46 



Not until a road is reduced to a five per cent, grade can it be called 

 good road, on account of the extra time and energy required for 

 moving a load on it, and the great expense for maintenance. 



It is the opinion of most men of authority, that the road that 

 avoids the grade and is ten times longer, is the better road. 



In laying out a road the survey should not be depended upon as 

 the only guide. By every road the largest area possible should be 

 made accessible. 



Side drainage is as necessary, if not more so, on forest roads, as 

 it is on roads running through cleared country, owing to the reten- 

 tive nature of most forest soil. When building or repairing roads the 

 camp should be moved as often as necessary to keep with the work. 

 A working force of less than four men is unprofitable. 



In our road building operations in Fulton county last -year, we 

 wanted a fair road up through a narrow valley seven miles long to 

 serve both as a road and firelane in case of fire. 



There was a road for three miles that was built over a hundred 

 years ago for hauling out charcoal. We used it most of the distance 

 except where grades could be avoided or the road straightened. A 

 space seven feet wide was cut clear of everything on both sides for 

 four miles. After this had been done, it was gone over, all rocks 

 above the ground were removed, water turned off and holes filled up. 

 This was done for f 18.00 per mile for labor. After it was completed 

 we could drive from one end to the other in fifty-five minutes. 



There are perhaps no other branches of forestry, unless it be protec- 

 tion or survey, on which money spent at present, would give as 

 quick returns or equal results as on forest roads, provided they are 

 built in the proper places, and not at too great an expense. 



To open up good roads from the interior of a reserve out to settled 

 country, and where they are not needed, would be wasting money, 

 beside being a temptation to trespass. After roads have been built 

 it is comparatively easy to calculate the money saved by considering 

 the difference in cost of marketing forest products, or it may be re- 

 presented by an increased stumpage value. At present we are taking 

 out about 500 railroad ties in Perry county at a profit of at least 

 twenty-three cents on each. Had it not been for a road running to 

 market, the timber probably would have rotted on the ground, the 

 distance being so great as to prevent the building of a road at present. 



No forest road should ever be made less than eight feet wide. A 

 narrower road will admit of only one track and a narrow space at 

 each side for the water to collect. 



The transverse slope of a narrow road should be one-half inch to 

 a foot. On a wide road of, say twenty feet, this may be increased 

 for if water has to run a distance of ten feet with a fall of five inches 



