The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1909-11-11
DIRT ROAD |MPR0VER
Wonderful Change Made by Using
the Split Log Drag.
DIRECT, effective RESULTS,

Dragging a Road When Muddy Fills
in Ruts and Closes Up Uneven
Spaces-Persistent Use Of Drag Will
Soon Make a Smooth, Hard Surface.
1t has been said that only 10 per
cent of the roads in the entire United
States are the main Travelled highways.
The other 90 per cent are the common,
everyday country dirt roads. In the
ordinary discussion regarding road In
proyement our thoughts and energies
so frequently lead US to the discussion
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 neces-
sity for road rollers and road serapers,
rock crushers and various other es-
sential roadmaking deyl, ns, 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, ac-
corling to the best systems. Because
OF the utter hopelessness OF getting
macadamlzed or other expensive i'm
proved roads In his locality In MIS-
souri, a man named D. Ward King
built a drag out Of log split In half
some thirteen years ago, and after
every rain, while the mud was soft,
he drove up and down the road in front
of his farm for half a mile, pulling
the drag at an angle of forty-five de-
grees. Such marvellous improvement
resulted from the use Of this primitive
device that scientific investigation by
road engineers has been instigated, and
the matter has now passed beyond the
experimental or guesswork stage.
The so per cent Of our dirt roads in
after rain, can be made almost as
satisfactory during the greater part
of the year as extensively hard sur
faced highways and at ridiculously
small cost per mile, carrying from s.
to 500. In the light of the impossi-
bility of macadamizing all our 2.G00,-
600 miles of roads in the United States
in one generation or even In any lin
tied period of time, and in the light OF
the effective and immediate results
obtained from dragging the highways,
the study of this method can be fol-
lowed with much profit.
First Of all. dragging road when
muddy fills In the ruts, closes up un-
even spaces and makes smooth sur
face OF course traffic over such a
road will Immediately proceed to cut
1t up again. However, as the dragging
Is persisted In and the mud is worked
into clayey-like mass and becomes
dry it likewise becomes hard Eyentu-
ally the top of the road presents re-
sistant. shell-like cake Of tough mud
as hard as unburnt brick.
After a time 1t will be noticed that
road that has been dragged will be-
come dry much sooner than neglected
stretches Of road in the same neigh
borhood. 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
ging the mud shell on the surface of
such road will become so hard that
even after cloudburst of rain a pick
will with difficulty be made to pene-
trate the surface for over two inches.
BY the skilled use of the drag the
road can be made high in the middle
The average neglected country road is
usually hollow in the middle and after
rain has small lakes and pools stand
ing 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 farfetched or exaggerated. but
they are facts based on the experience
of reputable men from Missouri to
New York state who have been drag
ging the country dirt roads after ev-
cry rain.
The roads today in many sections of
the United States are no better than
they were fifty years ago. even with
the labor and money that have been
expended upon them In some locali-
ties almost the entire amount of the
tax is expended in temporary work,
while nothing is spent for permanent
Improvement, with the result that con-
ditions remain unchanged. The sooner
we can get a system of road dragging
inaugurated in every community the
sooner will we have the 90 per cent
of our neglected dirt roads adequately
and permanently improved throughout
the greater part of the year in the
United States. - Donald McCaskey.
n