The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-09-30
DIRT ROAD IMPROVEK
Wonderful Change nade by USING
the Split Log Drag.

ed highways. The other 90 per
cent. are the common, everyday
dirt roads. In the ordinary dis
Cussion regarding road improve
ment our thoughts and energies
so frequently lead us to the dis
Cussion of macadamized roads,
brick, stone and other specially
constructed roadbeds that the vast
majority of Our dirt roads are lost
sight of. We talk about necessity
for road rollers and road scrapers,
rock crushers and various other
essential roadmaking devices, and
then when we figure out the cost
OF such roads at from $1,000 to
$4,000 per mile we oftentimes
wonder how many generations, it
will take for our dirt roads to be
adequately maintained, according
to the best systems. Because of
the utter hopelessness of getting
macadamized or other expensive
improved roads in his locality in
Missouri man named d. Ward
King built drag ont ola log split
i'll half some thirteen wears ago,
and after every rain, while the
mud was soft, he drove up and
down and road in front of his farm
for half mile, pulling the drag at
an angle of forty-five degrees.
Such marvellous improvement re
suited from the use of this print
tive device that scientific investi-
cation by road engineers has been
instigated, and the matter has now
passed beyond the experimental
or 9uesswork stage.
The 90 percent Of our dirt roads
in the Unit d states, properly
dragged after rain, can be made
almost as satisfactory during the
greater part of the year as express
sively hard surfaced highways and
at a ridiculously small cost per
mile, carving from s. to 500.
In the light of the impossibilitv of
maCadamizing all our 1000, 600
miles of roads in the United States
in one generation or even in any
limited period of time, ard in the
light OF the effective and immediate
results obtained from dragging
the highways, the study of this
method can be followed with much
profit.
First of all, dragging a road
when muddy fills in the ruts,
closes up uneven spaces and makes
a smooth surface. Of course
traffic over such a road will imme-
dlately proceed to cut it up again.
However, as dragging is persisted
in and the mud is worked into a
cIayeY-llke mass and becomes drv
it likewise becomes hard. E.ventu-
ally the top of the road presents
resistant shell-like cake of tough
mud as hard as unburnt brick.
After time it will be noticed
that road that has been dragged
will become dry much sooner than
neglected stretches of road in the
same neighborhood. The more
attention given to dragging a road |
the quicker will it dry out ahead
OF its neighbors. Eventually after
several years of persistent drag
glng the mud shell on the surface
OF such road will become so hard |
that even after a cloudburst of
rain pick will with difficulty be
made to penetrate the surface for
over two inches.
By the skilled use of the drag a
road can be made higher in the
middle. The average neglected
country road is usually hollow in
the middle and after a rain has
small lakes and pools standing
over its surface, sometimes for
many days and weeks. But the
dragged road, having such crown
sheds water into the side cutters. |
These facts to the uninitiated or
skeptical may on first impression
seem fartetChed or exaggerated,
but they are facts based on the /
experience of reputable men from
Missouri to New York state who
have been draooinU tba co,,.,t,.,