Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1905-04-21

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rain instead of absorbing It.. If "a dirt
road can be kept In such condition
that the rain will not soak into It sc
will be good road. .
In Mr.. Kings talks to the farmers
he says @zsz
"Poddled earth is water, proof. Evil.
dence of this can be found In tie hog
wallows, and often along the road
can te seen ruts and hoof marks hold B
ing water when the more level por- B
tions are beginning to dry. Now, f
dragging every time spreads a thin !.
water proof layer of moist earth over
a moist surface and travel packs and
pounds it together, every dragging
adding just a little soil and the
whole being thoroughly amalgamated
and consolidated. After years of spread
ing and packing you have q road on
which ANYTHING lees than a weeks
wet weather makes little impression.
In the spring when the ground thaws
and unkept roads are so muddy and
spongy that we say the bottom has
fallen out, this road remains in fair
condition. 1t is also Invariably dry
one or two days before the other
roads.
"A horses footprint will hold from
a saucerful to a qaartcup full of wa
ter. The neglected road presents q
surface OF upturned cups and saucers
in which the water must stand until
it either evaporates or soaks into the
roadbed. Dragging every time it rams
gets the road ready for the next and
there are never any cups and saucers
waiting. This method also does away
with mud holes and chuck holes at the
bridges. After being dragged q few
times the surface of the road stays up
with the level of the bridges. One
knows. only by the sound, that he has
driven on or off bridge. More dirt
can be moved and more of a showing
can be made by dragging the road
during thaws in winter weather than
at any other season. The soil is
crumhly and mealy and pushes to the
center very easily. If road is
dragged in March or April two or
three times. it will show the effect all
summer. The weeds do not grow on
the edge Of the road as they do on q
road that has not been touched after
winter travel, But if one wants a
road such as I have described he must
live up to the motto, keep the road
ready for the next rain.
when talking with road men In
the river bottoms they Invariably
bewail the lack of drainage. while the
clay hill men envy the river men be
cause they have no washes. Both
classes are quick to say: IF we lived
on the blacksoil of the prairie we
would have some faith in dragging,
but here--,' and words fail them.
Now TIE truth of the matter is that
either clay or gumbo will make
more substantial road than the soft
prairie SOIL The ee]fsame character
istics that make clay or gumbo 80
hard to get into good order after it
once acts exceedingly bad will operate
to keep it from getting into poor
shape after it is once put ipto exceed
ingly good order. It will stay good
just as tenaciously under good methods
as it stays bad under bad methods. -
One Of the pleas which Mr.. King
always makes to his audiences is that
no one will build or have built an ex-
pensive drag. 1t would be possible,
of course, to b1ild drag which
would cost quite little money.
If this were done, the very object
of the whole movement would be sde.
feated. The plan is not to have roads
which only rich farmers can possess,
but roads which 'every farmer may
have. As has been said, Mr.. King
is not averse to maoadamized or
graveled roads where possible,
OOG no 10 oV0460 W A0V4u8 q AA4 liz
mer think that because he has not a
great deal of money he cannot have
good roads. The example of having
an expensive drag is another thing
which Mr.. King deprecates. If one
farmer, perhaps the first in commu-
nifty to undertake the work, builds q
drag which has cost quite q little,
other farmers about him are prone to
hesitate about making one which costs
nothing practically but little time
and patience. Some farmers whose
lands adjoin have drags In partner
ship and the work has also been d.
vided with good result, one farmer
attending to the dragging Of the en-
tire road In front of the farms at one
time anj another the next time the
dragging Is necessary. Mr.. King gives
twenty minutes as q liberal estimate
OF the time necessary to drag half a
mile Of road after each rain. It will