Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1908-03-24
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
and HINTS ON ROAD WORK



those Of any country Of the old world,
they have not beer as loyalty supported
as the men OF those countries in main
tanning the hIghways after completion,
and the deplorable state Of many humid
red thousand miles Of road ID thus &C.
counted for. County and township
officials may at the outset stand the
expense Of having road built, but they
strenuously object when asked to pro-
vide funds to rebuild the road that has
been allowed to ga to ruin.
1t is Important tina: farme learn Of
the benefits to be derived from good
earth roads; that county boards be i'm
pressed with tho need Of proper main
lance Of the came, and that road build
ers and overseers learn how best TO care
for the roads in their charge.
Tie persistent and powerful enemies
Of earth roads are water and narrow
tires, and the constant effort OF the men
in charge ~ the roads should be to
guard against their destructive effects
and remedy all damage as quickly as
possible. The sin pie implements which
have been found to be Of greatest asslst-
ance in this work are the pillow, the drag
ecraper, the wheel ecraper, the road
grader, and the spit-log drag.
With sandy soil and subsoil OF
lay, or clay and gravel, deep blowing 60
as to raise and mix the clay with the
surface soil and sand will prove beneti-
cial. The combination forms a sand
clay road at trifiinR expense. On the
other hand, il the road be entirely of
sand a mistake will be made il it is
plowed unless clay can be added. Such
blowing would merely deepen the sand,
and at the same time break up che small
amount Of hard surface material which
may have formed. II the subsoil is clay
and the surface ecant Iu eand or gravel,
blowing should not be rteorLed to, as 1t
would result i'll a clay surface rather
than one Of Sand or gravel. A road
foreman must know not only what to
pillow, but how and v hen to plow. 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
crown. Results from such plowInR are
greatest in the sprung or early summer.
In bitches pillow can be used to good
advantage, but should DO followed by
scraper or grader. To make wide, deep
dit cbes nothing better than the ordinary
drag scraper has yet been devised. For
hauls under lOO feet, or in making ellis"
it is especially serviceabIe. 1t is a
mistake, however. to attempt to handle
long haul material with th is scraper, as
the wheel ecraper is better adapted to
such work. For haale Of more than 500
feet, a wagon should be used.
The machine most generally used in
the road work IL the grader, or road ma
chine. This machine is especially use.
full i'll smoothing and GROWING the road
and in opening bitches. clay eubsoil
under thm coating Of soil should not
be disturbed with grader. 1t is also
mistake to use grader indiscrimin-
ately and to pull material from bitches
upon eand-clay road. Not infre-
quently turf, soil and silt from ditch
bottoms are piled in the middle OF the
road In a ridge, making mudholes d
certainty. 1t Ii important in using q
grader to avoid building up the road too
much at one time. A road gradually
built up by frequent use Of the grader
will last better than il completed at one
operation. The foreman frequently
thinks his road must be high in the
first instance. He piles up material
from 10 inches to foot in depth
only to learn, with the arrival OF
the fret RAID, that he has furnished the
material for aa many inches of mud
All material should Ue brought up II,
thin layers, each layer we'll puddled md
firmly packed by roller or traffic be fore
the next is added. A common mistake
is to crown too high with the road
machine on "A narrow road