Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1908-03-06

further IN, as was the Case III snis 4u"iJ
Within half mile Of the second section, Oh
the Williams and Case properties, IS SION
of much higher value and in position to D.
quarried 40 per cent. cheaper than the Noun
quarry, besides being 81 miles nearer to tn
work.
Restating the value Of stone for roat
4orl the co-eiioieut OF wear 20, tns 70
| shdeient Of hardness is o. the ea-ehioieni .
! ,aughneas i1 20 viii a raq0teel over OF ?
va 'et.ou, E.. bonding.
BsoH give ynu the results Of the liis
7 maze rs the 01ics u Public Roads Disissf-
I Department. 81 Agriculture ooYenry ines
sample No. 1853, Williams o fry--hotu-
I 5!aadic Serpeudue Co-etiolents wear
+ i42; hardness, 1885, icaghness, 81 CT
afet'ua yslae, good.
ocnist Uo-efficients: wear, 4.9 hardness,
O.9: touQhness, 8; cementing value, good
Remarks applicable to Williams quarry
IA hard and fairly tough rock, with rather
high resistance to wear and good cemeniing
value. Should make satisfactory road ma
terial."
Remarks applicable to Mount quarry-"A
very soft rock, with low toughness, low re-
sistance TO wear, and good cementing valu O.
Not recommended for road building"
Mr., A. s. Cushman, Assistant Director
| Public Roads Division, had this to say as q
comment ON the rock of Mr.. Mounts quarry ;
1.-THE schist rookie, as rule, are not very
hard, but in addition to this, your sample,
No. 1880, is the softest schist that has ever
been tested in this laboratory"
By comparing the co-efficIents representing
the two quarries you will see the highway
Division built these roads using the stone
having the least value and the most expen-
siye transportation. In the matter OF trans
portation, there was needed to move the l1t0
cubic Yards of stone necessary to the COM
pletiou Of one mile Of road ten teams per
day. each making four trips, at cost OF 70
DER team, and this for A days. To have
moved the stone from the Williams quarry,
or preferably the Case quarry, which is
nearer, four teams per day for 80 days won Id
have accomplished the work, making saw
ing Of six teams at So, equal TO $72O on that
mile of work.
In reply to the questions asked Mr.. Mount,
"Did Mr.. W. W. Crosby ever see the quarry
near Washington Grove 1.-THE Mount quarry
from which that road was built) Z" he re-
piled, ono, not to my knowledge. 10 inc
question, ibid Mr.. Ruggles, assistant engin-
eer. ever see that quarry 2" his reply was,
'No, not that know Of, unless when 1t was
first opened" To the question, "Who Sc
lected the stone as sample of the quar- ry to
be tested p his reply was, ~ took some Of
the stone TO the Commissioner office and
Mr.. Crosby got 1t there, or expressed 1t TO
him.
He further tells me, "Mr. Crosby never Wis
tied bis work on the Laytonsville road and
the assistant engineer, Mr.. Ruggles, saw the
work about once in two weeks"
It 10 hardly necessary to call attention to
the fact that the twomiles OF Shoemaker road
being built, one east and the other west o.
Rockville, are now about to enter their third
years construction, and in that time moi
over az per cent. of the work has been COM
pleted. The mile built on the Bethesda road
involved two years construction, suit.at-
law and bill for repairs for some one 10
pay, all in thirty-six months.
Returning to the work on the Lay louisville
road. there too on each sec ton were immedi-
ate bills for repair work, but whether
chargeabIe to the county or contractor do
not know.
You will note in the hardness test, the stone
used from the Mount quarry is only nine
tenths of one point above zero, and IN the
comment Of Mr.. Cushman, this rock broke
the record of the Office of Public Roads, De-
partment Agriculture, for soft schist. II
would seem had Mr.. Ruggles ordinary pow
ALB G OF road building, he would have de.
tected the almost valueless class OF rock com
ing from the Mount quarry and called halt
In construction until the matter could have
been referred to the chief engineer.
Not all the stone in those two first sections
on the Laystonsville road came from the
Mount quarry, part Of il was lime stone and
brought TO Washington Gro'e by rail, about
40 per cent, but entailing the same long hau
and expense as entailed by the stone from the
Mount quarry. 1t seems to me II is within
the province of the engineer corps OF the State
Geological Survey 10 determine the value o.
ouarries and their economical relation Ia
work to be built.
There must be something radically wrong
In conditions producing these results. The
sample numbers refer to the records OF The
Office of Public Roads, Department of Ag'
rcuture.
The samples from the Williams quarry
were taken by Mr. l.. x Riggs and me, OIL
which one was sent TO Mr.. Crosby, who prac-
tically confirmed the Government report
The sample from the Mount quarry by Mr..
T. CavanAugh and me.
Mr.. Crosby cannot be personally charged
with oversight in these matters for reasons
already stated livery many and widely sep
arated points Of construction.) During the
construction Of the FIRST section on the Lay
louisville road from conversations with Mr.
Ruggles, assistant engineer, it seemed 81
| though be had charge Of nineteen separate
contracts that summer, one OF which was near
| Cumberland and another near Upper MARI.
bore. en- east and vest distance Of about IT'S
miles. giving nineteen lateral movements be-
tween those points. This have concluded
from nv conversations with him and bill
statements. II can easily be seen why bis
visits were 80 infrequent, entirely too infre'
auent for proper supervision when we re'
member the general inexperience Of the in
spectors.
1t Is now proposed to spend large sums Of
money on the road systems Of the State, per.
haps bonding the State, and do 30 through
the Geological Survey. Unquestionably thai
branch Of the State organization is the proper
medium through which to construct and ex-
pend. But is the Highway Division sum
GENTLY In the saddle 10 have such additional
responsibility placed upon til Montgomery
county, in the light Of her experience, will
unquestionably answer, No.
How then can that Division be assisted
When the chief engineer has caused to D.
completed surveys, plans and specifications
for State work, within any Of the counties o
the State, then those counties should become
constructing units under the Highway Di
vision-havlng County Roads Engineer IL
the pay and service Of the county, to rank
Assistant Engineer Of the Highway Division
and under the orders of its chief in all mat
ters pertaining to the supervision OF State
aided work.
The counties should be required to equil
themselves, as working units, with reason
able road construction plant, the care o
which should devolve upon the Road Com
missioners or Engineer as the case may be-
which equipment, as to steam rollers ant
stone crushers, should be at the disposal Of I
successful bidder for State work at prope
rental per square yard OF macadam in place.