The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1910-06-16

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the common earth roads to an inn
measurable degree and at the same
time save millions of dollars by re-
ducing road-building expenses; this
is the province of the simple, cheap,
uncouth but sufficient King Drag.
Little did suspect when first rode
a drag down the highway that such
claims would ever be made.
The initial trip was taken In the
spring of 1896, and the result was so
pleasing and satisfactory that the
work has never Jagged from then
until now. The effect on the road
was instantaneous. The passage
OF the drag wrought a wonderful
change. Whereas the road had been
very rough. with two deep ruts in
evidence, after the drag had been
used it was comparatively smooth,
and the ruts. which before dragging
stuck out like sore thumbs, were
rendered unObtrusive and unobstruc-
tive. Before, none but the hardest
adventurer dared drive out OF the
beaten track; afterward, there was
no need to choose a way, for all the
surface was smoother then the best
portion had been.
The stories told about the King
Drag and its work are preposterous;
they are unreasonable and absurd;
and yet they are absolutely true.
But / ask no one to believe, for my
only object in telling them is to shock
the public into giving the new sys-
tenn trial.
Here is one they are tellingin Iowa:
| In Cedar county a gentleman riding
in spring wagon on a dragged road
drove out to one side to allow four
horse wagon load OF logs to go by
him. The loaded logs went merrily
on their way, but the spring wagon
had to be dug out with a spade.
PROBLEMS IN MUD.
| From over near Trenton, Missouri,
comes another. 1t seems that some
years ago a stretch of creek-bottom
road habitually overfowed after
every heavy rain. 1t regularly be.
came a mass of mud and water. The
community declared that it was q
physical impossibility to fill In
enough earth to build a roadway
and the authorities were planning tc
condemn land for new road a quar-
ter of a mile away from the creek
At this moment somebody suggested
a test with a King Drag. Although
the creek still covers the roadway
during each freshet, there has beer
No carionc difHon1ty xu;th +bot roo
since the test began.
To the man who drives q team the
word gumbo means broken double
trees, horses mired down, and Other
bad road calamities. A quarter OF 6
mile of this sort of gumbo lies be
tween my home and the railway sta
ton at Maitland. One morning when
| boarded the train at Villisca, Iowa
on my return from lecture trip, th=
trainmen said in response to my in.
quiry for news from down the road
"Well, sir, they had a terrible storm
at Maitland last evening. When we
stopped there the rain was falling In
sheets; one could hardly see the
depot" The train arrived at Matt
land and | stepped into my buggy
and drove home over the gumbo
: quarter. could see by the debris on
the fence wires, still dripping wet,
that water had stood three or four
feet deep on the road during the
| night, yet there was not a puddle on
its surface and we Travelled it's length
without the buggy wheels throwing
any mud.
Another season the floods covered
this same gumbo quarter with water
and kept it standing there for more
than a week, the road being Travelled
every day. | appealed to the high
way authorities to erect barYicade,
for | felt a personal pride in that
road, and the prospect ofits destruc-
| t1on gave me great mental pain.
But the authorities said they were
powerless because they could stop
public travel only when travelling be-
came dangerous; so they did nothing.
At the end OF the week the floods
abated, the water receded, and this
King Dragged gumbo boulevard
merged from its seven days baptism
bearing no evidence OF the test-ab-
solutely unharmed.
Here is another good one from
Iowa: 1t is told by Mr. Henry Har-
low, Mayor OF Onawa, who relates
his first experience with a King Drag
in these words: 81 built a drag
exactly according to Mr.. Kings
directions. | finished it before noon
and put it to work at one O'Clock on
a single block OF our man street.
The soil is gumbo and the street was
almost impossible, the mud being
hub deep In some places. At five
O'Clock, just four hours after begin
ming TO use the drag, wagons loaded
with four thousand pounds of baled
hay were being drawn over the block
and were making scarcely a percepti-
BILE rut"
And here is a whopper from Maine,
within one hundred miles OF Boston:
Mr.. F. P. Sanborn began his expert
ment with the drag on April %,
1906. "At the commencement" be
says. ''the mud was from two to
eight inches or more in depth. With
in three hours teams passed at a
trot without sinking half the depth
OF a hoof or burying the wheel rim.
Tha rnoaf h1paioaaIxz frnrraaihJx, ~