Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1913-11-21
THE LONGEST WAY AROUND is
SOMETIMES THE MOST ECONOM.
ICAL WAY HOME IN ROAD BUILD
ING.
Department Of Agriculture Advises
the Cutting Out of Grades on High
ways. Even at the Expense OF Some
Tillablc Land.

Washington, c.. Nov. 1S.-The av-
erage life of horses and automobiles
may he increased and the cost of
hau;ina reduced, according 70 the or
flee of Roads. of .he Department ,)f
Avr culture. by relocating mauy old
roads and the more sc'entiiic laying
ort of new ones. The natural ten
dency IN road building l. to build a
straight Iosd VIII Tier II goes over
steep grades or hills, - mo-, and null
ling oscr u.ese grades nat .cAlly adds
| to tho wear ana tear on i.,rscs and
vehicles.
The doctrine of the Office of Roads
is tat the longest way around may
often be the shortest and most eco
nomical way home. and that frequent
| ly building a highway around hill o.
grade. but little appreciate distance
is added and this Is more than offset
by the reduced strain of hauling.
TIE chief drawback from the farm
owenr's point of view Is that the lay
ing out of roads on this principle of
avoiding grades necessitates. in some
cases. running the road through farm
land or orchards or pastures. instead
of going around the farm line and
out fields and over rocky knolls. This.
of course, must raise question in the
mind of the individual land owner as
to whether the cutting up of his prop
erty by road yields him individual
advantages and so benefits his COM
munity as to offset the use of such
land for a road, or TO overcome the
Inconvenience of Laving his land
4 n t.. L. NJ n0ff IN nffina
of Roads points out that the running
of a road and the resulting traffic
through good farm. where there are
good sheep. cattle, horses. grain. fruit,
or vegetables, has a certain advertis-
ing value and in many instances
makes the land more valuable. In
other cases, the Importance OF such
level road to the community "a 50
great that It might we'll repay those
using the road to give the farmer the
equivalent in land equally good in
place of what he has sacrificed to the
common welfare.
At any rate. the Office of Roads Is
now taking special pains to make
clear the economic advantage or
avoiding steep grades in their roads
even at some sacrifice OF better land.
Investigation shows that the laving
of such roads over hills has resulted
more from attention to the preserva-
ton of farm lines than from srienti-
fic attention to the problem of road
building.
According to the TESTIMONY OF farm
ers consulted. where horse might
be able to pull 1000 pounds on a level
road. II would have difficulty in Dul-
ling 5000 pounds up steep hill. The
size of the load. therefore. tends to
be measured by the grade OF the larg-
est hill on the road to market. In a
number OF cases actual exDtriment
shows that the relocating OF roads
aronud hills has been accomplished
either with no addition in road length
n some instances, and with the ad-
ding of only few 'oet to the highway
in others. The Office knows OF no
case where properly relocated road
which has cut out grades has led 10
snv question as to its material reduc-
ton of hauling costs.