The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1908-12-09
Drainage and the Methods Keeping Roads
frof Dove. while State Engineer
Field of 5oodRo Construction nandM Maintenance

- xOxu I'll oOOu j
ten expressing the hope that the meet
Ing woud be successful and that bet
ter roads would result were President
]. H. Worst of the agricultural COL
lege; President Charles 8. Paul Of
the North Dakota Letter Carriers, as
ISOLATION; the Wahpeton Commercial
club, the Larimore Commercial club,
the Devils Lake Commercial club,
the Fargo Commercial club, Neche
and Bathgate organizations. also Prof.
7. Hoverstad of the state farmers in
stitutes, who said he would give the
matter some little attention on the
lecture platform this winter.
Road Drainage
At the close Of Mayor Taylor's re-
marks, Mr.. Lander called upon Prof.
r. NJ. Dolve of the state agricultural
college. Mr.. Dolve's address was
very interesting, covering the fea-
ture of road drainage, so important to
successful road construction in North
Dakota. He divided the drainage into
three classes, tile, ditch and crown.
In tile draining, the surface of a
road is assured Of being free from
attack from underneath. In the val
ley the water level Is only from four
to five feet under the surface and this
water is constantly working its way
upwards and 1t Is therefore easily seen
that the road foundation can never
be secure unless there is proper drain
age. To properly underdrain q road,
q line Of tile Is necessary. This tile
should be laid little to one side Of
the middle of the road and q good
outlet must be secured. With proper
undertaking, good crust Is GER
tain. -.
Next came the ditch draining.
Where there is enough of a.slope In
the country to, Insure the nowinga oa
water IA iftchgA, thsrs IL .itttis need
of nnder draining, as the water can
readily be carried away from the road
rin the ditch. A sweeping ditch, he
believes, was preferable to q deep
ditch. In the sweeping ditch, there
1s better opportunity Of working it
and keeping 1t clean and there is not
the danger and trouble resulting from
caveins from the side, as Is the case
in steep bitches. ~
The proper crowning Of a road was
next taken up. A road should be SO
constructed as to shed water rapidly.
There should be cone from which
the water would flow readily into the
bitches, and this would make the road
bed much more secure and firm, do
ing away with It's being soaked from
time to time.
Afkfnannss AdIr>s.
President Lander then called upon
State Engineer T. r. Atkinson of Bis
marck, who gave an address on the
good roads work in other states. Mr..
Atkinson spoke as follows:
In considering the question Of
road legislation for North Dakota it
seems reasonable to at first look at
what some of our sister states are do
ing In this direction. Logan Waller
Page, director Of the Office of public
roads, United States department of
agriculture, has made study of good
,, roads legislation and to him / am in
debted for some Of the matter here
with presented.
'Of the laws Of the states which
are still proceeding under the old
county and township system it will
not be necessary to discuss further
than to say that they are few in num-
Der and several Of these are agitating
good roads legislation at the present
time. and some Of these have provid-
ed for Investigation into the good
roads laws Of the other states, all Of
which is preliminary to the work Of
securing legislation for state control
Of road construction.
"A few states assist In road con-
struction BY the utilization Of the la
Dor Of convicts. But q large number
OF our states have provided state aid
TO be distributed among the different
counties under the direction Of the
state highway department upon the
condition that q like amount or a
percentage Of that amount be added
to the sum granted BY tho state, by
tho county and township benefited.
Some Of our older states have had
good Toads laws for long time, no.
tably among these being New Hamp-
shire, which had aided In highway
construction since 1900. Kentucky
made appropriations to aid In high
way construction early In the nine
teenth century. Fourteen million dol
lars has been expended by our ma
ti0nal government Tor the construc-
ton Of national highways.
Rkede Island. /.
Rhode island has nve commits
Ssioners appointed by the governor