Saint Mary's beacon., 1914-01-15

1 you look at the ordinary county
road after a shower you will see small
pnddles along the wheel ruts and
sometimes larger pools. This water
stays on the road surface beside ditch.
es. II 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 tray.
el is called the travelled way. TO pre-.
vent water from standing on the tray.
eied way the road should be raised in
the center and should slope gently in.
10 bread shallow bitches. il is then
said to have a crown II II Is ten
feet from the center OF the read "a
the side ditch. the surface at the side
ditch should at least be ten inches
lower than IL is at the center where
the horses travel The road then has
o ten-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 at every low point go that
the water can run out of them into
neighboring brooks or streams. II the
bitches merely collect the water from
the road surface and IL can not run
away. large pools will be formed along
dEt faI. 4. IL.
soak into the soil beneath the road
and make 1t So soft that the wheels OF
the wagons will cut through the road
surface and soon destroy II.
Sometimes water runs from land
along the road into the road and
forms a little stream down the wheel
tracks or in the middle where The
horses travel. When driveways into
farmyards are built across the side
bitches they frequently form channels
for water from the farmyard to run
into the road. The pipes under drive
rubbish and the water can no longer
run away. II the driveways that stop
the ditch water were rebuilt SD that
no pipes were necessary and the ditch
could be left open. much trouble from
surface water would be stopped
Sometimes a road runs across low
ground or through "A swamp where the
road cannot be drained by side bitches
alone. II the road were built higher
like a railroad embankment across
such low land and made with d crown.
1t would be dry and hard. Sometimes
q road passes through what Is called
cut. This is place where the earth
has been dug out SO that the road can
go over a hill without being too steep
The water which always flows quietly
under the ground on hill sides is
known as ground water. In road cuts
such water sometimes makes the road
very muddy. and the road tken needs
what road builders call underdrain-
age. a good kind of underdrainage is
a trench TO go along under the side
drain and about three feet deep and
q foot and half wide. In this trench
pipe is laid near the bottom and GOV.
cred with loose stones no bigger than
IN egg. When the trench is com.
pletely filled with loose stones the
ground water. instead of soaking into
the roadway. will stop among the
stones and .iipw down the hill through
the pipe.
To keep a road smooth and crown
ed the best method is TO drag II with
a road drag. A road drag is made
easily with two halves of a log which
has been split