The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1914-06-19

information on the road problems OF
his territory which he thinks will
interest the residents, and in gen.
eral way interest the public. The
Republican is glad to have this addi-
ton to our store of information and
we very cheerfully pass it on to the
public.
AS many of our readers do not
know who Mr.. Robbins is, we want
to explain that he has been for twelve
or fifteen years resident of More
land and is the owner Of the fine
orchard we have had occasion to
speak of frequently in years past.
1t is near the Moreland siding, has
made a good record for profits, has
aided greatly in enabling Mr. Rob
bins to build the fine bungalow on
the place and has served as a pioneer
experiment in conducting CONNER
cial orchard When Mr.. Robbins
built his home he had it wired and
plumbed and in every respect made
modern. When electricity arrives at
Moreland he will be ready to hitch
on. For the present he uses a gas
plant of his own. He. is preparing
to lay pavements about his place this
year, and has already graded half
mile of road in front of his prop
erty, which by agreement with the
county commissioners he received
only half rate of pay for That was
his own offer and the board accepted
it, and invited him to go at it. From
here down the article is Mr.. Robbins
Much of the grading that has
been done in my district has been
half donated by the men who did the
work, Along the line of the state
highway there has been greater ex-
penditure of public money for grades
and bridges than on other roads, and
the policy has been to respond to all
offers made by parties of farmers who
wanted to donate work grading along
the roads that would benefit them
For every team the interested group
furnishes, the county furnishes one
granting of course, that enough are
supplied to make good working
force to justify having it superintend-
ed, and only good teams are ac-
cepted on either side.
I have made a careful study of
road work, and in June, 1913, I at
tended the Good Roads convention at
Boise at my own expense I have
found that much slipshod work has
been done on bridges and culverts
and l have had much of that to undo
Some of the metal culverts that were
put in first were not buried deeT
IenOugh and in muddy times the
wheels cut through or crushed them
/ find that twelveinch culverts need
to be buried three feet deep, so they
, will have at least eighteen inches Of
earth on top of-them, and this must
be watched and kept filled and pack
ed for the first season. Larger sizes
must be carefully imbedded and the
|; top slopes protected with gravel anG
cement.
The supposition that a culvert sci
deeper than the ditch will fill up with
wash is not true in practice; the eddy
or undertoe of the water passing und
Ter, keeps it clean, and the drift
weeds cannot get down into it tt
choke it. If they float down the
ditch they lie on top of the water
at the upper end of the culvert and
no flooding of the ditch banks re
suits. The only way they can gel
into the culvert is by shutting the
water off to allow them to settle ant
then starting it through again.
I have had to take out some wood
| en- culverts to rebuild the underpin
, ming where it was defective or where
the wash removed it and let the cul
vert settle: Some bridges are bull
, with defective stringers, and wher
, one breaks we have to strip off the
flooring to replace it. That is biz
, EXPENSE, and care in selection Of
] timbers would prevent it. The bridg'
} you mentioned last week at the cor
J ner by Tressl and SEVERN was on
[ Iof that class. While we mad the lum
+ Der off we doubled the floor believ
} ing it was worth the extra outlay o
r lumber and it is good for ten o
t twelve years now. The one you de
r scribed next north of that l. know
nothing about. There were four bi
bridges over the American Fall
canal that we expended most of gu
lumber on last year, and did 10
], LOT other work due to slipshod Worl
when they were built. These bridge
:, rested on mud stills that had no &c
!. ment support, and wherever there wa
any cutting Of the bottom OF the cana
it allowed the bridge to settle an