MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



HOW TO CONSTRUCT 



A SAND-CLAY ROAD 



The sand road is one surfaced with a mix- 

 ture of sand and clay. Instead of the clay mix- 

 ture, it may be composed of sand and gumbo 

 or other kinds of soil. It may be termed the 

 sand-gumbo or sand-earth road. Roads can 

 be made in this manner, wherever the different 

 ingredients are accessible. 



Ordinary, clean, marketable sand contains 

 about one-third voids open spaces between 

 the grains of sand. The proper mi* for a road 

 i- when every void is completely filled and 

 every grain of sand is in contact with ether 

 grains. The soil acts as a cement as a co- 

 hesive substance to solidly bind and hold the 

 whole mass together. This means that the 

 materials must be correctly proportioned and 

 thoroughly mixed. If there is an excess of 

 soil the mix does not have enough body, and 

 if an excess of sand, it lacks binding material. 

 In either case the sand particles are free to 

 move about, are unstable and the road-bed will 

 be penetrated by water. 



All soils will not do for this purpose. Those 

 cf a plastic, cohesive nature, such as gumbo, 

 are the best. The "slacking clays" disintegrate 

 and crumble to pieces in the air and water. 

 They have not the binding and cementing 

 qualities of the more plastic clays. The "ball- 

 clays" are of a sticky, plastic nature which shed 

 the water well and make a good binder. The 

 best soils are those containing the least 

 organic or decaying matter, which have the 

 least expansion and contraction under heat 

 and moisture and are of the greatest plasticity 

 and imperviousru 



The process - in first bringing the 



road into condition of a well-made earth roaH, 

 crowned, ditched and drained. Spread the re- 

 quired material over this prepared road-bed to 

 the desired depth. If a sandy road, spread the 

 soil to a depth of about three or four inches 

 at the center, thinning out to two inches ;u 

 the outer edges of the desired width. This 

 will require plowing up the sand to nine 

 inches in depth at the center and six inches 

 at the sides. Plow and disc-harrow until all 

 the lumps are ground up and the ingredients 

 are thoroughly mixed. If it has not enough 

 sand or soil add the necessary ingredi< 



The mixing is not rapid and needs close ob- 

 servation during the process. The best re- 

 sults are obtained if the material is wet .vh-n 

 mixed, in which case it may be neces^ary t:> 

 spread and wait for a rain, before pi 

 and harrowing. In any case, give it a thor- 

 ough puddling and mixing. Then smooth it 

 off by going over it with a road float (road* 

 drag), after which it should be thoroughly 

 compacted by rolling; a four to five ton roller 

 will give the desired results. It may not be 

 up to expectancy to begin with, but watch it 

 and keep it shaped up. As with an earth road, 

 the road float is one of the best implements 

 with which to maintain the sar.d c'ay road. 

 If an excess of soil or sand appears, add a 

 little of the opposite material, and in a season 

 it will make a road which will last and bear 

 up well under heavy loads. 



The cost of these roads is the expei> 

 hauling, spreading, dragging, rolling, etc., all 

 of which can be done with machinery i 

 ally adapted for this purpose. Nothing abou? 

 it requires the nicety of finishing and trimming 

 by hand. Thi > to $400 per 



mile of finished road, with material within a 

 mile haul. 



One of the best and most economical im- 

 plements with which to maintain the <-arth 

 road is the road float (or drag). The effect 

 of the float is to put on just enough soil to fill 

 all holes, ruts and hollow places, pressing the 

 water cut of them into the side ditches and by 

 a smoothing effect, leaving the surface in con- 

 dition to shed the additional rain. It keeps 



the crown built up and by the use of the roller 

 upon it, you have a well compacted crown to 

 withstand the penetrating effect of rain and 

 frost. It also maintains the surface drainage. 

 \Yith the road once in good condition, it can 

 be kept good for a small and reasonable 

 amount. 



F. L. GAIXES, 

 Grand Rapids, Mich. 



ALPENA COUNTY ROADS. 



The most profitable investment ever made 

 by the people of this county through the 

 board of supervisors and county road com- 

 missioners for the development of our agri- 

 cultural interests, has been the construction, 

 and keeping up, of our county roads. 



That Alpena county has the best roads in 

 ate is no idle boast. The roads in this 

 county are not only just as good as those of 

 any other county in the state; they are better. 

 We have grown so accustomed to traveling 

 over miles and miles of these roads, as smooth 

 and level as a boulevard, that we do not fully 

 appreciate how good our roads are, compared 

 with those of other counties, until strangers 

 come along and call our attention to it. 



Our county road system was adopted in 

 and afterwards the county was bonded 

 for $100,000 for the improvement of our roads. 

 The first county road commissioners elected 

 were the late W. B. Comstock, E. O. Avery 

 and X. M. Brackinreed. That money was ex- 

 pended to good advantage, and even the 

 chronic kickers never charged the commis- 

 sioners with having purposely wasted one dol- 

 lar of that $100,000. 



For several years afterward, our county 

 roads were neglected and allowed to run down, 

 until the people and the supervisors took up 

 the alarm, and proceeded to rebuild these roads 

 and keep them in repair; and during the past 

 few years our county road commissioners 

 have done, and are doing, excellent work, 

 which accounts for Alpena county having the 

 best roads in the state. 



One of the secrets in the making of good 

 roads aside from the proper knowledge of 

 the work is in keeping them constantly in 

 repair. 



What does it cost to keep these roads in re- 

 pair? It doesn't matter what it costs. The 

 roads are cheap at the price. 



These roads have increased the market value 

 of agricultural lands in this county, in dollars 

 and cents, many times the cost of the roads; 

 they encourage immigration and contribute im- 

 mensely to the rapid development of our farm- 

 ins country, and are an untold benefit to the 

 material progress of this city. Alpena Xews. 



WATERS A GOOD ROAD BUILDER. 



John Waters, who has superintended the 



f many miles of state reward 



roads in Barry county, has been chosen to 



e the construction of six miles of good 



roads near Stanton in Montcalm county. Last 



year he was superintendent of two miles of 



road building in Montcalm county. 



Mr. Waters was a favorite of former State 

 Highway Commissioner Earle, who highly 

 complimented his work. All of the roads con- 

 structed by him have been pronounced among 

 the best in the state. The first mile of good 

 roads in Barry county was built in Rutland 

 t'>wn>hip, and was the result of a movement 

 headed by Hon. Philip T. Colgrove, of Hast- 



CHIPPEWA COUNTY A LEADER. 



Chippewa County prides herself on her high- 

 ivnys. The county was one of the first in 

 Michigan to adopt the county road system. 

 The inhabitants saw the advantages that would 

 accrue from good roads, and in the opening of 

 new districts, and when the proposition was 

 submitted to the voters on July 10, 1894, there 

 was little opposition. 



The board of supervisors on July 18 of the 

 same year certified the adoption of the system. 

 On April 30, 1895, a proposition to bond the 



county in the sum of $100,000 was carried and 

 $50,000 of these bonds were disposed of in 

 June of that year and the remaining $50,000 ' 

 later. 



The first board of road commissioners con- 

 sisted of Messrs. E. J. Swart, Allen Warren, 

 David Brown, Isaac Eagle and Frank Shafer. 

 The board organized on May 8, 1895, by the 

 election of Mr. Swart as chairman. 



The board and the supervisors did not 

 "hitch" well, and in 1899 the supervisors got 

 a law through the legislature allowing Chip- 

 pewa county to reduce its commission to one 

 member. Frank Eagle was the commissioner 

 chosen. He was succeeded by William Splan, 

 H. A. Osborn and William Godfrey in turn. 



Every person living in Chippewa County 

 concedes that the people have had value re- 

 ceived from all the money it has expended in 

 the improvement of the roads, and Chippewa 

 stands first and foremost of all upper penin- 

 sula counties in this direction. The follow- 

 ing is a list of the roads adopted by the board 

 of supervisors and which are now included in 

 the system. 



Mackinaw road, 18 miles; Pickford road 

 (through to DeTour), 60 miles; Superior road, 

 16 miles; Munoskong road, 20 miles; Midway 

 road, 18 miles; City Limits road, 8 miles; 

 Shunk road, 9 miles; Ridge road, 6 miles; 

 Meridian and Barbeau road, 4 miles; Neebish 

 Island road, 4 miles; Sugar Island road, 10 

 miles; Kinross road, 4 miles; Kinross and 

 Strongville road, 6 miles; New Rudyard road, 

 7 miles; Stirlingville road, 4 miles; Rudyard 

 road, 10 miles; Fiber and Dryburg road, y/ 2 

 miles; Trout Lake road, 15 miles; Whitefish 

 road, 16 miles; Drummond road, 10 miles; Soo 

 Line road, 4 miles. Making a grand total of 

 25T/2 miles included in the system at this time. 



Of this there are 150 miles graded, graveled 

 and in as fine condition as any county roads 

 in the state. About 100 miles are graded and 

 as good as the average highways anywhere, 

 so that nearly every mile in the adopted sys- 

 tem is open for travel. 



The object of the supervisors has been to 

 improve the main roads of the county, letting 

 the various townships take care of the cross 

 roads, and as a result the county is a net- 

 work of good highways. 



Up to the first of October the county had 

 expended on its roads since the adoption of 

 the system, $30,578.21, all of which, outside of 

 the first bond issue of $100,000, has been raised 

 annually in various amounts by direct tax- 

 ation and has all been paid in. Commissioner 

 Godfrey at the recent session of the super- 

 visors asked for an appropriation of $30,000 

 fcr prosecuting the work of the system for the 

 next fiscal year, but the board voted a flat 

 rate of two mills on the dollar on the assessed 

 valuation of the county amounting to $24,693. 



WOULD STOP USE OF NARROW TIRES. 



Saginaw county will head a movement in the 

 next Michigan legislature to have enacted a 

 strong law for the banishment of narrow- 

 tired wagons. It will present, through its rep- 

 resentatives, a bill defining the weights that 

 may be hauled and the widths of tires that 

 must be used, the latter to be of generous pro- 

 portions. The bill will be patterned after the 

 law in Indiana and other states, which has 

 given so much satisfaction. 



The movement is for the protection of Mich- 

 igan's improved roads. Michigan is one of the 

 few states which have entered extensively 

 upon the good roads movement that has no 

 law compelling the use of wide tires on wag- 

 ons. Within the last seven or eight years there 

 has been a tremendous amount of good roads 

 work done and hundreds of miles of new 

 macadam highways have been built in that 

 time. It is the experience of Saginaw county, 

 which is one of the foremost counties in the 

 state in the construction of stone roads, that 

 narrow-tired wagons are destroying these ex- 

 pensive improvements about as fast as they are 

 made. 



