The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-16

the people must look to another legis-
lature and governor to give them what
they have declared in unmistakable
terms that they want The people should
make the question of road improvement
and state aid and the establishment of
this much needed highway commission
an issue In the next election. We should
ask the candidates for governor and
members of the legislature to declare
themselves on this important issue, and
we should cast our votes only for those
who will carry out the desire of tho
people.
If the work and deliberations of this
association are to bear its proper fruit
we should carry back to our people at
home a report of its actions, and we
should without delay organize In those
counties where they do not already ex-
list county good roads associations that
will cooperate with the executive COM
mittee of the state association In car
rying on the educational campaign pre-
viously referred to.
This is what Mr.. w. r. Prouty said of
the character and distribution of Ala
bama bodybuilding materials;
Any discussion of the distribution of the
Alabama road materials calls for a
knowledge of the distribution of the geo.
logical formation bearing these rocks. In
terials is a partial geological map, such
a map have attempted to construct.
In the classification of road materials
1t has become the custom to use as a
basis for this classification, first, the
origin of the rocks, whether of igneous,
sedimentary or metamorphio; and second
ly, their physical and chemical character
istics.
OF these the fine grained basic or dark
, nIA .NaIrc 10th la1 fror
rocks are the most resistent to wear.
and also have as high or higher a value
of cementation as any of the road ma
terials found in the state. They thus
easily stand first among our materials as
far as quality Is concerned. In practical
road construction however, ease of min
ing, accessibility, ETC., must govern in a
large measure the kind of rock that
should be used. The coarse grained basic
igneous rocks have a high oementing
value, but are more easily shattered by
traffic than the finer grained. and the
finer slicious Chose having a higher per-
centage of QUARTZ, while they may not be
readily broken, they have very low &C.
menting value.
Therefore, we may make the general
statement that, as a rule, the finer
grained and the more basic the rock is the
better is it adapted, when used by itself,
as road material On the other mana
the coarser the grain of rock and the
more silicious 1t is, the poorer Is It's quail
ity. d,
1t Is not my purpose here to go into
a detailed discussion of the values of our
road materials. We have yet much to
learn along that line. I wish, however,
to dwell for a few moments on the distri-
button of the more important of the ma
terials of Alabama, suitable for road con-
struction. These materials occur In three
distinct areas: One occupies some 5000
square miles in the east-centra1 part of
the state. 1t is designated as the crystal
inc area, and covers Lee, Tallapoosa.
Coosa, Clay, Randolph; a large portion of
Elmore and Cleburne and a small por-
ton Of Chiffon, Talladega and Calhoun In
this area occur all the igneous and meta
morphic rocks.
The sedimentary materials. which are
represented by limestones, cherts, shales,
gravels, clays, sands. etc, occur in one
or the other of the remaining two areas,
the loose or unconsolidated materials are
confined largely to the division known as
the costal plain. which occupies the south
ern and southwestern two-thirds of the
state; while the consolidated sediments as
the limestones, ebert, etc, occupy the re-
naming northern portion, known as the
paleozoic area.
For convenience, let US discuss the &C.