The Road and the Roadside

by Burton Willis Potter

If a road is only to be repaired once a year, the work ought to be done in the spring, when the soil is moist and will pack together hard, and not in the summer, when it is dry and turns easily to dust, nor in the late autumn, when the fall rains make it muddy. The surveyor generally makes the repairs by ploughing up the road-bed and smoothing it off a little, or else by ploughing up the dust, turf, and stones alongside the road-bed, and scraping the same upon it. After this is done he goes about his farm work.

The stones in the road soon begin to work up to the surface, and remain there like so many footballs for every horse to kick as he passes over them. A horse-path naturally forms in the centre of the road, and wheel-ruts upon either side, which make excellent channels for the water to run in during every rain-storm. At first the water finds its way over the water-bars in small quantities; but the channels increase in depth with every shower, and soon during every hard rain there are from one to three streams of water running over the road-bed from the top to the bottom of nearly every hill, and as a consequence the road is washed all to pieces. The road then generally remains in this condition until the next fall, and sometimes until the next spring. When a road is repaired in this way, it follows as a matter of course that it is in a bad condition all the year round. Just after repairs the road is wretched, for it is then in better condition to be planted than to be travelled over; when trodden down a little, the wash of the rains and the loose stones make it bad again; it then grows worse and worse until another general repair makes it wretched again, and so on ad infinitum. The only way to remedy this state of affairs is to change the system.

There should be only one highway surveyor for the whole town, with authority to supply such men and teams as may be necessary to keep the roads in a good state of repair. Let them not only work in the early summer and fall, but at all times when there is anything which needs to be done to the roads. A few shovels of dirt and a little labor in the nick of time will do more towards keeping a road in good condition than whole days of ploughing and scraping once or twice a year only. Every good housewife knows that there is a world of truth in the old maxim, "A stitch in time saves nine." The managers of all our well-conducted railroads understand this. They have a gang of men pass often over each section of the roads.

What would be said of a mill-owner who should let his milldam wash away once or twice each year, and then rebuild it instead of keeping it in constant repair? The proprietors of the great turnpike road from Sacramento to Virginia City in California, which runs mainly over mountains a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and has an annual traffic of seven or eight thousand heavy teams, have found by careful experiment that the cheapest way to keep that great road in good condition is to have every portion of it looked after every day, and during dry weather every rod of it is sprinkled with water. This continual-repair system was adopted in Baden, Germany, 1845. It was soon found that it was less expensive and more satisfactory than the old system of annual repairs. Other European countries soon found it to their advantage to follow Baden's example in this respect; and now the new system is in universal use in all the civilized nations of Europe. As a consequence the roads in those countries as a general thing are in splendid condition throughout the year. They are on an even grade, and as smooth as a racing-track in this country. The poorest roads in France, Germany, Switzerland, or Great Britain are as good as the best of our own. They are nearly all macadamized, and are kept in continuous repair by laborers and competent engineers and surveyors, who give their sole labor and attention to the roads as a business throughout the year.

But it is not necessary to go to Europe to prove the superiority of the new system over the old. Many towns in this country, especially those situated in the vicinity of the large cities, have adopted the new system, and find by experiment that it is better than the old. An intelligent citizen and town official of Chelmsford, Mass., Mr. Henry S. Perham, thus describes the operation of the old and the new system in that town: "Until 1877 the old highway district system, common in the New England country towns, was in vogue here. Eleven highway surveyors were chosen annually in town-meeting, who had charge of the roads in their respective districts; and although the town appropriated money liberally for highway repairs, the roads seemed to be continually growing worse, owing to the superficial manner in which the repairs were made. In 1877 the town adopted an entirely different plan for doing the work. The plan was to choose one surveyor for the whole town, who was to have charge of all the roads, and the town to purchase suitable teams and implements to be kept at the town farm. This is now the ninth year in which this system has been in practice, and the result of the change has been most satisfactory. The advantages are that the surveyor is chosen for his especial fitness for the work. The men under him are mostly employed by the month and boarded at the town farm, where the teams are also kept. A force now costing the town ten dollars per day will accomplish more and better work in one week than would be ordinarily accomplished by a surveyor under the old system in a season. And the reason is obvious. The men and teams are accustomed to the work; the best implements and machinery are employed, road-scrapers doing the work where the nature of the soil will permit; and what is still more important, the work is directed by the surveyor to the best advantage. In the winter season the teams break out the roads after heavy snows, and in fair weather cart gravel on to the roads as in summer. And although we have an extraordinary length of road to support,—namely, two hundred and seventy-five miles, being more by twenty-five miles than any other town in the State,—there has been a marked and continual improvement in their condition.

"When this plan was first presented to the attention of the town, it met with sharp opposition, and passed by only a small majority; but the favor with which it is now regarded may be judged by the fact that since its adoption it has met with almost universal approval, and we should now as soon think of going back to the school-district system or to support the churches by taxation as of returning to the old method of repairing our roads."

This method is undoubtedly better than the old district system; but the system of the future will not include a road-scraper except for the building of new roads. Any system is radically defective which scrapes the dust and worn-out soil of the gutters or the turf and loam of the roadside upon the road-bed. Perhaps this kind of repairing is better than none in many localities; but as civilization advances and the true principles of road-making become better known, after the foundation of a road-bed has been properly established, nothing but good road material will ever be put upon it, and this will be put there from time to time as needed to keep up a continual good condition of the road.

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CHAPTER V.

LAWS RELATING TO THE LAYING OUT OF WAYS.