Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1907-06-12
ROAD CONVENTION.

Highway Commissioners of Hancock
County Meet in Ellsworth.
Thirteen Hancock county towns were
represented by selectmep or highway COM
missioners at the annual good roads con-
vention held at the court house in Els
worth last Thursday.
Those present We're County Commission
ers John P. Eldridge, of Ellsworth, o. w.
Foss of Hancock, and Fred r. Page, OF
Buckspcrt; Clerk Of Courts John F.
Knowlton, Mayor A. w. Greedy, jeremiah
Hurley and B. t. Sowle, of Ellsworth;
| Arthur w. Bunker, F.. b. Gay, Franklin;
Luke Soper, Bucksport; H. c. Smith,
| Trenton; Henry A. Butler, w. II. Ball,
Hancock; G. NJ. Staples, Penobscot; c. Nj.
Smith, Amherst; Walter Sargent, Andrew
II. Reed, Mt. Desert; II. +. Emery, Bar
Harbor; A. T. Stevens, Bluehill; Ralph I.
Young, Maynard H. Young, Clarence
Young, Lamoine; E. b. Hammond, Winter
Harbor; A. l.. Bunker, Sullivan.
County Commissioner Eidridge, chair
man of the board. presided, and o. W.
Foss acted as secretary. State Highway
Commissioner Paul d. Sargent addressed
the meeting at some length on the snb-
ject of road construction. He said in part:
There is right way and wrong way to re-
duce a g-ade on a road, and generally the lay
man goes at it the wrong way by cutting the
earth from the top of the grade and deposit
III it at the bottom. This method only
shortens the hill. but does not lower the grade
The correct way is to have an engineer survey
the grade and make the proper marks to work
from and cut from almost the entire length of
the hill. No more dirt has to be moved. and
when the job is finished the grade is lowered.
A change OF location in the road may many
times be employed to get rid of a bad grade.
"A good road cannot be bull without the
proper drainage, and there are two styles to be
used. the surface and subsurfaee drainage.
Surface drainage is looked after by browning
the road surface and the height of the crown
depends largely on the grade and also on the
material with which the road is surfaced.
"A proper crown for a hard road surface is
about one inch to the foot where the grade is
not too heavy On road with n soft surface
the crown must be increased, as is also the
fact a road where the grade is heavy In
| both of these cases crown of about two or
two and one-half inches to the foot Is proper.
"Gutters are usually made too deep and
they tend TO allow the frost ana water 10 work
under the road bed, doing a great deal OF
damage. / recommend the use of broad.
shallow cutters, which, if properly con-
structed, will carry off the water that accu-
mulates In making the culverts which are
necessary l do not recommend the Of
plank or tile pipes. Iron pipes are the best
and at either end of culvert made of iron
there should be a masonry wall The iron
cnl, - sbn nld he. Oil nit
the water will not stand in it and freeze.
stone or concrete should be used for culverts
over twelve inches wide.
"On clay roads a system of sub-drainage
has to be provided for. Cobbe stone sub
drainage is the most satisfactory. The best
sub-drain is twelve feet wide, twenty-four
inches deep at the centre and ten inches at
the shoulders filed with cobblestones. Clay
| should not be put next to the stone, but a
gravel covering should be put on before the
clay.
LAS TO surfacing road. the material should
be fairly good grade of gravel, but here in
Maine we have to depend on the material at
hand. Before the surface is put on the foun-
dation should have the same general form as
the finished road. On road of sand con-
struction it is possible to get an excellent sur
face with clay as long as the clay is covered
once twice each year with a coating of
sand.
1.-THE right time to do work on the roads is
in the months of May and June, and money
expended at this time OF year will go
much farther than in the fall"
Mr.. Sargent illustrated the points made
by diagrams and models. At the close of
his address the discussion became general,
and many points OF practical value were
brought out.