Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-09-22
A ROAD PRIMER In EASY TERN.
Discussion Of the Progress Made in Coz
straction OF Culverts. etc.
lLesson NO. 2-Culyertsl

LessOn NO. z-CulVertSl
In our first lesson we learned the vail
of the King drag on dirt roads; that
should be used just after rain; that
should be made so light boy can Ii
it; that boy and two horses shou
use it wnen the soil is too wet to wol
the farm. We learned that the be
road beds are those not over rod VIE
from ditch to ditch and kept high in I'll
middle. In this lesson | wish to Il
you about culverts and also water bas
and small bridges. They are very us
full but they are costly. Nearly a he
of the cost of our highways is in CT
yerts and bridges. Our first bridges
this county were made of wood. Tt
floors were of oak or hemlock or elr
Some of them were made low dow
with the upstream side nearest I'll
water so the high water would run ovs
the bridge and hold it down. The
were few culverts in the early days.
bar was thrown across the highwa
This bar was called "thank-ye-mum.
II did good work for time and tht
sore away and let the water run ovy
it down the middle Of the road Whei
water should never run.
Men found the bar hard on their wa,
ons and horses and made long boxes
pine or hemlock plank and buried the
across the road for water to run i
These culverts soon went decay. IT,
they bought earthen drain tile and I'M
few years that had cracked from free
ing and that was thought little of. Tn,
are now using another kind of tui
which will soon have its day like Il
thankye-mum and plank box and ORA
tile. That is the tube made of she
steel coated with zinc. They call
corrugated tubing. 1t is so made tn
it may hold up a heavier load than
not corrugated. | have little faith q
this metal tubing, and hope may new
be taxed to pay for any of it. | -four
galvanized iron pail the other d;
half full of clay used two years as
flower pot. The zinc was eaten fro
the sides as far as the clay was in co.
tact and the iron was rusted throug
In few years the same thing will tai
place in these fine culverts. What
there in the soil that will eat up thes
steel tubes? There is much cisy in OF
soil. The basis of clay is alum. Alul
is made UP of a metal we call aluminu3
and of very strong acid we call oil
vitriol, or sulphuric acid. We bun
these tubes in clay and the acid in I'll
clay begins to attack the zinc coatir
of the tube, forming sulphate of zir
or white vitriol, which is washed away
Then the acid attacks the steel tubs
forming sulphate of iron or coppers ar
that too was washed away. 1t seen
very foolish to buy these tubes at lon
prices. The way they are made make
them very good to hold ice in col
The ice can not float OF
of them unless there is lot of waite
In the winter they are closed culvert.
There is one kind of culvert that "
viii soon be making to take the plac
of the wood, tile and steel culverts
Concrete made of Portland cemen;
sand and rock will endure forever.
will tell you about concrete culvert
next time. If the path master is wi
ing, maybe you can make and writ
your name on the end wall where
will stay until you have heen dead
thousand years. Portland cement is
great thing. Every farmer could WEI
Use car lot of it on his farm.
So endeth the second lesson.