COMMON ROADS OF MICHIGAN. 



BY R. C. CxVRPENTER, C. E. OF THE STATE AGKICULTUEAL COLLEGE 



The importance of good roads seems in many cases to be entirely disregarded, 

 "but it must certainly appear upon investigation that poor roads not only add to 

 the people's inconvenience, but actually are an enormous tax on the traveling 

 public. For instance, over a rough sandy road there can be dra^vn but from 

 one-half to two-thirds of the load that could be taken over the same road if cov- 

 ■ered with a good, firm, and even surface of broken stone or gravel. ISTow, if 

 the load is diminished one-half, one-third, or any known proportion, and the 

 amount of traffic known, the exact determination of this tax becomes a problem 

 ■of no great complexity. Sujjpose, as is frequently the case, that 20 loaded 

 teams pass each day over a portion of road 20 miles in length, which is in such 

 a condition as to reduce the load to two-thirds of what could have been taken 

 over a good road, there is a waste each day by each man and team of one-third 

 of a day's work, and for the 20 teams for a whole year of 300 days, this amounts 

 to 2,000 days' work of a man, team, and wagon, which at the usual price of $3 

 per day would foot uj) to the sum of 86,000. In addition to this we will have 

 a bill for extra wear to wagons and teams, so that in all probability the total 

 expense would be at least one-third greater, or 88,000, which is about 8400 per 

 year for each mile of road. 



These figures may look large, and it may be thought that such jjoo^' I'oads in 

 our State are comparatively rare ; but I am of the opinion that few roads in 

 our State are even as good as the one considered. There are very few roads over 

 ■which a single team can keep a steady pace for 8 hours in the 24 and draw 30 

 bushels, or 1,800 pounds, of wheat on a wagon weighing 900 or 1,200 pounds, 

 making in all a load not exceeding 3,000 pounds. On a good road the 

 amount drawn by a team should be double this at least ; for it has been found 

 by experiment that an average team of horses will exert from 240 to 300 pounds 

 of tension steadily for eight hours per day ; and it has been further found that 

 the resistance on a good road of broken stone or gravel is l-30th the gross load ; 

 consequently one pound of tension should draw a weight of 30 pounds, and a 

 team should pull with ordinary exertion 30 times 240 pounds, or 7,200 pounds. 



This result, though seemingly large, is more than realized on the English 

 roads. C. Herschel states that it is a patent, undeniable fact that the English 

 horse employed in the streets of a city or on the roads of the country does twice 

 as much work as the American horse similarly employed in America. He fur- 

 ther states that the English horse is no better than the American, nor is he 

 worked any harder. The explanation is found in the fact that the Englishman 



