The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1905-07-21
GOOD ROADS
A Simple Device for Making
Good Roads, Which Has
Proved its Efficiency i'm
Every Unslance

tions to the successful work that
has been accomplished by the
split log drag in transforming
country roads of the worst type
into the best wagon roads. The
! d:scoverer of the system, D.
Ward King, of Maitland, Mo-,
has used the device for some
eight years, and with such sur
Iprising results that he has been
in demand at points all over the
country, explaining the use of
his drag and preaching the gos-
pei of good roads. We print the
following from the article in the
Evening Post, explaining some
thing of the work of this device
and what it has done where it has
been put to practical test:
There is something startling in the
statement that drag made of split
log and costing only the price Of a
| pocket-knife. is the implement that is
going TO revolutionize the wagon roads
of this country and save many millions
OF dollars to the rural population of
the United States-yet | make this
statement and put upon it all the en-
phasis of which | am capable.
| "Downright absurdn' do you ex-
claim? | have had hundreds of
farmers greet with jeers a less sweep
ing statement Of the case-and then go
home and prove to themselves it's alb
solute correctness. Have you any
idea of what it would mean to the
people of the United states to change
the bad wagon roads of the country
| into good roads? Such a revolution
| in transportation would climb so
| high into figures that the sum total
would be absolutely startling and al
most beyond comprehension. Not
very long after | had made the first
complete demOnstr alton of the split-log
| method of road-making on my farm in
Missouri, Col. G.. w. Waters, Secre-
| tary of the Missouri Good Roads AS
| sociation, said to me:
| ''If the road commissioners of the
state of Missouri could stand here and
see what | see, the result would be
worth hundred thousand dollars
| year to this commonwealth
| 1t is impossible to express in figures
even the most general estimate of the
value of such a revolution in road
making as must result from the general
use of this new and 'absurdly simple'
method. However. it is we'll to keep
in mind the fact that in almost all
states the mileage of common dirt
roads is many times double that of
macadamized or other expensive
roads intended to be permanent.
SO much by way of suggesting the
size of the problem which the split-log
] Il L
already been accomplished so far as
the spread OF the movement is con-
cerned, may be put in few words: 1t
has been backed and pushed by the
Missouri Board of Agriculture: one
railroad, the Northwestern, has sent
out a "Good Roads Special' for the
purpose of evangelizing the farmers
OF its territory: other roads are eager
to install the same kind of a broad
gauge, public-spirited campaign: thou
sands OF miles Of wagon roads have
been permanently reclaimed from bad
to good, and hundreds of meetings
have been held in the nine States in
which this gospel has been disseminat-
ed by means of practical demons ira
tiOn. At these meetings thousands of
persons have pledged themselves to
make and use a split-log drag; num-
dreds of newspapers have taken up
this movement, giving it generous
space and a square deal: hundreds, if
not thousands, of dollars have been
raised and offered in prizes for the
best miles or half-miles of drag roads,
and most important Of all, perhaps,
the public sentiment of scores of COM
munities has been stirred to self-re-
specting hopefulness and energy by
this new gospel Of good roads with
out money"
Eight years ago | devoted almost
my entire time to my farm, three miles
north from the little town of M Maitland,
Missouri. My interests demanded
frequent travel over the road between
my farmhouse and the village, and |
always felt strong resentment when
bad roads made it difficult or impos-
sible to drive to town-a state of
things that was altogether too fre-
quent.
A little investigation and experience
demonstrated to me that this was by
no means the result of Indifference or
inactivity on the part of our road COM
missioners. Then I reached the con-
viction that it was the fate of the
farmer to spend $500 to $4,000 mile
for macadamiZed road or else travel
AZ WIG LII w IL 0A1 pOA lOOo VI COub1uu6O
wet weather-which is to say very
large proportion of the year. This
conviction is almost universal among
farmers who have really Xrestled with
the road problem and know from ex-
perience it's difficulties.
However, this state of doubt and
discouragement did net long continue,
and began to investigate and exper-
lment In an irregular sort Of a wav
Acting under this persistent impulse
to experiment, one day hitched my
team to drag made of 9 frost-spoiled
wooden pump stock and an old oak
post, held parallel to each other by
three pieces of fence boards about
| three feet long. Smooth wire served
In place OF chain, and strip Of
plank laid between the post and pump
stock gave me rough platform upon
which to stand.
| The horses were attached at such q
Continued on Fourth Page.