Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-04-08
GRAVEL ROADS IN CONNECTICUT.
Native of That State Thinks Gravel
Beats the Macadam.

| We have learned, here in Connecti
| cut, that good gravel will stand the
strain that falls on a country road bet
ter than macadam, and is vastly easier
kept in repair | say this after an ex
| perience of many years in building
gravel roads. declares r. S. Hinman
in Country Gentleman. Much de
pends on the manner of putting
on gravel and the time. If the
road is through the country, where
| teams do not drive side by side a
| single-track road is best. If IL be
sandy, the later in the fall the work is
| done the better
TO properly put gravel on a sandy
road, having found your gravel. which
should contain, if possible, cobbles as
large as goose eggs and little loam,
| estimate the number of rods that can
be covered in a day and dump the first
| load at the limit With garden rake
or potato hook, rake all the large cob
| bles back on the sand, leaving as many
| as possible in the wheel track, and
| dump the next load so that it will
cover the cobbles and lap little on TO
the preceding load. Continue in this
way back to where the Improvement
| is TO begin. AS each load is dumped
| the empty cart should be driven
straight over the gravel, not turned
around on it, The next day lay out
| another days work, and the loaded
carts will go over the new gravel and
| pack it pretty solid. When the heavy
loads have thrown up a shoulder out
side the wheel track, have this SHOW
eled into the middle of the road. A
new man will want to fill the wheel
| tracks, but insist that it go in the mid.
die
The road is now all right for use,
but a little too rounding. A few weeks
travel when the frost is out will rem
edy that. The cobbles in the bottom
make binder, and not being mixed
promiscuously in the gravel will stay
put If a little gravel is thrown with
shovel in the horse track in the mid
die of the road once in two or three
years, you will have a good road for
an indefinite period.
The late Chief Justice Torrance of
Connecticut rode a bicycle over roads
that | built and said that, while the
road was all right, | had blundered in
saying that 1t could be built for one
dollar per rod, as people would not
believe that good road could be built
for that price. | admit that in build
ing nearly mile in that way at that
cost | did not allow for my own time.
as | only looked on enough to see that
the work was properly done. That
road has been travelled By all sorts of
vehicles heavy loads and autos. for
seven or eight years without a dollar
being laid out on it, and, aside from a
little following in the middle, is an
excellent road. Some people, if they
see new gravel on a road, will turn off
1t If they can, no matter how solid it
is packed. The only way | know to
stop that is to put some of the largest
cobbles in little piles so that any one
turning out of the track will bob over
them. Only very stupid driver will
go over more than two or three piles
before turning on to the gravel and,
finding it all right, will stay on it,
After two or three weeks these cob.
bles can be thrown into cart and
dumped where they will not be un-
slightly.
The road for an eighth of a mile by
my house | built in the manner de-
scribed more than 20 years ago, and
the town has not laid out any money
on it since. The only trouble with it
is that, being smooth and solid, auto.
mobiles go by at an unlawful rate Of
speed, and we have to keep the chick
ems and dogs off the highway to save
their lives.
The only time to cheaply do away
with mudholes is when the mud is
deepest in the spring. For this pur.
pose | have used stones as large as a
four-quart measure anything that
will sink out of sight when travelled
over. When as many big stones as
possible have been thrown it. use
smaller ones until they show abov,
the mud as evenly as may be. Put
on three or four inches of gravel, and
if any one tells you frost will throw
out the big stones tell him you guess
not. If any one cares to investigate,
l will lend him pick and take him
to spot where | filled a mud hole in
that way 20 or more years ago. and
he will find the stones down where
they bedded themselves in the mud