The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1919-08-27

with screen and belt elevator. This
will be installed at the gravel pits,
and IS portable. We Will get q screened
uniform grade Of gravel for surfac-
ing, which has been heretofore impos-
sible with hand loading.
The second thing to consider is the
labor proposition We have thirty
four dragging districts, each one
ranging from four to eight miles in
length. a man who reports to the
Highway Engineer every week does
the necessary maintenance work on
his district. The difficulty in this is
that some Of the men are not con-
scientious enough to try and do their
best, as is sometimes evidenced by the
condition of the road surface. But
these conditions are being remedied
from time to time. as better men be-
come available, and we are doing the
best we can with what we have. The
conditions along this line are far from
ideal, but we are trying to make them
as nearly so as possible. Some of the
maintenance men are doing excellent
work. You can tell who the good
men are by taking j trip around the
county, bearing in mind also that we
had an unusually severe season on
roads this year
Much is being done to relieve the
unusually heavy muddy conditions in
some Of the cuts By thing them ou:,
and by next spring we expect to have
all the cuts in fine shape. If neces-
sary, and feasible. we will have snow
fences put up where they will do the
most good in relieving the cuts of
excess snow.
Regravelling is being done on
large scale, owing to the fact that
many miles of our gravelled roads
are rapidly wearing out. The traffic
conditions are Becoming quite prob
lem to road men. There have been
times when a hundred autos will pass
a given point in less than an hour.
This is not an unusual amount Of
traffic. either. Al census Of vehicles
is to be taken in two or three places
in the county soon, ard when the fig
ures are published you will be sur
prised.
Some parts of the county are un-
fortunate in not having gravel depo-
sits near the roads. This necessitates
hauling gravel from a considerable
distance, adding considerably to the
cost of such Improvement, and in
some cases almost prohibiting the use
of gravel at all. There have been
several trips made to sound land test
places where gravel was thought to
be, but these places all proved to be
small pockets that would not pay for
the cost of opening pits. We tried
to get gravel shipped in, but were
unable to get q price anywhere near
reasonable. The result is that we will
have to expend a considerable sum
in hauling gravel from pits a long
distance from the road. The haul will
be almost too long for teams, and we
may have to resort to trucks, which
are the only animals that do not have
to breathe and have drinks and feed
and rest, as a horse does. It is a
hard thing to do all this work at
once. A team or truck can only be
IN one place at a time, and we only
have a limited number of trucks and
teams available. Some part will have
to wait for another until we can get
caught up with the work
Another thing adding to the ex-
pense of the maintenance Of our
roads is the carelessness of the pub
lie. Farmers in blowing fields along
the roads will pillow right through in
to the road side itch. sometimes al
most filling the ditch with clods of
earth. This is absolutely wrong, and
can be punished by law. Also, they
forget that the state laws require the
cutting of weeds along the roads. This
matter is being neglected every year,
and there is no reason why the de-
partment should have to tell them
every year that the weeds must be
cut. IL any of the maintenance men
have to do this work the cost there
Of can be assessed against the land
and if it has to be done another year
It will be assessed, and collected. Team
,raffic Injuries the road surface very
much by the use Of narrow tired wa i
CONTINUED on last oage.)