The copper era and Morenci leader. [volume] (Clifton, Ariz.) 1911-1929, 1913-06-20
THE REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE
OF EARTH ROADS.


water stays on the roa1 surface be-
cause it cannot drain away into the
side bitches. If you look closely you
will Sc 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 also 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 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 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 roadside, which
will gradually soak into the soil be-
meath the road and make it 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 in the middle where the
horses travel. When driveways into
farm yards are built across the side
bitches they frequently form chan
nels for water from the farm yard
to run into the road. The pipes I'M
der driveways become filled with
leaves or rubbish and the water can
no longer run away If the driveways
that stop the ditch water were re-
built so that no pipes were necessary
land the ditch could be left open, much
trouble from surface water would be
stopped.
ground or through a swamp where the
road cannot be drained by side ditch
es alone. If the road were built high
'er like a railroad embankment across
such low land and made with a
crown, it would be dry and hard.
Sometimes a road passes through
what is called cut. This is place
that the road can go over a hill with
out beil,s too steep. The water which
flows quietly under the ground on hill
sides is known as ground water. In
road cuts such water sometimes
makes the road very muddy, and the
road then needs what road builders
call underdrainage. A good kind of
underdrainage is a trench to go along
under the side drain and about 8 feet
n no n
this trench a pipe is laid near the
bottom and covered with loose stones
no bigger than an egg. When the
trench is completely filled with loose
stones the ground water, instead OF
soaking into the roadway, will stop
among the stones and flow down the
hill through the pipe.
To keep a road smooth and crowned
the best method is to drag it with
road drag. A road drag is made with
two halves of log which has been
split. The log should be about or 8
inches in thickness and about 6 or 6
feet long The two halves of the log
are set 5 feet apart with the smooth
faces forward and upright. They are
then fastened together 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 it slants across the road in
such way 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 a little nearer the !
center and the last trip over the road
the drag may work close to the cen /
ter itself. Small ridges of earth will
be thrown in the horse track and I
smeared by the round side of the log
over the road. The smear
ing of the earth by the drag is called |
pudding" 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 not when it is dry. A
good, strong pair of horses with well
built drag can drag about 3 or miles
of road in a day, and it is the best
way to maintain good roads. In
every county some farmer along each
4 miles of road SHOULD own a drag and 7
drag the road when it rains, and he
always find the road in good condi-
ton when he goes to market.
Owing to the fact that many rural
schools were closed at the time when
the prize maintainence essay was an
nounced by Director Logan Waller
Page of the Office of Public Roads, it
has been decided to extend the limit
for receiving the essays to October Is,
1913. In addition to the gold medal
given as first prize, two silver medals
will be given as second and third
prizes. If a child who has submitted l.
one essay previous to the issue of this
notice should care to try again, he is
y To do ca b11t bo no