Warren sheaf. [volume], September 14, 1905, Image 2

About Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
A
Gradually, however, this little
stretch of dragged road began to
force itself upon the attention of the
community. From one source and
another I began to hear of the ob
servations which it provokedand
some of them were quite as amus
ing as they were agreeable. One
day a physician of a neighboring
town told me this story.
"I was driving down your way
the other night to see a patient. As
usual, when I have anything on my
mind,my eyes were on the dashboard
of the buggy, and I was deep in
study over an especially perplexing
case. You know how rough all the
roads have been, latelyto ride
over them is simply to be jolted
from one side of the buggy to the
other unless you let your horse go
at a walk, which a physician can
not always| do. Well, I was ratt
ling, threshing along over the clods
at a trot, when suddenly I straight
ened up, arroused by the impress
ion that something had gone wrong
with the running gear of the buggy.
But the trouble was with the road! I
had simply struck your little stretch
of dragged road, and the buggy
skimmed over it as smoothly as a
sleigh runs over packed snow.
That incident was decidedly
agreeable to me, but not more so
than the one that came to my ears a
little earlier when I chanced to hear
the experience of Mr. H. W. Mont
gomery, a banker of Skidmore, a
town four miles north of my place.
With his wife he was one night
driving down to a little gatheringat
Maitland. The night was decidedly
dark and it was impossible for him
to see more than the general outline
of the road over which he was driv
ing. Suddenly the lurching of the
buggy ceased and the banker start
led his wife with the abruptness of
his exclamation- "What's happened
to this road? There has been some
thing doing here! I'm coming back
in the daytime to see what has been
going on." He had struck the half
mile of dragged road, and, being a
highway commissioner and interest
ed in the public roads, he had at
once sensed the change.
Of these early recognitions none
gave me greater pleasure than to
receive a letter from Congressman
David A. De Armond saying "I
can determine almost to an inch
where the drag began." And later
in the note he referred to a strip of
road which had "experienced the
magic influence of the drag."
If there is a means of studying
human nature more interesting than
that of trying to teach a community
-a new method of road-making,I have
yet to find it. As I have said, for
four years I dragged a strip of road
from my front gate to that of my
neighbor. He had always been a
good neighbor, having the best in
terest of the comunity at heart, but
he was not easily enticed out of
settled opinions or into new ways of
doing things, and consequently, I
l% refrained from saying anything to
g^him on the subject of road-making,
I relying entirely upon the evidence
j presented to his own senses to
pjawaken his interest in putting the
THE SPLIT
LOG DRAG.
Continued from pag* 1.
Front lew of Split-Log Drag.
Bear View of Split-Log Drag.
road between his house and the
next neighbor on the way toward
town in the same condition as the
road between his house and mine.
Finally, however, he made himself
a drag, and started to push forward
the good work. From others I
knew he had been a doubter at the
outset, but within two weeks he was
a dragged road enthusiast and came
to me in a state of considerable ex
citement not to say indignation, be
cause the neighbor next beyond him
was not willing at once to take up
the work and begin the dragging of
the road on toward the village.
When my neighbor voiced bis im
patience and intimated that some
thing ought to be done to push the
thing right straightthrough without
delay, I simply shook my head and
asked the question-
"Do you know how long I have
been dragging the road up to your
gate?"
"Why, I guess it must be about
four years." said he.
"Yes," I answered, "and all that
time I haven't said a word to you
urging you to take up the work.
Now the same thing that convinced
you will convince the neighbor be
yond you. We'll just let him take
his time to come to the conclusion
that he can't afford to travel over a
bad road to town when a few min
ute's work will give him a good one
over which to ride." later experi
ence showed me that this matter of
road-dragging is contagious and
catches best where the work itself
is left to spread the conviction of its
own soundness. As one neighbor
after an other fell into line, and the
stretch of dragged road continued to
lengthen, the public comment
about it|increased until the road
authorities from neighboring town
ships and counties began to invest
igate the matter, with the result
that local farmer's institute asked
me speak to attheir sessions and give
a personal demonstration of the
workings of the split-log drag.
There are a few bugaboos that
have to be met wherever this new
gospel is introduced. One of these
is capillary attraction. This is de
clared by "scientific experts" to be
the thing that will draw the water
up into the dragged road and make
it soft. The only answer to this is,
simply, that it dosen't.
Another popular bugaboo is the
calamity that will surely swallow up
the dragged road "when the bottom
falls out in the spring.'' Again, the
answer is that the bottom does not
fall out of the road that has been
dragged with a split-log,because the
dragged road,unlike the other kind,
does not put down a lot of mud into
cold storage with the coming of the
first deep freeze. The thing that
plays hob with roads is mudand
mud is earth and water mixed. I
never realized how it is that wagon
wheels can cut down so deep intoan
ordinary road until I had a certain
experience with a lightning-rod
man. I drew the contract myself
and, knowing that the rod should be
grounded in soil that would always
be in*a moist condition, I specified
that the rod must be sunk at least
eight feet feet info the ground.
When the workmen came to put
the rod the foreman seked for "a
bucket of water, a? dipper and a
spade." I could see where there
would be plenty of exercise for the
spado, but the other things puzzeled
me. With the spade the man took
out just enough earth to get down
under the crust, Than he look hold
of a length of rod and jammed
the end down in the centre of the
hole he made with his apade. It
didn't sink mora than three or four
inches. I was just about conclud
ing that the man was an ignoramus
for trying to sink the rod that way,
when he took and poured a dipper
ful of water into the little hole.
Again he inserted the end of the
rod and began to ehug it down.
The way it sank through the moist
ened soil made my eyes opened. A
little more water and a little more
chugging, and in a few minutes he
had put that rod down eight feet in
to the earth without removing more
than half a shoveful of dirt. Then
it came to methat's digging by
mixing a little water with dirt, and
it's precisely what a wagon-wheel
does to a muddy roada road where
the water can stand until something
comes along to mix it with the earth,
while, on the other hand, the drag
ged road uses a coat of mudto all
practical purposes a cementto
make an oval roof that will not let
the water stand.
At one of our meetings in Nebra
ska a road commissioner came to me
very much troubled about a stretch
of gumbo highway under his super
vision. "I suppose," said he,"that,
if you had this road to take care of,
as soon as you saw a hollow place
in it you would go and get dirt and
fill it in?"
"No," I replied, "I would fill it
in before there was any hollow place
there."
Apparently this statement was a
little beyond his grasp, and so I
tried to think of some illustration
by which I could make it entirely
clear to him. Just at that moment
I happened to notice that he had a
head of thick, wavy hair. This
gave me the inspiration I needed,
and I said
"How often do you comb your
hair?"
"Why, three times a day, of
courseV' he answered, flushing
slightly.
Then I came back at him with
the question
"Why don't you wait until there
are tangles, or at least indications
of tangles, in it before you begin to
drag it with a'comb? That's precise
ly the plan upon which traditional
road-making is conducted. You
have been in the habit of waiting until
the tangles are there, and conse
quently, you had to use a heavier
implement, with the result that you
moved a great deal moreearth!"
Everywhere the rallying-cry of
this movement is "From your own
front gate to your neighbor's front
gate toward town." Thus, the
thing always starts with the farm
er's own self-interest, but leads him
directly beyond his own line-fence
to the place where he finds himself
working for the general good of the
community. There are three con
siderations that are especially pow
erful in getting men interested in
this movement iKeeping the roads
in condition so that school and
church privileges may be enjoyed,
keeping the boys in touch with a
certain amount of social life so that
they will not wish to leave the farm,
and keeping the roads passable for
work and heavy hauling so that
good markets may be taken advant
age of, and work done at a time
when it will count most and be ac
complishedat a minimum oftime,toil
and expense.
From the outset of this work, so
many questions have poured in
upon me indicating points, concern
ing which the public is prone to go
astray in its understanding of how
to build.and use the split-log drag
that I have prepared the following
road-dragging "catechism" as
covering, with fair completeness,
the main working facts in the
problem:
Would it not be better to plow the
road before dragging?
No. Plowing gives a soft foun
dation. Plowing the middle of the
road is a relic of the old dump
scraper days.
What do you do when there are
deep ruts in the road?
Drag them. If you drag when
the surface is quite loose and soft,
you will be surprised how soon the
ruts disappear.
How do you get the dirt to the
middle of the road?
By hauling the drag slantwise
with the end that is toward the
centre of the road a little to the rear
of the other end.
But suppose the road is too
narrow?
First drag the wheel tracks.
After three or four rains or wet
spells, plow a shallow furrow just
outside the dragged part. Spread
this over the road with a drag.
Only plow one furrow after the next
rain. At each plowing you widen
the roadbed two feet.
How many horses do you use?
Two, generally, three if it is just
as bandy four when breaking colts
a good solid team in the centre
and a colt on each side, two men on
the dragone to drive, the other to
control the colts.
How do you drain the road?
If the earth is pushed in the
middle of the road continually, the
road will drain itself.
Why not make the drag out of
plank?
You can, and do good work. But
the split log is best. The plank
drag\is not so stiff.
Why not make the drag of heavy
sawed timber?
Because drags so made have a
tendency to slip over the bumps.
Don't you grade up the road
first?
No. The grading is done with
the drag, gradually. By so doing,
the road is solid all the time and is
built on a solid foundation.
What does it cost to drag a mileof
road a year?
The cost is variously estimated at
from one to three dollars.
How do you keep the drag from
dodging around sidewise?
By not loading it too heavily. If
a drag dodges around the earth you
are moving it is because it is over
loaded.
Will the dragged road stand
heavy hauling?
Yes and no. A dragged road will
stand more heavy hauling than an
undragged road, but not so much as
a macadamized or well-kept gravel
road.
Will a drag help a sand road?
A sand road is a very different
proposition from the black soil, clay
or gumbo An entirely different
method must be adopted Three
things may be done to a sand road
to make it better First, keep it
wet, second, haul clay on it, third,
sprinkle it with crude oil, as they
do in California and in some parts
of Southern Kansas and Texas.
The drag will be beneficial in keep
ing the sand road perfectly flat so
that it will absorb moisture and
retain it a long time.
To this catechism I would add the
following "Don'ts" Don't drive
too fast. Don't walk, get on the
drag and ride. Don't be particular
about material, almost any log will
do. Don't try to drag with only
one piece, use two. Following is a
diagram of the drag with an expla
nation
In this diagram a, a, are the two
halves of a split log nine feet long,
ten to twelve inches thick, set on
edge, thirty inches apart, both flat
sides to the front, b, b, strong oak
or hedge bars, the end of which are
wedged in two-inch auger-holes
bored through the slabs, dotted line,
chains or strong wire. D, DI, are
rings to connect double-tree clevis.
Hitch at and stand at C. on a
plank laid on the cross-bars, for
ordinary work, or hitch at DI and
stand at E for ditch-cleaning or to
make the drag throw more dirt to
the left. To move dirt to the right
reverse position of driver and
hitch. If working a clay or gumbo
road, put iron, old wagon-tire, or
something of the sort, on lower edge
of drag at end of six months for
soft soil at the end of twelve
months.^"i
3|Now is the time to start your
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V*
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SCHOOL HAS COMMENCED
The time approaches when children must he sent
to school again. That usually means a. new outfit of
shoes for their little feet. We want all parents to re-
member that we have stocked up heavily on
tJOutton fJOi
School Shoes
and for each pair sold we will giv# a nice pencil box
Absolutely FREE.
We sell the celebrated North Star Shoes, made in
our own state, and there are none better for either
looks or wear.
When you want to buy shoes or anything else in
the general merchandise line call on us.
Get a Good Rig
PIHLSTROM & LINDH.
We have purchased the Bossman livery business^
and will continue to conduct it in an up-to-date
and business-like way. Special attention to-
transient trade. Good rigs and good horses.
A. IW. ANDERSON.
East Side Meat Market,
We have recently purchased the above meat market and
will keep on hand at all times a full stock" of Fresh and Salt
Meats and Wish Game and Poultry in their season.
Will be pleased to have all old customers and many new
ones call on us. Satisfaction guaranteed.
BOARDSON & DAHLQUIST.
Telipktie No. 4. Warren, Minn.
LsoUe
Justness K^ouege an
v^nortneino institute.
Grookston, ^ftinn., and Wadena, *Aii
inn*
Desirable situations positively guaranteed to all graduates.
You can pay us at the rate of $10 00 per month after we secure
a good paying position for you, and if we do not get the position
TERMS.
Combined commercial, shorthand and type-writing course $60.00
Combined telegraphy,book-keeping and course $60.00
Complete Normal course, (three years) $75.OO
Music, per month $6.00
Prepartory course in English $45.00
Those who have a fair common school education complete
a course in from three to four months, but if it takes longer it
costs you no more. Send for catalogue and full particulars.
^y. ^l. SButton, ^Principal,
Qrookston, ^Atinn.
Warren Machine Shop
SWENSON JOHNSON, Props.
Steam and Hot Water Heating and
Plumbing.
Complete stock of pipes andfittings,and well casingconstantly
.onhand. y\ t*V..
Cisterns and Tanks of all Sizes Made to Order.
"rfS Call on us when in need of eave troughs for your house,
viX We also sell and erect Wind Mills, the cheapest power for
thefarm.M. HU &^t ^*y.* ^a^S&gfcft^ Sfe&
h-tttV"" &
If
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