The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-04-09
FROM MARION'S DADDY
OF HARD ROADS

Editor Star: For the first time in |
years | rode the full distance from |
Ocala to Mcintosh over the road
known in the Aud Lang Syne as the |
Mcleod road, now as the Dixie High |
way. 1t has been ''just twenty years
ago" since this road was laid down,
before hard roads led to better Offices
and our road fund was one-fourth of
what it is today. | have always felt
personal interest in this road as
my maiden effort at road construc-
ton. 1t was surveyed through the
woods with a compass, with county
map as a chart and constructed with
out experience or blue print. 1t was
the first real hard road build in our
county. For this score Of years 1
have watched it with critics eye on
every mile of it and found it full of
small holes and choppy. | have never
had confidence in soft lime stone as a
substantial road material. When
building the first seven miles of this
road out of Ocala, laid base of
broken flint rock and this part of the
road has stood much better than
where only soft lime was used. 1
found the flint cheaper as material
than lime stone. If l had had the
crushing machinery in use today and
could have used three-fourths flint
to one part of lime stone it would
have saved thousands of dollars for
the county in repairs in the past
twenty years, money that could have
gone to new construction. Our lime
stone roads are twenty years behind
our needs of today. We have changed
from the horse drawn wagon, which
presses down the surface of a road,
to the auto which gets its momentum
from friction on the surface of a
road and if of lime stone will abrase
the surface. This means in a short
time choppy road. Our county dads
tell me that it's. taking all of the
present road fund to keep up repairs
on our thin surfaced spun out sys-
tenn of hard roads. They are right
and we are done with new construc-
ton until we reduce repair bills. We
can't afford to go back to the crooked
sand trails of the past. We need hard
roads and harder ones than what we
have. This means to go back to the
|starting point and make repairs more
substantial. With an active part in
road construction for four years and
as an interested observer of decade,
let me give you my prescription: We
have in this county billions of tons of
hard flint stone. | don't think there
is road in the county that hasn't
enough along its line to lay it foot
deep in crushed stone. Let our county
dads put the crushers and screens to
crushing and screening this stone
down to the size of shelled corn Ele-
vate it into bins so truck can be
loaded in wink, pillow or pick up our
lime roads, mix and roll this crushed
gravel into the surface of the road
until you have stone veneer on it.
If one application does not stand up
under use, come back and give it an
other. This process and material has
my full confidence. 1t will reduce re-
pair bills and put money in the road
fund. 1t doesn't need asphalt OF
John DIS. oil to keep down the dust
1t will leave the taxpayers money at
home. Thomas & Co. have three
crushers running in the county, tax
ing flint rock from both sides of the
Dixie highway and shipping it tc
other parts of the state for road pur'
poses, while our county dads feed the
winds on soft lime stone and repair
with a sand dust mulch. Our dad:
tell me when / talk Crushed flint,
they have mo money" to put up ma
chinery. That sounds strange, will
Thomas & Co. in the taxable assets o.
, Marion county. 1t looks like they
could scrape up enough dough to built
a crushing plant and get road refor
nation under way. It's my earnes
judgment that the continued use o
crushed flint gravel as suggested il
, renewal and repair work will put on
roads second to none in the state, il
a condition that will require little re
Lair money and that this can be &C
complished with our present roa
fund without the aid of county bonds
Let me repeat, this fine hard ston
lays along and within easy reach o
7 every road in the county. No freigh
and short haul to the road bed. T
y take it from the fields and land wi
q ladd to their agricultural value.
0 crushing plant is not expensive an
can be made portable so it can b
y taken down and set up to save Ion
? hauls. What l have said for tn
county will apply to Ocala. There
8 enough of flint stone within two an
7 half miles of the square to fill he
& streets with this everlasting stor
= and it doesn't need the aid of til
e American Asphalt Co. or Uncle job
DIS. oil. E. c. Mcleod.
Boys kickapoo shoes. Composition