Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1913-07-26
THE REPAIR AND MAINTE-
NANCE OF EARTH ROADS.
Some Government Suggestions on
Good Highways.

try ROAD alter shower you VIII see
small puddles along the wheel ruts and
sometimes larger pools. ms water
stays on the road surface because 1t
cannot dram away into the SIDE
uitcnes. 1t you LOOK closely you VIII
see side bitches which have grown
up with bushes and weeds IN many
cases, and which are SO TAR from the
Travelled part OF the road that the rain
water does not drain into them. That
part of the roadway where the wagons
travel is called the Travelled way. 10
prevent water from standing on the
travelled way the road should be raised
in the center and should slope gent
ty into broad shallow bitches 1t is
then said to have crown. If it is ~
feet from the center OF the road to the
side ditch. the surface at the side ditch
should be at least III inches lower than
it is at the center where the horse
travels The road then has a l0-inch
crown. The rain that falls on road
properly crowned will run quickly to
the side and not soak into the surface
or form pols The side bitches for
surface water should run parallel to
the right OF way, and should be open
at every low point so that the water
can run out OF them into neighboring
brooks or streams. If the bitches
merely collect the water from the road
surface and it cannot run away, large
pools will be formed along the road
side. which will gradually soak into
the soil beneath the road and make 1t
so soft that the wheels OF wagons will
cut through the road surface and soon
destroy IT.
Sometimes water runs from land
along the road into the road and
forms a little stream down the wheel
tracks or i'll the middle where the
horses travel When driveways into
farm yards are built across the side
bitches they frequently form channels
for water from the farm yard to run
into the road. The pipes under drive
ways become filled with leaves or rub
Dish and the water can not longer run
away II the driveways that stop the
ditch water were rebuilt so that no
pipes were necessary and the ditch
could be left Open much trouble from
surface water would be stopped.
Sometimes a road runs across low
ground or through swamp where
the road cannot be drained by side
bitches alone. If the road were built
DlRHGT INC ram Odi
across such low land and made with
crown. il would be dry and hard
Sometimes road passes through
what is called a cut. This is place
where the earth has been dug out so
that the road can over a hill without
being too steep. The water which al
ways flows quietly under the ground
on hill sides is known as ground wa
ter. In road cuts such water some
times makes the road very muddy, and
the road then needs what road build
ers call undertakings. a good kind
of underdrainage is a trench to go
along under the side drain about three
feet deep and a foot and half wide.
In this trench pipe is laid near the
bottom and covered with loose stones
no bigger than an egg. When the
trench is completely filed with loose
stones the ground water, instead OF
soaking into the roadway. will stop
amono the stones and flow down the
hill through pipe.
To keep a road smooth and crown
ed the best method is to drag II with
a road drag A road drag is made
easily with two halves of a log which
has been split. The log should be
about or inches in thickness and
about or 8 feet long. The two
halves of the log are set feet apart
with the smooth faces forward and
upright. They are then fastened to-
pether with braces set in holes bored
through the log A pair OF horses
may be used to drag the road and are
hitched to chain fastened to the
front half of the log. The road drag
should move forward so that II slants
across the road in such wav that
small amount of earth will slide past
the smooth face of the log toward
the center of the road, thus forming
the crown. The edges of the logs will
smooth out the ruts. The best way to
drag is to begin at the side ditch and
go up one side of the road and then
down the other In the next trip the
drag should be started little nearer
the center and the last trip over the
road the drag may work close to the
center itself. Small ridges of earth
will be thrown in the horse track and
smeared by the round side of the log
smoothly over the road. The smear
ing of the earth by the drag is called
"puddling' and it tends to make the
surface of the road smooth and water
tight after the sun comes out. The
road is always dragged after it has
rained and never when it is dry a
good. strong pair of horses with well
built drag can drag about or 4 miles
of road in a day. and is the best way
to maintain good roads, In every
county some farmer along each =
miles of road should own drag and
drag when it rains. He would ALWAYS
find the road in good condition when
he goes to market.
wing to the fact that many rural
schools were closed at the time when
the prize for the maintenance essay
was announced by Director ! ogan
Waller Page of the Office of Public
Roads. it has been decided to extend
the limit for receiving the essays to
October Is. 1918 In addition to the
gold medal given as first prize. two
medals will he given as second and