Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1907-08-16
ROAD CONSTRUCTION
Fancies, FaIIacies and Facts
About the Science.
WHAT AN EXPERT HAS FOUND
Why New Jerseys Supervisor Of
Roads Prefers a Lighter Maeadam to
aTelford Road-How to Build a Good
Stone Highway.

to the present men have had their
Ideas Of perfect highway. The plans
OF road engineers have been criticised
as newfangled, while they were only
aiming at the road that Isaiah saw
with prophetic eye when he cried:
Make straight in the desert a high
way for our God. Every valley shall
be exalted, and every mountain and hill
Shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight and the rough
places plain" Thus the fancy that a
straight road with easy grades is a new
Idea Is swept away by the words OF
Isaiah uttered over 200 years before
the Christian era, writes Il. A. Meeker.
- state supervisor of roads, New Jersey,
in the Good Roads Magazine.
Later Claudlus Appius had his vision
Of road that would perpetuate his
name, and his dream has beenN real
lied. But beyond that he gave-what?
The monument Of a tyrant who COM
PEELED thousands to work for naught
and lasting example Of how not to
build q road. The Appian Way, IA
nous In picture and story, is avoided
over greater portion of its length by
every traveller who is in a hurry to
reach his journeys end.
This old Romans Idea of a deep
foundation has lived after him, but no
experienced road builder adopts II.
The old Romans fancy that 1t is neces-
sary to build deep foundation for
road crops out here and there, even at
the present time, and Is exploited as
the best and, In fact the only true way
to build road. 1t was not until road
builders learned that thoroughly drain
cd earth was the only sure foundation
for any kind Of road covering that a
great advance was made In road con-
struction.
That road improvement Is an expen-
slve luxury, something nice to have,
but too costly for those who have to
work for living, is the fancy Of some,
but II Is not borne out by experience.
In New Jersey every dollar expended
for road improvement has added tens
and hundreds Of dollars to our states
wealth.
The first roads built were sixteen
Inches deep, composed Of ten Inches of
telford bottom and six inches of COM
pacted two and one-half inch and one
and one-half inch crushed stone and
finished with coarse stone screenings
That the foundation of this kind Of
road lasts is true, but the top wears of
much more quickly, and when that Is
gone every driver avoids the telford
road in good weather. well remember
the first sixteen inch telford l ever
saw. 1t was in 1869 at my home city
Of Plainfield, n. J. We boys were dis
cussing II very learnedly, as we
thought. In fact, we were merely re-
hearsing what we had heard our elders
say, when an old Scotchman passed by
and catching the drift of our remarks,
said: Boys, it Is wrang. II Is a.
wrang. 1t Is wrang in prencepil Here
ye hae the anveel, an on 1t We put the
sma' stone. Along comes the horse
and wagon. The horses hoofs pound
the sma' stone an the wagon wheels
grind it till, 'twixt the hammer and the
anveel, the sma' stones are ground to
powder" We laughed at the old Scot,
but my experience has since taught me
that he was right. Not only is a deep
telford more expensive to build, but
the road wears rough much sooner
than lighter macadam and is conse-
Quently much more expensive to main
tain. 1t is also much harder on horses
feet, as 1t has no elasticity.
1t has been argued that n deep tel
ford road will not be heaved by frost.
This Is not so. | have seen fourteen
inch telford turned upside down by
frost so that the large bottom stones
were on top of the road. while six inch
macadam built over the same soil and
same conditions of travel remained I'M
moved, the only other difference In
construction being that underdrains
were placed outside of the macadam,
while none was used beside the tel
ford.
To build good stone road, first grade
your hill down TO per cent or less
II possible; fill up your fats so you
have a minimum grade OF at least one
half per cent; second. by underdrains
cut of all water that may threaten the
road; third. give your road a crown
Of three-quarters inch per foot; fourth,
cut out your subgrade, being careful
to give II the same curvature as the
finished road; fifth, roll the subgrade
until It is hard and smooth. carefully
removing any spongy or vegetable
earth that the rolling may disclose;
sixth. spread your bottom course even
ly, then roll and add a little binder
and continue the rolling until the
stones cease to sink or creep In front
OF the roller; seventh. spread your sec
ond course and roll 1t. with the addi
ton Of binder and water, until the
whole surface Is hard and smooth,
carefully filling with stone any depres-
sions that may appear. then finish the
whole with course Of three-fourths
inch stone and screenings. This must
be soaked with water and rolled until
wave Of mud Is formed In front OF
the roller. being particularly careful to