The construction and maintenance of earth roads

by Richard Roswell Lyman

Maintenance.

Even more important than a proper construction of a road is the proper maintenance of that road. There is a difference, too, between maintenance and repair. The one keeps the road in good condition always, the other puts it in good condition occasionally. “What a minute and a shovelful of earth will do as maintenance may require loads of earth and hours of time as repairs.”

The road grader with its inclined blade, its four wheels, and its comparatively complex machinery, when used for maintaining or repairing an earth road merely cuts off the high places and deposits in the low places, the earth thus cut away.

Devices for Maintenance.

The leveler, a frame-work of planks held on edge and drawn in the direction of the length of the road with three or four of the timbers at right angles to this direction, renders good service by taking off the high places and filling up the low ones. The weight of this device and the greater width of its timbers, make it pack the earth into low places better than the road grader does. But since the blade of the grader can be set at such an angle with the direction of the road that it will constantly carry the earth from the outer edge toward the crown of the road, it makes the center of the road high, as it should, while the leveler makes it flat.

Plan of
Split-Log Road Drag

Fig. 7

The triangular shaped drag has, to a certain degree, the good qualities of both the devices just named, but what is generally regarded as the best device for repairing and maintaining earth roads is the King road drag or the split-log drag.

Split-Log Drag.

A split-log drag actually constructed of a log split in two is shown in [Fig. 8]; while this same device, constructed of planks, is shown in [Fig. 9].

Split-Log Road Drag

Fig. 8

Practically all the good qualities of all the other devices used up to this time for maintaining earth roads are found in the split-log drag.

[Fig. 7] shows the drag with the doubletree attached, and therefore it shows the position of the team drawing the drag with respect to the drag itself. The diagonal brace between the two heavy timbers near the forward end is used to keep the end of the timber which travels ahead from vibrating. The chain by which this device is drawn may be attached directly to the front timber or it may be extended through holes in this timber and be attached to the timber in the rear. If, instead of passing through the hole A ([Fig. 9].) the chain is carried over this timber and attached to the timber B, more room will thus be made for earth in front of the drag to slide under the chain.

Plank Road Drag

Fig. 9

The angle the sides of the drag make with the direction of the road can be varied at pleasure by attaching the doubletree to different links of the chain.

The teamster will soon learn by experience that changing his position as he rides on the drag will affect the work of the drag very materially, and he will soon learn also how and when to change his position in order to obtain the best results.

Importance of Using Drag.

The proper and best use of this drag or the careful maintenance of the ordinary earth road is perhaps the most important lesson in “roads” Utah people have to learn at this time. It is more important than the actual grading or construction of these roads.

When to Use Drag.

This drag should be used upon the road after every heavy rain and after every big thaw as faithfully as the successful dry-farmer harrows his crop at these same times.

Fortunately, too, the road dries faster than the farming land, so that the work on the roads can be completed before teams can, to advantage, be taken upon the farms to work.

Professor Ira. O. Baker of the University of Illinois, in an excellent article on the maintenance of roads in the Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXI., gives a description and also drawings of the split-log drag. His drawings are reproduced in Figs. [7], [8], and [9]. He describes the drag as follows:

“Farmers in different parts of the country for many years, have used various devices occasionally in smoothing the surface of the earth roads; but of all these, none seems to have devised a better form of machine or been more persistent and intelligent in its use than Mr. D. Ward King, of Maitland, Mo. Mr. King devised what he calls the split-log drag. A plan of the split-log drag as shown in [Fig. 7], and [Fig. 8] is a perspective view. The drag may be made from a log ten or twelve inches in diameter and from seven to nine feet long. A light wood, like elm, is preferable to a heavy one, like oak. The cross braces may be round or square sticks from three to four inches in diameter, the ends fitting into two-inch auger holes. A board, not shown in the cut, is laid upon the cross-pieces for the driver to stand upon. The drag may also be made of two pieces of plank, ten or twelve inches wide and from seven to nine feet long. The plank drag is shown in [Fig. 9]. It is wise to reinforce the wide planks with either a 1 by 6-in. or a 2 by 6-in. strip as shown in [Fig. 9].

The drag is drawn by two horses, and its length should be proportional to the weight of the horses. A drag seven feet long is about right for a team of 1200-lb. horses, and one nine feet long for two 1600-lb. horses. The driver rides upon the drag, and varies its effect by his position upon it. The drag does the best work when the soil is moist, but not sticky. If the roadway is badly rutted and full of holes, it is well to drag it when the surface is slushy.”

Common Mistakes With Drag.

Mr. King, the government expert on the split-log drag, says:[3] “Two mistakes are commonly made in constructing a drag. The first lies in making it too heavy. It should be so light that one man can easily lift it. Besides, a light drag responds more readily to various methods of hitching and to the shifting of the position and weight of the operator. *** A drag can be made heavier at any time by proper weighting.

The other mistake is in the use of square timbers, instead of those with sharp edges, whereby the cutting effect of sharp edges is lost and the drag is permitted to glide over instead of to equalize the irregularities in the surface of the road. ***”

Iron on Drag.

“A strip of iron about 3½ feet long, three or four inches wide and one-quarter of an inch thick may be used for the blade. This should be attached to the front slab so that it will be one-half inch below the lower edge of the slab at the ditch end, while the end of the iron toward the middle of the road should be flush with the edge of the slab. The bolts holding the blade in place should have flat heads and the holes to receive them should be counter-sunk.

If the face of the log stands plumb, it is well to wedge out the lower edge of the blade with a three-cornered strip of wood to give it a set like the bit of a plane.”

Mr. Chas. H. Hoyt of the U. S. Office of Public Roads, says,[4] “The split-log drag is a very simple affair, costs $2.00 to build, is economical to use, and every farmer or teamster living along a country road, who is interested in having the road past his place kept in good condition and is also interested to keep highway taxes down, should have a split-log drag.”

To maintain in this way all the important rural roads will make it necessary to put to work many of the teams that are idle when this work should be done. Perhaps some system can be devised that will require each farmer to maintain that portion of road in his neighborhood, and for so doing he may be exempt from paying a cash road tax. Those who prefer to do so can pay the tax in money, and the funds thus derived can be used to pay for the general supervision of this maintenance-work, and for the actual work of maintenance on the roads where farmers do not care to do the work themselves.