Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-07-17

know, an unusually wet spring,
we rode hundreds of miles over
earth roads that were almost as
smooth as the proverbial billiard
ball, that had no ruts and pre-
sented an even, elastic surface.
The explanation is the King road
drag, which is revolutionizing
country roads where ever used
by industrious farmers.
What praise Mr.. Torbert be-
slows upon the King road drag
is borne out by the agricultural
department of the United States
government, which is doing all
in it's power to transform the
1000, 900 miles of earth road in
this country into highways as fit
for passage as the best boule-
wards in the large cities. A
bulletin of the department
recently issued gives the follow
ing instructions for the con-
struction (the cost of which is
remarkably cheap of the drag,
and it's use:
In the construction of this i'm
plement care should be taken to
make it so light that one man
can lift it with ease, a light drag
, responds more readily to various
methods of hitching than q
heavy one, as well as to the
shifting of the position of the
: operator. The best material fol-
a split-log drag is a dry rec
cedar log, though red elm anC
: walnut are excellent, and box
: elder, soft maple, or even willow
are superior to oak, hickory OF
ash. The log should be between
seven and ten feet long, anC
from ten to twelve inches il
diameter at the butt end. L
e should be split carefully as neal
the center as possible, and thu
I heavier and best slab chosen TO
+ the front. In the front slaI
q four inches from the end whicl
5 is to drag in the middle of tn
e road bore a two-inch hole whicl
Il is to receive a cross stake. At
q distance of twenty-five inche
e from the other end of the from
IL slab, locate the center for anoth
e er cross stake. The hole for tn
middle stake will be on a lin
connecting and half way be
y tween the two. Then place tn
g back slab in position, and fror
d the end which is to drag in tn
|, middle of the road measur
. twenty inches for the center o
Il one cross stake and six inche
/. from the other end locate tn
n center of the opposite stake
= The hole for the center. stalk
t should be located half way be
1t tween the two. All these hole
t should be carefully bored pei
1t pendicular or at right angles t
u the face of the split log.
1t If these instructions are TO
lowed it will be found that whe
the holes of the front and bac
n slabs are brought opposite eac
e other, one end of the back sla
f will be sixteen inches nearer tn
l. center of the roadway than tn
It front one. That gives what
a known as setback" TIL
e stakes, which are thirty inche
s long, will hold the slabs thi
lie distance apart. When the stake
= have been firmly wedged int
Is their sockets, a brace about tw
n inches thick and four inche
d wide may be placed diagonall
it to them on the ditch end of tn
re drag. A cleated board is place
l. between the slabs and across tn
stakes for the driver to stand or
By many it is deemed best
o place a strip of iron along tn
le lower face of the front slab for
" cutting blade and to prevent tn
er drag from wearing. The dra
is may be fastened to the double
n tree by means of a trace chair
is The chain should be wrappe
* around the left hand or corne
lie stake and passed over the fror
at slab. Raising the chain at thi
re end of the slab permits the dil
r to drift past the face of the drai
in The other end of the chain shoul
or be passed through a hole in tt
ne opposite end of the front sla
h. and held by a pin passed throug
ir a link.
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