Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1910-03-11
The GOOD ROADS QUESTION

once more in acute form the good
roads question. BY good roads, as
used by the people who live in town
and by other people who don't know
M much about country roads, is meant
macadamiZed or stone roads. BY
good roads the farmer means roads
over which he can haul his grain eco
nOmical!y to town, or go to town in
comfort whenever he wishes. 1t de-
pendS therefore, on who is talking
what is meant by good roads,
There are quite a number who are
earnest advocates of macadam roads.
! Usually it is people who do not have
to pay for the building of them. We
have heard men say that farmers OF
Iowa could we'll afford to use bonds
equivalent to 800 an acre on every
acre of land in the state ia order to
get good roads. Perhaps they could,
but the people who suggest it do not
expect to be called upon to pay the
bonds. Other people tell US that we
could have macadamized road
through each state west ano cas- and
north and south. Some Iowa people
are particularly anxious for a road Of
this kind. In all this discussion we
hear others pronounce the road drag
as wholly useless as a road builder
All Of them seem to lose sight of
few elementary principles.
The first is, that it is water uncon-
trolled, and that only, which prevents
US having good roads every day in the
year, and unless some way is provided
for dispOSing of this water, it is not
worth while to talk about any kind
of good roads-dirt, macadam, brick
pavement or anything else. The wa
ter under the road that seeps out on
the hillsides in rolling country or that
comes in from the side in a fiat coun-
try must be taken care of. The only
way is by drainage, To spend money
on road without providing drainage
is simply throwing away your money.
After the water under the road is
disposed of the road must be graded
and rounded up, made oval, so that
the water that falls from above can
run off. 1t will do that if you give it
a chance. Water is the most accom-
modating thing in the world. 1t al
ways gets off the road if you give it a
chance. No matter what kind of a
road you build, this is the first con-
sideration, and to co mmence road
building in any other way is to act
the part Of the man who began to
! build his chimney at the top. This
done, the next thing is to provide
durable, permanent culverts, which
can be made cheaply with reinforced
concrete. Then if the drag is used on
the ordinary country road after every
rain, the roads will be reasonably
good eight months in the year, and if
this thing is continued for five or six
years, they will be fairly good all the
year, except when banked full of snow
and under these conditions macadam
is as useless as dirt: or when the frost
goes out in the spring, or Immediately
before winter when the rains are con-
tnuous for weeks.
Townspeople may as we'll under
stand first as last that the macadam
| road, as far as practical utility is con-
sidered, is thing of the past. France
has perhaps as fine macadam roads
and other hard roads as can be found
in the world, and yet we are told by
men who visited Paris last summer
that there is not a good road to be
found within hundred miles of that
city. Why? Because the automobile
has torn them to pieces. Macadam
roads were devised by Mr.. Macadam,
a Scotchman, on the theory that
broad, iron tires, by passing over the
road, would do two things towards its
maintenance. One, by wearing down
enough of the rock to furnish filler or
binder, and the other. to compact it
still more closely. His theory was
correct Hence the prevalence of
stone roads over all the other civilized
country. The automobile came in.
Its rubber tires do not grind down
any rock to make filler; in it's rapid
movement it sucks the filler out and
the wind blows it away. 1t pulls the
stones loose instead of packing them
closer as does the broad iron tire. The
result is that the stone roads become
"raveled," that is, covered with loose
stones, and in country which long
drouths are frequent the road ravels
worse than in a country like Ireland
for example. where it rains 22O days
out of the year, or city where the
streets are sprinkled. The intense
heat shrinks the rock, pulls it away
from the filler: the automobile sucks
the filler out, and there you are
Hence to talk about macadam roads
even in a country that has stone il
every quarter section, would, in the
days of automobiles, be to talk non
sense.
The only road practicable in the
prairie country is the brick pavement
Macadam roads would cost us prob
ably 81, 900 to 5000 mile; brick from
Sc, 900 to 1000 The brick would last
ten times as long as the macadam,