Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-06-11
THE REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE
OF EARTH ROADS.


cannot drain away into the side |
bitches. If you look closely you will /
see side bitches 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 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 way 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
incres lower than it is at the center
where the horses travel. The road
then has a 10-inch crown. The rain
that falls on a 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 al every low point
so that the water can run out of them
/ into neighboring brooks or streams.
IF the bitches merely collect the water
/ from the road surface and it can not
run away, large pools will be formed
along the roadside, which will gradu-
/ ally soak into the soil beneath the road
and make it soft that the wheels CT
wagons will cut through the road sur
I face and soon destroy it.
- 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 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 left open, much trouble from sar
face water would be stopped.
Sometimes a 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
a crown, it would be dry and hard.
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 so over a hill with
out being too steep. The water whf%l
always flows quietly under the ground
on hill sides is known as ground wa
ter. In road cuts such water some.
times makes the road very muddy and
the road then needs what road build
ers call undertakings. A good kind
Of undertakings is a trench to go
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.
p When the trench is completely filled
q 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
Z the best method is to drag il with q
road drag. A road drag is made cas-
lily with two halves of a log which
/ has been split. The log should be
. about six or eight inches in thickness
, and about six or eight feet long. The
J two halves of the log are set three
= feet apart with the smooth faces for
! ward and upright. They are then fas
tened together with braces set in
. holes bored through the log. A pail
of horses may be used to drag the
: road and are hitched to a chain fas
, tened to the front half of the log The
!, road drag should move forward Sc
, that II slants across the road in such
4 a way that a small amount of eartf
> will slide past the smooth face of the
4 log toward the center of the road. thu!
. forming the crown. The edges of the
logs will smooth out the ruts. Tn.
, best way 10 drag is to begin al tn,
side ditch and go up one side of ch'
road, and then down the other. In tn,
next trip the drag should be started
little nearer the center and the las
= trip over the road the drag may worl
. close 10 the center itself Small ridge
I OF earth will be thrown in the hors,
: track and smeared by the round sid,
X of the log smoothly over the road
E The smearing of the earth h/ tn,
/ drag is called pudding" and it tend
e to make the surface of the road smootl
I and watertight after the sun come
out The road Is always dragged afte
= 1t has rained and not when it is dry
+ A good, strong pair of horses with
: well-built drag can drag about tire
s or four miles OF road in q day, an,
o Il is the best way to maintain goo
L roads. In every county some farme
d along each four miles Of road shout,
,, own a drag and drag the road whel
d it rains. and he would always find tn
r road in good condition when he goe
10 market
t Owing 10 the fact that many rura