Vol. LXII. No. 2799. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 19, 1903. 
II PER YEAR. 
A MACADAMIZED ROAD IN INDIANA. 
HOW FARMERS WORK TOGETHER. 
A Good Example to Follow. 
As good a macadamized road as is found in the 
State is the Pleasant View Road, in Dearborn County, 
between Aurora and Mount Tabor. This road is far 
better than the toll pike, which runs parallel with 
and one mile north of the macadamized road. At one 
time the former was almost impassable during the 
Winter and Spring months, on account of the mud. 
The older men say that they have seen the time when 
the only way they could reach town in the Spring 
was by horseback. Now there is travel and hauling 
the year round. During the Summer months many 
from town who are out for a pleasant ride may be 
seen driving along this road. The center picture in 
Fig. 247 represents a shady roadway in front of the 
writer’s home. The trees on the right are cherry, 
while those on the left are 
locust. The large elm in 
the background has been 
growing for 50 years. 
HOW THE ROAD WAS 
BUIIvT.—For a great num¬ 
ber of years the township, 
through which this road 
runs, containing 14 square 
miles, was divided into 14 
road districts with the 
same number of supervi¬ 
sors, each of whom drew a 
yearly salary of from $25 
to $45. Thus the various 
roads were under so many 
d i ff e r e n t managements 
that there could be no sys¬ 
tem in working them to 
accomplish the great est 
good. There being plenty 
of stone on some of the 
farms in the township 
there was no good reason 
why there should not be 
good roads. Finally a few 
enterprising citizens pre¬ 
vailed upon the trustee in 
1895 to buy a stone crush¬ 
er, to redistrict the town¬ 
ship into four road dis¬ 
tricts, and to levy a road 
tax to the full extent of 
the law, which was 40 
cents on the hundred dol¬ 
lars, of which amount 10 
cents was to be paid in 
money. Nearly the whole 
of Pleasant View' Road fell in one district. From this 
time came the greatest improvement in this road. H. 
D. Tufts was appointed supervisor. Everyone was 
anxious to have good roads, and realized that even 
with tills extra tax alone they could not be built and 
maintained. The supervisor, with five other men, 
were the most interested and agreed to donate their 
part of work on the road each year, besides their tax, 
until it was completed. These six men worked to ac¬ 
complish the greatest good and were always ready at 
the call of the supervisor. These men alone have 
donated $1,500. The supervisor told every man in the 
district that if he would haul out, free of cost to the 
district, a large pile of stone near the road, he would 
use the tax to crush and put the stone on the public 
road wherever the giver might designate. This en¬ 
couraged donation, as evefyone wanted a good road 
through his farm. The farmers who owned farms 
along the road and would not give any work were 
compelled to work their tax out by hand, and never 
allowed to work their teams. 
GRADING.—Each Spring the amount of road that 
will be stoned in the Fall is thrown up with a grader 
drawn by six horses. The center of the roadbed is 
well rounded, forming a gradual slope towards the 
ditches on each side. The travel in the Summer wears 
this grading smooth and hard, so there is a good 
foundation upon which to spread the stone. 
CRUSHING THE STONE.—After harvest, when the 
farmers are not busy, the stone crusher is sef in a 
convenient place, and macadamizing the road com¬ 
mences. The stones are usually hauled direct from 
the field, unless they are given and thrown on to the 
crusher, when they are run through and the crushed 
stone elevated into the wagon underneath the ele¬ 
vator. A small pile of stone is hauled out close to 
the crusher, so as to have a reserve in case the teams 
that are hauling fail to get to the crusher on time. 
ROADMAKING IN INDIANA. Fig. 347. 
In this way the crusher need not stop to wait for 
stone. The picture in upper left corner represents a 
near view of the ci’usher in operation. It requires 
four good men to feed it, and there has been crushed 
100 perches per day of 10 hours. When the crusher 
was first run it was stopped every time a wagon was 
loaded with crushed stone, in order to allow the next 
team to drive under, but now it seldom stops from 
morning until noon and from noon until night, except 
for oiling. Sometimes when the work is not done 
until late in the Fall, and there is danger of the fields 
getting soft by rains, the stone is all hauled out in 
large piles and then crushed. Picture in upper right 
corner represents such a scene in the Fall of 1901. 
It costs more to stone a road in this way tl an to haul 
direct from the field, as there is more 1 andling of 
stone, and it takes but few more teams tc haul from 
the field than from the stone pile. 
SPREADING THE STONE.—The crushed stone is 
hauled in stone beds that hold ly^ perch. All beds 
used for this purpose are the same size, as different¬ 
sized loads are apt to make an uneven road, for it is 
difficult to get them properly spread to prevent a low 
place where the small loads are placed. When the 
wagons are loaded they are driven where the road is 
to be stoned and the crushed stone dumped, putting 
three perches to the rod. Care is taken that each load 
just laps the last one. In the lower right corner is 
shown a load that has just been unloaded. As will 
be noticed, the stone comes nearly to the axle of the 
wagon, while the outer edges of the stone are about 
as wide as the wheels. After the wagon drives away 
the man with the potato hook scrapes just a few of 
the stones from the center, making the road rounding, 
but no wider than the wheel tracks. He also sees 
that the places where the two loads lap are well 
raked together so as to make a uniform and smooth 
surface. This is important, for if it is not done the 
road bed will not wear 
smooth but will leave de¬ 
pressions between each 
load of stone. The lower 
left picture represents the 
road after the stones are 
spread, also the man with 
the potato hook, who has 
become an expert in the 
work of spreading stone. 
All the travel is forced up¬ 
on the crushed stone by 
placing obst ructions 
along the side of the road. 
In a short time the road 
bed is packed and worn 
smooth. 
KEEPING ROADS IN 
ORDER.—One of the es¬ 
sentials in keeping a road 
in repair is to keep it well 
rounded to allow the wa¬ 
ter to run off after each 
rain. This is accomplish¬ 
ed by running a grader 
over the road. As soon as 
the newly crushed stones 
are packed the grader is 
run along each side and 
all loose stones are thrown 
back into the road. Again 
before Spring the road is 
gone over and all loose 
stones thrown into the 
road, and the two ridges 
between the center and 
the wheel tracks are cut 
off and thrown into the 
low place in the center that has been worn by the 
one horse traveling in the middle of the road. The 
grader is used at least once each year, cutting off all 
high places and filling in the depressions. The road 
will now pack and cement together, and make a road 
as smooth and easy to travel over as a fioor. Fig. 247 
gives a good idea of this road, and shows the well 
rounded and smooth road bed with no loose stones 
along the side of the road. This piece of road has 
been macadamized seven years. The building of this 
road cost about $1,000 per mile, $600 being tax and 
$400 in donation. elmer g. tufts. 
R. N.-Y.—This is certainly a far better use for the 
bony parts of the farm than to pile them up in un¬ 
sightly stone walls to harbor poison ivy and other 
bushes and weeds, and occupy twice the space neces¬ 
sary for a fence. A crusher would be throught too 
costly for cheap land, but values would increase with 
improved roads. 
