The mirror., 1922-04-20

as a pusher. The entire crew of an out
fit such as this would consist of three men
on the elevator, six wagon drivers,
dump man, straw boss and one man and
team to spread the dirt after being de-
posted. The technical side of supervision
of grading comes only to man exper-
fenced in the work and to this man, the
bumper, lies the responsibility of moving
it fast and right. 1t seems sometimes
rather canny to watch his signals where
the load shall be deposited and when he
yells "dump" the driver throws the lever
and his load lies where it is needed, that
needs an experienced eye.
On one grading and graveling contract
| found what to me seemed ideal condi-
tons. This road was twelve miles in
length. The camp stood on an ideal To-
cation overlooking a lake, and all bunk
houses and cooking tents were placed in
rows, in fact the whole little city, there
being one hundred and twenty men in it,
was as up-to-date as possible. Electric
lights, running water and even a sparring
ring. All of these were portable and
could be moved without great deal of
trouble, and the contractor was not only
reaping a benefit but the employees as
well. In this outfit were eight Packard
trucks capable of hauling five yards of
gravel each, and as they worked both day
and night they were driven by two dri-
vers, stretch of eleven hours allotted to
each driver.
The loading on this particular job was
done by Thew steam shovel and when a
truck was loaded it started on its haul at
the end of which was a State Highway
employee, to supervise the laying and
checking. The gravel is spread by a blade
grader, about six feet in length, with a
team and man and the state employee is
there to see he doesn't spread it too far
When four miles of such contract is
completed the state accepts and pays for
it except fifteen per cent which is held un-
til the final acceptance of the complete job.
In concrete work there is the same grad
ing but more careful work such as leveling
and measurement. The mixing is as rule
done as close to railway as possible to
facilitate the handling of cement and ma
teral. The mixers you have all seen but
these are large, capable of handling
twenty-five cubic feet and all aggregate is
mixed dry only small portion of water
added, just enough to make the cement
stick to the gravel and sand, it is then
hauled either by industrial railway or
trucks to the road where men spread it
and wet it down. The finishing is done
generally by Lakewood fnisher, ma
chine giving the road the slope and
smoothness. When the finisher has COM
pleted its part the cement is allowed to
set trhe then it is either puddled or
soaked. In pudding a small dam of dirt
is placed about each intersection and this
space then is filled with water which is
allowed to stand until the cement has fully
hardened or set. Water is very essential
to concrete job and most outfits include
good engine driven pump.
The life of man on road contract is
not always as pleasant as it should be-
At FIVE in the morning you are awakened
by chorus of perhaps twenty or thirty
head of mules all calling at once for their
oats and from then on your day commences
in sweat, dirt, and hard manual labor,
but it is honest and each day you may see
portion of road laid over which someday
you may drive. Every day is work day
and every night is work night because
when the weather is good you must neces-
sarily make twenty-four hours do the most,
but after few days in a camp you could
sleep in boiler factory and not sound
would disturb you.
Tn, tho IT laSt wear Federal Aid roads