The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-07-21
Roads
For Polk
County
Bv Albertus Vogt. c. E.

INV
gratefully for the featuring and
space that you gave to my letter
in last Fridays Telegram, all OF
which is most munihcent OF you
as it comprohends much OF your
valuable space.
Encouraged BY such evident
public spirit | am sending you
these further individual observa-
tons of surfaced roads Ill Polk
county.
There are several spaces OF
constructed roads i'll Polk over
which | would be glad to drive
in company with the county
commissioners, and that govern
ment expert engineer, who may
be sent here to supervise the eN-
pending OF the S2,ooo,ooo OF
bond money now purposed to is
sue.
But as such trip { | will put
in my time gratis may not be
possible ior long time, make
these suggestions now. FOR by
getting them into the Telegram
and News, | am sure to get them
into the thoughts OF most OF the
people OF Polk county, South
Florida and many states.
Nine years ago John NJ. Keen
had built through the sand scrub
Just north OF the \. {. l.. track,
on the Cumbee road $50 yards OF
Barlow rock" "a low grade
phosphate matriX) surfaced road.
his short piece Of roadway, Is
the best and most lasting that |
have seen i'll FLORIDA. 1t has
stayed there . years and no one
has had the hardihood to ask
that . billion years aged Nv here
does this road go ;Sslmnlty
1t has "staid just as it was laid
tor . years and doubtless will lay
down on the Job Tor many moons
yet to rise and set.
The foundation OF this piece OF
, road IS what motor car drivers
/ know as 'ball-bearing sand be-
cause of pure and simple natural
cussedness, and the hendish ia
cility with which it does get out
from under the tires OF motor
cars, and at the same time hold
; the car on to the whizz until the
: palmetto fan and often the by
draulic get into the game and the
clrcumamblent gets sul phuretted
In the first act Of construction
there was scraped out wide
flat ditch say OF 9 inches and the
! surtaclng material was dumped
e INTO this very shallow cut. The
curblng was just the natura
: shoulders OF this slight cut, thel
= the matrix was leveled, ant
rolled smooth.
his was most ideal construc
: ton, tor the natural surface curl
prevented the washing away o
any of the clay in the matrix, an,
as there was no trench on eithe
edge OF the surfacing to carr,
OF rain water that settled into
and through the surfacmg an,
INTO the sand foundation an,
thus with the water that ran OF
and soaked into the abuttin
curDs stores and keeps moisture
that IN season OF droush is b
capillary attraction sufficient t
sustain the essential moisture t
prevent as it does that section {
road from either cracking, an
Attending vulnerable for chu
holes spots or dry atomizing an
easily, by wind, or undertov
machine currents, scattering a
dust.
There has been in Q yea,
much heavy hauling and aut
traffic over this piece OF WACO
road; 1t has never been repaire
because 1t has not needed repai
Inc entire $50 yards is smootl
resilient and hard now.
In driving from here to Fo
Meade | can tell here, whe,
each and every section OF II
smooth surfaces and the chus
are. and wise folks all 90 slo5
on the chugs and almost ever
BODY speeds on the smoo,
stretches. Thus these stretch,
get the severest grindinys und,
the %ruelling OF which they co,
tlnue to maintain unruffled face
at one particular stretch, (abo,
halt mile at a point where Il
road south OF Camp branch tur,
abruptly south. just east OF ii
Charleston Mining Co. 5 mort
east pit is one OF the many
points In favor of this contentio
l here the surface is low a,
fairly level, the surfacing
phosphate matrix is laid inde
tlcally as is the $50 wards
Jonn heen on the Cumbee roa
only as YOU near the mine nit
the south end of the street,
there IS a slight fill and on Il
short fill, there are II chup-bol,
'While all OF th0 Lo1o IVY