Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1913-06-19
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Entered at the Elk City, Idaho, Post
Office for transmission through the
mails as second-class matter.
The Repair and Maintenance Of Good
Roads.

Roads.
If you look at the ordinary country |
road after a shower you will see small
puddles along the wheel ruts and some
times larger pools. This water stays
on the road surface because it cannot
drain away into the side bitches. If
you look closely you will see side bitches
which have grown up with bushes and
weeds in many cases, and which are so
far 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. To prevent water from
standing on the travelled way the road
should be raised in the center and
should slope gently into broad shallow
bitches. 1t is then said to have crown.
If it is 10 feet from the center of the
road to the side ditch, the surface at
the side ditch should be at least 10
inches lower than it is at the center
where the horses travel. The road
then has a 10-inch crown. The rain
that falls on road properly crowned
will run quickly to the side and not
soak into the surface or form pools.
The side bitches for surface water
should run parallel to the right of way,
and should be open at every low point
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 can not run away, large
pools will be formed along the roadside,
which will gradually soak into the soil
beneath the road and make it so soft
that the wheels of wagons will cut
through the road surface and soon de-
stroy it.
Sometimes water runs from land
along the road into the road and forms
little stream down the wheel tracks
or in the middle where the horses
travel. When driveways into farm
yards are built across the side bitches
the frequently form channels for water
from the farm yard to run into the
road. The pipes under driveways be-
the water can no longer run away. If
the diiveways that stop the ditch water
were rebuilt SO that no pipes were nee
essary and the ditch could be left open,
much trouble from surface water would
be stopped.
To keep road smooth and crowned
the best method is to drag it with a
road drag. A road drag is made easily
with two halves of log which has
been split The log should be about
or 8 inches in thickness and about or
feet long. The two halves of the log
are set 3 feet apart with the smooth
faces forward and upright. They are
then fastened together with braces set
in holes board through the log. A pair
of horses may be used to drag the road
and are hitched to a chair fastened to
the front half of the log. The road
drag should move forward so that it
slants across the road in such a way
that a 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 tc
drag is to begin at the side ditch an{
go up one side of the road, and Their
down the otner. In the next trip tbs
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 eartt
will be thrown in the horse track anc
smeared by the round side of the, los
smoothly over the road. The smearinf
of the earth by the drag is called ''pud
ding and it tends to make the surfac.
of the road smooth and watertigh
after the sun comes out. The road il
always dragged after it has rained ant
not when it is dry. A good, stronf
pair of horses with well-bullt dra,
can drag about or miles of road in
day, and it is the best way to maintain
good roads. In every county SOM
farmer along each miles of roa
should own drag and drag the roa
when it rains, and he would Away
find the road in good condition when h
6loes to market.