Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1916-05-12
PRIZE ESSAY
ON BUILDING
co. ROADS.
(By Arnold M. Pless)

mobiles, the necessity of good roads
becomes more and more urgent. do
not propose macadamized or paved
roads at all, but simply confine myself
to the ordinary dirt and gravel roads.
Having run an automobile the past
summer, have discovered, more than
ever, the poor condition of our coun-
try roads; also the useless expendi-
ture of the peoples money
My first example will be the turn
pike, built little over two miles west
of Cresco. The men and teams were
continuously busy, scraping down the
small hills and knolls and filling up
little valleys and depressions, for
nearly whole summer and needless
ly moved as much ground on a half
or three quarter mile stretch as would
have sufficed to fill every hole, culvert
and bridge approach, from Cresco to
Riceville and thus would have given
US, approximately, twenty-five miles
of fairly good road, instead of half
or three quarters of mile. This may
seem exaggerated to some, but I think
that anyone, who has done very much
travelling by auto, will agree with me,
that the roads will be good for a
quarter or half mile and then will
come few bumps and holes, and
then some more good road and so on
ad infinitum. Consequently, if those bad
spots were given attention and per-
fectly cured, the roads would be good,
all through. I would urge that ten
teams and twenty men or any desira-
BILE number be sent in every direction,
following up the road, to fill up every
chuck hole, every water hole and
every deep rut, and, if they keep this
up throughout the season, there will
be more passable roads on account
of the diminishing number of these
and of soft spots. These same men
might also be charged, with the drag
ging of the roads, after every rain.
In the next place special attention
should be paid to culverts and bridges.
Anyone, travelling from Old Town,
Lime Springs, to Chester, must be as
tonished at the splendid culverts, con-
structed along that road and the con-
dition in which they are left. So far,
the road would have been better with
out them, because, before they were
put in, there was one bad hole, and
now, with a culvert in, there are two:
one on this side and one on the other,
causing jar while crossing them
For two consecutive years, these cul-
verts have been left this way, without
properly filled approaches would
suggest that the dirt for filling be not
simply dumped into the hole, but
rounded and carefully leveled off, so
that the water will have to run away.
have observed places where the dirt
was dumped in without leveling and
if person Unexpectedly runs against
one of these bumps, he is liable to
be thrown from the car. realize that
this cannot all be done at once, but
believe, If my plan were followed,
it would give US tolerable good roads
and greater mileage, at no greater ex-
pense, than the system followed here
tofore, if system, it may be called.
Whenever there are naturally wet
and springy spots or where water is
standing in the bitches, would make
The efficiency of tile to cure springy
spots, is proven to all who compare
the road between Howard Center
Bridge and Longs Farmstead, as it |
was, before the county put in string
of tile on each side of the road, with
what it is now. Every spring, boards
or posts had to be stuck into the mire
as danger signals, but now that place
is as solid, as any between Cresco and
Howard Center. What wrought the
improvement? Tile did it. 1t is the
water that spoils dirt road and, if
you can keep that out you have fair
road
1t goes without saying, that any
road officer, having in his district a
bridge or culvert, protruding three
inches above the road bed, must be
a person of depraved mind, other
wise he would not subject his fellow
citizens to so much ruffling of temper
and their cars and tires to so many
severe jolts. The bridge or culvert,
in the condition just described, is the
objectionable sin in road construction.
So much for working the roads to
greater advantage: now I want to say
few words about how the money
expended for the upkeep of the roads,
can do more work than it actually is