St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-03-11
Study Of Clay for Roads


terials reported for the past yea1
35 were claYs. This is mentlone
to show the high percentage whic
clay bears 10 the whole plumber Q
samples received; for it is fac
not generally recognized that il
vast areas throughout the countr,
clay issthe only material of whlcl
roads can be built. For this rea
son much time has been spent il
studying the physical properties o
clays III the endeayor TO devise
methods by which they can bt
utilized IN road making. 1t may
be mentioned here that up to the
present but one method of using
clay" IN road building has been
known-thdt ls, 10 mix it in the
proper proportion with sand. This
method, however, is not always
practicable, for in many districts
sand is difficult to obtain. Many
of the Western railroads running
through areas of the country where
rock ballast was impossible to ob-
tain have been IN the habit of burn
ing or clinkering clay with open
and coal.slack fires along the lines
of the roads. This clinkered clay
has been successfully used for some
time past as railroad ballast.
Many inquiries have been re-
.celved as to methods of treating
roads in some OF the Western and
Southwestern States, where, owing
to absolute lack of hard material.
and to the extremely STICKY nature
of the country clays, many of the
farmers were absolutely cut off
from the towns during the wet por-
tions of the year. 1t>was apparent
that if the local clays could be
cheaply burnt to a hard, dense
clinker, good road material could
be provided. Preliminary to actual
work on large scale and expen-
sive experiments on the ground, It
was necessary to make laboratory
tests of the clays to see whether
they would burn to a dense, hard
cllnker. Samples of the we'll known
SO called gumbo clay were sent to
the laboratory from the Yazoo dis
trlct of Mississippi. These sam
Piles were experimentallv burned IN
the laboratory of the division, and
1t seemed quite possible to use the
clays in the manner as indicated
above.
Following upon this experiment,
the Office of Public Road Inquiries
built an experimental road in Yazoo
City, which has been reported sue.
cessful. 1t is needless to point out
the great importance of the success
of such experiments in relation to
road building in localities in which
no rock is to be had.
Since it Is shown by many let
ters of inquiry that information is
being sought by people all over
the country on the subject of test
ing clays for the various purposes
for which they are used, other
than road building, special tests
are uow carried on to that end. A
furnace has been installed and act
ual burning tests on clay arc now
made. In order to further stimu
late interest in the development of
native clay bodies, special clrcu-
lar was issued on 'sThe Useful |
Properties Of Clays.' The aim of
this circular was to give informa
ton IN the simplest possible way
TO people who were not supposed
to possess technical knowledge of
clays. That the object has been
attained is shown by the increasing
correspondence of the division on
his subject. The circular partlcu-
arIy points out that for the year
1902, the last year for which the |
official figures are available, the
.otal imports Of foreign clays to
his country were valued at 81, ,l54,-
sos, while the domestic clays pro-
ICED were valued at S2,O61, ,O72.
Since the country possesses unusu-
llly fine clay bodies, great many
# which up to the present time
wait development, any stimula-
ion of interest among the people
o develop our native clays must
,e of great value.
The satisfactory investigation OF
he important property of road
to bind or cement when
l