Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1891 — Country Roads. [ARTICLE]

Country Roads.

Century. There is not a rural town within boarding distace of a great city which could not at sight expense assure itself all the city boarders that it could accommodate by the simple process of systematically and intelligently improving and beautifying its roads. If it were to appoint a town committee with power to employ experts, or to obtain expert advice, and to carry out the suggestions thus obtained in road improvement, the mere public advertisement of that proceeding would; attract boarders from all directions. The expense would not be great. In nearly every case the gravel or cracked stone necessary for the construction of a servicabie, well-drained road can be obtained within moderate distance. There is, for example, in some parts of Orange County,, in New York State, a kind of soft red sand stone to be found in great abundance; which crushes readily under the wheels and makes a hard, firm road-bed, which is never dusty and never muddy, which is yielding to the horses’ feet and most agreeable to ride over. Ordinary gravel can be used with almost equally good results. The main thing is to secure something like scientific knowledge in the construction of the road and in the mixture of materials. The vicious idea that anybody can make a road by shoveling, dirt into the middle of it from the gutter, or; what i 3 the same thing in a wholesale form, hauling it there by means of a “scraper,” must be abandoned at the outset, and not only abandoned but prohibited. Until that is done no reform will be possible.