Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1913-06-12

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
ditcnes 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 rain 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 a 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
1t Is at the center where the horses
travel. The road then has a 1O-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. II 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
it so soft that the wheels of wagons
will cut through the road surface and
| soon destroy IL.
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 they frequently form channels
for water from the farm yard to run
into the road. The pipes under drive
ways become filled with leaves OF rub
bish and the water cannot longer run
away. If 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.
Some times road runs across low
ground or through swamp where the
road cannot be drained by side ditch
es alone. If the road were built high
or like railroad embankment across
such low land and made with crown,
it would be dry and hard. Some
times 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 without being
too steep. The water which always
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
under drainage. A good kind Of un-
der drainage is trench to 60 along
under the side drain and about feet
deep and a foot and half wide. In
this trench pipe Is laid near the bot
tom 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 road smooth and crowned
the best method Is to drag 1t with
road drag A road drag is made east
ly with two halves of log which has
been split, The log snould be about
8 or inches in thickness and about 6
or 8 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 bored through th g
log. A pair of horses may be used to
drag the road and ale hitched to a
chain fastened to the front half of TT e
log The road drag should move for
ward so that is 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 be-
gin at the side ditch and go up one
side of the road and then down the
other The mex trip the drag should |
be started little nearer the center
and the last trip over the road the
drag may work close to the centre it
self 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 smearing of the
earth by the drag it called "pud-
ding and 1t tendS TO make the sur
face 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 we'll
built drag can drag about 3 or 4 miles
of road 10 day, and 1t is the best
way to maintain good roads. In ev
cry county some farmer along each
four miles of road should own a drag
and drag the road when it rains, aud
he would always fnd the road in good
when he goes to market.
Owing to the fact that many rural
schools we're closed at the time when
the prize maintenance essay was an
ounceu by Director Logan Waller Page
Of the Office of Public Roads, it has
been decided to extend toe limit for
receiving the essays to October 10,
1913 In addition to the gold medal
given as first prize, two silver medals
will be given as second and third priz
es. If child " bo has submitted one
essay previous to the issue of this no