The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-04-19
Bettering the Highways

viii soon decay, ana tue lAlteT Is l1dble
to break unless 1t Is very carefully laid.
Stone or concrete culverts are the best
and cheapest in the long run. 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 Ii
much fall is given the spillway should
be paved and the outlet and intake pro-
teeted 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 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 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 shoyels and do it bet
ter. The road scraper should be used
when the soil Is damp, so that the soil
%f1l pack and bake. IL 1t is worked
dry 1t takes more power TO operate the
machine, and. furthermore, dry earth
and dust retain moisture and quickly
rut after rains.
Shoulders are often formed on both
sides Of the road by constant travel in
one place. which prevents storm water
from flowing into side bitches. retain
ing 1t 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 OF
less, and passing traffic forms ruts
and depressions. These, IL 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 los
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 Sc
drag Is essentially pudding machine
After each rain and while the earth |:
still plastic. but not sticky enough Il
adhere to the drag. one or two trip:
up and down the road are made viii
the drag Only small amount OF
earth is moved, Just enough TO fir the
ruts and depressions and smooth over
the surface With thin layer of PLASTIC
clay. which packs very hard, so that thu
next rain. instead of finding ruts and
III w MN " toHFNts ihHS
of, leaving the surface but little af
fected.
The time and labor involved in keep
Ing an earth road properly dragged arr
small. Five dollars per mile per veal
seems tn be about the average cost In
the middle states. The essential req
uisite is that the work shall he done
at the time 1t is needed This Ia the
point which seems hardest 10 impress
on the average man. The little atten
ton the earth road needs must he
given promptly and at the proper time
IL the best results are TO he obtained.
We have become SO accustomed to
the old habit of doing our road work
at our 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