Milford chronicle., 1910-06-03
MILFORD GOOD ROADS
ASSOCIATION ORGANIZED

Out OF the automobile show held in
Milford three weeks ago has come q
movement which may revOlutiOnize the
method OF building and i'm proving pub
lie roads in middle Delaware At the
last days session OF the automobile
show the subject Of good roads" WAS
discussed by several speakers, and
. among the number was Mr.. Penney
packer OF the Bureau Of Roads in the
Agricultural Department at Washing
ton, d. C., who came here and was
shown over the country about Milford
in automobiles, ard who carefully in-
spected the soils as he found them in
both Kent and Sussex counties AfteT
taking photographs OF the various shell
roads, the clay roads and the stone
roads, which have been built in recent
years in these districts, he made the as
sertion that this part Of Delaware needs
nothing more or better to build good
roads than is already at hand along
almost every road for ten miles around
Milford, and that the roads can be made
hard and smooth by a system OF grad
ing and working under the "split-lOg
device properly used"
Mr.. Penneypacker advised those in
terested in betterment OF the roads that
the government will assist in this work
by sending an engineer here to supeI-
wise the work free OF cost in demon.
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ment provided that an association was
formed and q request made for an en-
gtneer for this purpose, OF course the
cOuHty committeeman in charge Of the
public road to be experimental upon
would have to give proper authority
for the work to be done, but il Is as
sumed that no member Of either OF the
Levy Courts Of Kent or Sussex County
would be so short, sighted as to refuse
this request to improve 3 piece Of their
public roads without charge to the
county or cost to themselves.
With this IS a starting point q meet
ing was called for last Tuesday evening,
to be held at the offices OF the Caulk
Laboratory, and in response 10 that
/ twenty or more men attended. such
men as John B. Smith, George n. hall,
/ William Webb, Harry Deputy, Captain
Wilson NJ. Vinysrd, Benjamin B. Vim
yard. DR.. Frank L. Grier DR.. q Lay
ton Grier, Charles POstles, William v.
Sippie, Luther F. Cubbage. Col. TheO.
| Townsend, George B. HynsOn, Dr. Will
liam Marshall and others Of equal
prominence locally took part and or
panized the Milford Good Roads AssO-
citation DR. G Layton GrieI was elected
president; George H. Hall, vice pTesi-
dent; Wilson NJ. Vinysrd, secretary,
and John B. Smith, treasurer. several
committees were app 'iuted and another
meeting is to be held on Monday even.
ing next. Each member paid in one
dollar as q membership fee which Is
to go towards paying for building eight
split-lOg drags to work out the expert
ment with.
II is the purpose OF the association to
get permission to take the road leading
from Milford to Frederick as the point
to begin operations upon, under the
following plan: Eight farmers will be
assigned one mile OF road each, and
Immediately after q rain they will be
gathered together at one place, and the
the method to properly operate the
split log drag As sOnR ss he is in-
structe1 the others will be taken in au.
tOmObiles ia their assigned mile and
begin OpeFat Ons, while the engineer
will 20 from one to another and super
wise the work.
It is stated by MI Pen neypacker that
the present road can be shaped splen'
didIy and cemsnted over with the
proper materials at an expense not 70
exceed ten dollars per mile and that
the cost OF keeping the road for the bal
ance of the year will not exceed TX
dollars per mtte MI PenneypackeF
said that in western States, where they
have been making roads as an object
Lesson, they have uUt had 80 good ma
terials Is We have here IN central Della
ware, and that they have built splendid
roads there by this system
The men VI Milford propose to dem
onstTate to the people OF Kent and 5us-
sex Counties that good roads can be
built out OF the materials at hand, and
have an object lesson to submit to the
Legislature next winter as to what can
De done at q moderate cost when sclen-
tlfic principles are followed out Where
sand predOminates the engineer from
W nduAukNQu VIII a9nu R9Ih " AA@
soil from that part to the department
at Washington, and reports will be sent
back as to the proper mixture Of clay
to be added to it. Where clay predOmi
mates, a sample OF that will be sent, aud
the proper admixturs Of sand be re-
turned Is right for that particular road.
When this is done, the split-lOg drsg
will be used to smooth over the surface,
and ct least four times each year i'm
Immediately after 3 rain the split.log
drag will be used which will require
about q half day for each mile OF the
road so worked When this frst eight
miles is proven to be 3 success, then i
is hoped and expected that the balance
Of the road leading from Frederick to
Dover and from Milford to Georgetown.
will be taken up by those interested
and worked in the same way. This is
the arst real effort to get ct road im.
provemeut in lower delaware on ratt-
0nal plan, aud we hope that the people
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