The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-03-16
THE SPLIT LOG DRAG.
Its Use Explained Before Lively
Improvement Society.

Improvement
Mr.. w. b. Thompson, of Elmira,
n. Y, division engineer of the North
ern Central railroad, made an address
on Good Roads" before meeting
at Millport recently.
He prefaced his remarks by stat
ing that while good roads had made
very rapid strides in New York state
in recent years, there is one branch
of the subject where some sugges-
tions might be of value, namely, the
economical care of dirt roads. He
stated that he felt he had a message
on this subject for the people, from
the fact that he had devoted some
time to the study of it and had had
the privnege of discussing the matter
very thoroughly with d. Ward King,
of Missouri, a well-known authority
on the subject. A description was
then given of how Mr.. King had dis
covered that by dragging couple of
logs such as are used to break off
corn stalks in the spring, over his
road he had improved the conGition of
it very much, and showed how from
worked up to the tool which he now
advocates and which is known as
The King Split Log Drag" He
stated that Mr.. King had patented
this tool, not with the idea of making
money out of it, but to prevent un-
scrupulous people from monopolizing
it's use and that he now wished every
road man and farmer in the United
States to build himself drag and
to use it on his roads
Mr.. Thompson then told some stor-
les of the conditions under which Mr..
King first labored and showed how
his persistence in the use of the drag
had finally led to the very general
use of the split log drag in Mr..
Kings immediate vicinity. He then
stated that the drag is now in com
mon use all over the United States
and that four different states, name
| ly, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Vir-
ginia, have legally recognized the
King Split Log Drag" and pay men
| to drag their roads at regular inter
walls and that after four years trial,
| the state of Iowa had enacted a law
making it mandatory on the road SUI
| pervisors to have all dirt roads drag
ged. He cited a case of one road SUI
pervisor in Iowa who has his force
of road draggers SO organized and
reachable by telephone that he can
have all the dirt roads in the town
ship dragged within three hours after
he issues call
The speaker then came nearer
home and reviewed the history of the
roads in Eldred township, Lycoming
county, Pa, where the road super
visor, DR.. Minor, has been using the
| split log drag for 1he past two years
with very marked results. He then
read DR.. Minors history of " One
year of road work under the split
log drag system which showed how
the constant use of the drag kept the
roads in perfect condition with less
expense than the old system. He
stated that there are at present in
! the United States about 100000
miles of dirt road, which must be
maintained by some inexpensive
method, and stated that unquestion-
ably this method is the use of the
split log drag.
1t was then shown that the King
split log drag ready for use costs
about $3.50, and that the cost of
maintenance OF dirt reads, with the
split log drag, varies from Sl.50 to
81 per mile per year, whereas under
the old system the cost of mainten-
ance was from $35 to $40.
A model of the King split drag
was then exhibited and its use freely
/ explained and it was recommended
that all present. who were interested,
write to the agricultural department
for Farmers Bulletin No. 321 by d.
Ward King, which covers very fully
the construction and use OF the drag.