Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1914-06-24
D. WARD KING OF
MISSOURI HERE
Preached the Gospel Of Good
Roads from Earth at Hand
at Low Cost.


the inventor of the King split-log
drag, addressed a crowd, of about one
hundred representative men of the
county Monday afternoon at the
courthouse, and later gave practi-
cal demonstration of how to operate
his simple device on a block on
Fifth Street.
Mr.. Kings talk was intensely in
teresting and he had an effective way
in driving home the truths he spoke.
His main plea was for a community
spirit which will manifest itself in
little unselfish work on the roads
instead of all talk and trying to do
things by legislation before public
sentiment is ripe for it. Since 1896,
when he accidentally by experiment.
ing hit upon the simple system of
making roads by dragging them af-
ter every rain, first with corn stalk
breaker made from fence post and
an old pump stock, from which SIM
pie contrivance he finally evolved
the present just as simple road drag,
he has dragged the road from his
front gate to his neighbor's front
gate, a half mile distant towards town
and back after every rain, detailing a
team for an hour at just the right
time for this work when the road
was still wet but not sticky. He has
paid his taxes the same as everyone
else during the last eighteen years,
but gets his pay dragging from the
satisfaction of having the best earth
road in the world along his farm.
It took four years of dragging and
keeping his mouth shut about it, be.
fore the next neighbor towards town
yielded to the silent example and
dragged his stretch of road. Now all
roads are dragged in this way and
| anyone who neglected his road could
not live in the neighborhOod and feel
right about it. "A mudhole in the
road is a crime," said the speaker
and reflects most seriously upon
the property opposite which It lies
| Instead of cussing the road commits
sioner and blaming someone else, fix
it yourself. Do something. Don't only
talk about it,. anyone who has
a team or an auto and has not
dragged portion of the street should
never complain about poor roads,
said Mr.. King.
The PHILOSOPHY" of the split log
drag road the speaker illustrated with
a reference to a hog wallow, and 8
stand in such a hole until it evapor
ates even if on the top of the hill
It is the constant smearing of the hos
in the wallow which makes it watel
tight. The theory of the split loi
drag road is to invert the mudhole-
to build up the road and make it wat
er-tight by constant dragging, aftel
every rain.
A number of questions we're asked
which Mr.. King answered.-Make tn,
road only as wide as necessary to &C
commodate the travel.-The stee
drags made to sell are not as wei
} adapted for dragging roads as the in
expensive split-log drag, and Mr.. KinI
absolutely draws the line on any draI
with seat on it. It requires expert
ence and skill to properly run a DRAG
and it is necessary to be able to wall
back or forth on the drag to make
do the work on varying conditions Q
the rOad-Sandy roads should b
5 treated to a sprinkling of clay with
/ manure spreader before each dras
ging until a sufficient amount of bint
ing material has been dragged int
the road-Every farmer should hav
a split-log drag handy by his gat
where he might hook onto same an
IN M V1y1o
: Lying will reduce the dust evil as we
as the mud.-Mr. King had kee
n sense of humor and used it LIBERAL
q in softening the effects of his kee
thrusts. He ridiculed unmerciful]
the "canal on Litchfield Avenue" b,
!. still had everybody laughing about !
IL and the same about other streets
l. the city which he had inspected. A
l. to owners in the city will CRITICS
l. farmers for bad roads when the cit
streets are worse than the COUNT
r roads-The cost of making Kir
o drag is about $3.50. It is better ada
ted for keeping road in permanel
:, condition than more expensive ste
u drag-The dragging system is the O
i ly system of building roads which il
proves them all the time while tht
,r are being built.-You can't keep yo1
road in good condition by only occa
g ional dragging any more than you CT
y keep your hair in nice condition
y, only an occasional combing.
- An interested crowd watched N
King manipulate one of his 70,
drags on Fifth street for about he
O. hour. Most everybody in attendan
$. went home from the meeting CO
[n1 vinced that Mr.. D. Ward King
K what his reputation has made him o
~ to be-a road expert of highest raj