The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1915-12-09

nowhere They can have
their good roads conventions, talk
up the King drag and all that sort
of stuff. but that don't fix the
road
Clearly Gabe'' was a skeptic But
he was a working sceptic and he was
open to conviction. He tried a drag.
His experiment changed his mind, for
In the Rich Hill Review for April End,
about three weeks having elapsed, he
announced his conversion by giving this
invitation:
IF any one thinks dragging don't
do good come and look at some
road we ran he drag over twice
last week and good part of the
road had no grade at ALL some OF
1t lower in the middle than any
where else. drag lis the thing"
1t Is further recorded that travel
changed over to "Gabes'' road from
the Panama road"
Surely this was an unimproved road.
Surely it lad no drainage until with
the drag. Gabe'' gave 1t drainage.
We go to northeast Iowa for our next
witness and quote from a letter to the
Decorah Republican, in 1906. Again be-
fore the United States road men had
"officially seem the split log drag. Mr..
E. F. Chase of Fremont township writ
es. The letter Is another flat contra
diction of Mr.. Pages repeated assertion
that the King drag is NOT A BUILD
Err but is maintainer ONLY. Please
read the letter closely:
'"The King drag is steadily win
ming many friends among the enter
prising people wherever its work Is
to be found. 1 have made and work.
ed one of them two SEASONS and find
no difficulty in forming a rounded
road surface even though there was
a gully extending down the middle of
the road when began working with
the drag. 80 / have given the
drag fair trial on a piece of road
which was not only flat but worse
low in the middle-and now have
a fairly good rounded surface.
Another piece of road was on
steep clay hill where the water had
run down the wheel ruts and wash
ed two 1eep bitches with a high
ridge between and no chance to get
out with a team. Now this
same hill is smooth, oval road
bed, upon which two teams can
work abreast and each drawing
loaded wagon. The King drag did
it."
Is not this a convincing example Of
badly ditched clay built into fine
wagon road with a log-drag? Yet Mr..
Page states positively that the drag
is of little use in improving "clay roads
which have never been crowned or drain
ed The words quoted are precisely
those used in the protested bulletin
they can be discovered on the first
page in the protested bulletin. Mr.. Page
ignores the fact. well known to skillful
draggers, I. at RIGHT DRAGGING drain
and crowns at the same operation.
Really the situation is amusing. Here
we have an Iowan doing years before
Mr. Page heard of the split-log drag
the exact thing that he (Page), a road
expert employed by the Department of
Agriculture declares cannot be DONE
Are you not astonished, Mr.. Houston, to
see "enterprising people," farmers, many
of them, performing feats of engineer
ing beyond the skill of the crack spec
ialists OF your department? Would you
pardon mild indignation on my part
when 1 discovered that such stuff as
the Page bulletin was being given to
the people, by your subordinates, in an
swer to inquiries about the King drag?
Possibly there could be found, here and
there, an individual who would excuse
If prompt Lublic protest had been made
year or more ago. without brooking
the delay ne cessary to my efforts to adj
just the blunder quietly and privately
Returning to the testimony: Mr.. Paul
G. Wolff. secretary Automobile Club of
PHtsburg, Penna., prints a report on a
King drag experiment by M Charles
q. Shires, of Derry township, Montour
county. This in 1909. Two sentences
therein are pertinent to this discussion.
They are offered as they appear in the
report:
The first day each man put In
shape fire miles of road. The re-
suit was far superior to that obtain
ed with the four wheeled scraper,
and the cost about one sixth" q
Far away Nova Scotia brings evidence
Middletown had a road drag contest
which closed October 18th, 1907. AL
though beyond our boundaries, Middle
town, Is a Year ahead Of Mr. Page, who
did not get around until April 1908
The judges were Captain J. ]. Buckle,
of West Dalhousie, and Mr.. Isaac Young
OF Middletown. They presented a form
al report. Only a part of the document
Will be quoted. In 1t the judges say:
after carefully compar-
ing the roads upon which the drag
was used with similar pieces of
road on which the road machine or
no road machine was used. we are
convinced that the drag is a most
important acquisition to our road
making machinery. While 1t makes
decided improvement in sandy
roads (Which Mr.. Page denies) and
can be Used with advantage on
stony roads (again Mr.. Page de-
nies), yet 1t Is on the clay (once
more Mr. Page denies), and mixed
clay roads that 1t will give the best
results the drag . gives
straight. hard. well rounded road
that no Their means appears to pro-
vide"
Again the drag is superior to the
road machine.