Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1922-09-27
Laying the Road Dust.

&c. W. Williams of Bennington
This year has brought into sight a
practical method of doing away with
the dust on Vermont's motor travel
ed roads. With relief at hand at a
price the state can pay, all the people
who use the principal roads or live
along them, realize no price in reason
is too high for eliminating the un-
healthy, dangerous and very costly
dust.
Dust is costly in many ways. first
it represents throwing off road mater
ial, put on at great cost, in some
places faster than it can be put on.
Highway dust cannot fill the eyes,
nostrils and lungs of thousands daily
without starting many colds and
spreading the injecting germs OF doz-
ems of diseases.
On week-ends and holidays during
pleasant weather, so many cars are
used,, the dust never clears on the
main roads. This has. driven all ex-
perienced motorists who can drive at
other times to keep off the roads on
these occasions. The number who
may select their own time to ride is
small. Most car owners who ride for
recreation, must attend to business
and can ride at no other time except
on days when most all are out togeth-
er. Lunch by the roadside is UNI
pleasant and unhealthy with clouds of
dust blowing over and all the road
side vegetation covered thickly.
Dust causes dozens of accidents.
Drivers of cars who will follow each
other peaceably over dustless roads,
without an idea of racing, getting a
good supply of grit between their
teeth on dusty road, will fight like
,iends for the lead, under conditions
dangerous enough to scare to a jelly
the most experienced racing driver.
Residents along much used dusty
road are irritated to desperation by
the conditions; the house may have a
moss of dust all over it. Flying dust
has an amazing power of penetration.
1t will get into every room on the eX-
posed side of a house. A porch IS
useless and one often wishes he had
built the front of the house at the
back Going down the road way to
a friends for supper, one should take
clean clothes in an air-tight case and
battle and dress after arriving. Ii
the supper is cooked and served in the
cellar on the back side of the house,
there may not be any dust in the food
IL CIl0 mousse Is well UdCh IIoiI IilC
road, has double windows and is back
plastered.
Last summer and this season an in
creasing number of gaps in the run
of the dust eating gauntlet have been
| furnished by the state and privately
treated stretches of road upon which
an application of calcium chloride has
been made. The low cost of this
material, the ease with which it may
be applied and it's freedom from the
unpleasant and dirty features of the
oil process have made it very popular.
Few progressive farmers who have
learned of it's features and have been
able to purchase this calcium chic
ride, have failed to make an applica-
ton in front of their residence.
Calcium chloride in white flakes or
crystals has an extreme affinity for
moisture. When spread on the road,
it at first appears like a light fall of
snow; it settles into the road surface
very promptly and the moisture it alb
serbs from the atmosphere keeps the
road slightly damp. The effect pro-
duced is like some of Vermont's ia
nous shaded "Gulf Roads" in Will
Jamestown, Roxbury or Granville.
The road is held together, it packs
firmly but not hard. The honing
treatment may be applied at any time.
Patrol work on such a road is much
simpler than on an oiled road, more
in line with the training of Vermont
patrolment and more likely to be cor
rectly done.
A gravel road kept we'll treated
with calcium chloride will not wash
board or go to pieces except the road
be in a location where traffic is so
heavy, no road but high-grade ce-
ment or bituminous macadam could
stand. A chloride treated road is net
slippery after a shower as is the thor
oughly oiled gravel road.
Two applications of calcium chic
ride, each much less expensive than
an application of oil will keep a good
gravel road dustless for a long sea-
son. During the application process
there is no dangerous or disagreeable
period. The road need not be closed
while the material is being applied
Patrolmen can easily use the mater
ial as they work, adding where needed
and applying a light coat where they
resurface a section.
1t is said by Vermont road author
tiles that tax of one cent a gallon
on gasoline will amply provide for the
chloride treatment of all Vermont's
main roads. Who would say no?
The driver in FLYER? Never. The
man in the big sedan? Never. The
family living by the road? Never.
The tourist? Never. Well, bring it
on and quickly.