The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-07-31
REPAIR And MAINTE-
NANCE, EARTH 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 ii cannot
drain away into the side bitches. If
YOU look closely you will see SIDE dlteh-
es which have grown up with bushes
and weeds in many cases, and which
are so far from the Travelled part OF
the TO ad 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
wav the road should be raised IN the
center and should slope gently into
broad shallow bitches. Ii 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 lO-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 Wsy. and should be open at every
low point so that the water can run out
of them into neighboring brook or
streams. If the bitches merely collect
the water from the road surface and 1t
cannot 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 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
wards are built across the side bitches
thew frequently form channels for
water from the farm yard to run into
the road. The pipes under driveways
become filled with leaves or rubbish
and the water can no longer run away.
If the driveways that stop the ditch
water were rebuilt so that no pipes
were necessary and the ditch could be
lett open, much trouble from surface
water would be stopped.
Sometimes road runs across low
ground or through a swamp where the
road can not be drained by side bitches
alone. If the road were built higher
like a railroad embankment across
such low land and made with crown,
it 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
90 over a 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 underdrainage is trench
to 90 along under the side drain and
about three feet deep and foot and q
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 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 1t 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
six or eight inches in thickness anC
about six or eight feet long. The two
halves of the log are set three fee
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 a chain fastened to the from
half of the log. The road drag shoul(
move forward so that it slants across
the road in such a way that a small
amount of earth will slide past tn,
smooth face of the log toward the cen
ter of the road, thus forming tn,
crown. The edges of the logs will
smooth out the ruts. The best way t.
drag is to begin at the side ditch am
90 up one side of the road, and the
down the other. In the next trip tn
drag should be started little neare
the center and the last trip over tn
road the drag may work close to tn
center itself. Small ridges of cart
will be throw in the horse track an
smeared by the round side of the To-
smoothly over the road. The smearin
of the earth by the drag is calle
"puddilng" and it tends to make tn
surface of the road smooth and water
tight after the sun comes out. Tn
road is always dragged after it ha
rained and not when it is dry. A goo
strong pair of horses with a we'll bull
drag can drag about three or fou
miles of road in a day, and it is tn
best way to maintain good roads. |
every county some farmer along eac
four miles of road should own dra
and drag the road when it rains. II
would always find the road in goo
condition when he goes to market.
Owing to the fact that many ruri
schools were closed at the time whe
the prize maintenance essay was al
Il nounced by Director Logan WallC
Page, of the Office of Public Roads
II il has been decided to extend the lin
II for receiving the essays to October II
II 1913. In addition to the gold med;
II given as first prize, two silver media
/ will be given as second and thiT
prizes. If child who has submitte
one essay previous to the issue of tn
II notice should care to try again, he
II at liberty to do so. but he must be
II pupil of a rural school. There is SON
II misunderstanding in regard to the sui
II ject of the essay The idea is to st
u the children to thinking how to bette
their earth roads with the materii
/ they have at hand.