NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
ROADS AND ROAD BUILDING 
Col. Wm. D. Sohier spoke of the Work done in this Vicinity, and 
What is proposed to be done, before Beverly Farms 
Municipal Club. Practical and Interesting Talk. 
Col. Wm. D. Sohier of the Beverly 
summer colony gave a very practical 
and interesting talk Tuesday evening 
before the members of the Municipal 
club in Marshall’s hall, Beverly Farms, 
on “Road Building.” 
Col. Sohier has been the prime 
mover in building and reopening so 
many of the North Shore drives, es- 
pecially so-called wood drives, all 
along the shore from Magnolia to 
Beverly, and it was largely through 
him that the state highway along the 
Beverly shore to. Manchester was 
built. He is therefore well qualified 
to talk on a subject of this kind. He 
brought out many new points in the 
manner of construction, the cost, ways 
and means to preserve macadam roads 
from the tearing automobiles, and 
other inteaesting phases of building 
and maintenance. 
The speaker held the floor for over 
an hour. He said in part: 
«Some years ago,”’ said the speaker, 
“Beverly and its neighboring towns 
had ideal roads built of gravel, but 
with the increase of traffic these roads 
could not stand up and at the same 
time the water supply threatened to 
become inadequate. About that time 
a committee of summer residents, 
consisting of Oliver Ames, Charles 
H. Tyler and the speaker, started to 
find a remedy and raised a fund of 
over $30,000 by subscription among 
the shore residents. This committee 
also negotiated successfully for assist- 
ance with the city authorities and the 
State Highway Commission. 
“To maintain these roads constant 
vigilance is necessary and for this 
year the city of Beverly and the towns 
of Wenham, Essex, Topsfield, Box- 
ford, Rowley and others, the High- 
way Commission and many private 
individuals have agreed to assist the 
committee. Some of the roads that 
are to be improved are the Essex- 
Manchester, Essex-Hamilton, Ando- 
ver road in Boxford and Newburyport 
turnpike in Rowley. In addition to 
the regular highway work the com- 
mittee maintains about twelve miles 
of woods roads,” 
Continuing, Colonel Sohier de- 
scribed the effect of automobile traffic 
on the macadamized roads. The 
swiftly moving machines, he said, 
suck up the top of the roads and ex- 
pose the stones, and if they are not 
covered immediately the stones them- 
selves are pulled out of place. 
The new _ remedies,. which the 
speaker described at some length, are 
the calcium chloride, tarvia and oil 
treatments. Concerning these, Col. 
Sohier said, in part : 
“Last year we tried watering a half 
mile of road with calcium chloride, 
with apparent success. It certainly 
laid the dust and saved the road some- 
what, but the cost is still doubtful, 
because we do not know how many 
applications will be needed each sea- 
son. We put on four in the sunny 
places and two in the shady, and the 
dust was kept well laid and the road 
moist until snow fell. We think it 
still shows. Calcium chloride attracts 
water from the ground and air, and 
holds it a long time. We used a 
pound toa gallon of water, and each 
application cost about $32 for a mile 
of road eighteen feet wide. Certainly 
it was an extremely successful experi- 
ment, and I think we shall use it again 
this year, possibly on all the shore 
roads, if we can obtain it, and arrange 
a plant to use it. This, however, like 
water and sand, merely saves the road 
surface for a time, and does not really 
build the road. 
“Our committee in Beverly tried 
four pieces of old road last year, three 
being gravel, and one macadam. We 
used the crude Texas oil from the 
Guffey Company, which has an 
asphalt base. Of course we had no 
machinery or appliances for using oil, 
and we had to use an ordinary water- 
ing cart. We tried various quantities, 
from two-fifths of a gallon a square 
yard to a gallon a square yard; that 
laid the dust thoroughly for all the 
season and the road was better than 
before, certainly, but there was ccn- 
siderable smell in the beginning, and 
it never entirely wore off. 
“We found that before using oil the 
road should be thoroughly shaped, so 
that the oil when spread would hold 
it, and, further, that you should never 
use oil without spreading enough sur- 
face material upon the top of the road 
to absorb all of the oil. If half an 
inch of sand or gravel is spread on top 
of it it not only lays the dust but 
holds the road’s surface from being 
torn up. Personally I am rather in- 
clined to think that the oil may be 
on the whole the best material to use. 
One must remember, however, that 
only oils with an asphalt base, like the 
Texas and Californian, can be used 
successfully upon roads, because the 
Ohio and Pennsylvania oils, with the 
paraffine base, make the roads scale 
up. In other words, one is greasy and 
slippery and the other is gluey and 
sticky. 
“The oiling that we did cost at from 
$275 to $400 a mile. 
“It seems to me that the crude oil 
must produce the best results in the 
end, certainly in road building, and 
will on the whole have less smell, as 
it need only be applied once a year 
and will last a whole season, if it 
works here as it does in other places.” 
Printing at the BREEZE office. 
Che New Magnolia 
MAGNOLIA, MASSACHUSETTS 
THE SUCCESS OF “THE NORE SHORE 
WILL OPEN SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1907 
Write for circular, rates and other information 
GEORGE H., NEWELL, Proprietor 
CHARLES H. MOWRY, Manager 
BOSTON OFFICE, 673 BOYLSTON STREET 
FRSA oe ey Pores 
