The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1922-02-02

ROAD BUILDING
MIXING OF GUMBO AND GRAVEL
IN RIGHT PROPORTIONS
MAKES IDEAL ROAD.
Stretch of Road in Northern Montana
Built of This Material Said to be
Attracting Much Attention Among
Contractors and Road Builders.

SOfttfdttOIS anu IOdu IDiii1ttISs
Between Vaughn and Sun River in
the vicinity of the Adams ranch, not
far from Lange's corner, is a half
mile stretch of gravel road built by
Nj. l.. O'Neil that has caused much
favorable comment among those who
have recently driven over it. 1t has
a hard, smooth surface and is stand
ing the strain of traffic admirably.
1t crosses a low piece of ground
where others had previously attempt
ed to build a road but never had
made a success of it.
The road was built by O'Neil ac-
cOrding to a formula which he has
spent many years in developing and
which he contends will revolutionize
road building in Montana if general
ly adopted 1t is the simple process
of mixing gumbo and gravel in the
right proportions and in the right
manner, which sounds easy, but ac-
cordfng to O'Neil requires experience.
1t was in 1918 that the Cascade
county commissioners first built a
gravel road across the lowlands in
the vicinity of the Adams ranch on
the Sun river valley highway. This
road, however, was never satisfac-
tory. The gravel would not "stay
put" and after it had been driven
over a few times was virtually as bad
as the rutty, sticky trail that had
been there before gravel was put on
it. Farmers and ranchers in that
part of the county were constantly
complaining of the us~elessness of
such a piece of highway.
Early last fall, M. l.. O'Neil, who
owns "Sun River Slope Farm" about
81 miles northwest of. Great Falls on
the pa~rk-to-park highway, applied to
the county commissioners for a job
as a road builder. He submitted rec
concentrations and other evidences of
his ability from Wisconsin people
where he lived before coming to Mon
|tana, but he did not seem to rouse
the commissioners interest until he
offered to build a piece of road any
place in the county they might select
for which, if he did not complete it
to their satisfaction, he would charge
the county nothing. In this offer
the county commissioners saw an OPP
portunity to give O'Neil a real test.
So they turned him loose on that half
mile stretch near the Adams ranch
which had been a source of grief to
them for three years.
O'Neil has been paid 500 which it
was agreed he would receive if his
road work was satisfactory, and the
farmers who use that particular road
are sure that an equal sum was never
better spent by the county. The road
is almost a pavement in its smooth
ness and hardness.
1t is O'Neil's idea that Montana
gumbo and gravel can be mixed in
road building in much the same way
that cement and gravel are mixed
for sidewalks. He uses pit run gravel,
which means that it does not have to
be sifted to a certain size and he
mixes it with the gumbo, when both
are dry, with his road grading ma
chimes. The secret of the success of
the formula depends upon the proper
lions of the gravel to gumbo and the
of mixing them.
Montana gumbo is unsurpassed
for binder in gravel road eonstruc-
tion," says O'Neil. fsThe amount of
gumbo to be used depends upon the
quality of the gravel. The best gum
DO is the s~tickiest, but it should be
mixed with the gravel when both ma
terials are dry, and it should be
mixed thoroughly from top to bottom
of the road surface.
"After the proper mixture has been
decided upon, the material must be
mixed so that the coarser will be in
the bottom and the finer on top,
mostly through the center, and the
undesirable sizes on the outside edge.
A heavy road grader with long wheel
base has proven best in mixing ma
~terials.
"After the grader has done its
work, a wooden road drag is used.
The drag hastens the curing of the
mixture. After the materials are
properly mixed and in place rain is
welcomed. The surface is hardened
by that time, and there is little
chance for the water to penetrate and
cause the gravel to loosen and there
by make chuck holes.'"
9 Engineers who have visited the
piece of road say that it excels other
gravel road construction because the
average gravel road is built in an en-
tirely different manner-gravel be-
ing hauled and dumped on the road
and then shaped up" improper
binding material being used. The re-
suit is a rapid deterioration of the
road and high maintenance costs for
"chuck holes" are easily made which
can never be satisfactorily fixed.
O'NeiI was only Is years old when