The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1905-07-27
MAKING GOOD ROADS.
How the Apostle of the Spiit-Lox
Drag Is Revolutionizing the Road
mending Of America-Cheap and Eff
fective Method Which Produces
Satisfactory Results.

|
Eight years ago was devoting al
most my entire time to my farm, three
miles north from the little town o
Maitland, Missouri. My interests de
| manded frequent travel over the roac
between my farmhouse and the vii
lage, and | always felt a keen resent
ment when bad roads made it diff
cult or impossible to drive to town.
a state of things that was altogether
too frequent.
A little investigation and expert
ence demonstrated to me that this
was by no means the result of indif
ference or inactivity on the part O
our road commissioners. Then
reached the conviction that it was
the fate of the farmer to spend 81,
800 to 81, 600 a mile for macadam
lied road or else travel in the mud in
all periods of continued wet weather
which is to say a very large pro
portion of the year. This conviction
is almost universal among farmers
who have really wrestled with the
road problem and know from exper.
fence its difficulties.
However, this state of doubt and
encouragement did not long con
tinue, and | began to investigate and
experiment in an irregular sort Of a
way. Acting under this persistent
impulse to experiment, l one day
hitched my team to drag made OF
a frOst-spOiled wooden pump stock
and all old oak post, held parallel to
each other by three pieces Of fence
boards about three feet long. Smooth
wire served in place of a chain, and a
strip OF plank laid between the post
and the pump stock gave me rough
platform upon which to stand.
The horses were attached at such
point OF the wire as to give the
drag a slant OF about forty-five de-
grees in the direction required to
force the earth that it would gather
from the side of the road up to the
center. We had just had a soaking
rain and the earth was in a plastic
condition. | had driven this drag
but a few rods when | was fully aware
that twas serving at least the initial
purpose for which it was intended
that OF leveling down the wheel rut
and pushing the surplus dirt into the
center of the road.
At my neighbours gate toward town,
L turned around and took the other
side OF the road back to my home.
The result was simply astonishing.
More rain fell upon this road, but it
ran OFF like water from Il duck 8
back From that time forward,
after every rain or wet spell, | drag
ged the half-mile of the road covered
by my original experiment.
At the end Ofthree months the road
was better than when it had been
dragged for three weeks, and at the
end OF three years it was immensely
improved over it's condition at the
end OF the first years work. Istudied
the result OF each step in my expert
ment and finally learned that three
elements are required to make q per-
feet earth road and that the lack of
any one OF them is fatal to the result.
TO be perfect an earth road must be
at one and the same time oval, hard
and smooth. All of these indispen-
sables are acquired by the use of the
spllt-log drag in any soil that have
ever cOmein contact with-and have
worked in the various kinds of CLAW
soil, in the gumbo of the swampy
lowlands and in the black mud ofthe
prairies.
Observation of my experiment
taught me that two weeks of rain
would not put this bit of road in bad
condition at a time when the high
way at either end of it was impassa-
BILE for wagon. OF course it was
plain that the reason the road was
not bad was that there was no mud
in it. But why mud would not collect
IN 1T was not clear to me until | was
taught my lesson by the very humble
means OF the hog wallow. One day
CHANGED to notice that water was
standingin one of these wallows long
after the ground all about it had be-
come dry. Probably many times be-
lore | had observed this fact, but not
until now had it occurred to me to
inquire into it's cause. Examining
the edges of the wallow, | was i'm
impressed with the fact that it was
almost as hard as a piece OF earthen-
ware. Clearly this was because the
wallowing OF the hogs had mixed or
"puddled" the earth and the water
together, forming a kind of cement
which dried into hard and practical
ly waterproof surface.
The next important lesson in nv
understanding of the real elements
OF road-making was taught me bv
studying what We farmers call "a
spouty spot" in the side of a CLAW
hill. All who live in a clay country
know the unspeakable sickness of
one OF these spouty places, and are
familiar with the fact that, after ten
days Or two weeks of bright, hot sun
shlne, you can take an axe and break
from one OF these spots a clod so
hard that with it you can almost
drive ten-penny nail into a pine
plank: Naturally, it occurred to me
that, if this puddled clay soil would
stay hard for three months when left
N a rough condition, it would surely
stay longer if moulded into the form
OF a smooth roof, so that the water
which fell upon it could easily run
This original half-mile of road was
dragged steadily for four years be-
fore l had single active recruit in
my new crusade. At first nv neigh
bors poked good-natured fun at me.
probably because the thing was so
new and so absurdly simple-and.
perhaps, also because l did the work
without pay or any expectation of it.
in the country, it NAV
be we'll to explain, is not generally
followed as fashionable philanthro-
Ply or a popular diversion.
Gradually, however, this little
stretch of dragged road began to |
force itself upon the attention of the |
community. From one source and |
another | began to hear of the OBJ
which IL nrovokod 81