The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1912-09-07
BURNING up BAD ROADS
To MAKE GOOD ONES
I,\ e II. LAtIn

aGcbluInE W wv
~ hand and the character "t the
sol Perhaps no more u'"''"''
~, The making al s""h
roads ex,s, than III III" ''"'ah"F
OF IL. M,ssu-sIpp' Valley, where
centuries 1T swamps a"h TONS ~
d.,a,eI v,g,iah matter have ia
IN the 'g"mh" J"
hucLshnI' claNs "t that region
Elasticity and mud making 'h't''N
which p,"dnee til" worst "'"a'H
III he world
Dn,jng certain acas"ns ~ The
year. these al called 'I"ads are
absolutely Impaealhle, V"h''''s
s,uL,ne 10 The hubs anh h"' h's
getting 40 ml,eh that they must
.,,h, l.. shot or dragged on With
ropes, often with broken ''ss 7"
nay tor their drivers ttml'tN
10 make Il good road ont III thus
".umlm" ~ Il problems. the 'mp"'
tn,,nn ol sand for i san'i clay MIX
tu,e ~ too expensive, and there ~
not enough rock ~ these localities
10 make i hitrl,ng stone, lot alone
g., .n,canam road l,ut solution
Of the problem has been found ~
the "hnrncd clay road. ~ which
The 'gumbo' IL =" changed III
character by firing M I" present !
tai,ly hard aud mndlrss surface,
even after a heavy rain.
The '.guml,O clay ~ black
from the large percentage "f or
ga,,ic matter il contains, and from
the same reason is peculiarly
sticky and plastic. But after
having been baked, u forms \
clinkr,, which, while not rock hike
IN its hardness, shows no tendency
to form mud when mixed with WI
ter. THIS surprising fact il made
use Of 10y tn. farmers living IN the
"gumbo' regions, to make the
"hu,ncd clay" road Luckily the
districts Of "gumbo' are heavily
wooded, and fuel ~ cheap and
doc \ not need 10 he hauled. The
process Of making 'bnrned clay
road ~ AZ simple as It ~ novel
The width Of the road il dete,min
ed, and 1t ~ ditched on either
side Next the III, face II pillow. II
up an deeply az possible, and even
four mules make hard job at
dragging one pillow shrough the
sticky clay. The pIoweh up ella,
il then thrown into burrows across
The road, making ,ldges about,
tour feet apart Cord wood ~
laid closely across The tops 81
these ridges. making wooden
too, above the clay, the fnrrows
aud .,hges forming tluca Fire
wood ~ piled ulesnla1Iy on thin
wooden floor, with masses Of clay
filling III the open spaces. A see
"Dd course of cord wood IN laid on
top Of this mixture Of wood AM,
Jumps Of cIays, aud all openings
titled with kindIing and light
wood The whole is then covered
with clay blanket usually tax
em f,om the bitches on either side
It" II depth Of foot. and lamp
ed aud rounded off so that the
heat may remain III the mass a.
long as posa,ble. Where coal
slack is available, i. il often sub
stitmted for wood The point il
to get heat regardless Of what fuel
liz used.
When completed, the tues ast
fired 40 that they will get the
dealt down wind The workmen
pay careful attention to the burn
ing, aud when any part Of the fire
seems to slack up. reinforce that
tue with light kindiing, NO that an
even burning is maintained
Throughout the mass.
When the wood is all burned
the organic ID utter in the clay aid
ing the combustion and in giving
off heat and he mass sufficiently
cool, il is found that all the clay
on the fist floor. all the clay OF
top. and even the ridges Of clay
between the burrows, az well a.
underneath the lowest fire, ha'
been thoroughly elimkered. II
make the loose mass into a rod
nothing il needed but grading
with plow or scraper to make !
high crown in the center and +.
final compacting by rolling.
The result il y hard snrfac,
road which refuses to get muddy
which wears we'll, costs next t.
nothing TO repair, aud which pro
vides safe bridge through "gum
boz country On either side oI
the roads all winter long, no car
riage could roll-on top Of the ri,
TO eight inches dressing Of bnrne,
gnmb" clinker, heavy wagon
travel without difficulty.
The cost Of such Il road varie
between + 900 aud *l 800 a mile
very small price 10 pay for
good road, aud particularly IN !
district where, until the coming o
the "bu'ned clay transportation
except by railway was, in the win
ter time, an absolute ,mpo stability