50 BULLETIN MO, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGEICULTXJEE. 



of one to one. The usual slope for an earth fill is one and one-half 

 to one for most soils encountered in railroad building iu this region. 



Most of the grading is done with pick and shovel. This is partic- 

 ularly true of sidehill work where the bank may be picked away and 

 shoveled to the lower side. Light work on fairly level ground is done ' 

 in the same way, the dirt being borrowed from ditches or borrow pits. 

 Frequently moderate sized cuts and fills, under favorable soil condi- 

 tions, are handled in the same manner, the material from the cuts 

 being mostly wasted and that needed for fills borrowed. 



Pick and shovel work is usually done by day labor, as are aU other 

 parts of raihoad construction. As a rule the men work in crews with- 

 out any particular task for each. Very good results are secured, how- 

 ever, by assigning each man to a 25-foot station. This promotes 

 rivalry, as the men do not hke to be left behind when their neighbors 

 have finished and gone ahead. The cost of digging and spreading 

 dirt is commonly from 15 to 25 cents per yard for conunon loam, and 

 from 30 to 35 cents for heavy soils. 



In larger cuts the dirt is moved to adjacent fills with wheelbarrows. 

 Even better success is secured by using light two-wheeled hand dump 

 carts holding from one-third to one-half yard. Three men handle 

 each cart, first filling it and then wheeling it out to the fiJl. Planks 

 are laid in the bottom of the cut to facilitate wheeling. The cost of 

 such work, where rocks are not encountered, ranges from 30 to 50 

 cents per yard. In very large cuts it is sometimes the practice to lay 

 a temporary track and remove the dirt by shoveling it by hand onto 

 a train of flat cars, which is hauled out on the line by an engine, the 

 dirt being used for ballast. 



A typical pick and shovel crew consisting of a foreman, a black- 

 smith, a man with a team and wagon, and 44 muckers, costs $2,500 

 per month. Working under rather favorable conditions, with soil 

 that is easily worked and a moderate amount of soft rock, this crew 

 grades about 85 stations per month, the average amount of material 

 moved per station being about 60 yards. This is done at a cost of 

 $1,560 per mile, or 49 cents per yard. 



Many firms supplement the pick and shovel crew by a second crew, 

 using teams and scrapers for grading the larger cuts and fills. A 

 typical crew of this sort contains a foreman, 3 teamsters, 3 men 

 holding slips, 5 muckers, and 3 two-mule teams. The cost is about 

 $3.20 per hour, and earthwork can be done for from 20 to 25 cents per 

 yard for distances not over 100 feet. So-caUed slips are used to 

 scrape up and transport the dirt after it has been loosened by the 

 muckers with picks. Wheeled scrapers are rarely used. In some 

 instances ordinary one-horse dump carts are employed with success 

 for moving dirt some distance. Steam shovels are infrequently used 

 in cuts on extensive main line roads, usually lumber roads rather than 



