Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1913-05-23
USED THE SPLIT LOG DRAG
Bclar, May 20, 1913

We have made and used the
"split log drag" and believe we are
abont "three fence corners" ahead
of our neighbors who do not Use it
For the benefit of those who con-
template making one | will say that
l used for a blade" q cutter bar
off an old worn out moving ma
chine. 1t is just the right length
and width with holes already Al
the ends to receive a ga inch bolt
! did not find it worth while to
even take it to a blacksmith to have
the edge sharpened- it is not worth
while as it workes fine as it is. One
can make a drag in a couple OF
hours. | find that feet is rather
long for our narrow roads and when
] have to make another I'll set the
rear slab back 80 in. instead of %
in. This would help you get closer
to the bank while the drag was
hitched at an angle that would
cause the earth to slide along it
more readily. With split log
drag you can put your road up
better than you can with the shovel
and at one-tenth the labor and
cost. But its greater worth, re-
member, is to maintain or keep
your road smooth the year round
by using the drag after each rain,
especially when the road has got
full of ruts and uneven or rough
besides it gives your road bed or
surface the right shape = full in the
middle sloping each way to the
side bitches. when you find a tight
rock against which your drag
catches don't fail to take it out and
don't fail to fill up the place where
the rock was taken out with small
or broken stone, if you don't do
this, but drag the place full Of
earth, instead right there you have
low place in which your wagon
wheel goes "ker chug" and of
course one would say and truly too
that you don't know how to make
road.
Then by all means remove at
once all the small loose stone the
drag has drawn to the center OF
the road. Most road men, at least
down here, leave the small loose
stone few weeks in the road until
the commissioner comes around
and hunts them up and tells them
to remove the loose stones-It only
takes one time to do this and why
not do it at once.
Get busy and use plenty of brain
as we'll as Drawn and the task will
be easy. One more suggestion do
not put a single water brake on
your section. they are a nuisance
and obstruction to travel and the
road officials who advocate them
ought to be fined for the first offence
and imprisoned for the second. Put
in a good deep wide culvert. even
if you have to do it at your own
expense, it will amply pay you.
Make it large enough to carry off
twice the water ordinarily found
there, if you don't your labor will
be lost, for it is there that floods
destroy the roads. If you will u: e
your brains here you will put the
culvert six or more inches below
the surface and at the side fill in
deep and wide with small or broken
rock so the wheels of heavy wagons
will not reach down on the culvert.
Don't put in a II foot culvert, get
boards 16 feet long and put in
sensible culvert in a sensible way
the county fathers" or the road
commissioner to the contrary not
withstanding. This length will
permit you to put the culvert in at
such an angle across the road as to
give your drainage the proper fall.
Rusticus