The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1912-05-15
|. AXE satisfactory culverts, The FIRST

. AXE satisfactory culverts. The frst
ill soon decay, and the latter Is liable
10 break unless it is very carefully laid.
Stone or concrete culverts are the best
and cheapest in the long rum The
main things to bear in mind in build
Ing culverts are that they should have
sufficient capacity to quickly dispose
Of the maximum flow of rainwater
and that they are given sufficient fall
to keep themselves clean. Increased
fall also increases the capacity, but If
much fall is given the spillway should
be paved and the outlet and intake pro-
tected with suitable wing walls.
All material subject to decay, such
as sod, grass or weeds and vegetable
mold, must be carefully excluded. The
aim must always be to build a road
way as solid and impervious to mois-
ture as possible. Water from every
source, surface or underground, must
be got rid Of. Except in sandy or very
arid regions, water is the great enemy
of earth roads.
The earth road can best be crown
ed and ditched with a reversible road
machine or scraper and not with picks
and shovels, scoops and plows. One
road scraper with suitable power and
operator will do the work Of many men
with picks and shovels and do it bet
ter. The road scraper should be used
when the soil is damp, so that the soil
will pack and bake. If it is worked
dry it takes more power to operate the
machine, and, Furthermore, dry earth
and dust retain moisture and quickly
rut after rains.
Shoulders are often formed IN both
sides Of the road by constant travel in
one place, which prevents storm water
from flowing into side bitches, retain
ing it in the ruts and softening the
roadway. These ruts and shoulders
can usually be entirely eliminated by
a judicious use of the split log drag.
The price Of good roads is eternal
vigilance in maintenance. This is per-
haps even more true of earth roads
than any other. The rains and melt
ing snow soften the surface more or
less, and passing traffic forms ruts
and depressions. These, if allowed to
remain, will retain more water at the
next rain, and more mud and deeper
ruts and larger depressions will be
formed. 1t is self evident, therefore,
that the main thing in maintaining
heavy soil roads must be to keep the
drainage good. For this purpose there
Is nothing which equals the split log
drag or other similar devices.
The principle Of the action of the
drag is simply this: The clays and
most heavy soils will puddle and set
very hard if worked when wet. The
drag is essentially a pudding machine.
After each rain and while the earth is
still plastic, but not sticky enough to
adhere to the drag, M or two trips
up and down the road are made with
the drag. Only a small amount Of
earth is moved, just enough to fill the
ruts and depressions and smooth over
the surface with a thin layer Of plastic
clay, which packs very hard, so that the
next rain, instead of finding ruts and
depressions in which to collect, runs
off, leaving the surface but little af-
fected.
The time and labor involved in keep
ing an earth road properly dragged are
small. Five dollars per mile per year
seems to be about the average cost IN
the middle states. The essential req
uisite is that the work shall be done
at the time it Is needed. This Is the
point which seems hardest to impress
IN the average man. The little atten-
ton the earth road needs must be
given promptly and at the proper time
If the best results are to be obtained.
We have become so accustomed to
the old habit of doing our road work
at u convenience that we can hardly
force ourselves to realize that any
thing else should be even suggested.
One thing is absolutely certain, and
that is that we will never have any
thing like improved earth roads until