The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1913-02-27

nor prepared for this work. Roao
building is business all by itself
| II is just as difficult TO build road
as 1t is to make watch. 1t requires
specialized training. have been
= studying the question for more then
( thirty-five years, and feel that | am
! only beginner. And yet, there are
. legislators who have told me they
: know all about roads They have
given a day and a half to the study
In question.
What Constitutes a Good Road
Now a word as to the method Of
road building, the kind of n roaG to
be built, and the means with which
TO do it, SO eminent a man as John
+. Stevens wrote an article which l
published in a book, in which he
said Il do not think in all America
there are ten men thoroughly compe-
tent in every detail to build piece
OF thoroughly first class wagon
road " He said: Il could not build
a mile of road myself, yet | would
not hesitate to undertake the build
ing of thousand miles of railway
tomorrow Yet the reader of these
lines can on any street corner find
politician who will tell him just
how to build any kind of road.
First, then we must have the
brains to locate and determine where
the road shall be built. Second, we
must now the kind of road to build
to carry the traffic which will pass
over It,. BY this mean it is not nee
essary to build boulevards over which
to drive cows. Third, In locating the
road 1t is necessary to make a
careful survey with proper contour
lines, SO as to balance the quantities
both by vertical and by longitudinal
curvature. What do these big words
mean? Let me tell you. The first
road built thirty.fve years ago I
covered with sand, then sent a wag.
on with load of hay drawn by
pair OF horses out upon the road, and
then | saw what you have all seen;
that to rest their muscles the horses
zigzagged back and forth across the
road. Then / saw that the tractive
power on highway was unlike the
tractive power on a railway The
tractive power on railway required
tangent straight line) to get the
easiest pull. The tractive power on
a highway did not require tangent
In other words. you could so curve
your road lengthwise as to make the
man or the animal take the obstruc-
ton where nature put 1t, and fold
around the hill. II you built straight
through and made a straight line,
you would have to move great guam
titles Of material, and when you fin
ished. the horses would still continue
to zigzag back and forth across the
straight road, and the chauffeur, to
rest his muscles, would take a long |
swinging curve and your money |
would be wasted. Again, we all |
know that "A pootpath across a field |
is never in a straight line. The main
zigzags; il you doubt this, the next !
time you pass vacant lot, look and |
see how the path zigzags across the |
lot; or II you are not satisfied, go |
out yourself and try to walk on the |
crack OF a cement sidewalk for three |
blocks and see how you like 1t, or
ask any bicycle rider IL he can not |
go farther over a slightly rolling |
country in day than he can over a
level road. The horse can pull a load
continuously over "A moderate grade |
to better advantage than he can on
a duh fiat road. So balance your
quantities by vertical curvature. So
much for the location
How To Build Good Road
Now for the construction: II your
survey has been made as 1t should
be made-and in passing | might say
that | have had surveyed in Oregon
ten such miles of road and presented
the survey with my compliments to
the people--you will be in position
never to pick up shovelful of earth
until you know just where you are
going to put that shovelful of earth,
and that stone before you lay 1t down
II is the unnecessary labor that costs
1t is not the farmer who tries to push
on the pillow handle that gets over
the biggest field in the day. During
the lifetime of all the people who
read this. the great majority Of roads
must necessarily be earth roads, and
Just as much care must be used in
building an earth road as in building
any other kind, because the proper
earth road always serves as the
foundation on which the top surface
of a hard surfaca rood 10 10 ha