Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1912-02-07
SAND.CLAY ROADS.

The work so far described is for a
road made of the natural soil in the
right-of-way of the road. But there are
few soils that will always be good
even when built as described above
They will either become soft and
sticky In wet weather, or loose like
shifting sand in dry weather. Hence,
to have good road in all kinds of
weather some sort of surface treat.
ment becomes necessary. In a county
like ours the cheapest and undoubted-
ly the most practical and economical
| is the sand-clay mixture. This does
not mean to put straight clay cap
or plate on the sand beds, as is gener-
ally supposed and has frequently been
done. 1t meas to make a mixture of
these two materials on the road so as
to form sort of artificial hard-pan
The principle behind this sand-clay
mixture is very simple Water does
not hurt sand road but really makes
| 1t pack down and make a tolerably
| firm road Clay when wet Is no good
at all. On the other hand, clay makes
splendid road when dry and sand
makes very bad one 1t will be seen
that the two materials are exactly op-
posite in their properties, one being
good in dry weather, the other being
good in wet weathr. Therefore, it
stands to reason that If the two are
mixed in the right proportions the
combination will make good road in
both wet and dry weather. And this
is exactly what sand-clay road is. 1t
is rather new thing in road building
not over eight or ten years old-but
it is so simple that it seems strange
people did not think of it long ago.
Thousands of miles of it have already
been built. 1t has been adopted by the
United States office of public roads of
the agricultural department at Wash.
ington, and they are recommending it
and pushing its construction in the
South more than any other type of
road.
The best materials from which to
make the mixture are the toughest,
stickest clay to be had and coarse
grained or gravelly sand. If such
sand can not be had, any sand that
will not get sloppy and muddy when
wet will do to mix with the clay.
The method of doing the work is
simple. Clay is put on the road to a
depth of eight or ten inches, and say
fifteen feet wide. This should be thor.
oughly pulverized with the disc and
the harrow so that the sand may be
easily mixed into it. The sand is then
placed on top the clay and thoroughly
mixed with the clay by the disc or
pillow and harrow. The road is then
ready to smooth down, and II possible
1t should be thoroughly rolled to pack
it well.
When the first wet spell comes this
road will almost surely get bad. II
would be practically impossible foi
the ten or twelve inches Of new, loose
material to be compacted so well that
1t would not cut into ruts. But tAe
good thing about this is that the more
thoroughly it gets cut up that first wet
spell the better it will be afterwards.
for the wheels and the horses feet
mix the wet materials more thorough
ly than the dry materials could DOS.
Sibly be mixed. AS it begins to dry
q little, the road must be dragged to
bring it back into shape. Then If the
Sond and clay are mixed in the right
it will never cut up any
more. If the materials are not in the |
right proportions it will either get
loose in dry weather or soft in wet
weather. These difficulties can be rem.
edied easily by adding more clay in
he first case, or more sand in the
second
All this work till the materials are
correctly balanced is properly charged !
% the actual construction of the road.
Hence, the construction of a sand-clay
'oad really lasts for a year or more.
But when properly done with good !
it is as good a road as the
average gravel road in this country.
GRAVEL ROADS.