Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-23

be done the method of marginal pro-
| lection should be changed as herein
above suggested.
This might add some to the first cost
| of the work. but the permanent bene-
| fits and saving in maintenance will
more. than counterbalance the addi-
| tional expenditure.
Stone for Macadamizing
The greatest problem to be solved in
the road work up to the present time
is the procuring of suitable rock for
| this purpose. The popular belief is
that Southern California is SO abun-
dainty supplied with rock which is
suitable for road macadam that the
question is one which hardly requires
any thought to solve it. 1 found out
personally more than twenty years
ago that this popular belief is wholly
without reason, At that time | was
employed as engineer to construct sew
eral miles of macadamized roads in
the city of San Bernardino and expert
enced the greatest difficulty in finding
suitable rock for the purpose.
The coarse grained rocks of the
country, although many of them are
of great hardness, are not suitable for
road macadams. The reason for this
is that under the action of travel the
coarse grains will separate from one
another and will then be rapidly re-
duced to a dust. The qualities neces-
sary for d good road rock are not
alone hardness, but fineness of texture.
The only rocks in Southern Califor-
mia which answer this description are
porphyrys and andesytes. Such rocks
are found only in a few localities, as
most of the good rock is either of
granite or schistose character. 1t is
evident that those in charge of the
highway commissions work did not at
first realize the scarcity of suitable
| rock for road work and therefore failed
to give this subject the immediate
and energetic attention it required.
! Since then, however the matter has
| been taken up in earnest and two
| sites for quarrying suitable rock have
been acquired and are now being i'm
proved. These are at Pacoima and
| San Dimas.
Magnitude of Work
The impression 1 have gained is that
! no one seems to realize the magnitude
of the undertaking now in the hands
| of the Los Angeles highway commits
sion. over 300 miles of macadamized
roads are to be constructed in the
next two years, if the time set when
!
| lowed. 1t was generally understood
that three years after the voting of
| the bonds the money should be spent,
! and the roads to be constructed with
| it were to be fully completed. This
made an undertaking of great magni-
! tude owing to the peculiar conditions
attending the expenditure of the three
and a half million dollars provided for
! the work.
| In the first place the work is widely
scattered, requiring an excellent and
strong organization to handle it. In
the next place the plan of procedure
must be carefully laid to obviate all
/ delays, which are caused by encoun-
| tering unforeseen obstacles. Up to the
present time it seems that the magni-
tude and Importance of the work has
| been underestimated and that pro-
! vision has neither been made for a
| proper organization nor sufficiently
| definite plan of procedure. This is a
matter which the Los Angeles high
way commission should Immediately
| take in hand, so as to lay out its
work with the same precision which is
done by a general before entering upon
a long and arduous campaign.
Work for Next Year
If anything of consequence is to be
accomplished during the next year
contracts for from 1875 to 150 miles OF
the road work must be awarded before
March 1, 1910. Failing to find sufficient
contractors to take this amount OF
work, which is not at all improbable
the highway commission must prepare