The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-04-20
Road Expert Made
a Fine Impression
Continued from Page Two.

to find a remedy and improve the
situation. In the early days, he said,
he had been made fun of by scientists
served any credit whatever, 1t was
because he kept on in the face Of this
and did not give up.
Mr.. King said that while he was
making these experiments he discov-
cred many things that the use of the
split-log drag would do before he
found out why 1t would do them and
ted, in an entertaining way, Of the
difficulty he encountered in making his
audiences believe the things he told
of what he had done with the drag
In order to convince them he had been
forced to study these things out so
that he could back up hill statements
and in this way he had learned the
theory. as we'll as the practice, of road
dragging.
Mr.. King first began using the split
log drag in March 1896, he said. He
told Of how his neighbors soon caught
the fever and took up where he left
off, until within a short time after he
first dragged the road from his house
to his neighber's house they soon had
a splendid hard road clear into the
neighboring town. He told of how he
would drive up one side of the road
and back down on the other, thus
throwing the elevation to the middle,
and, at the same time, smoothing out
the ruts on either side of the road.
Some of the things gained by road
ORA gging, he says, are: First, the
road is made smoother. This he said
was his only idea when he first be-
gan using the drag. However, he soon
noticed that the road dried much
quicker after he had dragged it few
times.
The next advantage OF the drag. he
said, was that the elevation was
thrown to the middle of the road,
which, of course. makes it drain much
better. In order not to make the ele-
walton too great in the middle. he
said you should throw the dirt toward
the middle of the road twice and then
going down the middle, throw it away
to the sides once.
The next advantage noticed by Mr..
King was that dragging the road got
rid of the mud holes. He said at the
foot of a bridge near his home there
had always been a big mud hole, but
that after he had used the drag
awhile he discovered that this mud
hole was gone. BY Illustrating, show
ing the difference in the puddle which
Will invariably be found in a hog pen
end a hole dug in a garden and water
poured in to it, he explained why the
mud puddle disappeared, as we'll as
why the road became hard, because a
kind Of cement was formed, which kept
the water from soaking in, but made
it run off and left the road packed
hard. you simply can't have a mud
hole on a well dragged road" declared
Mr.. King.
Besides these advantages, Mr.. King
said he found that he had freed his
read of the weeds, which had previ-
ously been a source of great annoy
apce, and had gained an unusual
hardness.
Three months use of the drag would
make the roads around Pensacola
much more smooth than the paved
streets in the city are at present, he
said. The ordinary road could be made
fully as smooth as the ordinary
floor.
Progress in Iowa.
The speaker told Of his first expert
erces In the state of Iowa, how he
had been greeted by skeptical audi
ences, but how he had finally con-
WINGED the PEOPLE in one community
and had eventually been employed to
make campaign over the state, until
al present there is a road 3S7 miles
IN length in that state, every foot of
which is dragged after every rain.
This entire 3S7 miles is dragged with
in an hours time. too, he declared. as
every man living on the road is re-
qUired to drag a certain amount.
In that state there is now a manda-
tory law, requiring every foot of road
TO be dragged Immediately after each
rain and providing for heavy fines for
road supervisors who fail to comply
with the law, he said. For the pur-
pose of executing this law a one-naill
tax is levied to be used soley for this
purpose.
Mud-HoIe Disappeared.
In an amusing manner Mr.. King
Just before concluding his address. told
OF how he removed a,Inud hole on the
ro al between his house and the neigh
boring town One day he decided TO
go TO town on his drag and when he
came 10 this mud-hole he almost
turned back. but finally decided to
drive through it. He looked back after
going across and what he saw made
him go through again on the other
side. This put him on the wrong