Evening star., 1917-05-20
HOW ROADS ARR. built
IN NATIONAL FORESTS
0. c. Merrill, Chief Engineer Of
Service, Discusses Develop
ment Of Work.

opening OF the National Forests Dy
| Road Building" is the subject of paper
| by o. c. Merrill. chief engineer, United
States forest service. In that connec-
ton, he says:
Some day in the not far distant future
the farmer in Kansas. Oklahoma. Ne
braska, the Dakotas or any OF the great
farming states may. when the work of
harvesting is over, pack tent and camp
equipment in his automobile and seek
needed rest and recreation with his fam
lily almost anywhere In the mountain
reaches Of the national forests, east or
west He may go by ways hitherto closed
to all but the adventurous tourist with
saddle horse and pack outfit through the
capped peaks and green parks. or into
the beauties and health-giving air Of
the high sierras of California. the coast
ranges Of Washington and Oregon. the
northern Rockies. or the cool attitudes of
the southwest. Similarly the farmer liv-
ing within the boundaries of the national
forests may find what now Is often lack
lng-Qutck and easy contact with markets
Tor his produce and with sources OF his
supplies Forest communities. now iso-
lated through lack Of good roads or even
,, any roads at all, will be brought into
touch with the outside world. All this Is
made possible by the federal aid road act,
signed by the President July IL. 1916.
1000 Miles of Road Built.
when. in 1905, the national forests
were placed under the administration of
the forest service they were practically
without roads and lacking in trails. In
the last ten years. the forest service has
built or repaired about 1000 miles Of road
and about $4,000 miles of trail in the
their primary object OF administration
and protection. have made the forests ac-
cessible to the public to a certain extent.
The national forests total 155,000.000
acres. an area considerably larger than
the German empire. When one considers
their vastness and the lack Of roads at
the beginning one can see that, so far as
opening them up to the public Is con-
cerned, the work which 1t has been pos
sible to do amounts to relatively little be-
side the total road work that needs to
be done.
Settlement at first was onSthe more
accessible lands along the margins OF the
forests or in the river valleys Gradually.
however. as the remaining agricultural
land In the forests has been opened to
settlement the less accessible areas have
been taken up. making the need for roads
more urgent than ever. Counties. and
even individuals. have built roads, and
the forest service has done what it could.
but in spite of all this hundreds of set
tiers within the forests still have no
means of communication with the outside
world better than q pack trail.
AS other remote areas of agricultural
land in the forests are opened to settle
ment this condition will, OF course, be-
come worse instead Of better. The con-
venience and well-being of the settlers
and the development and use OF the for
adequate system Of roads in the shortest
practicable time. And il there Is need for
giving the population within the forests
an outlet to the rest Of the world. there
is just as great need for giving the
people Of the country in general means
for getting into the forests. for nowhere
else can one find such unlimited oppor-
tunities for every kind Of recreation.
Policy in Construction.
s1n.the actual work of road building
the policy is to concentrate available
funds on few projects at time and
to complete them rapidly. rather than
to scatter money among a multitude
of projects and get very little in the
way of an effective road system. One
good road that connects up with an ex-
isting road leading to some center OF
population or that gives an outlet to
q railway is worth two Indifferent
roads that lead nowhere in particular.
The character of traffic in the ma
tional forests has seldom justified the
construction of expensive surfaced
roads. Medium. width earth roads, well
graded and drained. have been built. A
single,track road With . low F.~'a has
proved much better than a doa ~.-:rack
road with steep grade. Roads which
prove to be too narrow can be widened
without destroying what is already
there. but to change the grade means
rebuilding and complete loss of the
original Investment. Heavy grades on
mountain roads that often have a
steady upward climb of ten or fifteen
miles before the crest of the divide
is reached. make travel by horse
drawn vehicle, or even by automobile.
a slow and difficult proceeding. Six
per cent has been used as the maxi
mum grade for the national forest
roads wherever practicable. All roads
are side-ditched, with protection ditch
es as needed and good-size culverts at
frequent intervals.
:"9nce "a national forest road Is built
everything possible is done to keep it
in a proper state of repair. With the
long dry spells and the short heavy
rains and deep snow. along with alter
nate melting and freezing. common in
most Of the forests. even the best built
road would soon be ruined without
some effective system of maintenance
With proper maintenance. on the other
hand. the kind of material usually
found In the forests will produce ex-
cellent roads. On the more important
roads patrolmen are being employed
dur!n1 the season of traffic to keep
bitches and ,culverts open and to drag
ard crown the road whenever neces-
sa:y."