The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-06-19
SURVEYING WITH AN AUTO.
Motor Truck More Economical Than
Horse Drawn Vehicle.
Geo. H. Hebert,
County Auditor.

Motor Truck More Economical Than
Horse Drawn Vehicle.
/. G. v. Hodgson of the coast and
geodetic survey. department of com
merce. has recently left Washington
for the southwestern part Of the Unit.
ed States. where he will have charge
of a party for the determination of
the astronomic latitude of Triangular
ton stations established by the coast
and geodetic survey and the United
States geological survey, between Bar
stow, Tex, and the Pacific ocean.
Many Of these stations are on noun
tains as much as 10000 feet in height.
The results of this work will be used
principally for geodetic purposes-that
is, the determination Of the figure of
the earth and the distribution Of ma
terial in the earth's crust.
The means of transportation for this
party will be q one and a half ton
automobile truck which was used sue
c~essfully on similar work between Den
yer. Colo. and the Canadian border in
the eason of 1913. A similar truck
had been employed also in 1912 on the
forty-ninth parallel boundary survey
between the United States and Can
ada. The cost OF the work during the
season of 1913 is estimated as only
one-half of what it would have been
if horses and wagons had been used
for transportation. The saving in the
coming season is expected to be ven
greater. as the country to be traversed
is arid or semiarid and the ~transporta-
ton of water and forage for stock
would have been a difficult problem.
1t is expected that the work will con-
tinue until late in the autumn.
The conditions in which the truck
was used were such as to require very
frequent transportation of men and
material between widely separated
points and in a region remote from the
ordinary means of communication.
In the experience with the truck in
1912 it was found that a field party
and it's equipment could cover easily
from ~seventy-five to 100 miles in a
day over. Indifferent roads, including
stops for gasoline. supplies, ETC., en-
route. The machine will haul this load
anywhere that four horses can and in
O%ne-fourth the time. 1t is equipped
with solid rubber tires. dual behind
and with extra tanks for gasoline and
water. The weight of the truck is
about 6.1OO pounds and the weight of
the equipment of all kinds carried, but
excluding the weight Of the three pas
sengers, is about 1000 pounds, thus
bringing the weight Of the entire out
fit to more than four tons. On the
average n gallon of gasoline was
used for every So miles and one gallon
Of oil for every sixty-one miles.
The chief limitation in the use of the
truck for surveying work arises from
its weight. but a lighter truck would
answer in some classes of work. Green
poles were carried to place in front Of
the dual tired rear wheels in passing
through deep sand or mud and heavy
planks were carried for reinforcing
the flooring Of weak bridges. For use
in mud or sand the dual tire possesses
a great advantage owe the single tire.
but on the deeply rutted prairie roads
the duals were found to wedge and
bind in the ruts. SO that it was neces-
sary to take to the prairie alongside
the road. For a skid chain a heavy.
close linked. rather fat chain about
seventeen feet long was used. This
was wound about six times round the
rim and tires Of each rear wheel and
the ends fastened by heavy buckled
straps by which the slack could be
taken up.
alexandria, Egypt"
All correspondents with Egypt in all
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