780 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



De Soto Parish, La. — Tho work in De Soto Parish, La., conmsted of clearinjj the 

 rijjht of way and ^radiiii,' tlic Main Slri'ct road at. MaiLslield a di.stance of 2 miles, the 

 BattU'tield road at iMaii.'^liclil a di.slaiice of ij milcg, aiul tho Ahvnsfield-Shreveport 

 road a diatanoe of 17 miles. Tlie Main Slri-et road al Mansdeld was graded to a width 

 of 24 feet from shoulder to shoulder. The natural soil is a mixture of sand and clay 

 and no surfacing was done. Twenty-two hundred cubic yards of earth were movea. 

 The Ikittletield road for a distance of J J miles from the city limits of Mansfield was 

 in)j)roved in the same manner as tln^ Ahiin Street road. The Mansfield-Shreveport 

 road was improved by clearing the right of way of trees, stumps, and brush, grading, 

 surfacing certain sections with a sand-clay mixture, and constructing a number of 

 cross drains. One carload of various sizes of corrugated ingot iron was used, costing 

 $1,530.88. Three hundred and sixty lineal feet of oak timber bridging and one con- 

 crete box culvert were constructed. The total cost of the above work was $16,20(5, 

 which is at the rate of $781 per mile. The work was done by the state convict road 

 gang, and the cost of labor was the cost of guarding and feeding the convicts, which was 

 24 cents per day. The teams were owned and furnished by the State, and their cost 

 was the cost of their maintenance, which was 50 cents per day per mule. Work was 

 begun on June IG, l!)0i), and was completed on August 1, 1910. 



Ouachita Parish, La. — The work in Ouachita Pari.sh, La., consisted of improving 

 14J miles of the Claiborne road leading from West Monroe to Calhoun, and 2§ miles 

 on the Arkansas road from West Monroe, or a total of 17|^ miles, of which 13 miles are 

 earth and 4\ miles are gravel. Equipment, furnished by the State at a cost of 

 $12,854.69, consisted of a 25-horsepower traction engine, a steam road roller, 2 heavy 

 road graders, 6 cages or cars for housing the convicts, tents, harness, etc. The gravel 

 was spread for an average width of 15 feet, with a depth of 8 inches at the center and 6 

 inches at the sides. The total cost of the gravel road was $10,002.73, and of the earth 

 road $12,016.29. The work was done by the state convict road gang. Work was 

 begun on July 10, 1909, and completed on August 1, 191Q. 



East Baton Rouge Parish, La. — The work in East Baton Rouge Parish, La., 

 consisted of clearing, grading, and draining 7.6 miles of the Claygut road and 1.7 miles 

 of the Loop road, and surfacing with gravel 12,083 square yards on North boulevard in 

 the city of Baton Rouge. The work was done by the state convict road gang and was 

 begun on October 11, 1909, and completed on August 1, 1910. The cost of the work 

 done upon the Claygut road was $4,882.82, which includes $1,770.67, the cost of the 

 materials for cross drains. The cost of the work done upon the Loop road was $1,494 .63, 

 of which $149.46 was for materials for cross drains. The cost of graveling the North 

 boulevard road was $6,043.94, which is at the rate of 50.2 cents per square yard. 

 Gravel was delivered f. o. b. cars at Baton Rouge at $1.37 per cubic yard. 



Lawtox, Okla. — The work at Lawton, Okla., consisted of grading an earth road 

 5,206 feet in length for a width of 30 feet and building a culvert 20 feet wide with a 

 clear span of 16 feet. Work was begun on July 20, 1909, and entii-ely completed on 

 September 1, 1909, with a loss of seven and one-half days on account of the very hot 

 weather. Fifty-eight hundred and forty cubic yards of earth were loosened with 

 plows and moved in drag scrapers an average distance of 200 feet at a cost of $846.40. 

 The culvert consisted of concrete abutments, wood stringers, and floor. With cement 

 at $2 per barrel, lumber at $26 per 1,000 feet, board measure, labor at $1.60, and teams 

 at $3.20 per day of eight hours, the total cost of the improvement to the community 

 was $1,110.85, which is at the rate of $1,126.60 per mile. 



Provo, Utah. — An earth road 8,850 feet in length and 23 feet in width from shoul- 

 der to shoulder was constructed at Provo, Utah, between August 24, 1909, and Novem- 

 ber 30, 1909. This road is a part of a road which it was proposed to improve from the 

 city of Provo to Olmstead, a distance of 6 miles. The surrounding country is rolling 

 and mountainous. Thirty-one hundred feet of the road were built through and along 

 hills composed of gravel and rocks, and the remainder, 5,750 feet, was built over 

 practically level adobe land. Eighty-five hundred and sixty cubic yards of earth 

 were moved for an average distance of 1,160 feet. About 4,000 cubic yards were 

 hauled in wagons and the remainder was moved with a road grader, tongue scrapers, 

 and wheeled scrapers. All the materials were loosened with plows, and the wagons 

 were loaded with tongue scrapers dumping through a "trap." The material in the 

 rock banks was quite difficult to loosen and haul in the scrapers on account of the 

 large rocks, many of which were 12 inches or more in diameter. In some places the 

 old road was so narrow that two vehicles could not pass each other; these passages 

 were widened to 23 feet. With labor at $2 and teams at $4 per day of eight hours, the 

 total cost of the road to the community was $3,157.75, which is at the rate of $1,947.77 

 per mile. 



