Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-21
SEEK TO BUILD
DUSTLESS ROADS
FURNACE STAG AND CANDY
ROADS THE LATEST
Public Roads Branch of the United
states Department of Agri-
culture Is Making
Tests

United States department. OF aSrlcui-
ture; one being the effort 10 puilo
dust proof road by combining the mere
tofore little used blast furnace Stag
with asphalt or tar.
This endeavor is of the utmost eco
nonlic inheritance, because If the
hoped-for success is attained, unslgnt-
" mountains of Stag Will soon dis
anpear from the vicinity of scores OF
cities and a ready market VIII nave
been established for vast quantities OF
this material. A.
For several years the scientists IN
the office of public roads, as we'll as IN
many of the more progressive states,
have been working to achieve TWO
great objects, viz, the utilization OF
by-products in road building and tne
development of dustless roads. Elk
neriments already conducted indicate
that crushed rock combined Win Tar
or asphalt preparations bld 1alr "
solve in measure the dustlesS roau
problem. Exhaustive laboratory rests
have indicated that Stag, in comblna-
tion with preparations Of tar or as
nhalt may be made to serve as SUB
stitlte for crushed rock. Sections OF
governmental road are now pelnS con-
str,Icted which will subject the ma
terials to actual service test. LII the
results are as satisfactory as the pre-
liminary conditions indicate the Stag
asphalt or slag-tar roads Will redlize
the hope of the scientists for both the
utilization of by-products and the at
tainment of a dustless road. one OF
these experimental stretches of road
is now In course of construction at
Chicago, under the supervision OIL Cnle1
Engineer Vernon NJ. PIERCE of the fed
eral bureau, and one at Birmingham,
Ala, under the direction of b. f.
Heidel, first assistant engineer
Try Double Experiment
The road at Chicago will be of Stag
and asphalt that at Birmingham OF
Stag and tar. The greatest skill ana
care will be used in putting down these
short stretches and they will then be
carefully observed during the trying
months of winter. If in the spring it
has been established that this class
of road remains firm, does not rut,
sheds water and makes but little dust,
a vast step forward will have been
taken in road building and a never
failing market will have been created
for blast furnace waste.
Besides this activity in Stag expert
ments the public roads office is also
busy at Newton, Mass, with a special
asphalt preparation, never before tried.
which the director and his lieutenants
hope may prove efficacious as a dust
binding surface material.
More unique than this, however, the
office is preparing at the same place
TO lay a stretch of what facetiouS Writ
ers are almost certain to LABEL candy
road" In all flight1 of fancy 1t is
probable that nobody except scien-
list would go so far afield in research
as to adopt molasses as a road building
material, but that is exactly what has
been done here, and Assistant Chemist
Provost Hubbard of Director Pages
scientific corps is leveling a half mile
stretch of road near Newton and in a
few DAYS will be in active supervision
of the laying of the first molasses ROAD
of history. This molasses is the al
most useless by-product of the great
cane sugar refineries of the south and
the beet sugar refineries of the west
and southwest. 1t is sickishlY sweet,
nearly as black and as thick as tar
and almost as powerful as binder.
Having always been waste product
il can be bought at lower price than
coal tar and in greater quantities.
When the quantity and the sticky
consistency of this material was called
to the attention of Director Page a
number of months ago he conceived
the idea that it might aid in solving
the always difficult problem of dusty
roads, He sent for a supply for lab
oratory experiments and detailed Mr..
Hubbard to conduct them. The mo-
lasses was blended with oils and lime
water; was mixed with rock dust. with
earth and with sand and tried out
under heat and under water. 1t be-
hayed so well and held out such
promises for ideal roads that the prac-
fical test of a real road was recently
decided upon.
Stag as the useless by-product of
the blast furnaces and "moIasses" as
the useless by-product of the sugar
refineries may in few years revolu-
tionize country road building. create
a demand for more extended roads in
the states where those products are
most easily to be had and add millions
to the wealth of the country by putting
a cash value on hitherto waste ma
terial.
While experts arc laboring with
these unique material experiments in
east. south and middle west, another
scientist, also from the office of public
roads, is engaged at Independence,
Kas., in trying to devise method OF
constructing oiled roads analogous to
the methods which have produced the
famous oiled roads of Southern Cali
fornia. He is mixing heavy oils, pos
sessing pronounced asphaltic bases,
with natural soil and sand and COM
pacting the preparation so formed with
a tamping roller. One stretch OF this
peculiar class of highway will be un-
der construction within few days
The oiled roads of California have
saved millions of dollars to the farmers
and fruit growers of this fertile state
in the last few years by suppresslns
the dust that formerly arose in blind
ing clouds with the passing of every
vehicle Those dust clouds, floating
to adjacent fields and orchards, depre'
ciated the price of farm produce anC
lowered the values of real estate TO
startling degree. The sprinkllng OF oil
was tried and the dust was held il
check. Then some of the roads wer'
plowed and the oil mixed with thu
earth and the mass firmly rolled to
properly crowned surface. Splendid
results followed in most instances.
Kansas has long been dust-riddei
and the oiled roads now to be bun
there will. it is hoped. prove as bene
fetal to the people OF that common
TO this state.
wealth as the California roads have
There is now in course of preparation
"A comprehensive treatise on dust pre-
vention which will fall from the presses
of the government printing office in
few days. Following it in a few weeks
will be a symposium embodying thu
experience and the experiments of al
state highway commissioners, parl
boards and city engineers who have
done any work along these lines. Theil
views and findings will be supplement-
ed by the reports of a federal public
road expert who has carefully exam
ined the methods now IN use in France
and England.
We Want 1t All!
Thirty days considered cash. We wan
ali the piano business for the rest o
the month We are generally willinl