keep it well round
ed to allow the water to run off after
each rain. This is accomplished by
running grader over the road. As
soon rs the newly crushed stones are
packed the grader is run along each
side, and all loose stones are thrown
back into the road. Again, before
spring the road is gone over, and all
loose stones are thrown into the road,
and the two ridges between the center
and the wheel tracks are cut off and
into tbo low ,>lono in tbn aOD.