Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-08-22
THE BEST DIRT ROAD.
How First-cIass Clay Road re
Made CheaDIy and Easily when
Fundamental Principles ale
Followed.

It is almost too good to be true. bur
it is a fact nevertheless that the best
dirt road III the state is one Of the
cheapest. In Waupaca county about
six and a half miles south of the coup-
ty seat an enterprising road overseer,
Mr.. Chas. W. Gibson By name, got
tired OF three-quarter mile stretch
OF bad clay road in his district and
fixed 1t up at a cost of twenty-four
dollars SO that it is the best dirt road
in the state.
Before 1t was made over this road
was like most other dirt roads-lover
than the ground along side of it so
that the water couldn't get out of it in
any way but by evaporating. The
ground was low so the evaporating was
a slow process, and teams had plenty
of chance to work the road into inn
passable bed of puddled clay-of
about the right consistency to run
through brick machine to make
brick, but pretty poor stuff to travel
through, and through is literally the
| word. When the water finally dried up
the Jumps baked to brick like hard
ness which made the road extremely
uneven and hard to travel over until
they were beaten down by the travel
to form two inch layer of fine dust.
But all this is charged. Now the
road is never muddy in rainy weather
and there is almost no dust in dry
weather, and better still the road is in
condition SO that it can be kept in
this desirable dustless and mudIesS
state for an annual cost of only three
TO five dollars per mile
All this sounds like difficult thing
to do out it was simple as could be.
Mr.. Gibson cut out the brush along
his road, plowed the sides turned the
dirt in toward the center with road
grader and made a good road of
such shape that the water readily
found its way to The bitches. So far
be did just like any other road ovel-
seer does with his road machine. But
Mr.. Gibson went farther. He took
forks and threw the sods outside the
bitches and hlrrowed the soft newly
made grade TO settle it and make it
OROns 4ASA dItC1 Gl1C III oO an 1G
went over it with king split-lOg road
drag to fill up the ruts which the
travel had made il the still loose dirt
or the grade. He repeated the dragging
after each subsequent rain and after
few such treatments had road on
which a heavily loaded wagon made
hardly any impression even right after
a rain when most clay roads would be
all mud
This road drag was made for the
town by the local blacksmith for about
five dollars. It consisted of an eight
inch log split into two pieces. These
pieces were set up with the fiat faces
forward and connected with wooden
braces to hold them about thirty
inches apart For about half its
length the front log was shod along
the lower side of the face with steel
and provided with chain to draw the
apparatus BY A team was hooked on
the chain in such a manner that as
the drag was pulled along it lay at an
angle with the road and worked lit
tie of the dirt toward the center to
fill the ruts.
By going over the roads after every
rain a little soft puddle clay was
dragged toward the center filling the
ruts and keeping up the good rounded
shape of the grade so that water ran
off readily. This puddled clay was
packed into the ruts by the travel and
dried hard as brick so that it became
steadily harder for wheels to cut any
ruts in it, thus it came about also that
the road was not cut up into big clods
which could dry and be pounded into
dust and so the road is nearly dust
less in dry weather.
This simple operation can be per-
| formed after every rain on any clay
road that is slightly rounded up, at a
cost of only three to five dollars a mile
per year-it is done for this cost on
mile after mile of Iowa roads. The
principle of the operation is that it IS
road maintenance not reconstruction
after the road has heen allowed to go
all to pieces. It is the same principle
that the railroads use in keeping their
road beds in shape-the same over
worked rule We have all been told
times without number, and have al
| ways believed in most heartily as a
good motto for the other fellOw-that
stitch in time saves nine.
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