Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1912-02-09
G. w. ALLYN, OF MADISON LAKE
TELLS HOW TO MAKE A GOOD
ROADBED BY PRACTICABLE
METHODS.

| buL Wn1le mOcn mas been SAID an(
written about the necessity and value
Of good roads, less has been said aboa
the construction of a good highwa,
by really practical methods. 1t viii
therefore be of interest to read !:
common-sense essay on this subject
by c. w. Allyn of Madison Lake, on,
of the speakers at the recent goot
roads meeting in Northfeld and a MAJ
who has been in touch with practica
good roads work for more than a scor,
of years, and we therefore reproduc,
the article in full:
The word gravel often conveys TIL,
wrong idea as to what is best to USE
on road. Good, coarse plasterins
sand with small mixture of small
gravel, is the best material for ou1
black or clay roads, though anything
that contains sand or small gravel i:
better than nothing.
There are two essential things to bt
accomplished: first, stop the mud .,
clay sticking to the wagon wheels and
horses feet, which is Immediately ac
complished when sand is mixed with
! the mud. This stops the rutting up
of the road, and therefore stops the
holding of the water in the holes
Second, the forming of "hard pam
or solid crust, which is done by the
mixing of clay and sand, or black dirt
and sand. Sand or gravel alone makes
the poorest road in the world, and dirt
or clay alone are only good when par
TALLY wet. When too wet they are
soft and cut all up by travel and when
too dry viii not pack, but work up into
deep dust. Dirt roads would be good
roads if we could degulate the rain
fall on them all the time, but as we
cannot, they are not good except oc-
casionally, when the weather has been
just right for a spell, but with the
mixture of sand and dirt, the road
will remain hard as floor through rain
or drough. If the mixture has been
about right, and it is easy to get this
mixture just right on all dirt or clay
soils if little care is used in putting
on the sand, as it will naturally mix it.
self exactly right by travel, if it has
any kind of chance to really mix.
This has been proven in all kinds of
dirt soil, and is no longer theory but
a proven fact.
If too much sand is applied to any
one spot, at one time, there is no
chance to mix with the dirt below it
by travel, because the wear of the
travel is all spent on the loose sand,
and does not mix at all with the dirt.
Some Of the best road advocates today
are using manure spreadcrs to apply
the sand, and go over the roads every
few days with sprinkling of sand,
during the mixing process, and if this
is attended to properly it makes
splendid road, but it is expensive, and
usually does not get the sand applied
as often as it should be at just the
right time. It has been demonstrated
time and again that just as good or
better results are obtained, where the
quantity of sand is dumped EXACTLY
IN THE CENTER OF THE ROAD,
then run common field drag over the
road once or twice, lengthwise, using
care to drag but little out into the
wheel tracks at first, then later repeat
the drag process, when the first sand
has been mixed by wheels, but the hor-
SEES feet and other travel inside of the
wheel tracks will usually scatter out
the sand about fast enough, and the
rains also wash it out, and the tracks
where the wheels run, and inside where
the horses feet travel, soon mixes with
dirt until it's as hard as adamant.
Then tendency is always to put on
100 much sane; at first rather thar toe
Htt'le. This =, oclv wastes tie iaror
of hauling the sand but spoils the road
as it cannot properly mix, and the road
will never be as good as it would have
been had the sand been put on lighter
at first so it could properly mix. About
one-half yard is all that should be put
in the center Of the road at one time,
the length of a set of twelve foot
boards, and in soil that is hard and
has some sand and gravel in it already
a less amount is better.
The writer has several times demon.
strated the fact, on the same road
where there was a rather soft dump,
that one-half yard properly applied
made harder road and better, than
yard or more dumped on the same
ground. In the latter case the gravel
would not properly mix, with the top
dirt, to form the crust, but was punch
ed deep into the mud later when the
whole dump softened up by continued
wet. On soft dump, (and also many
other places on the road) it will be
necessary, sooner or later to again
haul on small amount Of sand, but
a road cannot be made, so that all of
it will remain good, without the second
and occasionally We find
certain soil that the third coat is nee
essary. But the most of the roads
will require but the one, if the proper
care is taken in doing the work
But in all cases REMEMBER THAT