Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1908-08-28
A HOME MADE
ROAD MACHINE
The Department of Agriculture
Is Booming the Split
Log Drag.

The public roads bureau of the depart
ment of agriculture, having fgur1d oui
that there are 100000 miles of earth roads
IN The United States, has hit upon an IN
expensive way for their Improvement. Iho
sulit log drag Is its solution Of the PROB
lem and the bureau is telling the larmef
how to make IT.
The main thing needed is a dry re6 cedar
log, although red elm and walnut are Soot,
while box elder, soft maple or even willow
may be used. Oak, hickory and ASH ara
not recommended.
The log. seven to ten feet long and tel
10 twelve inches in diameter at che butt, IA
spIit as near the center as possible, tha
larger piece being used as the front o. th9
drag and sometimes being shod Win IRON
along the lower or cutting edge.
The two slabs on edge and thirty inches
apart are fastened together by st"kes III
such q way thai when the drag Is IN uss
on one side of a road the end of the back
slab is about sixteen inches nearer tho
center Of the driveway than the end oil the
front slab. This gives what is called the
setback. the heavy slabs ana
resting on the connecting stakes IS a
board on which the driver stands.
A team of horses is hitched 10 this COM
pleted drag in such a way that the drag
unloaded will follow at an angle o. aoou
As degrees. The team should be driven
with one horse on either side or the rlshC
hand wheel track or rut the full length OF
the part 10 be dragged, and made TO re-
turn In the same manner over the other
half OF the roadway. Such treatment VIII
move the earth toward the center or the
roadway and raise IL gradually above the
surrounding level.
The department recommends the use OF
the split log drag after heavy rains, when
the road should be gone over once eacn
way, but much depends on the quanty OF
the soil, some roads requiring frequent
treatment.
How economical the method Is is SHOWN
by figures OF actual tests submitted by
the bureau. In six counties In Kansas in
1906 the cost of maintaining ordinary earth
roads without the aid of the split log dras
averaged SAP. 80 a mile. These figures were
furnished BY Prof. w. c. Hoad OF the
University of Kansas, who secured them
from official records of the counties.
Other figures are credited to +. +. San
born and r. II. Ashton, general manager
of the Chicago and Northwestern. Mr..
Sanborn said 1.-The least expense a mile
per annum for split log dragging was
81. 80. the greatest a little over IS, and the
average expense a mile for five and a half
miles a little over SO. | have lived along
this road all my life and never in forty
years have I seen it freer from mud and
dust, despite the fact that during the sea
son we nave experienced the extremes OF
weather conditions"
The testimony of Mr.. Ashton is equally
strong. Learning that a township in Iowa
had been making an Investigation OF the
split log drag and had been experimenting
with 1t for a year on % miles of highway
he sent an agent to secure
1t was reported that although the tow
board had paid the cost of making the
drags and of hiring men TO operate them
the total expense for one rear averaged
but 81. 40 a mile, and the roads were re.
ported to have been like a race track
the greater portion of the year.