The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-06-20
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. The Repair and Maintenance of 9
3 Earth Roads. g
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road after shower you will see
small puddles along the wheel ruts
and sometimes larger pools. This
water stays on the road surface be-
cause 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 ditch
es. It 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 shouldr be at least 10
inches lower than it is at the center
where the horses travel. Their DAD then
has 1O-inch crown. The rain that
falls on a 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 can not
run away, large pools will be formed
along the roadside, which will grad
ually soak mot he soil beneath 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 channels
for water from the farm yard TO run
into the road. The pipes under drive
wavs become filled with leaves or rub
bish and the water can no longer run
away. If the driyeways Saat stop the
ditch water were rebuilt so that no
pipes we're necessary and the ditch
could be left open, much truble 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
higher like a railroad embankment
across such lowland and made with a
crown, it would be dry and hard.
Sometimes a road passes through
what is called cut. This is place
where the earth has been dug out so
that the road can go over hill with
out being too steep. The water which
always flows quietly under the ground
on hill sides is known as ground
water. In read cuts such water some
times makes the road very muddy,
and the road then needs what road
builders call underdrainage. A good
kind of underdrainage is a trench to
90 along under the side drain ana
about 3 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 All egg.
When the trench is completely filed
with loose stones the ground water,
instead of soaking into the roadWal'
will stop among the stones and dow
down the hill through the pipe.
To keep a road smooth and crown
ed 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 6 or. s inches in thickness and
about 6 or 8 feet long. The two
halves of the log are set 8 feet apart
with the smooth faces forward and
upright. They are then fastened to-
gether with braces set in holes bored
through the log. A pair Of horses
may be used to drag the road and
are hitched to a 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
a small amount of earth will slide
past the smooth face of the log to-