The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-08-15
Seven Hundred Miles of Road.

in harvest time is a farce. After an
| auto trip over seven hundred miles OF
Iowa highway a Marshalltown man
| has learned that roads are dragged
| whenever the residents want to drag
them, and where they have no such
desire, the statute which provides
that roads be dragged, is apparent
| ly unknown.
However, trip of that extent will
| easily teach a man that of every
kind of road work the dragging of
| roads beats them all. After driving
car over seven hundred miles of
highway from the gently rolling
farms of central Iowa to the Mis-
souri, river foothills, and from the
gumbo flats of northern Iowa through
the gravel country of the lake region
and down to the clay hills of south
ern Iowa, one has seen all kinds of
roads. There is the graveled road,
and it is sure to be hard even in wet
weather, but it is always rough,
"cuppy" as they call it, because a
graveled road is seldom dragged
smooth and it is not an easy road to
travel in dry weather. There is the
mixed sand and clay road and it is
hard as pavement, water tight on
| top, but also wears into ruts and is
rough to drive over.
Everywhere can be found the work
of the road butcher who crowns his
highways so high in the center that
vehicles must travel side slopes
pitched as steep as the roof of barn.
OF course, these stretches come only
at intervals, but it tries the patience
of traveller to think that road work.
ers will crown the center of a road
three feet high when six inches
| would shed water fully as we'll and
all the unnecessary expense of grad
ing, If put into dragging would keep
that road as smooth as a race track
for the next five years.
1t is only on a we'll dragged road
that an automobile can open it's
throttle, and the ideal road for the
auto is the ideal road for horse We
| hicles as we'll. Roads crowned
slightly and roads crowned not at all.
roads on hill sides and gumbo roads
in the bottoms, even sand roads,
have all been found fast and pleas
ant to ride over when dragged.
1t is the dragging of the road that
does the business. Anyone passing
from the we'll dragged roads of Cerro
Gordo, Franklin, Hardin and Mar
shall counties to the ruts for 100
miles across several northern Iowa
counties, has learned for all time to
come what road drag was made for.
He wonders whether any way could
be found to enforce the road drag
cling law regardless of local senti-
ment. Again, one who has spun
away at thirty to forty miles per
hour over perfect roads from Mis-
souri, Valley to Woodbine is ready
for state constabulary of some
kind when he strikes unkempt roads
in the vicinity of Denison.
1t is explained that the farmers
will not drag their roads when there
are oats to cut, but that is true only
in spots, for elsewhere they do drag
The trouble is with the township Of
ficials and with the local sentiment
back of them. Any township trustee
who is determined to obey the law
can have his roads dragged. All he
needs to do is to appoint road sup
erintendent who will work. Con-
tracts should be let to farmers who
will obey the call and then the call
should be given after every rain.
Roads can't be dragged too often,
and if they need grading let them go
On with dragging only unless there
are funds with which to drag and
grade both. Drag the roads first,
last and~all the time and grade them
only when there is plenty of time
Marshal1town Times-Republican.