Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1915-12-08

been done with this money and some
oil. You could have graded and oiled
once over, 10000 miles of road or
twice over 5000 miles, or you could
have kept up for three years 1000
miles of road. And after you have
well oiled a road for three successive
years it is practically as good as any
road People will say that they are
not permanent, that is true. But no
roads are permanent, and there will
be an up-keep on any road you may
build; and l am here to say that after
dirt road has been old for three
successive years it will require no
more, if as much upkeep as the ordin-
airy road.
By close observance you will notice
that the farms along the unimproved
highways are the arteries of cOmmuni-
cation for the transaction of the larg-
est amount of farm business and it is
over these undeveloped roads that the
greatest part of the cereals and farm
productions are now hauled once a
year. They why should not these
roads which bring home the bacon"
be improved at least with dirt and oil?
The best testimonial the oiled road
has ever had is the existence of hun
dreds of villages and townships which
have been building oil roads for the
past few years and never change to
anything else.
AS the highclass brick road with its
concrete base compares with the high
priced automobile, so your oil road
will compare with the Ford. AS the
two latter better fit the pocketbook
of the average taxpayer, why not
make them pals.
If your township officials who have
not as yet oiled any of your highways
will visit the other fellow who has
already ventured, they will be so well
pleased with what he has accomplished
with oil and dirt that predict uni
versal appliance within the next ten
years every dirt highway in the state
of Illinois will be an oil road.
To give your black loan road an
ordinary coat, have it put in condition
the following years. First grade up
the road to crown of an inch to the
foot and while you are elevating your
road be sure and grade your bitches
good and deep-deep enough to retain
the water if there is no drainage; 9TH
erwise your oil, if put on a fiat road,
will be wasted. After you have built
your grade and while still damp, put
on one-half gallon of oil to the square
,@rzflx
within reach, brush it literally on top
of the oil; if you have no sand, dirt
will answer The following years give
the road another coat of oil and after
the third year the maintenance will
be very small.
This plan of oiling and grading can
be done for 5000 to $500 mile with a
twenty foot roadway, according to the
location. If you wish dirt road that
is perfectly oiled, grade up your dirt
as l have already stated. Then set
the blades on a disc harrow at an
angle and disc the dirt A IL inches
deep and to a width of 16 feet. Then
spread on IL gallons of oil to the
square yard and follow up with the
follow up with a harrow and then put
on four-horse roller and roll the sur
face as level as possible, always roll
ing from the side to the center. After
this is done, sprinkle over the oiled
surface a small amount of sand or
dirt, sand being preferred. This soil
must be spread on the road while the
dirt is damp; if dry the road must be
wet first.
This style of a road will cost you
81 900 a mile, but when finished you
will have real oil road, and a small
sprinkling of oil each year will keep
it in a condition to resist the frost and
solve the drainage question.
When you consider the cost of both
the original building of the road and
its future maintenance you can read
lily see the value of oil on dirt roads
makes it the very best investment that
can be made today for this purpose.
Think of it. You can buy road oil
containing only about so per cent bind
er (more commonly called asphaltum)
for about three and one-half cents per
gallon. One-half gallon or one and
three-fOurths cents worth of oil is all
that is required to cover nine square
feet or one square yard and the oil
can be spread on the road at cost of
not more than three-fourths of cent
per gallon. Do you know of any 9TH
er road building material that can
compare in cost to this road oil?
Too much organization is business
wrecker. Community organizations
are what have made America and no
plan or idea that shall take away their
privileges can ever bring success. I'm
iversal consultation and deliberatiOn
is always beneficial, but local Organi-
zation, no matter how small with pow
er to act, should be sufficient to the
needs of each individual community.
The smaller the unit, the more econo-
my and betterl ocal results, and with
a good state engineer, which you now