Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1910-09-17

HIGHWAY OF EARTH.
IFrom Good Roads Magazine New York |
has never Jagged from then until now.
The effect on the road was instantane-
GUS. The passage of the drag wrought
q wonderful change. Whereas the
road had been very rough. with two
deep ruts in evidence, after the drag
had been used 1t was comparatively
smooth, and the ruts. which before
were rendered unobtruSive and unob-
structive. Before none but the hardi
est adventurer dared drive out of the
beaten track; afterward there was no
need to choose way, for all the sur
face was smoother than the best por-
tion 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 l ask
no one to believe, for my only object
in telling them is to shock the public
into giving the new system a trial.
Here is one they are telling in Iowa.
III NItuil COUNT
in spring wagon on a dragged road
drove out on one side to allow a 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 spade.
From over near Trenton, Mo-, comes
another 1t seems that some years
atnI, nf
habitually overtlowed after every
heavy rain. 1t regularly became
mass OF mud and water. The com
munity declared that 1t was physical
impossibility to fill in enough earth to
build a roadway, and the authorities
were planning to condemn land for
new road a quarter of mile away
from the creek. At this moment some
body suggested a test with a King
drag. Although the creek still covers
the roadway during each freshet, there
has been no serious difficulty with that
road since the test began.
To the man who drives a team the
word gumbo means broken double
trees, horses mired down and other
bad road caamities. a quarter of
mile of this sort of gumbo lies between
my home and the railway station at
Maitland. One morning when | board
ed the train at Villisca, Ia, on my re-
turn from lecture trip the trainmen
said in response to my inquiry for
news from down the road: well, sir,
they had 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 Maitland. 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
puddle on its surface, are-we Travelled
its 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. l appealed to the highway
authorities to erect barricade, for
felt a personal pride In that road, and
the prospect Of its destruction gave
me great mental pain. But the author
tiles said they were powerless because
they could stop public travel only
when travelling became dangerous to
the public, so they did nothing. At
the end of the week the wafer reced-
ed, and this King dragged gambo bOu-
levard emerged from its seven day
baptism absolutely unharmed.