FARMERS' REGISTER— WOODEN RAIL ROADS. 



upon the marsh islands opposite and above the city; 

 perhaps having been the nuclei upon which those 

 islands were formed. The shells are brought in 

 large lighters, as your correspondent ' M.' informs 

 you. [Farm. Reg. No. 3, p. 152.] When the street 

 is graduated after the manner of turnpiking, the 

 shells are carted and spread over the street to the 

 depth of 4 or 5 inches — the spreading hardly forms 

 a moment's obstruction to the passage along the 

 street : as soon as they are spread, which is done by 

 scattering them with a spade, carriages and horses 

 pass over them, and they very soon form a crust, 

 so well cemented as to be difficult to dig up with 

 a pickaxe. They wear out, by very constant use 

 on the most frequented streets, but, by a little atten- 

 tion to breaks and thin places, when a street is once 

 shelled, it is very easily kept in repair. 



I have been informed the shelling system has 

 been attempted in New-Orleans; but it will not 

 answer for that place, owing to the ground being 

 so much saturated v.ith water as not to sustain the 

 shells. I learn that it is difficult to make the deep- 

 est paving stand well, from that cause. If it will 

 answer, I doubt not that New-Orleans would find 

 its account in covering every inch of its whole 

 area. I have gone through all the facts and cir- 

 cumstances that occurred to me as having any bear- 

 ing on the subject. They are intended for your own 

 information, and if they throw any additional evi- 

 dence in support of your opinions, that will pay you 

 for their perusal, the end 1 had iix view will be at- 

 tained. H. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 •\VOODEX RAIL, ROADS. 



Recent publications in the newspapers have at- 

 tracted some attention to a plan for cheap wooden 

 railways, for which a patent right was taken by 

 Mr. John Hartman of Scottsville, who supposed 

 himself to be the first discoverer. But (though this 

 gentleman is not therefore the less entitled to ap- 

 plause as an inventor,) it has since appeared that a 

 prior patent had been taken for a similar plan, by 

 Mr. John Williams, an engineer of Ohio. The 

 controversy between them has ended in an amica- 

 ble adjustment of their conflicting claims. 



The plan is described as follows in Mr. Wil- 

 liams' specification, on which his j)atentwas grant- 

 ed, and in his letter to the Rail Road Journal. 



" I lay two continuous lines of timber, or other 

 suitable material, lengthwise on said road, such a 

 distance apart as to form tracks for the wheels of 

 such vehicles as are in general use upon the road 

 so improved. I furrow, gutter, or groove one of 

 these tracks, in order to receive and guide the 

 wheel or wh.eelsof one side of the carriage passing 

 thereon. Those groo\ es or gutters may be made 

 in the timber or other material — or they may be 

 formed by attaching cheeks or sides to a plain sur- 

 face. 



" These tracks may be bedded, or 



laid in, or upon stone, gravel, clay, or any material 

 of which the surface of the road is formed, and the 

 pieces of which they are constructed may be con- 

 nected by dowels or clamps, or laid upon trans- 

 verse blocks, or cross-pieces, which may or may not 

 extendfrom one to the other. 



" Where there is much travelling 



upon a road so improved, I lay two sets, or four 

 continuous lines of tracks, one set for the going and 



Vol. I.~36 



one for the returning carriages. I am aware that 

 some of the advantages of such a track road may 

 be gained by laying timber as above, by furrow- 

 ing, guttering, or rebating both tracks, to guide the 

 wheels, but I prefer to gutter or groove one only." 



' As to my preference,' says i\Ir. Williams, ' for 

 grooving or guttering one track only, it originated 

 in my knowing that a guide for the wheels of one 

 side of a wagon or carriage will in all cases an- 

 swer as Avell as a guide for the wheels of each side ; 

 besides which, there is a difference of about eight 

 inches in the span of axles as constructed in differ- 

 ent states and places. This circumstance influen- 

 ced me in favor of furrowingor guttering one track 

 only, as, by the other track being left plain, vehi- 

 cles cannot be injured by binding in the track. 

 Asrain, in turning out, when one track alone is gut- 

 tered, one half the labor only is necessary to over- 

 come the obstacle. And further, by carriages en- 

 tering upon the tracks, one only will be injured, 

 and the jolts be less, where one gutter alone is 

 dropped into. Add to all this, that one gutter will 

 only cost half the amount of two, and I imagine 

 the public will sanction the preference I have gi- 

 ven. 



As to tying the tracks together in the manner 

 of railroad sdlsofwood, agreeably to Mr. Hart- 

 man's plan, and which is recognized in my patent, 

 I shall not recommend it until experiment shall 

 prove the necessity of it, not only on account of its 

 expensiveness, but because almost every man's ex- 

 perience will convince him that at those intersec- 

 tions of timber against timber, decay will com- 

 mence. At present I believe that timber well bed- 

 ded in the road formation will be still enough, and 

 last'longer, much longer, than for timber to be 

 against timber. Where timbers are spliced, dow- 

 els or clamps may be necessary to join them, and 

 where the substratum is likely to be soft, cross- 

 blocks, of such a size as will support the joint, will 

 be necessary. 



In respect to forming the groove or gutter in the 

 stick or out of the solid, T prefer it for similar rea- 

 sons, as I am certain that the timber will be less 

 likely to decay than where, by " attaching cheeks 

 or sides to a plr.in surface," furrows or gutters are 

 formed. All holes bored in timber, whether fill- 

 ed with spikes or trenails, and all joints or cracks 

 in timber, should be carefully avoided, if we at- 

 tend to the durability of it, particularly if exposed 

 to the weather. And further, gutters or guides 

 formed out of the solid will be less liable to de- 

 rangement than those formed of " attached cheeks 

 or sides," and I question if they will cost more, 

 as laid timber may be ploughed as well as land, 

 and in much the same way, and grooved as boards 

 are grooved, and that by any sufficient motive 

 power.' 



The foi'egoing description gives a sufficiently ac- 

 curate idea of the plan. It appears from an act of 

 the legislature of Ohio, passed January, 1832, that 

 part of the Cincinnati, Columbus and Wooster 

 turnpike, is to be constructed on Mr. Williams' 

 plan ; and Mr. Hartman has already finished in this 

 manner a short distance upon the Staunton turn- 

 pike route, which, if this experiment should be sa- 

 tisfactory, is to be made entirely a wooden rail- 

 way. These fiicts are enough to prove that the plan 

 is considered good and economical for roads inten- 

 ded to be permament, and which are expected to 

 be much travelled. This may however be incor- 



