Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1917 — THE ROAD DRAG [ARTICLE]

THE ROAD DRAG

i' ’.Were was a-.time a few years ago vdK the problem of improved road and Maintenance was little gMbre than an experiment, and all ■Banner of methods were used and ■watched with more or less interest. “Road builders had their own ideas of", ’matter and went ahead with the v.-ork in hand regardless of what others thought. Bq,t that time has passed. The 'question is no longer in its experimental stage and the prudent road “man profits’ by the discoveries and of his predecessors. The question of road maintenance is now. ’of greater importance than the question of road building, because of the fact that a large majority of the trunk roads are. already built afid must be maintained. .The use of the heavy road roller ,ih building roads has been proven a complete success, but the same pan not be said of its use in road maintenance. , After a road ’has been built and opened to traffic, the* question of most importance is keeping the top surface &i the road in proper condition—-slightly oval in shape and smooth. The bottom or foundation of the road is already packed solidly . and if not disturbed bids fair to support any and all traffic for. a:great many years. But if a heavy road roller is placed on such a road it does beyond any and all dotibt break and disturb the lower base or foundation th such

an extent that it becomes once more ■Unsettled and again requires months of travel to pack it back to its original state. , So much -for that. The question now remaining is the care of the • top surface of the road. Constant Use ip all kinds of weather is bound ,to stir-up this top surface and create ruts as, well as, to push some of the stone to the outside and out of the path of tpavel. Therefore, anything ■that would tend to keep all of this stone in the line of travel, keep the •top •surface" smooth “and in proper “shape, would seem' to be about the only thing .needed. - • • Thfit is precisely the province of ■the road drag, that little-and cheap machjne which is .doing to lessen‘.the cost of maintenance “and .consequently reduce £he.‘burden o'n thd taxpayers than all other contriyances and’methods combined. It is all very vt'ell to -send a man out 'with* a team 2 and wigon t<3 haul stone and 'deposit sarnie in the tow .spots, along’the road, hnly it is far from tiding Jtha most or economical manner. A man and team working thus do; well to cover a half?mile-of road- in. a day, 'besides the cast of the stone. A man and,team with a road drag can cover several miles of road in a day,- and at -bight leave it fin a smooth and. hard condition ready to withstapd the onslaughts of swift hutomobilbs and he.avi’ly laden wagons, both of which then tend to pack the small portions of the top. surface loosened by the road drag. And there is no expense other than the labor of the man and team and the' initial cost of the road drag. But in spite of the fact that this method has been proven the most economical and the' most effecitve, there are'StUl some men who refuse to recognize its true worths V In Jasper county the road drag is little used. There are several in the county but usually "they are to be foun<J lying alongside the road or pulled up close to a farm fence where they are not in the way and repose in quietude for months at a timd. To realize the effectiveness of the V - ' " ' .■ “: . ■ ■ . .

road drag one has but to visit some of bur neighboring counties where It is used freely and often, and iuake a comparison of the roads there and ’here. Now that the road drag has been proven the most effective and the most economical by the best road men of the nation, it is ‘hoped th'at its use in Jasper county will be more general in the future.