The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-04-23

each and every mile of road and the
a~pportioning of the funds available so
as TO carry out the work. 1t does not
Enean an excessive expense, nor does
ii mean that the farmer shall not be
privileged to work out his assessment
though a cash payment would make
the plan much easier to operate. even
under a system of letting each taxpay-
er work out his own assessment at
the proper time and be paid in cash as
the work Is done.
Specification for Earth Roads.
General: The soil Of the Red river
valley and the eastern portion OF III
state lends itself easily to the con-
~struction of roads. The problem Is,
generally speaking, merely one OF
making uniform well drained grade.
An ~elevating grader, drawn either by
horses or by a gasoline or steam trac-
tor, is generally the most economical
means for doing the bulk Of the work.
Where the road passes over Law pIac-
es necessitating a higher embankment,
the slush or drag scraper will give the
best results, Good roads with moder-
ately high entertainments can be made
by blowing in towards the center of
the roadway. rolling and repeating the
operation several times. A four
wheeled side scraping road machine
ar ieveler will also do effective WORK
on loose and plowed material.
Grading of Roads.
The grading may be done either
with an elevating grader, blowing in
towards the center Of the road way
or by blowing and using the wheeled
side scraping road machine, or a com
binatfon of these. The object shall
be to get a uniform grade or en-
bankment approximately two feet
higher at the crown than the average
surface of the ground. The embank-
ment shall be proportionately high
err where 1t PASSES over low places,
and relatively lower where it crosses
ridges and high ground. The material
exeavated in an effort to cut bitches
through ridges and high ground shall
not be placed on the grade making
same higher where the ground is the
highest. An effort shall be made to
follow a uniform grade, and towards
cutting down the high places and fill
ing up the low places.
Cross section: The finished road
way shall be 20 feet wide and
shall have a uniform crown OF n
inch to the foot. The embankment
shall have a slope of two to one. EN-
bankments higher than three feet
above the surface shall have a beam
at least FIVE feet wide between the
roadway and the ditch, and all bitches
shall have the inside slope at least
two to one.
Leveling: The grade shall be made
uniform and level by disking and
narrowing and finished by rolling IL
the roadway is very loose. Care shall
be taken in making the crown true
and uniform.
Drainage: The bitches shall be run
to a true grade throughout their en-
tire length. An engineers level
should be used in determining the
true gradient. No excessive a
ton in low places for increasing the
road e~mbankment shall be tolerated,
as such places will retain the water
and soften the embankment. All low
places should be drained into a main
run off channel.
Specifications for culverts.
Culyerts: All culverts shall be Of
concrete, extra heavy, vitrified tile or
cast iron. Culverts shall be so placed
as to have the top of same at least
six inches below the grade of the road
way, /. e., there shall be at least six
inches of soil on top of the culvert
with no elevation OF the roadway at
point where the culvert crosses. All
culverts shall be at least 20 feet
long where concrete bulkheads are
used, and as much longer, where no
bulkhead is used, as will insure a
stable embarrassment and roadway Of
the full width specified. All cuIverts
must be laid so that they will drain,
and IL the height of the embankment
does not permit the use Of a one cul-
vert large enough to take care of all
the water, two or more shall be used.
Culyerts laid at intersection of two
roads shall be at least 30 feet long.
Top Dressing; Where sand or
gravel may be had, a top dressing Of
either will improve the roadway very
much. Even a small proportion OF
sand and gravel in the soil will pre-
vent it from sticking to the wheels
excessively. Four to six inches OF
! sand or gravel disked or narrowed
into the top surface will make an
excellent roadway, but a smaller
amount would be OF no great value.