Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1908-12-30
sPLlr-LoG DRAG.
d. w. King, Of Missouri. Explains
Its Work.

| Its Work.
Some new and interesting ideas upon the
subject OF good roads were expounded by
d. Ward King, OF Maitland, No., the in
ventor OF the split-log drag. during his
recent visit to Maine. His lectures were
both entertaining and practical, and NJ
the close OF his remarks he answered qaes-
tious upon various points.
| The lectures by Mr.. King in this State
were held under the auspices OF the State
highway department. Mr.. King stated
that three characteristics must be present
| in q good earth road, and no one OF them
could be taken away and the road be good.
~ do not believe" said he, ssthat you
have here at the present time, or have had
for twenty years, . haif-mile OF earth
! road combining these three essentials ct
the same time. The road must be oval,
hard and smooth. I might - we'll name
these qualities in one order ~ the other
il makes no difference which il pat nrst,
il any one is absent The road is . fsilure -
far a. perfection 10 concerned.
"By the old system IL has been entirely
too expensive an operation to maintain
these three essentials, NOR hes the road
machine been capable Of producing These
three characteristics In their most sAsts-
factory form, no matter how much II d
used, bat ths King drag, cheap In itseaf
and inexpensive and simple in operation,
brings about this coa1ifioa Of H. road %
easily and naturally that - nan Who
does tie work = amassd q his SUCCESS aad
sstonished that this msthod has mot bssn
in vogue before.
The manner Of building IL dag has
been explained q considssab,s lsngth in
print. Il should b rad vssy light. I
have bssn told that tAsee ars draSs In
yoar nsighbcEing town - sydney 20
which are hitched foar and six hossss.
These are two heavy, asd they evsssAoos
The mark. AltAoagh IN many rsspscts
thsy ars bseteF than The old road machine,
stiu they, like The rod machine, ~
move altogsthsr too mecca as oacs. Ths
secret Of ths bet succss with tie King
drag 10 to keep . spacs oi rod In ssch
condition that the nsxt rAin viii al ran
Oh. This means the ~ OF ths drag amer
every rain or wet spell-the moving Of
little earth often.
Hay it down o. . law that whepevsr
road machine places 20 much earth on
any other kind OF road material in the
center OF the highway that the people
avoid it and drive to one side ofthe center,
too much earth il being moved, and the
man who tries to build . road in this way
has made Q serious mistake. The drug
should be strong, Of course, but very
lixh--given sunicient strength. the
lighter the better. Bear in mind that Q
light drag can be made heavier By weight
ing it, but by no method can . heavy drag
be made light.
The drag should be light enough 80 that
an ordinary farm team viii move it essily
with the driver riding on the drag.
This is not Theoretical; il is . fact without
q bit of theory about it. This method Of
road buiiding worked out, got results,
and then began to search for theories that
would 6t the case. The facts were devel-
oped first and the theories Afterwards.
am talking only Of what hare done my
self and what others have done.
hare on record . very remarkable in
stance in your own State Of what can be
done by careful and proper use OF the
King drag. F. b. Sanford, OF Stsndish,
Cumberland county, built his first drag in
April, 1906. He put it to work on q piece
the last stretch OF road in Cumberland
| county to dry up in the spring. Although
the mud was eight inches deep when he
began work, he declares that within three
hours teams were passing over this stretch
of road ON trot, without burying . hoof
or wheel rim, and that the road remained
in that condition all through the summer.
Mr.. Sanborn's success with this piece Of
road so impressed the neigh borhood that
they requested him to take charge OF an
adjoining piece OF road, which he did.
The change produced resulted in his being
put in charge OF eleven miles OF road the
next year. la his report OF the work done
Cd the eleven miles Of road in 1907, he de-
clares that with the split-iog drag he put
/ the eleven miles OF road in better condition
than it had ever been known to be for
Z y
year. Old residents declared that the
road Was better all through the summer
season than it was ever known to be be-
fore, and MIR. Sanborn's statement
shows that he spent only II per cent.
OF the money that had been annually
spent before in maintaining the same
roads.
This road building by Mr.. Ssnborn with
the split-iog drag cost $50 per mile for
the cheapest up to g per mile for the mos.
expensive. The remarkable fact about il
was that the cheapest miles are, in Mr..
Sanborn's opinion, the best. and he Is
confident that the entire mileage can be
managed the second year for much less
cost than the first year, while at the same
time it will be in vastly improved condi-
4 finn n rprn ~ cd na f{rat ~