The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1908-03-27

The public roads Office of the de-
partment of agriculture has just is
sued bulletin on road building
which is particularly timely in this
portion of Nevada, inasmuch as the
season in which road building will
commence is now practically at hand.
In this and tributary districts there
will be during the season much build
mining camps will open up and that
many of the old ones will engage in
building highways over which they
will make deliveries to the Steptoe
Smelling plant at McGill. The bull
letin OF The road building department
contains many excellent suggestions.
1t is as follows
WhiIa American road builders are
as capable of constructing good roads
as those of any country of the old
world, they have not been as Loyalty
supported as the men of those coun-
tries in maintaining the highways
after completion. and the deplorable
state of many hundred thousand
County and township officials may at
the outset stand the expense of hav-
ing a road built, but they strenuously
object when asked to provide funds
to rebuild the road that has been
allowed to go to ruin.
1t is important that all sections of
the country learn of the benefits to
be derived from good earth roads,
that county boards be impressed with
the need of a proper maintenance of
the same, and that road builders and
overseers learn how best to care for
the roads in their charge.
The persistent and powerful enc
mics of earth roads are water and
narrow tires. and the constant effort
of the men in charge of the roads
should be to guard against their de-
structive effects and remedy all dam
age as quickly as possible. The SIM
pie implements which have been
found TO be of greatest assistance in
this work are the pillow, the drag
scraper the wheel scraper, the road
grader and the split-log drag.
With a sandy soil and subsoil
of clay, or clay and gravel, deep
clay with the surface soil and sand
will prove beneficial. The combina-
ton forms sand-clay road at a
trifling expense. On the other hand,
if the road be entirely of sand a mis-
take will be made If ii is plowed
unless clay can be added. Such
blowing would merely deepen the
sand, and at the same time break up
the small amount of hard surface
material which may have formed. If
the subsoil is clay and the surface
seant III sand or gravel. blowing
should : OF be resorted to. as 1t would
result in a clay surface rather than
one of sand or gravel A road fore
man must know not only what. to
pillow and what not to pillow, but how
and when to pillow. If the road Is OF
the kind which according to the
above instructions should be plowed
over it's whole width, the best method
is to run the first furrow in the mid
die of the road and work out to the
sides. thus forming crown. Re-
suits from such blowing are greatest
in the spring or early summer.
In bitches a pillow can be used to
good advantage. but should be fol-
lowed by a scraper or grader. To
make vide. deep bitches nothing bet
ter than the ordinary drag scraper
has YET been devised. For hauls I'M
der 100 feet. or in making fills" it
is especially serviceable. 1t is a
mistake. however, to attempt to han
die long haul material with this
scraper, as the wheel scraper is bet
ter adapted to such work. For hauls
of more than 500 feet. wagon
should be used.
The machine most generally used
in road work is the grader. or road
machine. This machine is especially
useful in smoothing and GROWING
the road and in opening bitches. A