Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1913-06-20
The Repair and Main
tenance of Earth Roads,

will see small puddles along the
Wheel ruts and sometimes larger
;ools. The water is on the road sur
ace because it cannot drain away
INTO the side bitches. If you look
closely you will see side bitches
Which have grown up with bushes
md weeds in many cases, and
which are so far from the Travelled
art of the road that the rain
water does not drain into them.
That part of the roadway where
he wagons travel is called the
travelled way. To prevent water.
standing on the travelled way the
road should be raised in the center
and should slope gently toto broad
,hallow bitches. 1t is then said to
ave a crown. If it is ten feet
rom the center of the road to the
idle ditch, the surface al the side
itch should be at least ten inches
over than it is at the center where
h" horses travel. The road then
has ten inch crown. The rain
that falls on a road properly crown
ID will run quickly to the side and
not soak into the surface or form
pools. The side di!ches for surface
water should run parallel to the
light of way, and should be open
at every low point so that the water
can Jun out of them into neighbour
ing brooks or SIRENS. 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 grad
tally soak INTO the soil beneath the
Dad and make it so soft that the
vht els will cut through the roaG
surface and soon destroy it.
Sometimes wafer runs from
aud along the roac
| md into the road and forms
| , little stream. down the wheel
racks or in the middle where the
horses travel. when driveways
iuto farm yards are built across
the side ditcher the frequently form
channels for water from the farm:
ward to run into the road. The
pipes under driveways become tilleo
With leaves or rubbish and the
water can no longer run away. II
he drivewavs that stop the ditch
water were rebuilt so that ne pipes
we're necessary and the ditch coulU
,e left open, much trouble from
:urface writer would be stopped.
Sometimes road runs across 10"
| ground or through swamp where
the road can be drained by side
bitches alone. If the road Were
built higher like Il railroad embank-
| ment across q such low land anG
made with a crown, it void bt
lrv and hald. Sometimes a road
passes through what is called a cut
This is a place where the earth has
been dug out so that the road can
90 over bill without being to-
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 undertakings. A
good kind of underdralnage is
trench to 60 along under the side
drain and about three feet deep
and a foot and half wide. In
this trench a pipe is laid near the
bottom and covered with loose
stones no bigger than an egg
When the trench is completely fill
ed 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 easily with two halves
of a log which has been split. The
log should be abont 6 or s inches
in thickness and 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 theroad and are
hitched to a chain fastened to the
front half of the log. The drag
should move forward so that ii
slants across the road in such a
way that small amount of dirt
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 down
the other. In the next trip the
drag should be started a little near
er to the center and the last trip
the drag may work close to the
center itself. Small ridges of earth
will be thrown in the horse tracks
and smeared by the round side of
the log smoothly over the road.