OFFICE OF PUBLIC ROAD INQUIRIES. 307 



SOUTHERN DIVISION. 



During the year Professor Holmes has visited nearly all the South- 

 ern States, examining into the character and distribution of the mate- 

 rials suitable for use in road building, the employment of convict 

 labor in road building, the character of road legislation, the condition 

 of the roads, and the status of public opinion in each State. The 

 samples of road material collected were forwarded to Washington to 

 be tested in the road-material laboratory, and the results of these 

 tests, as fast as completed, have been communicated directly to the 

 interested local officials. 



In connection with his trips through the different States, Mr. Holmes 

 has attended and presented papers before a number of good roads 

 conventions. He has delivered addresses on road questions before 

 several of the State legislatures and a number of educational institu- 

 tions. He has endeavored, both by correspondence and through his 

 personal visits, to keep in touch with the State and county officials, 

 and has discussed with them the best plans for road improvement 

 through the use of local materials in the different sections. 



The list of persons now corresponding with this Office concerning 

 the good roads movement in the Southern States is large and is con- 

 stantly growing. Through this correspondence every portion of the 

 South*^ is reached and accurate information concerning the road- 

 building work is promptly collected. 



Literature relating to road building is being distributed in all of the 

 Southern States. The organization of local, count}', and State road 

 improvement associations is being encouraged, and the members of 

 such associations are aided through the literature and the suggestions 

 sent out to keep up an active educational campaign in behalf of the 

 movement. 



One of the special problems taken up during the year by the South- 

 ern division is that relating to the improvement of earth roads through 

 the use, and especially the mixture, of such local materials as clay 

 and sand in the coastal or rockless regions of the South Atlantic and 

 Gulf States. It has been found in many cases that quite satisfactory 

 roads can be constructed bj^ spreading clay on the deep sand or spread- 

 ing sand on clay roads and allowing the wheels of passing vehicles to 

 thoroughly mix and pack the materials. The results of this work 

 have been so satisfactory in several sections that applications are 

 constantly received for road-building experts to be sent to different 

 States to give special instructions in the methods of testing road 

 materials and constructing cheap and efficient farm roads. Owing to 

 the inability of the Office to supply these experts, nearly all such 

 requests have been denied, but in several cases experts have been 

 sent, and with decidedly favorable results. It is to be hoped that 

 during the ensuing fiscal year a much greater amount of work of this 

 kind can be done. 



WESTERN DIVISION. 



During the last fiscal year Mr. James AV. Abbott continued to work 

 on the plan outlined in my last report. He traveled 35,000 miles 

 through South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washing- 

 ton, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado, 

 covering as fully as possible the territory assigned him. On one of 

 these trips he made two digressions, one into British Columbia on the 



