The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1912-01-25
Road Experts Show Great
Good to Be Brought by
Use of Simple Methods.
BRINGS SURFACE DRAINAGE
State Highway Commission Urges Use
of Log Drag by All Counties in the
State in Lieu of Higher Priced Ma
chinery and Hold it Just as Good.

Few who were present in the senate
chamber of the Wisconsin legislature,
session of 1907, when Senator Edward
! E. Browne, of the Waupaca district
made his first speech on the split log
drag, probably ever heard Of that
splendid device for the maintenance of
earth and gravel roads.
Two years later, 500 of these drags
were in use in the state, when there
should have been 10,O00-ff the people
Of Wisconsin had been as fully alive
to the advantages Of its use as the
people of Iowa.
A. r. Hirst, state highway engineer,
decle ,es that, while the split log drag
is not a cure for all road evils, if it is
used at the proper time and on proper
soils it will produce road good for
travel, which, if undragged would be
an impossible mud-hole.
And what is the split log drag?
Who invented it and where did it
come from?
In simplest form the drag is what
its name implies, a log split in two,
with the parts fastened thirty inches
apart, one projecting about sixteen
inches beyond the other part, and SO
arranged as to drag the road at an
angle when horses are attached.
That is all there is to the split log
drag, which is often known as the
King drag from its inventor, D. Ward
King, member of the Missouri Board
of Agriculture. The most serious OBJ
stacle to the advance of the spit log
drag system of taking care of earth
and gravel roads is it's simplicity.
|"Anybody with ordinary ability, with
a log and an axe and two inch auger
can make this Implement in the
words of its inventor.
Drag Not Harrow.
AT the outset it must be explained
that ''drago in the sense the word is
used in connection with this device for
road maintenance, is the opposite of
harrow although in places the two
operations are synonymous in the aver.
age farmers parlance.
''The drag is piece of log, to 9
feet long, split in the middle, fat sides
to the 'front.' says Mr.. King.
"Be sure to get the drag wide
enough. It ought to be thirty inches
between the slabs. If thirty inches
looks too wide, make it little wider
and you will be safe. Hitch your team
with doubletree clevice at such point
on the chain that the drag will follow
at an angle of As degrees; then get on
the drag and drive one horse on each
side of the right hand wheel track and
go from your front gate to your neigh
boris front gate; turn and come back
over the other wheel track in the same
way, and quit, if you wish. That is
| all [ ask you to do. You will have
improved the road SO to 100 per cent.
"After the next rain, go down the
wheel track and back again. Go down
again after the third rain and after
the fourth and so on.
Causes Surface Drainage.
ssYou will discover between the
fourth and the sixth wet spell that, so
far as the surface of the road is con
cerned, the road is higher in the middle
than at any other point and you have
surface drainage. Your road is from
100 to 500 per cent better than it was
before. After taken care Of it by this
method after six rains it will stand
six times as much wet weather as it
would before without showing bad eff
fects and will dry off after an ordi-
nary rain in from one-fifth to one
third of the time it usually did before.
Road dragging is more than stand
ing on plank and holding the reins
over a span of horses. There is more
in drag building than merely the pin
ming together Of the two slabs Of a
split log. 1t is true that almost any
kind of driving over a road with the
toughest possible pair of slabs Joined
together in the hastiest manner will
improve the ordinary road, but to get
the best results the drag, team and
driver must be just right
"The team should be slow and
steady; it should be heavy enough tc
haul the drag with ease; the driver
should be man of mechanical turn
of mind and good horseman The
drag should be light. One can do
things with a light drag that can not
be done with q heavy one, while the
| light drag can be weighted on occasion
if it is desired. Build drag from
cedar post or the end of a telephone
pole 10 to II inches in diam eter, or
from any other light timber log. Use
a plank as last resort.
Is New Road Machine.