Spray courier. (Spray, Or.) 1???-19??, 1916-03-09
Costs and Methods Of
0iIing Oregon Roads

OHlIIS OICbuIl NuouS
BY J. w. Finn, Roadmaster Polk county. in ad-
dress before Oregon Agricultural College Road
Conference
Methods of oiiing Oregon roads
may be of the very best, but if the
road is not maintained twelve months
of the year, but is allowed to deterior-
ate, the oiling methods will soon be
the subject of condemnation by the
critical and impulsive citizen"
This was the conclusion reached by
Mr.. j. w. Finn, road master of Polk
county, Oregon, in an address before
the Good Roads convention held at the
Agricultural college. Some features
of the situation common to many parts
of the state are as follows:
"The public highways of Polk coun-
ty may be divided into two distinct
classes, earth and stone. The prob
lem with us, as it is with most every
other county in the state, is how to
improve our dirt roads. How to
build crushed rock and gravel roads
that will stand up under existing con-
ditions of our traffic. Incidentally,
how to get the most for the money,
and last and most important, in our
opinion, how to maintain these rock
and gravel roads after they are COM
pletely built, as no road is better than
it is maintained.
"I am firm in the belief that fuel
oil, with content of bitumen, the
higher the better, has been a great
factor in the maintenance of our rock
and gravel roads. 1t is generally an
accepted fact that if the dust nuisance
is to be overcome and lasting roads
are to be built, certain material other
than water must be used. 1t is only
in the last two years that dust layer
and road preservatiye has come into
popular use in our county. 1t is fact
that some thought it waste of pub
lie funds, but such criticism, helped by
the continued use of the oiled roads,
has melted into appreciation.
"The treatment we have given our
roads has been purely surface treat
ment. Dragging with split log and
patching with banked gravel helps the
roads through the winter, and with the
coming of spring campaign of clean
ing, patching and reshaping with a
scraping grader is started. Some
times harrow or scarifier is useful,
and possibly resurfacing portions of
the road to be oiled is necessary. Re
surfacing material should consist of
about 60 per cent pebbles varying in
size from one inch down and an ade-
quate amount of fine material, such as
sand. A moderate amount of clay is,
not harmful. After this work gains
headway, the road rollers are set to
work. When the roller has made the
road presentable and smooth, the oil
is applied by sprinkling from an eight
hundred gallon tank mounted on mo-
tor truck. By this method about five
thousand gallons may be applied daily.
The weather should be warm in order
to aid the even penetration of the -oil.
The oil we have used was fuel oil
containing about sixteen per cent as
phaltum. This material cost Polk
county eighty cents per barrel of
forty-two gallons. Adding freight,
switching charges and the contract
price of three-quarters of cent per
gallon for distribution, brings the cost
per gallon of oil on the road to three
and one-half cents. An application of
about fourteen hundred gallons per
mile twelve feet wide is necessary to
lay the dust. Better results can be
obtained by using pressure distrib-
utor of some standard make and put
ting on two applications at intervals of
say sixty days. After the first year
one good application will probably
keep the dust down, providing the dry
season is not too long.
Although good results have been
obtained in clay soil by mixing with
bituminous oils, the best results have
been secured with sandy loam. The
oil acts as binder and is extensively
uS6u WIlcTC clay SdlitlOI pC oUSdihCO.
"The method of constructing an
oiled earth road should be about as fol-
lows: The grade is first made with
proper crown of three quarters of an
inch to the foot, then furrows ploughed
the required distance apart on each
side of the center line, and the earth
moved from the center out, until a
trench is made. Care must be taken
in the preparation of the sub-grade,
which should also have a crown of
three-quarters of an inch to the foot.
1t is then rolled until the earth is
thoroughly compacted. Oil containing
about 90 per cent asphaltum should be
applied, hot, in two courses. The first
course should consist of about gallon
and half spread evenly to the square
yard of sub-grade, and about four
inches of earth thrown over it. This
should be well mixed and rolled with a