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1 2 ;

,•*'

Good Roads.

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A REPORT OF THE GOOD
ROADS CONVENTIO^J* VOR
THE PROVINCE OF NEW
BRUNSWICK, HELD AT ST.
JOHN, N. B., SEPTEMBER 2J
AND 22, J897.

ALSO, ACCOUNT OF CONVENTION .- ---

FREDERICTON, FEBRUARY I7th AND I8tf^-i|^l^ RftVY^,
. AND A TREATISE ON ROAD DRAINAGE

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EEPOKT

OF THE

GOOD ROADS CONVENTION

FOR THE

PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK

HELD AT ST. JOHN, N. B.
SEPTEMBER 2l8T and 22nd, 1897.

Published dy the Department of Public Works,
Province of New Brunswick.

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REPORT

OF THE

GOOD ROADS CONVENTION

FOR THE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

Held at Saint John, N. B.
September 21st and 22nd, 1897.

THE CONVENTION called by the Good Roads Association for
the City and County of Saint John met in Amusement Hall,
on the Exhibition Grounds, on Tuesday, 21st September, at 10 a.m.

On the platform were Hon. H. R. Emmebson, Chief Commissioner of
Public Works; Hon. L. J. Tweedie, Provincial S .. 'tary; Hon. A. T.
Dunn, Surveyor General; Hon. C. H. LaBillois, Commissioner for
Agriculture; Professor A. W. Campbell, Provincial Instructor in
Road Making for the Province of Ontario, and Mr. W. F. Burditt.

Among those present were Hon. George F. Hill, M.P.P. ; T. B.
WiNSLOW, Secretary of Public Works; Deputy Mayor Robinson;
Alderman Christie, Chairman o( the Board of Public Works ; Street
Superintendent Martin, W. A. Trueman, Joseph Hornbrook, T. S.
Peters, and others.

In the absence of the President of the Saint John City and
County Good Roads Association, Dr. Berryman, the chair was taken
by Mr. W. F. Burditt, who spoke as follows :

I may explain that a short time ago a number of people in Saint
John, who felt interested in the improvement of our highways, got
together and formed a local association called the ^aint John City and
.County Good Roads Association. It was suggested at that meeting
by a number present, and especially by the Hon. Chief Commissioner
of Public Works, that a Good Roads Association for the Province
should be organized ; but we felt at that meeting, being only a local

RKPOET OF THE GOOD BOADS CONVBNTION.

one and representing only people from the County, that it would not
be proper to undertake to organize a Provincial Association \nthout
having present gentlemen representing the diflPerent sections of the
Province. That matter was therefore deferred, and the Saint John
Association subsequently decided that it would be a good opportunity
during the Exhibition to call together a convention from all parts of
the Province to discuss the question of Road Making — what methods
could be adopted for the improvement of the highways — whether any
suggestions could be made as to improvements or modifications in the
law, besides practical suggestions in regard to road making, operating
of road machines, etc. Therefore it is the object of this meeting to
discuss practical questions, to receive suggestions from gentlemen who
are well posted in the matter of road making, and also with regard to
the character of roads best adapted to our needs. It is not the desire
of the Saint John Association or the prospective Provincial Association
to advocate a large expenditure on very costly roads. There are
doubtless a few of the main highways of the Province that it would
be economy to build in a very thorough manner — that is, make
thoroughly built macadamized roads of them ; but for the most part
all that is required is the ordinary earth and gravel road built in the
best possible manner. We feel — a good many of us who have looked
into the matter — that the system of working on the roads is perhaps
not the best ; that is to say, the custom of calling out the statute labor
at a certain season of the year and doing certain work whether it
requires to be done or not. It calls to mind the gentleman who said
he took a bath once a year whether he needed it or not. Onco a year
the statute labor is called out, and if there is a piece of road naturally
good, that is, provided with good drainage, nevertheless the statute
labor has to be performed, and probably a lot of surface material is
scraped or dug out of the gutters and placed on the road, and it is
made worse by the labor performed than it was before. Then there
is another feature, that those who are directing the labor have very
little practical or technical knowledge with regard to road building.
There is no continuity of purpose — each section is acting for itself and
independently of the others : there are a great many men engaged in
overseeing the work and expending the money, and, generally, the
results are, perhaps, not as good as if them waH a better system of
directing the labor and expending the funds. I for one am not

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REFOBT OF THB OO0D BOADS CONYBXTION.

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prepared to^say anything against statute labor. I think that it will
probably be a long while before we in this Province will be prepared
to do away with statute labor, because I know from my own familiar-
ity with the agricultural community that in many districts it is a great
deal easier for farmers to put in so many days labor upon the roads
than it would be to pay a money tax, and the probability is that we
get more labor performed by statute . labor than we could by assessing
a money tax in many districts. At the same time the day is
approaching when, to a large extent, statute labor will be done
away with and money assessment voluntarily adopted in the diflferent
counties. The introduction of road machines does away, to a large
extent, with the necessity for statute labor, and I think the more
progressive parishes and counties will gradually see the advantage
of at least assessing a part of the tax in money instead of work.
It has been suggested that it woald be a good idea to allow the
poll tax to be served in labor, and cash assessments for the balance.
That would probably be going too far at the present time, at all
events. But the object of this meeting is to call forth an expres-
sion of opinion from men from diflTerent parts of the Province,
and hear their suggestions and receive their opinions as to the advan-
tages of forming an Absociation and the best methods o^ dissemi-
nating knowledge. Almost every roadmaster in the Province has
some practical knowledge, but back of all that there is the experience
of men, engineers and others who have given thought and attention to
this question for hundreds of years, and this experience has been
gathered together and records kept of it, and if we can obtain infor-
mation in this way, by the results of the work of the past, I think we
should by all means do so. We have here to-day for distribution a
pamphlet issued by the League of American Wheelmen of the United
States. It conveys some very useful information and suggestions,
which I think anyone who is interested in road making will find profit
in reading. And it is in this way that this Association can do a great
deal of good, in disseminating knowledge among the people generally
as to the best methods of constructing roads. I think that one of the
weak points in our system of road making is that not sufficient atten-
tion is paid to the matter of drainage. A certain attempt is made at
surface drainage, but even that is not adequately provided for. Of
course there are certain cases where the soil is naturally of a porous

RBPOBT OF THE GOOD BOADS CONVENTION.

structure, and there is very little need of drainage, but in other
localities the soil is retentive, subject to soakage and of a spongy
nature, and there under-drainage would be very beneficial. Under-
drainage drys the subsoil and makes a firm foundation. It is not
generally realized that the action of frost would have but very little
damaging eflFect if it were not for the soil being previously saturated
with water. It is not the soil that freezes, but t^e water between the
particles of soil. Where the soil is naturally drained there is no heav-
ing of frost and no trouble in the spring time ; and it is possible to
make any soil similar to that by a system of under draining. Tiles are
cheap, and there is no doubt that in many localities there could be no
more profitable investment made than in a tile drain, put down four
feet below the surface, independent entirely of the surface ditches.
Thus, by taking away the saturation underneath, you have a finn and
good foundation for any material that is placed upon the surface.

We have with us to-day Mr. Campbell, Provincial Road
Instructor for Ontario, who visits the different sections of that
Province, giving instruction in road making and advising with the
County and Town Councillors and others as to the best methods of
road construction. We also have with us the Hon. Chief Commissioner
of Public Works, and many other gentlemen who know much more
about roads ^an I do, and as you would no doubt like to hear the
Government's position in regard to this matter, I will now call upon
the Hon. H. R. Emmerson, Chief Commissioner of Public Works for
this Province.

HON. MR. EMMERSON.

I am sure I would be taking advantage of my position if I were
to ai any length discuss the objects of this meeting. We are all
glad to have the opportunity of listening to a gentleman of the
reputation of Me. Campbell, and while this meeting is not a large
one, that is no indication that there is not a desire throughout the
Province to have better roads. Now, there is some suspicion, I
fancy, throughout the Province with reference to the object in view
by the Association recently formed in the City of Saint John, and in
reference to the object in view in the formation, as is proposed, of a
New Brunswick Good Roads Association. It would be, perhaps,

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BBPOBT OP THE GOOD KOADS CONVENTION. 7

juBt and proper that we should remove any such misapprehension.
In the first place I think I can fairly say on behalf of those who have
the object of this Association at heart, that it is not the intention to
propose anything whereby the burdens of the people will be added
to ; whereby there shall be any increased taxation, or anything of
that nature. The desire, as I understand it, of those who have
moved in this matter is to so take hold of the present means at our
disposal that we shall accomplish what is so much to be desired — ^better
roads through the country, by the promulgation of information as to
the best methods of road making and in some way protecting and
guarding the present expenditure, so that we can get greater and
better results. I venture this assertion, that if the moneys ex-
pended by the grant of the Legislature each year upon the roads
were expended under better circumstances and with more informa-
tion, that money, together with the statute labor, would make the
roads of this Province equal to, if not better, than the roads of any
of the Provinces. I have travelled in Prince Edward Island, Nova
Scotia, Quebec, and somewhat in the great Province of Ontario, and
while we have much to complain of, and while we think that our
roads are very bad, yet I find roads in all these Provinces that would
not compare with some of the highways of this Province. But we
have not obtained the proper results ; we have not got value for the
money expended, for the labor put forth on these roads. Now the
question is, how best to administer grants and the statute labor, that
the best results may be attained. What we should seek is the best
methods — the best way to expend — and then we should have a
knowledge with reference to the mode of expending. I would like
to say a word with reference to the Highways Act, and now do not
understand me as in any way attempting to entrench upon politics,
because, as I understand it, this movement is without regard to
party politics — it is without regard to Government or Opposition.
Every man, whether he favors the Government or is opposed to it,
must be desirous of having good roads, and if I introduce the subject
of the Highways Act do not understand me as wishing to defend the
action of the Legislature or Government. It is simply to call your
attention to a principle that is involved in the Highways Act, and
as to whether it is a wise one or not I leave it for you to judge. You
must remember that the Highways Act is the result of the combined
efforts of every member of the Legislature. It is true that the

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BEPOBT OF THE GOOD BOADS CONVENTION.

Department of Public Works had to shoulder' the introduction of
that Act, but every member of the Legislature discussed it and every
member's views, whether Government or Opposition, were respected,
and many of the provisions were introduced without regard to
wLether the gentlemen proposing them were supporters or opponents
of the Government. The principle sought to bo introduced in the
Highways Act of 1896 was to place the responsibility in certain dis-
tricts upon some one man. Of course in changing the procedure in
any direction that affects the public, there is necessarily a certain
amount of friction, and where you have a class of officials who,
by a certain Act of the Legislature are removed and become
nonexistent, you must necessarily expect that in the change from
that condition to some other there will be a certain amount of
friction and opposition. Now under the old system we had what
were called surveyors. Each surveyor had a certain district and the
responsibility in that district was upon him, without regard to the
adjoining district. In one district the surveyor might wisely ex-
pend the money at his disposal, whil^ in the adjoining district a far
different condition of things might exists Each surveyor was lord
of all he surveyed in his own district. Under the Highways Act of
1896, the Counties were divided into divisions, and each division
was placed under the control of one man, called a Commissioner.
The object of this was that the responsibility should be placed upon
some one man for a larger area, so that there would be more unifor-
mity in the expenditure of money and in the character of the work
done, and so that there might be better results attained through
out the Counties. That was the principle that was recognized, and
I think it is a principle which will commend itself to all of U8> I do
not believe too much in centralization, but I do believe that a you
have public work to be done you should have the responsibility
placed upon some one man, and the greater the area, with reference
to road matters especially, the better, in my judgment. In the main
there is not so very much difference between the present law and
the old one. They are the same in principle with this exception.
Some people say : "You have roadmasters who are answerable to
the Commissioners, and you do not require that those roadmasten
should be sworn," Well, now, under the law they are required to
give a certificate; they are required to make certain representations.
If they make false representations they are subject to a penalty, and

BEPORT OF THE GOOD EOADS CONVENTION.

•i

they can be made answerable for their misdeeds in that respect, and
I contend that the man who would make false representations and
give a false certificate would make a false oath, and i^. does not seem
to me you could improve the matter by 8ubs*ituting the oath for a
signed certificate. But that is a matter of detail. The point that
should be had in view by this Association when it is formed, is to
lake into consideration all such matters.

I would think that we should not have County Associations.
They would be unwieldy. I should say rather have Parish Associa-
tions affiliated with this Association. I should suggest that in every
Parish it should be made the duty of some member of this Associa-
tion to see that there should be established in that Parish a Parish
Association for the attainment of the very object which we have in
view — the dissemination of information and the watching closely the
expenditure of public moneys. It is very easy to make complaints
against people, but I have had a suspicion sometimes, as I have
travelled over the Province, that the people were more interested in
getting money grants than they were in having good roads. I
remember once, travelling through one of the Counties of this
Province with a representative of that County, and he complained
that the apportionment of by-road money for his County was not
sufficiently large, because there was so many bye-roads, and I found
that about every half mile there was a road running from the main
highway back. I inquired where those roads went to, and his reply
was: "Oh, they go to the baick lots." Then I asked where
they ended. " Oh," said he, " the wood lots are back there." I
found that there were roads where the farms were long and narrow
which extended, perhaps, three or four miles back to some wood lots,
and perhaps some two or three farmers would be interested in that
road. They were not public roads in any sense of the word, and
there was each year hundreds upon hundreds of dollars expended
upon just such roads — no I will not say expended, but divided
among the parties interested in those roads. Well, there was a
provision put in the Highways Act to this effect, that there cannot
be a dollar of public money legally expended upon any road in the
Province that is not laid down upon the commissioners' returns to
the Public Works' Department, all of which roads must be recorded
and recognized public roads and not private ways. In the county
to which I have referred tbpse roads were struck off, and the money

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H "V

BEPORT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

which for the last forty years had been practically lost was expended
upon the proper bye-roads of the county, and I am sure that the
results are to be seen in that county to-day — in fact, I know it from
personal observation and experience. Now the Parish Associations
would serve this purpose, to my mind. If they were largely attended,
as I think they would be, they would excite an interest in every man
as to the desirability of ' good roads, and when once they become
awakened to the desirability of good roads they will watch closely
every man who has to do with the expenditure of the public moneys
or the statute labor. They will take an interest in the work, and in
a short time will have every man in that parish interested in having
the best results from the expenditure of the money and the appro-
priation of the statute labor.

I shall not take up any more of your time. I think I can speak
for the Government — I can certainly speak for my own department
— when I say that we shall be at all times only to happy to aid in
the furtherance of the object of this Association, and in saying that
I want to say that I do it from a selfish motive — that is, selfish in
the interest of the Department of Public Works. I would like, and
always do like, to see the best possible results obtained from the
expenditure of public moneys. It reflects credit upon whoever
happens to be the head of the department if the results are
creditable, and more than that, it is economy. There will not be
such a demand upon the department if the moneys are properly
expended. I can take you to districts in this Province to-day
where, if the moneys sent out this spring had been properly
expended, they would not be making application to-day for assist-
ance for this little work or that little work. 80 it is in the interest
of the Department of Public Works that this movement should go
forward, and not merely in the centres of the respective counties,
but in every hole and corner in every county.

Now, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I can only say that so far
as the Department of Public Works is concerned we will be happy
to second all your efforts and do the best in our power to advance
the movement for the benefit of good roads throughout the Province.

REPORT OP THE GOOD KOADS CONVENTION.

DR. JOHN BERRYMAN.

As President of the Good Roads Association for the City and
County of Saint John, it is a matter of great congratulation to me
to see such an audience as is here present, and I believe that if the
gentlemen here carry away good impressions, and disseminate those
impressions, it will have a broad, wide and good effect. Our
Association was not formed to complain, or to carp, or to criticize.
We felt that improvements might be made in our roads without
any additional expense or taxation to the people. This is an age of
improvement and increased knowledge. So far as I can .see, how-
ever, our roads are as they have been, with very little improvement,
for the last fifty years. Since the introduction of better styles of
carriages and bicycles we have all felt that improvements in our
roads would be of great benefit to us, and if the people in the
country would unite and make good roads people making summer
excursions would go where the best roads were to be found. So it
is in the interest of every one to try and stimulate this work, and
the information that will be received to-day, and that will be got by
the dissemination of pamphlets, books and writings will show that
the improvement of roads, though it, of course, will cost money,
will, in the end, by saving of wagons, carriages, bicycles, etc.,
compensate us for the outlay.

HON. MR. TWEEDIE.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — When I came into the hall
this morning I was rather impressed with the small nutnber present
here, and it struck me that perhaps it was due to the fact that the
Government of this country had been so mindful of its duty and
had performed its work so well that the roads, after all, were in
good order, and the people took no interest in the matter except in
a few sections of the country — in fact, that all this talk about the
roadd being in bad condition had not been entirely correct. How-
ever, perhaps it is not fair to infer that, but to infer that the
audience is small on account of the weather.

It is a fact that our roads are not in the condition that they
should be with the expenditure of money that has been made upon
them for years. It is perfectly true that a large portion of the

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EEPOBT OF THE GOOD BOADS CONVENTION.

money appropriated by the Government for bye-roads and great
roads, especially bye-roads, has not reached proper channels ; that,
in other words, members have been in the habit of using this bye-
road money for political purposes and gave it to their friends,
whether they had roads to repair or not. I remember once can-
vassing against a gentleman, a member of the government at that
time. I said to a certain man in a county which I will not name :
" Vote against this man ; give our ticket a vote." His reply was :
" What, vote against Tom ? Why, he is good for two barrels of
flour every year." This man got ten dollars a year on a bye-road
that began nowhere and ended nowhere. I think, however, that
the section in the Highways Act which has been spoken of by
the Chief Commissioner has, to a great ex'ent, prevented that. It
should be the object of this Association to find out what roads are
deserving of money, what roads are required for public purposes,
and it is upon these roads that the money should be expended to
enable people to get to the centres. All the roads not in the benefit
of the public should be stricken off, and to a great extent they have
been under that section. Then again, in some districts it is difficult
to make roads, while it is very much easier in other districts. In
Restigouche, for instance, you can make a road very much better
than you can in Queen's County, and at a less cost. In Gloucester
it is the same way. In Northumberland we have a good deal of
difficulty in some sections, while in other places the statute labor
will make the roads in good condition. What I would like to hear
from the gentleman who will address us is as to what he would
suggest for a rough-and-tumble country, where there are no facilities,
no gravel pits, what he would suggest for making roads in a country
of that kind. There is a good deal of difficulty in finding out what
portions of the Province require more money than others. We
apportion a certain amount to each county, and some counties do
not require it as much as other counties, because they have the
facilities for making good roads. I think there should be no such
thing as bye-road money at all ; that it should all be appropriated by
the Chief Commissioner, and that there should be a Deputy Chief
Commissioner for each county, who would get a salary sufficient to
live on, and who would devote his whole attention to the roads in
his county. It is all very well to talk about getting a man to attend
to the work without paying him for it, but it cannot be done. My

REPOET OF THE GOOD BOADS CONVENTIOX.

idea is that there should be one man for each county, under salary,
and if he does not do his duty, then discharge him. That is practical
to my mind, and we will never have good roads until we pay a salary
to men to look after the expenditure of the public money, and be
responsible for that expenditure.

I am afraid that the idea of forming Parish Associations cannot
be worked out. You may form a Good Roads Association for the
Province, but no association is any good unless it is alive, and
unless an interest is taken in every portion of the Province the
Association will not bring forth the results that it should, and the
desired benefits will not accrue. However, I am fully in accord
with the formation of a Good Roads Association, and will endeavor
as a member of the Government to assist in every way in my power.

A. W. CAMPBELL, C.E.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I am sure I was very much
pleased indeed to receive an invitation from the Good Roads As-
sociation for the Cit} and County of Saint John to come here and
talk to you for a little while to-day on the question of road and
street improvements. You must remember that I am not here in
the same capacity as if before an audience in the Province of
Ontario, where I am paid for addressing that audience, and to them
giving instruction and, as it were, dictating. I did not come down
here with the intention of finding any particular fault with your
system of road and street making or of dictating to you as to how
these roads and streets should be made, but simply to assist you in
getting together and forming an Association, and to discuss with
you the principles of road construction and generally to create an
interest, getting you to take hold of the question and solve it for
yourselves. In commencing a discussion along this line, especially
in the rural districts, we are met with a good deal of opposition. I
remember well, shortly after I was appointed to the position which
I now occupy in Ontario, attending a meeting in the Eastern part
of the Province. I was a little late in arriving at the hall, which
was pretty well crowded. As soon as I was introduced by the
Chairman and rose to address the audience, one old gentleman, who
had been a road maker in that district, jumped up and said : "Tut,

EfiPORT Ot* THfi GOOD ROAl)S CONVENTtOJf.

I thoaght you were an old man. Young man, I built roads in this
country before you were born, and I am damned sure I am not
going to sit here and listen to you talk about how to make roads."
That was somewhat discouraging to me, just starting out on a cam-
paign of such importance. I was completely overcome and for some
minutes did not know whether I was discussing a question of good
roads or bad roads>

In 1894 an agitation was created in the Province of Ontario,
the object being the improvement of country roads and the streets
in towns and cities. This agitation led to an invitation being ex-
tended by a few interested parties to Municipal Councillors, Farmers'
Institutes, Dairymens' Associations and representative men from all
parts of the Province to meet in the City of Toronto. About one
hundred of these representative men assembled in the month of
February of that year, and they formed an Association, the object
being to lay down a proper system for the construction of the roads
in the rural districts and the streets in the cities and towns; to create
an interest among the people in road improvement generally, and in
the necessity for improved roads, endeavoring as far as possible to
unite all efforts, that is, the statute labor in the rural districts and
the concentrated expenditure of the public moneys, of uniting these
efforts of labor and money expenditure towards the betterment of
our roads. At the formation of that Association an attempt was
made to form local Associations in the various counties. This did
not meet with very much success. As the Hon. Mr. Twbedik has
stated, it was found that unless the Associations could be made
alive and kept alive, it was better to have no such branch Associa-
tions at all. But the Provincial Association, composed of represen-
tative men from every part of the Province, kept up a lively campaign.
This question was discussed by the members of that Association at
every meeting of Farmers' Institutes, Dairymens' Associations and
kindred meetings, and in fact on every public occasion where
possible a member of the Association was sent to discuss the
question of improved roads. In this way a very lively interest was
created ; the attention of the Government was attracted by this
agitation and an appropriation of 9500 per year was made to defray
the expenses of the Association, for sending speakers around to
these various meetings, and for meetings of the different delegates
when it was found necessary to consult and prepare literature, etc.

■fwipw

-If**

'tbo^^tia^M,.

^IWM-Hf-.^'^OJMtvn '*■ ■

REPORT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION*

In 1896 the Government thought it wise, in order to assist the As-
sociation, to select some one man who had had some experience in
road building, whose duty it would be to go into the various muni-
cipalities of the Province, examine the condition of the roads and
streets, examine the system of public expenditure and the principles
upon which these roads and streets were being made, advise with
the municipal councils as to the best plans to be followed, consult
with the street commissioners and with the path-masters in the rural
districts, and in every way give advice and instruction in order to
bring about the best possible results with the money and labor ex-
pended. I happened to be chosen for that position. For some six
years I had charge of all the roads in the Counties of Elgin and
Middlesex, which were public roads, and for five years following
that I was City Engineer of the City of Saint Thomas, during which
time nearly three-quarters of the streets in the city were macada-
mized. For ten years I had given my time almost exclusively to the
construction of roads in the rural districts and streets in the city.
The Government, of course, imagined that cm account of my long
experience, although a young man, I must have some knowledge of
the true principles of road construction ; they carefully examined
these roads and streets and were satisfied that the results produced
were amongst the best, and that is why the position which I hold was
created, and those are the duties which I have to perform. In
order to carry out the work of this Association successfully I am
satisfied that some such course should be taken here. In the
Province of Quebec a plan was laid down similar to that of Ontario,
and 3Ir. Camibaud, who is a very practical man indeed, goes about,
as I do in Ontario, discussing the question with the local and muni-
cipal authorities and advising and getting them to follow improved
plans. We are very apt to think that when we know a little about
any particular work, even that of road making, and we are placed in
a position of responsibility and trust, we must naturally pretend to
know all about that particular work. Now this is the greatest
mistake that we can possibly make. We may for a time fool the
people ; we cannot fool ourselves. I believe I know as much about
road making and street building as any man in this audience, yet I
am not beyond learning something about these subjects, and probably
before I leave this city — and I hope that such will be the case —
and before I leave this meeting, or series of meetings, I will receive

! ' ■

! 1'

EEPOET OF THE GOOD KOADS CONVENTION.

some advice and instruction from those present that will be of great
service to me in performing my duties in the Province of Ontario.
But it is a mistake for us to presume to know what we do not know,
and it is impossible for any one of us to know too much about any
particular subject. We are all apt to make mistakes. Road builders
make mistakes ; engineers make mistakes — serious mistakes ; they
make blunders — serious blunders, but the engineer who makes a
mistake and profits by that mistake is the better for having made
the mistake in a great many cases. And it is so with us all. I
have made mistakes that have cost me money, but they have been
the best instructor and educator to me that I have ever had or
received. Now, if while I am here I can give you some instruction,
I believe you are men who are going to accept that advice and
profit by it, and I hope to get advice and suggestions that will be of
benefit to me. I have had the privilege of driving over some of the
streets in the vicinity of Saint John, and I do not consider that they
are types of first-class roads by any means, but I do consider that
some of them are very fair. We have some better roads in the
Province of Ontario, and we have some vastly worse roads in that
Province. I have not seen your worst roads, and, I presume, I have
not seen your best roads. I have only passed over a small section
of your Province, and I observe that you have a great many difiUcul-
ties to contend with. I have not, however, passed over that portion
of this Province in which the greatest difliculties, I believe, are met,
but let me tell you that the greater the difficulties the more carefully
you will have to prepare to contend with those difficulties, and that
is what you have been doing here all the time. You have had
difficulties to contend with in the City of Saint John and in this
immediate neighborhood, but from the permanent manner in which
your improvements of a corporate and public character have been
made, it looks to me as if the great difficulties only stimulated yon
to get the greater amount of information in order to solve those
difficulties. Now, if in certain sections you have no gravel and no
stone, you only equal certain sections in the Province of Ontario,
where to-day we are freighting by rail crushed stone and gravel a
distance of one hundred miles to make our roads. I might also
mention that all the roads which I constructed during the three
years previous to accepting my present position the material was
brought fifty miles by freight. The people recognized the import-

REPORT OF THE G06D ROADS CONVBNTION.

ance and necessity of good roads, and have striven in every possible,
way, and are striving to-day to solve the difficulties by meeting
them.

Now tfaere are a few principles in connection with road making
which must be followed. These principles are simple, but they are
just as important as the principles of cheese making in the manufac-
ture of cheese, or as the principles which must be observed in other
enterprises. What are these principles, and how must they be
observed in the construction of country roads? The celebrated
MacAdam one time was asked what the principles of road making
were. He said : "Well, gentlemen, they are just three in number.
First, drainage; second, drainage; third, drainage." Drain the
foundation. It is just as necessary to provide a dry and unyielding
foundation for a road as it is for any other structure. You cannot
bridge over mud and water by piling on stone and gravel; Crown
the road so as to lead the surface water into the gutter, and thus
drain the surface of the road^ Construct ditches along the side with
a free and uniform fall to a certain outlet ; see that the outlet is
clear to provide drainage for this surface water. Those are the
principles of road making. There are details, of course, in connec-
tion with this which must be observed. Now, how are you following
these principles here ? I do not know exactly, only fron^. looking
over a certain small section, but in the majority of municipalties in
the Province of Ontario they were following the principles of road
making after this fashion : Don't drain the foundation ; build ditches
along the side of the highway ; use the earth from those ditches for
raising a grade on the surface of the road, but do not construct any
outlets from those ditches ; keep the water in the foundation o. the
road. In this way it will swallow up all 4he gravel and stone we
can put on, and each year certain of us will receive so much money
for piling on more stone and gravel ; do not crown the surface of the
road, but keep it flat, because the flat surface will retain the water
when it falls ; this water will penetrate the surface of the road, and
after twelve hours rain the surface will beco'^.e soft, the wheels will
rut the road and drive the stones into the mud, make receptacles
for the water, and the road will more readily become destroyed.
Then the next point which they observed : Use dirty material in the
construction of roads; that is, provide gravel which will contain
about fifty per cept^. of sand and earthy matter, and put that on the

1 '

KEPOET OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

road. It will compact readily, and in the dry season under the
traffic of wheels will make a smooth, nice surface, like the surface
of some of the streets in St. John — they are covered now.with mud.
This makes a nice surface in the dry season, but when the wet season
comes on, this sand and mud will attract the moisture, the rain will
enter into the soft roadway, will break the bond between the stones,
the traffic will then drive the small stones down into the surface of
the road, the sand and mud will churn to the surface, and each
spring we will find the surface covered with four or five inches of
mud, and in this way we will be paid for carrying away an amount
of mud equal to the gravel placed on the previous year. Now I do
not suppose you are following any such foolish rule in this Province.
I presume that you have profited by the experience of others, and
that instead of laying down a specification for bad roads, and
spending your money in building bad roads, you are working along
another line, and that your specification embodies different princi-
ples; that you are providing for the construction of good roads;
that you are seeing to it that every dollar of money expended upon
your roads is producing the very best results. If so, your specifica-
tion will embody these principles : first, drain the foundation of the
road. Do this by constructing drains on each side of the grade, and
see that a proper outlet is made to a creek or some ravine. {Fig. 1.)
A better plan than to construct sharp, open and deep ditches along
the side of the road is to use common field tiles; place one
row of these tiles, from four to six inches in diameter, on each side
of the grade and below the frost line. See that these tiles have a
uniform fall and a proper grade, and see that they are carried to a
proper outlet — some creek or ravine. Then grade the road and
give the crown a drop of one inch to each foot from the centre of
the road out to the gutter ; that is, where the grade is twenty-four
feet wide between the ditches, the centre of that road should be
twelve inches higher than the side at the edge of the ditch, the
ditch, of course, being beneath this. See that the crown is made
regular and uniform, so as to shed the water as quickly as possible
from the centre of the road to the side ditches. Then provide
ditches along the side, preferably shallow gutters. Deep, open
ditches are dangerous, and they are unsightly along a road, beside
being expensive to construct, and very expensive to keep up.
Shallow gutters along the road surface to carry the water freely

«a t

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igt*-

REPORT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVBNTION.

while it is raining, to certain fixed outlets at regular intervals
into the tile drain below, or into the water courses leading from the
road, is the best known plan of road construction. It is more
expensive in the first place, but is vastly cheaper to maintain.
These tiles cut off dangerous water which is rising in various
instances from below towards the surface. That water line is
constantly fluctuating. In dry seasons the water line may be four
or five feet below the surface of the road ; in wet seasons it rises
towards the surface, and may rise to within a foot or six inches
and then be frozen. The frost acts upon the water, raises the whole
surface of the road imperceptibly, and in the spring of the year,
when the frost leaves, the foundation will be soft, spongy, and
honeycombed. When traffic comes on the surface of that road the
wheels readily form ruts and depressions. The question of drainage
is one which is very 'little followed in this Province, as I understand ;
but, gentlemen, you are spending now in this Province about a
qaurter of a million dollars in money and its equivalent upon your
roads. Tou have been spending that for the last quarter of a
century, and you have little or nothing to show for it. You are
going to continue to expend that quarter of a million dollars of
money and its equivalent for the next ten years, and are you going
to see to it that at the end of that time you have something to show
for this enormous expenditure. Unless you take hold of this question
in a business-like way, and consider these principles carefully and put
them into practice, you had better cease making any money expendi-
tures and allow the people of their own free will to make roads that
will be passable, or follow the trails through the bush. Now, with
reference to the placing of a one tile drain down the centre of the road
to provide drainage for that road, I might say that that plan is fol-
lowed in some sections. I do not practice it; I prefer having one tile
drain on each side of the road. If one drain is put down the centre
of the road, you will readily understand that the soil becomes saturated
with water ; that saturation must pass underneath the roadway to
reach the tile drain, and in this way damage is done to a certain extent,
though not 80 fully as if the drain wasn't there at all; whereas, where
the drain is placed on each side, this soakage water is cut ofif and the
roadway is kept constantly dry. After all, it is the dry foundation
which must cany the load, and if you have three feet of dry soil, this
will answer, {fig- 2.) The gravel or the broken stone is simply placed

BBPOBT OF THB GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

1 „

r f

on the surface of the road to make a hard, smooth and durable surface —
a surface that will not wear readily under the pressure of wheels, and a
surface that will be impermeable to water— which will shed the water
into the side ditches. It is almost impossible to properly crown the
surface of these roads by using the ordinary plow and drag scraper. We
are very apt to complain about the manner in which the farmers do
their statute labor. I was bom and raised on a farm ; my father and
three brothers are farmers to-day, and I have done statute labor myself
and know something about it. If a supervisor is asked to build a piece
of road, and is given half a dozen of his neighbors, with a few days
each, to construct the road, and has no implements except wagons,
pilows, and dra^ scrapers, how can he ever expect to make a perfect
and finished piece of work ? You might just as well try to cut your
wheat with a sickle instead of a self binder, as to try to make a good
piece of road with an ordinary plow and scraper instead of the modern
machines used for that purpose. I undei-stand you have some of these
machines in operation in this Province, and are doing excellent work
with them. Now, when we first introduced these machines in Ontario,
we did not meet with much success. A great many of our path masters
had an idea that these machines were to solve the whole difficulty, and
they were distinctly opposed to the introduction of machinery.
Grading machines were a farce. They could make roads as they had
been made, and they did not want any of these new innovations, and
as a general thing they looked to the machine to make the road. They
would hitch on a couple of teams of horses, run the blade into the
ground, and if the machine was smashed it seemed to tickle them very
greatly. In some instances they took the machines out on old gravel
roads ^ roads built at considerable cost — graded and carefully grav-
elled, the surface of which became so flat that the water stood in the
centre rather than being shed into the ditches. They knew the surface
of the road should be crowned; they understood we were preaching
this, and do you believe some of those men took the machines out on such
roads, cut off the shoulders, and brought the mud in and piled it in the
centre of the road on top of the gravel, thus ruining an otherwise first-
class road. If you have a hard foundation on the centre of an existing
road, and that road is flat, by no means should you think of cutting
oflF the sides, bringing the earth in and piling it on top of the gravel,
because thj^t earth placed on top of the gravel will simply hold the

Rfet^Oftf OF ¥HE dOOi) ftOADS COlTVBlTTtOtr.

tnoisture; after a rain it becomes thoroughly saturated, goes into a
quagmire, and when the teams come on, the wheels cut through the soil
and into the gravel foundation below, these ruts will stand full of
water, which goes down and penetrates the hard foundation ; it satur>
ates the gravel bed; the frost comes on, heaves the whole thing, and
in the spring of the year the road is simply a quagmire. The proper
plan is to reverse the machine, cut off these sides and turn the earth
out, that is, raise the centre by cutting off the sides and turning the
earth out. Some people say, in that way you will f 11 the ditches.
Well, of course, if they are straight, sharp, and fixed on the side of the
road, you will fill them up; but up in Ontario we pitch that stuff
across the ditch and spread it. Then take a little clean gravel or
broken stone and dress up the surface of the road, and you will have
a road that will last you a great many years by a little attention. In
connection with road machines I would insist, if I were in charge, that
a man be employed to go with each machine, and that that operator
be constantly with that machine. He will soon become accustomed to
working it, every day will add to his experience, and in a short time
he will become an expert. These machines were made to perform a
certain work : they have no brains ; they know nothing about road
building, and unless the operator does, you might better be without
them. It requires four horses and sometimes six to properly operate
one of these machines. Two teams of horses on one of these machines
in pretty stiff ground, if unaccustomed to that class of work, will do a
good deal of flying backwards and forwards — they will rush on for a
little time and then stop, and it makes the power very unsatisfactory
to the operator. Steady power is required. For that reason I would
recommend you to hire a couple of teams to go with each machine.
Spend your money in that direction — get the foundation of the road
first drained, spend money in draining the roads, then crown your roads
and grade them ; spend money in grading them, hiring teams and
hiring proper men to operate the machines, and you will find, with this
quarter of a million dollars which you are spending in this Province,
you can accomplish a wonderful work. It will be spent among your
own people, and in a very short time you will complete a revolution in
the construction of your roads. Do it on business principles, and do
it in the same business-like way as you would work your farms.

ttfiPORt O*" tttB a001> ROADS CONVENTION.

The next question is the selection of material. You have some
gravel in this vicinity, and no doubt you have in the Province a great
deal of gravel — that is, a stone about an inch or an inch-and-a-half in
diameter, not greater, and from that down to fine particles. Then you
have another gravel bed composed of clean stone, sand and clay. Our
practice is to allow teams to drive in to the gravel bed, the teamster
scrapes down the soft earth, clean sand, clean stone and gravel to the
bottom; this is pitched into the wagon, drawn away and put on the
road. Gravel which contains sand and earthy matter will set quickly
and readily, and in the dry weather under trafti'; will make a smooth
surface and apparently a good road. But you watch that gravel. After
a couple of days rain in the fall it will go into ruts, the earthy matter
attracts the moisture, it breaks the bond in the metal, and in a very
short time you will find that you must scrape off the mud and put on
another coating of gravel. Clean material, and clean material only,
should be used, and if you have not clean gravel then consider the
wisdom of crushing stone. Round gravel and stone placed on a road
will not make as solid a surface as crushed material, liecause round
stones will not form a perfect bond. They will constantly slip under
heavy traflic, and ruts are thus formed, and you know that ruts are
the Imne of our roads. The advantage of crushed stone over round
gravel is that the stone is broken into cubical fragments. The material
is passed on to a screen and is divided into different sizes. First, that
which will pass through a 2 inch screen, then that which will pass
through a 1 1-2 inch, then through a 1 inch, then a 3-4 inch screen,
and finally the dust and screenings. Place a layer of the coarser stone
on the bottom, then a layer of the next grade on that, then a layer
of the next on that, and then a layer of the finest stone on that again,
and cover the whole with the dust and screenings. Roll this properly ;
one block of htone will fit into the interstice of the other, and about
ten inches is formed of a perfect stone. No water can pass through it,
and there will l)e no displacement of the material even under the
heaviest loafls. Then what is there to we.\r that road out? When
the rain comes the water simply washes off the dust; instead of the
road being dissolved and turned into slush and mud, it is simply
washed off and made cleaner than it was before the rain. If, however,
gravel is plentiful, and you wish to use it entirely, then see that clean
gravel is usetl. Place that on the road and place it on to a width of

tiill^ORT of TitE GOOD ROADS CONVKNTION.

12S

about eight feet in the centre. Our practice is, after the road has
been properly graded or crowned, to run the grading machine down
the centre, letting the edge of the knife pass by the centre line ; turn
out a little earth from the centre of the crown; then reverse the
machine and bring it back through the surface the other way, leaving, as
it were, a flat surface on top of the road about eight feet wide. (Fig. 3.)
Place the gravel or stone in this space to a depth of from eight to
twelve inches. Then run the machine down one side and back the
other, bringing in that excavated earth to form a shoulder, and
complete the crown. If you have a roller, pass it up and down over
the whole crown of the road — the gravel, the broken stone and the
earth edges — until it is rolled perfectly hard and smooth. This will
resist the weight of the greatest load, and you will have a road which
will call for comparatively little attention for the next quarter of a
centuiy.

So much for the principles of road making. If the material is
available thei-e will Ije no difficulty in making roads. If the material
is not available it would be wisdom for you to consider some plan of
having this material provided for the municipalities which have not
any within their limits. The Hon Provincial Secretary says, as a
general thing, the counties are given an equal amount of money for
their nrndw, and he states that in certain counties where the conditions
are favorable first-class roads are Ijeing constructed by the statute
lalK)r. It _ might \ye well for you then to get the department to
consider the wisdom of classifying the different counties and making
these appropriations according to certain retjuirements, which recjuire-
ments would \w> based upon their condition ; thus a county having
plenty of material would receive less money than a county having no
material. Grade the appropriations in that way.

Then as to the system - - lay down a system. A system is abso-
lutely recjuired ; it is necessary in every branch of business. Classify
the roads according to their importance; specify <m your plan what the
width of the road should \w) and what the crown should l)e. In
<)nt,»iri(» we make the width In^tween the ditches twenty -four feet, and
we make the crown a rise of one inch to one foot from the centre to
the side. These nmy not suit you, but this Association should decide
upon some i»lan, and lay it down and see that it is followed. In our
Province we have about sixty road sui)ervisors to every township.

, -yyi-iawi.,.aft'/r .

REPORT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

i ;

Every road supervisor is monarch of all he surveys. He thinks that
as soon as he is appointed path-master he is fitted to perform that
work, or any kind of work, even that embodying scientific principles,
and he considers it an indignity for me to ofier any instructions as to
how that work should be done, or for a neighbor to make any sugges-
tions which he may think proper. He will go out and say: "We will
make the width of this road sixteen feet; that is wide enough." The
next supervisor says: "That is nonsense; the road should be twenty
feet." The next says it should lie thirty feet, and the next says forty
feet. One supervisor would contend that the grade should be made
perfectly flat. The next supervisor will contend that the grade should
be made just suflicient to shed the water nicely into the ditch, and
the next supervisor says there is nothing like a good crown, and he
heaps it up so that it is dangerous to turn from the centre of the
road. These men cannot all be right, though they may be exercising
their best judgment. One object of this Association is to lay down
plans to secure uniformity in work and perfect system, and that is
one of the first questions to be solvetl. In our townships the Muni-
cipal Councils specify what the width of the roads should be, how
much crown should l)e put on, what the depth of gravel should be,
and how it should be placed, what constitutes a day's work, and all
that sort of thing.

Its roads are an indication of the stat« of prosperity to which any
Province has attaine<l, and it l>ehoove8 you to see that your roads are
improved in a manner consistent with the improvements upon your
farm lands. I^et every dollar be spent in a manner that will produce
the very best results — let the quarter of a million l)e spent in making
roads of a first-class character. It must l)e gratifying to you to see
that your representatives in the Local Government are here to-day for
the purpose of aiding you in this important matter, l)ecauHti T do con-
sider that it is the most important (luestion U'fore the people of this
Province or any Province. I think it is a (juestion in which the I^egisla-
ture :Min afford to assist you in arriving at the very best jilans to follow.
Tn the older settled parts of Ontario, the (iovernment gives no assist-
ance whatever. They place the responsibility and expense of building
the roads ujMjn the iK't)ple, and in tiiat Province we areexjtending three
and a half million dollars yearly on tln» roads, in addition to the sUituU'
lalxtr. In some se«.'tionH the i-ojmIs ai-e as hard and smooth as billiai-d

I »

1 f %

BEPOBT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

tables — they are perfect samples of roads. In five years every road in
that Province will be equal to the roads in the old country, and in ten
years every road in the Province v/JU be macadamized, and judging
from the men here to-day and the active interest which is taken in all
parts of this Province, I venture to say that you will see to it that
with the assistance of your Legislature, inaide of ten years the same
results will be produced in this Province, and in the same manner that
we are producing them — not by additional taxation or increased
burdens upon the people, but by utilizing in the very best manner the
enormous amount of money and labor which is l)eing spent here
annually. It is a question of properly spending the money, of laying
down a system, of preparing your plans, organizing yourselves together,
uniting your labor, concentrating your money expenditure, spending
that labor and money in conjunction with each other, the money
providing the machinery, operating it, and purchasing material ; the
labor hauling and placing the material on the roads; observing the
true methods of road making. With these plans followed I venture
to say that inside of ten years your roads will be equal to the roads of
any other Province.

On motion of Hon. G. F. Hill, seconded by Mk. F. M. Murchie,
the following i-esolution passed :

Regolved, That in the opinion of this Convention, a representative
"gathering from all sections of the Province, it is desirable to form for
"the Province of New Brunswick a Good Roads Association, having
"for its object the Ijetterment of the highways of the Province and the
"dissemination of information on the best methods of road making,
"and the promotion of local societies in the several parishes or dis-
"tricts of the several Counties ; and to promote the discussion and
"consideration of all subjects having reference to the construction ami
"maintenance of highways, taxation and expenditure, and th(> best
"system of maintenance and supervision, and the julvancement of all
"legislation tending to secure the object desired, namely, good roads."

On motion of Mr. S. L. Pktehs, seconded by Mr. Fknwick, the
following it!solution was passed and adopted :

Rmolved, " That the Chairman of this meeting select a Connnittt^e,
" not exceeding five, including himself, who are authorized to nominate
"and report upon the persons suitable to fill the respective positions
"of Pr«>si(|erit for the Province, and a Vice-President for each of tho

RflPORt of tHE GOOD KOADS CONVBNtlOJ*.

"Counties of the Province, and a Secretary-Treasurer, and the Execu-
" tive Committee of the Association for the whole Province."

The Committee named consisted of W. F. Burditt, Howard
Trueman, Joseph Hornbrook, J. J. McGaffigan, and John O'Brien,
M. P. P.

Moved by Mr. Joseph Hornbrook, seconded by Mr. Currie, and
adopted:

Resolved, "That the Executive Committee of the Association
" shall consist of the officers of the Association, ex officio, together with
" seven others, to be chosen with regard to the convenience of their
"frequent meeting together, and that five of the members of said
" Executive Committee shall at all times form a quorum, upon notice
" having been mailed to each of the members of said Committee of any
" meeting to be held."

Moved by Mr. W. S. Tomkins, seconded by Mr. Howard
Trueman, and adopted :

Renolved, "That it shall he. the duty of the Vice-President of this
"Association to take active measures for the organization, in the
" several parishes or districts of their respective Counties, of District
"or Parish Good Roads Associations, which Associations, when formed,
" will Ije affiliated with the central or Provincial organization, and
"that the Vice-Presidents shall be the medium of communication
"between the central organization and the respective Parish or Dis-
". trict Associations, and that the central organization shall aid, with
"information, suggestions and instructions, the various local organiza-
"tions; also that the Vice-Pi-esidents shall organize Advisory Com-
" mittees in each County."

Moved by Mr. Howard Trueman, seconded by Mr. Joseph
Hornbrook, and adopted:

Resolved, "That the Chairman be authorized to appoint a Com
" mittee of three, including himself, to draw u}) a Constitution for the
" Association."

The following were appointed as such Committee : — W. F.
Burditt, J. S. Armstrong, and 8. L Pktkrh.

Adjourned to meet at the Mcljaughlin Building, Germain street,
at ten o'clock the following morning.

» ♦

Tuesday ^ September 2lst^ iSgf.

%^-\

A PUBLIC MEETING was held, at eight o'clock in the evening,
-^-*- under the auspices of the Saint John City and County Good
Roads Association. The Chairman, Mr. W. F. Burditt, explained in
opening the meeting, that while it was called more particularly for the
purpose of discussing local matters, the city streets and streets of the
suburbs, it was not desired to restrict the discussion to that particular
topic, and the meeting would be glad to hear from gentlemen who
were present from other parts of the Province.

After a brief address by Mayor Robertson, the Hon. A. T. Dunn,
Surveyor General, on being called on, said : I thank you, Mr. Chairman,
for giving me the opportunity for making a few remarks, but I am here
more for the purpose of learning than of giving advice. I had the
pleasure of listening to Mr. Campbell's address this morning, and I
agree with him that the first great principle to be observed in the con-
struction of roads is drainage. The great difficulty, however, which we
have to contend with in this Province is that in many localities we have
not the material to make the roads. Then another difficulty with us is
that we have a very great mileage with very few people. I had the
pleasure of driving over some of our roads with Mr. Campbell this
afternoon, and while he considered some of our roads very good, there
were others which he considered very bad. I hope that this movement
will awaken an interest among the people in the outlying districts,
who do not now seem to take that interest which they should, and
once an interest is awakened, I have no doubt but that success will
follow.

A. W. CAMPBELL, C.E.
Ontario Government Road Commissioner,

On being called, referred at some length to the best metho<ls of con-
structing city streets, discussing different kinds of paving and the
conditions prevailing in and around the City of Saint John. Contin
uing, he said:

I am very glad indeed to see that so many representative
men from the rural municipalities have taken a trip to the

(27)

BEPOBT OB" THE GOOD fiOADS CONVENTION.

City of Saint John to-day for the purpose of discussing this
question of improved roads. We know that you have a very
great road mileage in this Province to keep up, that your popu-
lation in certain sections is sparse, that material in certain
districts is scarce, that the work of road improvement therein
is very expensive, and I am very glad to see that you have
come out to-day for the purpose of banding yourselves together
to meet these difficulties and face them as you have faced
similar difficulties in this Province before. You have no system
in the rural municipalities for making and maintaining your
roads. You have no organization among yourselves for uniting
your labor, concentrating your expenditure, and trying to im-
prove your roads, and it is for this purpose that you have formed
this Association to-day ; it is for the purpose of trying to educate
yourselves in the best principles of road construction, and how
best you may procure these roads for the least possible outlay.
Money, no doubt is scarce — we are living in an age of hard
times — but the scarcer the money is, the more necessary it is
that you should study carefully the best way of producing the
very best results with the least possible outlay. Now, for the
past ten years, you have been expending about a quarter of a
million dollars a year upon your roads. You have been largely
wasting that money, for the lack of system and organization.
You have not been following the true principles of road making,
and therefore you cannot expect to produce first-class roads.
You have been working in a scattered manner. In each Town-
ship you appoint about fifty or sixty commissionr vs .vnd
surveyors. These commissioners have charge of all the roads
in the Parish, each surveyor having charge of a short section.
Each surveyor is given a few men with a few days labor to
make and maintain a long strip of road. In this way, I contend,
that your forces are too much scattered ; that you should have
less commissioners or surveyors, and these commissioners should
be better men. The Commissioners are chosen not so much
upon their merits, I presume, as upon their ' ability to spend
money, and it is an unwritten law that the Commissioners shall
be changed annually. The difficulty of this is that as soon as a

REPORT OP THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

Commissioner learns something about the principles of road
construction he is asked to step to one side and a greenhorn
takes his place. In our Province, in a great many instances,
we find new n ?n appointed one year undo the work which the
man the year before strove to do properly. These men have
different opinions and different ideas as to how the work should
be done, and each man goes out on the streets or on the roads
without any fixed plan or any definite purpose, and he simply
acts on his own ideas, very often to the detriment of the road.
It is advisable that you should try and concentrate your forces
by collecting together as much of your labor and your ex-
penditure as possible und having that expenditure made under one
supervisor or commissioner, chosen on account of his knowledge
of road making. Let these Commissioners meet annually, dis-
cuss the question of road making together, interchange ideas,
and better fit themselves to preform the duties which devolve
upon them. It is a question which requires discussion, and it
is a question which the more you discuss, the more you will
learn about it. I am frequently asked if it will improve the
condition of the farmers to improve the condition of the roads.
One man asked me if it would raise the price of wheat, and
another asked me if it would increase the price of hogs. Now
I do not know how it is down here. These questions were
asked me about a year ago in the Province of Ontario. I have
been talking good roads up there for about a year, and sure
enough the price of wheat has increased and the price of hogs
has also advanced. I would not like to say that it was due
entirely to this discussion or to the improvement of our roads,
but I tell you, gentlemen, every farmer knows that a first-class
road is a blessing, and he knows better than we do what are the
advantages to be derived from first-class roads. There is in
connection with this matter not only a financial benefit, which
cannot possibly be summed up, but there is a moral and senti-
mental benefit, which cannot be measured in dollars and cents.
A great many of your farmers, I venture to say, can stand on
their door-steps in certain seasons of the year and behold the
roads a quagmire, and at other seasons look upon them as beds

RKPORT OP THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

of dust. When you go to market you have to travel through
them ; when you go to church they are your inseparable com-
panions, and you cannot take a full load at any time while these
roads are bad, and in every imaginable way they are discourag-
ing and offer the greatest opposition to doing your business as
business men would do theirs. Men tell me that the farmers
of to-day have not very much to do, they can afford to go oftener
to market and take smaller loads ; that at certain times during
bad roads they have nothing to do and can sit down and make
more money than by spending so much in the construction of
roads. Now, while a true, keen business man has no time to
lose, an unsuccessful business man has lots of time to lose. It
is the same with a farmer. A successful farmer has not a day
to lose, but an unsuccessful farmer is a man who has plenty of
time to go often and slowly to market, with small loads, and in
fact has lots of time to toast his shins around the kitchen
stove. In these days of keen competition and low prices it is
necessary that we should make the best of our time — we should
improve our means of transportation in every imaginable way.
In this Province you have spent an enormous amount of money
in the construction of railroads. You have spent so much money
that you have to-day a network of railways in this Province, so
extensive that it is almost impossible to know where you would
find use for another. You have expended money in equipping
fast lines of steamships to land your produce in the markets
beyond the sea ; you have assi jted the other Provinces of this
Dominion in constructing railways — in fact, in throwing one
line across the Continent even in advance of public senti-
ment — and all to improve your means of transport. But,
gentlemen, tell me what would be the benefit of all this ex-
penditure if you had no common roads leading from the farms
to the railway depots. These railways are carrying an enormous
amount of freightage each year, but you know that there are
millions of tons of freight, in addition to that carried by all the
railways of the country, which, in one form or another passes
bver the highways of this country, and is it not an important
question, after constructing all these lines of transportation —

•

REPORT OP THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

these main lines — these trunk roads — that you should now at
least pay some little attention to the improvement of the arteries
of the railroads leading to the farm yards and to the markets.
Some men contend that the improvement of the roads certainly
cannot be entirely in the interests of the farmers, but must be
furthered by some other separate class of people who will be
specially benefitted. Now, during the past few years there has
been, true enough, a new form of vehicle appear upon the high-
ways of the world. In the past centurj'^ human genius has in-
vented and transformed certain means of transportation both
upon the water and upon the railways of the world, and in
addition to that, human genius has also been diverted to> the
improvement of the vehicles of the road, and there has been
produced one vehicle which fills a long felt want and which for
convenience, for ease of transit, for ease of manipulation, for
fleetness and for serviceability to nearly every class of the com-
munity, cannot be surpassed — I refer to the bicycle of to-day.
Previous to the introduction of the bicycle as a carriage or
conveyance the question of improved roads was considered to a
small extent. Certain individuals tried to show to the farming
community, as well as to all other classes of citizens, that bad
roads cost the country millions of dollars per year through
loss of power required in transporting commodities. Devices
were made for the purpose of measuring the loss of power or
resistance offered to vehicles by bad roads, and fabulous figures
were prepared to show this enormous amount of loss, but these
were all considered so many dry statistics and were passed
over. As soon, however, as the human being was made the
motive power, people, of necessity, began to study the condition
of the'road — every grade was detected, every rut was noticed,
every stone was observed, and in every instance it was carefully
noted the amount of extra power which was demanded to over-
come these obstructions. Even as an educator in the improve-
ment of our roads, the bicycle of to-day stands as one of the
great benefactors. Railway companies spend fortunes in re-
ducing grades and in making their roadbed hard and smooth,
so that it will offer the leadt possible resistance to traction, and

" ! l l ill* '

BEPORT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

the main object with them is to reduce as far as possible the
amount of power required to carry their load or to move their
train. The same principle employed by the railways should be
employed by the people of this country, and that principle is
just as important in the transportation of our commodities ove^
the common roads as it is in the transportation of these com-
modities over the railroads of the country. It is true that an
enormous amount of money ha^ been spent in this country in
making roads, but we are far from having what we should
consider first-class roads, and it is all on account of the system
— the l^ck of interest, the lack of organization — and I predict
that from this Association to-day will come an org .nlzation that
will create in this Province a live interest, an interest which
will, in a very few years, without any great additional expen-
diture, make the roads of this Province equal to the roads of
any other country. When we consider that in England, pre-
vious to the year 1816, the same system which we have in
operation here for the construction and maintenance of our
roads was in operation in that country, it may be encouraging
for us to know that they took the same steps to improve their
roads which we are now taking to improve ours. These people,
seeing the importance of improved roads in lines of transporta-
tion, formed themselves together into associations. They said,
"We are scattering our forces; we are scattering our money;
we are not observing the true principles of road making, and
there must be a change." They called into requisition the
services of the celebrated MacAdam. He laid down the prin-
ciples to be followed ; he got the people together and stirred up
an interest among them. They constructed as much each year
as they possibly could, they did it thoroughly, they did- that
year after year, and the result is that to-day the roads of Eng-
land are England's pride. They are perfectly constructed,
hard and smooth, easily travelled, and are simply ideal roads.
The construction of the roads of Scotland were undertaken in
the same way, and to-day they are Scotland's boast. The roads
of France are ideal roads, and the roads of Germany, Norway,
and Italy are equal to those of any country in the world. But the

BEPOET OP THE GOOD BOADB CONVENTION.

roads of Canada are bad. By no means are they in keeping
with the enormous amount of money and labor expended
upon them; by no means are they in keeping with
the manner in which our private property is improved, or
with the improvements made upon the public property of the
country ; but if we adopt the plans followed by the countries I
have mentioned — get ourselves together — lay down this sys-
tem — organize, create an interest, follow the principles of road
making, use proper material, properly prepared and properly
applied — in a very few years I venture to assert that the roads
of Canada will be equal to the roads of any country in the
civilized world.

On being asked to give his ideas as to the value of wide
tires, compared with narrow, Mb. Campbell said :

We are spending considerable time and money in con-
structing roads; we claim t' be doing all we possibly can
towards improving these roads; we claim that we would do
more if we had the money with which to improve them, and
yet, notwithstanding the enormous expenditure which we are
putting on these roads, is it not strange that the people should
spend additional money in purchasing narrow tires with which
to destroy these roads ? Narrow tires will destroy the best
roads that we can construct. In France the tires on wagons
hauling very heavy loads are eight inches in width, and the
front axle is shorter than the hind axle. In this way the
wheels do not run in the same line, but act as rollers and
improve the roads. In England the tires on lumber wagons
are four inches wide, and on drayage wagons six inches, and
the front axle is shorter than the ^hind axle, the wheels thus
forming perfect rollers. The heavier the load you put on a
wagon with such tires, the more improvement it is to the road.
With narrow tires the heavy load tends to drive the tire like a
knife into the surface of the road. It will form a rut, and that
rut will hold the water, and each succeeding wagon will simply
churn the rut deeper. Narrow tires act as a pick on the surface
of the road, while wide tires ^ct a« a roller. In nearly all

REPORT OF TUB GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

the European countries wide tires are used. They are being
used extensively now in Ontario. A short time ago the City
of Ottawa passed a bye-law relating to the width of tires, and I
think the farm wagons are now obliged to have tires three-and-
a-half inches in width, and the drayage wagons four inches.

For some time there was quite an argument as to the power
required to haul wagons furnished with wide tires. Many
people claimed that they were harder to draw and did not
improve the roads, but it only required a few examples to
satisfy the people of the benefits to result from wide tires and
the damage done by narrow tires. A heavier load can be
hauled on wide tires than on narrow tires. Where a road is
rutted by narrow tires the wide tire has a tendency to settle in
that rut and therefore draw harder, but if the tires were all
wide the ruts would not be formed, and they would then draw
easier. The width should be at least four inches. (^Fig. 5.)

Mr. Burditt. — I would like to read to you the results of
experiments made by Prof. Waters, Dean of the State Agri-
cultural College of Missouri. The Missouri Good Roads Asso-
ciation, at its recent convention in Columbia, declared in favor
of wide tires, and Prop. Waters added to the tabulated
results of the tests made between narrow and wide tires the
following :

" By using the wide tires an average of fifty-three pounds
draught is saved. A horse is computed to exert a pull of one
hundred and fifty pounds for ten hours, travelling at the rate
of two and one half miles per hour. On this basis the wide
tires save slightly more than one-third of the exertion of the
horse."

The experiments with heavy wagons from which the con-
clusions of Prof. Waters were reached formed the most
mteresting part of the proceedings of the Convention, and the
results of all the tests were carefully noted. In every test it
was demonstrated that the wide tire lessens the labor of the
horse, and is in other ways far superior to the narrow tire,
which is the mout commonly used.

• •

* n •

TVednesday^ September 22nd^ i8gy.

• •

4 •

THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION opened this morning in the
McLaughlin Building, Germain Street, at ten o'clock, a. m.,
Mr. W. F. BuRDiTT in the chair.

The session was opened by the reading of the resolutions adopted
at the meeting on Tuesday morning, respecting the organization of a
Provincial Good Roads Association.

The Nominating Committee reported that the following had been
chosen and were now nominated as the Officers of the Association:

Hon. Ci. F. Hill, M.P.P. , Saint Stephen, President.

Howard Trueman, Point de Bute, Vice-President.

W. F. BuRDiTT, Saint John, Vice-President for Saint John.

F. M. MuRCHiE, Saint Stephen, " Charlotte.

James Horn brook. Studholm, " Kings.

WiLLARD D. Wilbur, Dorchester, " Westmorland.

S. L. Peters, Queenstown, " Queens.

H. G. Wilmot, Oromocto " Sunbtiry.

W. S. ToMKiNS, Southampton, •_ • **' York.

C. L. Smith, Woodstock, " Carleton.

A. J. Beveridge, M.P.P., Andover, " Victoria.

A. Bertrand, M.P.P., Edmundston, *' Madawaska.

William A. West, " Albert.

Lazare Gcimond, " Kent.

William Wise, Chatham, " Northumberland.

E. M. Bourgeois, Tracadie " Gloucester.

Neil Shaw, Dalhousie, *' Restigouche.

J. S. Armstrong, Saint John Secretary-Treasurer.

Directors: — W. W. Hubbard, Sussex; J. J. McGaffigan, J. M.
Barnes, Saint John; Hon. H. R. Emmerson, Dorchester; Dr. A. A,
Stockton, William Shaw, Saint John; Hon. L. P. Farris, White's
Cove.

. . , 0^ f(i ballot being taken, the »hoy& named were declared elected.

(36)

•t*

REPORT OF THB GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

Hon. C. H. LaBillois, Commissioner for Agriculture, on being
called upon, said: . ^

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: When 1 came here this morning
I did not expect to be the first called upon to make a few remarks.
However, coming as I do from the far north of this Province, and
being the only representative preseflt from the Counties of Bestigouche
and Gloucester, I feel that I would not be doing my duty to those
Counties if I did not make a few remarks. I was certainly very
much pleased with the address of Mb. Campbell yesterday morning,
and also that which he delivered last night, as I have taken a great
interest in the matter of road construction for the past fifteen years,
during which time I have represented the County of Bestigouche in
the Legislature. There were one or two points that struck me very
forcibly during his address. One was the neglect of the Commission-
ers who are appointed from time to time in charge of the roads. That
drew my attention to another point, which was, perhaps, overlooked,
and that is the very little interest that is taken by the Municipal
Councillors throughout the Province in seeing that the statute labor
law is earned out. As you are aware, at the January meetin£^ of the
County Councils, Commissioners are appointed to carry out the pro-
visions of the Highways Act, but after they are appointed the Council-
lors take no further interest in the matter in the way of seeing that
they do their work. I have noticed sections in my own County,
where the County Councillors live, where no statute labor is performed.
Last summer I made a visit to the lower section of the County of
Restigouche and found the Great Road in a terrible condition. The
people told me they did not see how they could support me any longer
on account of the fearful condition of their roads, but they had done
no statute la' >or upon it. Well, I sent the road machine down there
under the charge of a perfect stranger. The people of the district
were very much prejudiced against it, and had gathered from all
quarters to see it work. The man who was operating the machine
found that the road was in such a condition that the machine could
not be worked upon it ; it was covered with fence rails, big stones, and
boulders and manure piles. However, he started in to work the
machine in those places where some work could be done by it, and the
result was that in lesH than three.quarters of an hour about thirty-five
pi- forty men went to work and cleaned off that ixmd for three miles,

RKt»ORt Of TttE GOOD ftOAt>R CONVtJNTIOJf.

and two days after the people there did not know their own section of
the country, so great was the change brought about by the improve-
ment in that road.

In my opinion the road machine should be put to work on the
roads as early in the Spring as possible, so that the great heat of July
would dry these roads up. If the work was not done until late in the
season the heavy rains of August would come on, and the work would
certainly not be as well done.

The Hon. Provincial Secretary, no doubt, spoke the truth when
he said in his remarks that it would be veiy difficult to work up
Parish Associations and keep them alive, but the only way we can get
the farmers to take an interest in and look after the roads more closely
is by Parish Associations. If the Chief Commissioner had the services
of two or three men who understood the making of roads, to go from
Parish to Parish and address the people as to the best methods of road
construction, there is no doubt but a great improvement would soon
be made in our roads. The great difficulty is that the people do not
know how to make roads. The Councillors select men as Commis-
sioners because they are friends and supporters, and by the time a man
has learned a little about road making he is changed.

I am glad this movement has been started and this Association
formed, and I believe that if an interest can be awakened throughout
the country it will be of great benefit.

Mr. Burditt. — I would like to call attention to the fact that the
new Highways Act provides that tires of a certain width shall be
placed on wagons after the Ist of May, 1899. The section of the Act
is as follows :

" On and after the first day of May, in the year of our Lord one
'* thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, the wheels of every vehicle
"loaded with stone, gravel, sand, or other material of any kind or
"nature whatsoever, when the load exceeds in weight one and one-
" half tons, shall, when used and passing over or along any Highway,
" be provided with tires not less than four inches wide ; the owner or
" person in charge of any such vehicle ihall, for every offence against
•• this section, incur a penalty of Five Dollars."

I think the meeting would like to hear what the Chief Commis-
sioner of Public Works has to say on this question, but before calling

REPORT OF THK GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

on him I would like to call attention to the Connecticut Wide Tire
Law, which is largely followed by other States, and which is as
follows ; •

" All vehicles having an iron axle two inches square, or an axle
"of equivalent capacity, shall be equipped with tires not less than
" four inches in width.

"All vehicles having an iron axle one inch and three quarters
" square, or an axle of equivalent capacity, shall lie equipped with tires
" not less than three inches in width.

"All ve'acles having an iron axle one inch and a half square, or
" an axle of equivalent capacity, shall be equipped with tires not less
"than two-and-a-half inches in width.

" Any person who sh«ill violate any of the provisions of this Act
" shall l)e fined not more than One Hundred Dollai-s."

Hon. Mr. £mmebson — I do not know that I am very well
qualified to discuss this question. It is one of a very practical
character, and when the section was placed in the Highways Act it
was rather with a view to giving notice to the people throughout
the Province of the intention to change at some future date the
width of the tires. I think that we can all accept without discussion
the fact that wide tires are essential to the preservation of good
roads, once you have them, and that it is economy, whether upon
the farm or npon the highway, to use wagons with wide tires. The
Legislature gave notice that on and after the first day of May, 1899,
wagons carrying certain loads should be provided with tires of a
certain width. I think that notice was sufficiently long. It has
been suggested to me, not merely since I came to this meeting, but
on previous occasions, that it would be very much better to have
this section revised, so that it may be more explicit — so that it may,
indeed, be more workable, for the reason that under the provistonb
as now contained in the section, you are required if you have a
certain load to have a certain width of tire ; but how are we to know
the weight of the load ? If any of us were brought up before a
magistrate, and it was found that our load was a pound under
weight we would get off on a technicality. Now it has been sug-
gested to mc, and I think wisely, that the width of the tire should

ftEPORt Of THE GOOD ROADlS CONVKT^TIOJT.

be governed by the size of the axle, and there might be other pro-
visions inserted to make the law more efficient and mote workable.
It was suggested at one time, I think, in the Legislature by some of
the representatives that this section should be changed. It was at a
rather late stage of the proceedings, and I then stated that befol-e
another session had passed by, or at least before the time had ex-
pired, we would draft a section in amendment, but that the one
placed in the Act was sufficient for the purpose of giving notice to
the people throughout the country who are interested in the mattei*
that at' a certain time there must be a change. Of course it would
be deemed a very great hardship if any such enactment were placed
upon the statute book without due notice. The expense incident to
the change would be deemed a very great hardship. Another thing,
the carriage builders would suffer severe losses if, after having made
a certain style of wagons, these wagons became unsaleable by reason
of the change in the law, and they might fairly and equitably ask
that they be recompensed for their loss. We always approach such
a question with '' . de bit of timidity and perhaps a little hesitancy ^
However, I think the Legislature has taken hold of the matter in a
way that must convince the people that the only desire is to bring
about what is so much in the interest of the people themselves.

Mb. S. J> Shanklin — If a change is to be made I wish to draw
the attention of the Association to the matter of axles. Axles are
made of different materials. Some are cast, some are of wrought
iron, while others are of steelj and if you propose to make the
width of the tire to correspond with the size of the axle I think it
would be well to consider at the same time the quality of the axles
and not the size altogether.

Hon. Mb. Hill — A point occurred to me yesterday with regard
to wide tires and the difference in the length of the axle. Mri
Cami'brll spoke of the front axle being made shorter than the hind
axh so that the wheels would run in different tracks and form
rollers. Now, a gentleman living in a section near where I live, and
a very intelligent man, has been making wagons for himself and also
for sale — truck wagons — and he is putting on four-inch tires and
is making the forward axle longer than the hind axle, instead of
shorter. The object of that, he says, is to make the wagon turn
easier. With regard to the load governing the width of the tire, it

REPORT OP TBE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

seems to me that in times past that scheme was found unworkable.
It seems to me that it would be better to require that all one-horse
truck wagons be provided with tires three inches wide, and all two-
horse wagons with tires four inches wide, and thus you could see at
a glance whether the law was being carried out:

With regard to the expenditure of our money on roads, one
great reason why so much is wasted is because of the diffusion in
expending that money and the want of any responsibility. What
we want is concentration of power of expenditure and concentration
of responsibility. We have tried that in the district where I live.
We have taken the road machine, taken the money under our con-
trol, placed it under one man's supervision, and sent him out to do
the work, and we have found that more has been done this year than
has been done for three or four years together before. Some people
passing over the roads say that more has been done this year than
during the whole of the past ten years. I think that if the Govern-
ment would sweep away the statute labor law and put on a direct
tax instead, it would be far better. Of course the people would
grumble at first, but they would soon find that instead of doing a nomi-
nal day's statute labor on the roads they would do a day's work And
would get a fair day's wages. The same people who now do the
statute labor would do the road work and get good wages for it.
You will never get good work done on the roads until you pay a
fair remuneration, and you will never get a proper supervision of the
work until you pay fair wages for it. I think our system of selling
job work, which has been supposed to bfe the best, does not work
well. Our Commissioners get five per cent, on an expenditure of
ten, twenty or fifty dollars, and you cannot expect them to exact a
fulfilment of the contracts made by the people to build the roads,
and then again they do not want to be hard on their neighbors.
What we must have is more concentration of power, more concentra-
tion of responsibility, and those who do the work must be paid as
they would be in any other business.

Mr. Joseph Hornbrook — I would like to endorse the remarks
made by the Hon. Mr. Hill, atad also to ask a question or two of
Mr. Campbell. I have had some experience in road making in
Kings County during the last seven years, and I find the condition
of things very much similiar to what Mr. Hill has stated. When

♦ •

»-i «

^ ^2

'S3SS

BBFORT OF THB GOOD ROADS CONTBNTION.

we first started out with road machines the people put every pos-
sible obstacle in our way, and rather announced that it was an
innovation that would not be successful, but after a year or two the
machines have become so popular that no person will ask to have any
public money expended, so far as turnpiking is concerned, in any other
way than by road machine, and I think we get the credit of having
about as good roads in Kings County as there are in any County of
the Province, because we have adopted the modern system of road
making a little in advance of the other Counties.

I would like to ask Mr. Campbell's views as to the making of
roads in districts where the soil is inclined to be made up of clay
and wet soil — no stone available, but lots of brush. We have bot
money enough to put in a tile drain, but have been in the habit of
brushing the roads through these swamps in order to make them
durable. I would like to know what Mr. Campbell's views are on
this point, and how he applies brush, if at all. My system of brush-
ing is this : When I find a section of road that is composed of
soft clayey land, surrounded by water, and with no very good out-
let, my system is to raise the roadbed with brush. As a general
thing I use green brush, with small brush for the top, and with the
butts all to the centre of the road. Then I saddle it off and raise
the centre of the road to a fair crown, and the points of the brush
extend through to the side of the road and leave a drainage for the
water.

Mr. St L. Peters — I have been using brush for the last two or
three years. This year on one section of our roads, which was com-
posed of a clayey, spring soil, we had a good deal of trouble. Our
culverts would only stay in for a year or two at the outside. This
year we used small trees, about five inches at the butt, for the pur-
pose of making culverts. An excavation was made a little larger
than usual, and these trees were placed on one side at a time, after
having the limbs cut off clean on all sides but one, the side with the
limbs on being placed next the embankment. Small brush and earth
was put between the trees, and in this way it was practically wharfed
up on one side about two and a half feet. The operation was then
repeated on the other side, and cedar was then put across the
culvert and covered with spruce plank. My own impression is that
there is no kind of material that will give us so much satisfaction.

•*?1

RBPOET OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

During the rains that we have had, this piece of road has been
practically dry. Twenty minutes after a rain storm you can drive
a heavy wagon over it and leave no marks.

I have here a chart of a section of road, and I would like to have
Mb. Campbell's criticism on it. (See notes, page 51.)

Mb. Abmstrono. — I would also like to ask Mr. Campbell
whether burnt ballast — that is, cla^ broken up into small lumps and
burnt — has been used to any extent for road making where stone is
not available.

A. W. Campbell, C. E. — I might say that you have asked me
questions this morning concerning certain points in which I believe
you have had more experience than I have had myself. In certain
parts of the Province of Ontario they have to contend with just
such difficulties as you have specified, and have to use brush to some
extent. We look upon it, however, as a very temporary means of
getting over bogs and morasses, and we are striving, as far as possi-
ble, to make outlets from such places down through the adjoining
territory to provide a system of drainage for these low places, iik
order that we may get a foundation, and we cover that with gravel.
I do not see how there can be much difference of opinion as to how
the brush should be laid on the road. The system of turnpiking the
road, that is, of constructing open ditches on the sides and using the
earth for raising the grade of the road above the water line, is a
very practical one. In railway construction in the early history of
the country it was found necessary to raise the grade of the road in
places three or four feet above the surface of the ground in order to
get so much dry or solid foundation! This was found to be a very
expensive system, and now side ditches are constructed, and the
foundation is obtained by lowering the water line instead of raising
the roadbed, therefore at the present time a railway can be con-
structed at a very much less cost than it could in the early history
of the country. Your plan of excavating ditches and raising the
grade so as to bring the surface of the road above the water line is
the only practical one where drainage cannot be obtained. Then
placing brush on the road, with the ends to the centre and the tops
out, is the method followed. The system suggested by Mb. Petbbs
for building culverts is certainly a very novel one and has its advan-
tages. In low morasses and swamps we frequently find that in the

REPOBT OF THB GOOD BOADS CONVENTION.

Spring and Fall seasons a rush of water washes out our roadbed,
but by adopting the method which he has suggested it does appear
to me that it will tend very largely towards keeping the grade of
the road in position and preventing the rush of water from destroy-
ing it. It is to me a suggestion of some value, and I am glad I have
heard it. Otherwise the plan suggested by Mb^ Hobnbbook is the
plan followed by us. I would suggest, however, that you endeavor
as far as possible to secure an outlet down through the adjoining
territory. • '

With reference to the chart which has been prepared and is
shown here, I find that it is drawn to make very nearly the dimen-
sions that are specified by myself in the construction of country
roads. The width of the road between the shoulders of the ditches
I generally make twenty-four feet; this is twenty-one feet. The
amount of rise or crown I understand is placed at one inch vertical
to each foot horizontal from the shoulders to the centre of the road,
the same crown as specified by myself. The plan of placing the
material appears to be by excavating in the centre of the road to a
width of ten feet and placing the stone to an average depth over the
whole cross section. I can hardly understand that it is the intention
of the designer that an excavation should be made ten feet wide in
the centre of the roadway to receive the road-making material. The
plan followed by myself (If'iff. 8) is to first make the crown and then
roll the surface thoroughly from ditch to ditch. Then pass the road
machine down the centre of the crown, taking off about three inches in
dep ;h and turning it out to the road side. Then reversing the machine
and coming back, turning an equal amount out to the other side, and
knocking off the crown, thus leaving a level surface on the top of
the road, with a slight ridge of earth at each side of the ten feet
space. This forms a receptacle for the gravel or stone. The stone
or gravel is then placed on this flat surface to a depth of ten or
twelve inches, according to the strength of road required, and
tapering off to nothing at the sides. The machine is then run along
one side and the earth turned up, and run back along the other side
in a similar manner, and the whole surface is made uniform and the
crown is made perfect. Then the roller is passed over the surface
of the gravel or broken stone, and the loose earth brought up to
the shoulders, and the road is completed. In the case of ordinary
field stone being used, they are broken and placed in the excavation.

REPORT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTIOW.

The whole is then covered with a gravelly soil to bind the particles
together, and is rolled. In such a case I would approve of the
design suggested, but I do think that the excavation is slightly more
than is required, and that the material should be placed on in a
more tapering manner than appears on the design. Otherwise
I would approve of it.

Hon. Mb. Hill. — I would like to ask Mb. Petebs what the
cost of such a road would be? ^ >

Mb> Petebs. — It was mostly done by statute labor, s.nd I can
hardly make a calculation, but where the stone is handy it ought
not to cost more than $1.50 per rod.

A. W. Campbell. — With reference to the use of burnt clay, it
is used very largely in the Southern States as ballast for railroads,
and it is used to some extent in the construction of their highways.
Where the frost is not severe this material appears to have given
very great satisfaction. Burnt clay, however, cannot be burnt so as
to vitrify the material and make it non-absorbent. It will absorb
the moisture, and a severe frost acting upon the moisture in the clay
will pulverize it, and in a very short time will separate it. It has
not been used in the Northern States or in Canada, and it is
believed that it would not prove serviceable on account of the
frost.

In answer to a question as to whether steam stone crushers
were used in Ontario, and whether they were giving satisfaction,
Pbof. Campbell said : In our country we have gravel in the majority
of sections, but that gravel is very dirty, and probably contains from
thirty to fifty per cent, of sand and earthy matter, which is
considered by us very objectionable material. Where stone is
plentiful steam crushers are used ; they are used very extensively
throughout the Province. You have an abundance of first-class
material in this Province, especially in this district, and I certainly
think it would be one of the wisest investments you could make to
purchase a stone crusher, take it along through the different sections,
crush and prepare the amount of material that will be required for
the year's work, leaving it where the people doing their statute
labor will find it prepared and ready for the work. To break stone
by hand is a very expensive process. These crushing machines will

BEPOBT OF THE GOOD BOAUS CONVENTION.

-IS-

break from eight to ten or twelve cords of stone per day, and the
preparation of the material will not cost more than a dollar a cord.
It is a very cheap way of preparing the material, and it is the only
way of breaking the stone so as to leave the blocks cubical, and of
coursing the stone so as to place it on the roads as it should be
placed — that is, in sizes varying from two-and-a-half inches in
diameter down to dust screenings. A road constructed of this
material will last for years, but a road constructed of gravel and
earthy matter will only last a year or two, when it will be found
necessary to repair and reconstruct it.

Mbi Bubditt. — Would you recommend broken stone to be put
on country roads in thin layers, that is, where it would not be
possible to build the regular MacAdam road, say twelve inches
deep, would you recommend a thin layer of broken stone ?

Pbofbssob Campbell — If a thin layer of broken stone is put
on there is not sufficient body to cause a union of the material, and
the traffic will drive the blocks of stone into the foundation of mud,
and will not make a good road. I would not recommend a less
depth of crushed stone than eight inches to be put on a road — from
that to twelve inches.

Mb. Shanklin — How would an eight inch layer of crushed
stone stand the frost and traffic in the spring?

Pbofbssob Campbell — If the foundation is thoroughly drained
it will stand it all right. If it. is not thoroughly drained the frost
. will act on the water and will destroy the road.

Mb. Geobge Raymond — The way we construct culverts in my
section of Kings County is this: We take two hemlock planks,
three inches by seven inches, to form the sides of the culvert, and
over these we place a three-inch hemlock plank, ten inches wide, and
nail it to the side planks with six-inch wire nails. The top plank
need not be put flush with outside of side planks, but these can be
set back one inch to make more water space. Three dowells of one-
inch round iron, eight inches long, are then inseited in side planks
about one inch from the bottom, to prevent the pressure of earth

i I

BEPOBT OP THE GOOD BOADS CONVENTION.

from squeezing them together* The length of culvert will be regu-
lated by width of road, and on an average country road of sixteen
feet in width the cost of such a culvert would be $1.75. Culverts of
this description have been in use in Norton, Kings County, for
twenty yeara.

Me. C. N. Veoom — I wish to say that I heartily agree with the
words that have fallen from the lips of the President of this
Association, that statute labor should be entirely done away with. I
believe it is one of the greatest wastes of the present day. I believe
in the use of the road machines sometimes, but I even think then
that their work is not always good. Put it on a gravelly soil, and it
does good work, but in a great many cases it is put on clay soil, and
it rounds up the round nicely, but for want of convenient gravel the
work is about wasted. Sometimes a road is built a rod wide and
crowned about two inches in the foot, and the result is that the
wagons have to go along the centre of the road, and it is dangerous
to try and pass another wagon. Ruts are made where the wheels
travel, and soon shoulders are formed on the edges of the road ; the
water lies in these ruts, and the result is that the road is soon
destroyed. It seems to me that there should be a thorough revision of
the methods of granting money for roads. I think there should be one
or two men in each County to look after the roads — men appointed by
the Government and paid by the Government, and men who thoroughly
understand road making. If necessary require them to pass an ex-
amination on road making. If this course were adopted I believe
t^at the 67,000 granted in our County towards bye-roads could be so
expended that in a short time we would have good, settled and per-
manent roads. Another thing, I believe there should be a gradual
cutting down of the hills to get the roads down to as low a grade as
possible, and no permanent road work should be done on the hills
until they are cut down as far as possible. I would suggest that, the
men in charge of the roads should be in ' consultation with a com-
mittee appointed by the Muni <pal Council, and representing di£Eerent
parts of the County, so that the work would be done where it was
most needed, and not where the Commissioner chooses.

I might say that some seven or eight years ago the experiment
of laying pipe culverts was tried down in our County, and they have
been to satisfactory that this year we are laying more, atid I think

BEPOBT OF THE GOOD BOADS CONVENTION*

in the end they will be found cheaper and much more serviceable.
We use cement pipe. {Fig. 6.)

Mb. a. Ws Campbell — I am surprised to find that the use of
'pipe for culverts is so little understood here. With us, of course, we
use cement, concrete or vitrified pipe for building culverts and
sluice-ways. These range in size from eight inches to two feet. If
a larger capacity is required we place two pipes side by side, and
sometimes three, leaving about three inches of earth between each
row of pipes to prevent the traffic from squeezing them together and
breaking them. We find it necessary in laying these pipes to leave
from a foot to eighteen inches of earth on top of the pipes. If it is
left close to the surface of the roadway the traffic will destroy the
pipe. These pipes, of course, should have a free outlet leading from
them. If they are allowed to stand full of water the frost acting
upon the water will break the pipes, as it will break iron pipes, but
as long as there is a fairly free outlet from these culvert pipes we
find that they have stood in places for twenty or twenty-five years,
and are as good to-day as when put in. I remember of constructing
a culvert once under an embankment twenty-one feet high — twenty-
one feet of earth over the top of a two-foot culvert pipe — so there
is no danger of the culverts collapsing under the weight of earth
placed upon them, and there is no danger of them being destroyed
by the frost if there is a fairly free outlet. They are cheaper than
timber culverts and last very much longer. The life of a timber
culvert is only about six years, and then it has to be renewed, but
when once you have constructed a pipe culvert that item of expense
is o£E your hands.

We are also using btone for abutments and piers in building all
our bridges, and placing steel superstructures thereon. In this way
when once constructed they will be durable and a large item of
expense will be saved.

BBPOBT OF THK GOOD BOADS CONVENTIOIT.

The President, Hon. Gbobge F. Hill, here took the chair, and
the following Constitution was adopted :

I. NAME.

The name of this Association shall be The Nbw Bbunswick
Good Roads Association. ,

n. OBJECT.

The object of the Association shall be :

1. To combine as far as practicable the efforts of all persons
engaged in the work of road reform in the Province.

2. To awaken an interest in the subject among the people at
large.

3. To receive, publish, and discuss any well considered plans for
local, provincial, or national action of legislation.

4. To aid in providing for a proper road exhibit and instruction
in road making at farmers* institutes, dairymen, creamery and other
association meetings, and other suitable gatherings throughout the
Province.

5. Through its Executive to consult with the Government and
the municipal and city authorities, and work together with them in
furtherance of the objects of the Association.

6. To receive and expend in the furtherance of the objects of
the Association any moneys that may come into its hands.

7. To employ any agents expedient in the dissemination of
information, and the superintendence of work that may be delegated
to it.

8. To establish the Association on the broadest possible basis
throughout the country, so that its influence may be of weight in
any direction in which it may ultimately be thrown.

9. To obtain and spread among the Local Associations full
information regarding recent legislation for road improvement.

10. To obtain and publish full information regarding methods of
roa4 building as practised in various parts of Canada, the United
States and other countries.

KEPORT OP THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION. 4P

11. To procure and furnish to the Local Associations at reduced
prices all valuable publications on the subject of roads and road
legislation.

■III. MEMBERSHIP.

Anyone interested in the objects of the Association may be-
come a member by signifying in writing to the Secretary his desire
and intention to do so.

IV. MANAGEMENT. ;

The work of the Association shall be managed by a Board
composed of the following officers, viz. :

President, Vice-President at large, Vice-President for each
County, and a Secretary-Treasurer ; and seven directors to be elected
by the Association, to be chosen with regard to the convenience of
their frequent meeting together.

Five members of the Board, including not less than two of the
office-bearing members, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction
of business at any meeting of the Board, a notice of the meeting
having been posted to all the members.

' m

V. ELECTION OF BOARD: ANNUAL MEETING.

After organization the general officers and directors shall be
elected annually at a general meeting of the Association, to be called
at the time and place to be decided on by the Board of Directors,
notice being given by adequate advertisement. Only members shall
be eligible for election to the Board of Management. Election
shall be by nomination and ballot, a majority of the votes of duly
qualified members present at the regular annual meeting being
sufficient for a choice.

The term of service of members of the Board shall extend from
the close of the meeting at which they are elected to the close of the
next succeeding annual meeting of the Association, or till their sno-
cessors are appointed. Any member of the Board may be eligible
for re-election i

KKI'ORT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVKNTION.

VI. ANNUAL REPORT.

The Board of Management shall make a report at each annual
general meeting of the work of the Association for the preceding
year, which shall include a report from the Treasurer in regard to
the receipts and expenditures of the Association.

VII. CONTROL OF FUNDS.

The funds of the Association shall be deposited in a chartered
bank, having an office in the City of Saint John, in the name of the
Association, and be subject ta the joint order of the Treasurer and
one of the Board of Directors. No expenditure exceeding the sura
of *wenty-five dollars shall be made except authorized by resolution
passed at a meeting of the Board of Management.

VIII. AUDIT OF ACCOUNTS.

The books and accounts of the Association shall be audited
annually by a public accountant, whose report shall be submitted by
the Board at the annual iL.eeting of the Association.

IX. OTHER MEETINGS.

Special meetings of the Association may be called by order of
the Board as often as may be considered advisable in furtherance of
the objects of the Association, announcement being made in the
notices calling such meetings of any special business to be considered
thereat.

X. CHANGE OF CONSTITUTION.

The constitution and bye-laws of the Association may be
amended by a two-thirds vote of the duly qualified members present
at any general special meeting of the Association, provided that the
amendment has been announced in the notice calling such meeting.

Adjourned sine die.

REPORT OF THE GOOD ROADS COXVENTIOX.

NOTES, ILLUSTRATIONS, ETC.

Note I. — Use of Brush Roads.

A layer of brush is often used under the surface of the roarlway
as a sort of underdraining. In clay land the road is apt to l)ecome
very dusty during continuous dry weather, and when made in such
weather, as was the case on the road between Saint Mary's and the
Nashwaaksis last year, many cartloatls of dust may blow off in a
single day.

If the work is attempted in dry weather the clay should be
watered and rolled to place. The same remark is applicable to any
work on clay done in such weather.

I Note II. — Mr. S. L. Petehs's Culvert Plan.

The excavation must be sufficiently large to give ample room for
construction. Commence at one side of the proposed culvert opening
and place a small spruce or fir tree, four or five inches at the butt, and
of length sufficient to reach Jicross the road, with limbs trimmed oflF
all sides but one, and these remaining limbs extending away from
the culvert opening. Place small bushes parallel to the roadway with
their butts resting on the cross log, and fill over them three or four
inches of clay or road material, ramming it to place. Place another
cross log with side branches, small bushes, and iilling, above the last,
only reversing the butt of cross log, and so on to the desii-ed height.
The other side is constructed in the same way. Trim the butts of
the bushes with a saw. The cedar timbei*s to carry the covering
should extend at least four feet beyond each side of the culvert open-
ing, the covering being of three-inci» plank, securely fastened.

Recomnionde<l for a low, wet spot where (h-ainage is not free,
otherwise vitrified clay pipe, or something similar, would be preferable.

Notk III.
Mr. Pkters's form of roatlway was somewhat similar to that
proposed by Mr. Campbell, but ho proposed to fill the trench with
common field sUme wedged in together, then go over it with hammers
and break down the projecting points and cover it with a coating of
gravel.

REPORT OF THK GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

Note IV.

Under drains, with poles and brush, or field stone in the bottom,
may be used with fair results in many cases.

In easy ground, and where transportation charges do not affect
prices greatly (the work being done in the ordinary way by men that
have become accustomed to it), tile draining can be done for sixty cents
per rod of single line.

Possibly cheaper work could be done with a loosening plow, that
is on the market, and a refilling plow that can be easily rigged.

Drainage work should be done using a simple levelling instrument
to determine the grades, and in a dry time if possible.

! ^'i*

fkn^^^rfrrmhnrrrrrrrnr^^

lu '" '?ir7i>rMiiiiffi'iVi'i"l"

F1OURB8 1 AND 2.

Figure 1 shows cross section of highway, witli undei-drains under
side ditches, and crowning, rising one inch per f(x)t from edge of
ditch towards centre. All as i-econimendetl by A. W. Camplx'll, C.K.

Figure 2 shows cross section, with rise <»f H inch per foot, aM
recommended by him for use on hills ; it also shows undei-drain under
centre of roadway, objected to by him on the ground that saturation
must pass underneath the roadway to reach the tile drain.

The lines of drainage are only aHHumed, as they would vary in ,
different kinds of soil, and it would take some years for them to settlij
down to their flattest slope.

» ' «

f «

REPORt OF THE GOOD ROAfiS CONVENtlON.

t
it

It
It

™X^

•c**

Trr^

./^

er
of
K.

IIH

er
>n

«(Tian o) rood prepared for yrautl - part p(ou^K<c( out $n»wn in

Figure 3 shows mode of preparing for and graveling or macada-
. .?;; ig a country road, recommended by A. W. Campbell, C.E. The
njtodway is first constructed as in Figure 1, and thoroughly rolled, or
compacted by the traffic: then the centre is plowed off with road
machine as in first view above, making a level space from eight to ten
feet wide, with ridges thrown up. The space between the ridges ia
filled in with gravel or broken stone, nine inches deep in centre and six
inches at sides; the ridges are then graded down towards the ditches
and all rolled, being made even and compact as in the second view.

Fkiuhe 4.

Figui-e 4 shows u clay or heavy dirt rotwlway, recommended for
use (in (Jmmtry Rtmdti) by J. B. Potter, when goo<l road material
cannot Ije had (Mr. Campbell does not approve of the turf edging
as shown l)etween the roadway and the ditch), de8cril)ed as follows:

"When gravel or sand cannot bt^ obtained, the improvement of a
clay road is sometimes difficult. A good under drain may be laid along
the centre of the roa<l and the earth removed from the roadway to a
depth of about one foot at the centre, from which point the excavation

REPORT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

should rise by a gradual slope to each side. On the bottom of this
excavation a layer or bed of hay, straw or evergreen brush should be
laid to a depth of about four inches (when compacted), and the earth
should be then filled in and formed to the true shape of the roadway.
This method of treatment will tend to keep the roadway dry and
prevent the formation of mud."

Figure 5. — The
Richardson Adjusta-
ble Wide Tire (from
Cmmtry Roads) by
J. B. Potter. These
may be used to in-
crease the width of
tire on any wagon.
The view to the right
shows adjustable tire
separate, the one on
the left shows it ad-
justed to a farm wa-
gon wheel.

Figure 5.

Figure 6

REPORT OF THE GOOD ROADS CONVENTION.

Figure 6. — Cross section of roadway embankment showing vitrified
pipe culvert. The pipe is well fitted, carefully bedded in a bed of coarse
gi'avel or broken stone, the joints cemented or filled with stiff clay and
carefully covered. In many places the abutments at the ends may be
omitted, but to protect the pipe and the bank it is best to terminate
each end of the drain in a good wall or block of rubble masonry, or
brick.

ru. <<>'

'iy KU

'S^^rr.fr-'-^'

Figure 7.

Figure 7. — Sections of roadway suggested for discussion in addi-
tion to those proposed by Mr. Campbell.

View 1 shows cross-section of earth road with roadway proper
crowned 1| inch to the foot, from sixteen to twenty feet wide; the
inner slope of ditch drops down one foot in four, the outer slope rising
one in one-and-a-half ; the under drains are placed about two feet
outside the inner edge of ditch slope. In making a new road all loam
and vegetable matter should Imj remove<i, unless it is of little depth,
and to V)e covered bj' a thick coating of g(Mxl material. The supposed
advantages of these planw are that they are easily constructed and
kept in onler by road machine, ImmI material being plowed oflF
the road and up the outer side of ditches ; then fresh material may
be brought froni the outer slope of ditch to repair or gi-ade up the
roadway.

RBPOBT OF THE GOOD E0AD8 CONVKNTIOM.

A simple contrivance could be rigged to clean the ditches fre-
quently and prevent alders from growing ; the undei-drains are placed
out of the way, but at the same time where they can he broken out by
plow and filled in again by machine.

View 2 shows a cheap form of stone road. Furrows sixteen inches
wide by twelve deep are run under the wheel tracks at one side of the
roadway. (They may be arranged at the centre of the roadway, but
the idea proposed is to leave an earth track at one side for use with
light traffic when the road is in a dry state. No continuous driving
should be allowed on the earth track in wet weather.) Field stones
are then packed in the furrows (eight hundred cubic yards to the
mile) and three or four inches of gravel spread above.

Cross-drains should be made from the furrows sloping towaitls
the under-drain at intervals as indicated by the dotted line.

Instead of the furrows being in whole or part plowed out,
temporary plank sides may be used to hold the field stone in place till
material is plowed up by the road machine to form the road around
the stone.

In sand, where rock cannot he had, clay can be substituted in the
furrows, with sand top; on clay land sand in furrows, with clay top.

View 3 shows a hard gravel or Mac Adam track placed as in
View 2. It is proposed that the surface indicated by the heavy line
should be first constructed, on which (or perhaps only on the part
outside the stoning) a layer of fine evergreen brush, dyke grass, or
other fairly durable material, should be spread to carry off any water
that may penetrate the finished surface; then temporary planks are
arranged, where required, to confine the gravel or road metal, which
should l)e rolled to place in layei-s and the earth plowed up to its edges,
the temporary plank removed, and all evened up and rolled together.

J *ll !» ■ i I III I II

- " Ml nU iiii i' l * '

[itches fre-
are placed
ken out by

^een inches
side of the
dway, but
• use with
IS driving
jld stones
ds to the

5 towards

wed out,
place till
d around

ed in the
»y top.

as in
javy line
the part
grass, or
ly water
knks are
1, which
ts edges,
ogether.

ACCOUNT OF CONVENTION

OP THE EXECUTIVE OF THE

NEW BRUNSWICK

Good Roads Association

With Delegates from all parts of the Province, held in the
Old Court Room, Legislative Building,

FREDERICTON, N. B. '

ON THE Seventeenth and Eighteenth op February, 1898.

The members and delegates present were as follows :

S. C. Alward, C.C, Westmorland.
J. S. Armstrong, Secretary-Treasurer.
G. F. Banks, C.C, Sunbury.
Jerome Boudreau, F.D., Gloucester.
W. F. BuRDiTT, V. P., Saint John.
A. J. Beveridoe, M.P.P., V.P., Victoria.
A. Bertrand, M.P.P., V.P., Madawaska.
W. E. Bourgeois, V.P., Gloucester.
John Betts, C.C, Northumberland.
Isaiah Bridges, T., Saint Stephen.
Robert Craig, F.l)., llestigouche.
David Currie, F.D., Victoria.
Melton Dayton, T., Edmunston.
A. C Dow, F.D., York.
J. Howe Dixon, F.D., AUxirt.
Hon. H. R. Emmerson, M.P.P., D.

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION.

Hon. L. p. Ferris, M.P.R, D.

P. Farrell, T., Fredericton.

Lazare Guimond, V.P., Kent.

H. B. Hall, F.D., Queens.

Thomas Hays, CO., Restigouche.

Joseph Hornbrook, V.P., Kings.

G. F. Hill, President, Charlotte.

W. W. Hubbard, D.

John Irvin, F.D., Kent.

David Johnson, C.C, Charlotte.

Ora p. Kino, T., Sussex.

James Lowell, C.C, Saint John.

G. H. Martin, T., Saint John.

J. J. McGaffioan, D.

F. M. MuRCHiE, V.P., Charlotte.

John Muir, F.D., Kings.

W. D. Martin, T., Moncton.

Robert McKinnev, F.D., Charlotte.

W. J. Owen, F.D., Carleton.

R. O'Brien, Saint John C. and C. G.R.A.

S. L. Peters, V.P., Queens.

H. H. Smith, F.D., Sunhury.

C. L. Smith, V.P., Carleton.

Georoe Seymour, C.C, York.

H. J. Stephens, C.C, Albert.

George P. Searle, F.D., Northunilx^rland.

William Simpson, F.D., Westmorland.

Neil Shaw, V.P., Restigouche.

William Shaw, M.P.P., D.

A. A. Stockton, M.P.P., D.

S. J. Shanklin, FD., Saint John.

W. S. Tompkins, V.P., York.

Howard Trueman, V.P., York. '

H. Wilmot, V.P., Sunbury.

W. A. West, V.P., Albert.

William Wise, V.P., Northumberland.

Note. — V. P., VIoe-ProBldont; D.,
Council Delegate; T., Town Delegate.

Director; F. D., Farmers Delegate; C. C, County

REPORT OF THE CONVENTION AT FREDERTCTON.

The Meeting opened at 7.30 p.,m. on Thursday, 17 th February.

The President, in opening the meeting, spoke very briefly, saying
that he would dispense with anything like an opening address, as a
number of resolutions had been prepared, and they might as well get
down to business at once.

Jounty

Mr. W. F. Burditt, seconded by Mr. J. Betts, moved the
following resolution :

Hesolved, "That, whereas, it is generally believed that there is
" great room for improvement in the condition of the public highways
"throughout the Province, and that such improvement, if it could be
"brought about, would, by facilitating the means ^i communication
"and transportation (it all seasons of the year, result in large pecu-
" niary and social benefits to the people ; and

Whereas, " It is the opinion of this Convention that better results
"might l)e obtained from the expenditure of money and labor now
" made upon our highways, and it is the object of the New Brunswick
" Good Roads Association to acquire and disseminate knowledge as to
" the best methods of making and repairing highways, and discuss
*'• among practical men the best means of bringing about the desired
" improvement ;

There/ore Resolved, "That the Provincial Government be respect-
" fully petitioned to make a grant to this Association to aid it in
"carrying out its objects, as set forth in the constitution and bye-
"laws."

Mr. Burditt, in moving the resolution, said that railways had
l)een spoken of as the arteries of commerce, and the people of this
Pi'ovince had spent a great deal of money in developing an exteiisive
system of railroads throughout thft ouiitry : but if railrojuls were the
main arteries of commerce, he thought that the common highways
might he fitly descril)ed as the veins and smaller arteries by which
merchandize and the farmer's produce — the life blood of commerce —
was conveyed to and from those main arteries, and without which the
latter would be useless. He thought that everyone present would
agree with the statements in the preamble of the resolution as to the
necessity for improvement, and tiie great benefits to be derived there-

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION*

from, but there would probably be diflferences of opinion as to how
that improvement could best be brought about. To discuss this ques-
tion was one of the principal purposes of this Convention. There were
a great many practical men present whose experience in road making
would be valuable, but any one man's experience was very limited as
compared with the aggregate experience of all, and still more so when
compared with the accumulated experience of all those who had
worked, and studied, and written upon the subject in this and other
countries during the past hundred years. Since the agitation for
better roads commenced in the United States some years ago a vast
fund of information had been gathered from all sources, and this
information was available to us. Conventions had been held at which
men of the widest experience from all parts of the country had met
together to discuss methods of road construction and kindred subjects.
The executive of the New Brunswick Good Roads Association felt
that in the same way great benefit could be derived if those who are
interested in these matters in this Province, particularly the men
practically engaged in the work of road construction, could meet
together to compare notes and discuss questions bearing on the subject
of highway improvement, also that we should avail ourselves of all the
information we could get from outside sources and disseminate it as
widely as possible throughout the Province. But all this could not
be done without incurring, some expense, and therefore he moved the
resolution which had been read.

Mr. Betts thought it would be a good way to encourage the
good roads movement to distribute through the Province literature
having a bearing on the question, and spoke of the "good roads"
pamphlet* distributed by the Association, in which he had found
many good suggestions. He thought the necessity for good roads was
evident on all sides.

Mr. J. S. Armstrong, in speaking to the resolution, said that
there was not any doubt that good roads were required all over the
Province. That in his talks about good roads at the various agricul-
tural meetings he had often spoken of hard stone roads as the best —

•"Country Roads," by Isaac B. Potter, published by the League of Amerloan Wheel-
men, 12 Pearl Street, Boston, Mass.

MHWmmn.TWKOtvninr' '

BEPOBT OF THE CONVENTION AT FBEDEBICTON.

the only good roads where they could be afforded — but they must not
imagine from that that he expected them to be made throughout the
Province. He quite realized that that was impossible at present.
But this meeting was called together to find out as far as possible
what were the best roads that could be made in the different districts
with the means available. At a meeting of the executive it had been
decided that all main resolutions should be submitted in writing to the
committee on resolutions, so that the discussions should proceed in an
orderly way, and he invited the delegates to send in any they wished,
but he specially urged them to discuss the resolutions and move any
amendments they saw fit. Many oi the resolutions were prepared
with the intention of exciting discussion.

Hon. H. R. Emmerson, on rising to address the convention, was
cordially received. He said it might not be advisable for him to tell
them all he knew about roads, because if he did so there was danger
of their knowing too much.

He had many times been convinced of the fact that there was a
wide spread apathy on the part of the people as to the condition of the
roads, and that there was a sectional desire prompting the request for
road grants. He thought he could detect in the interest that was
now being evinced in good roads a forward movement. It was a sign
of the times that bade them go on and have hope for the future.
The Government was anxious to promote good roads in the Province
because of the economic advantages that would accrue to the people
from them. If there was more interest evinced throughout this
Province for good roads th#re would be less necessity for the expendi-
ture of public money, or there would be less complaint as to the
size of the grants if they were expended. We recognize certain
evils, and we must consider the best way to remedy these evils.
Referring to the Highway Act, he said the Government would be
pleased to have their advice, but it was very difficult to get a concensus
of opinion. If they were to get the opinions of all the gentlemen
present on this Act they would have just as many different opinions
as there were men in the room. If it were possible to have one man
in command of the construction and maintenance of the roads in a
country much more satisfactory results would be obtained than at
present. This was his personal conviction, though he did not think it

NEW BKUNSWICK GOOD BOADS A8S0CIAT10K.

would be agreed to by the majority of the people or by the Legisla-
ture. He thought the good roads movement had already borne good
fruit in awakening interest in this important question. The present
Highway Act only diflFered from the Act of 1886 in that it concen-
trated the responsibility more largely than did the other. The Act is
not perfect — he did not expect to live long enough to see a perfect
Act. There were some clauses which might require amendment. In
some places the Act worked ail right, and in other places there were
complaints. But the working of the Act depended, to a large extent,
upon the men who are appointed by the County Councils to administer

it.

In closing, he assured them that the Government, and, he had no

doubt, the Legislature, were disposed to assist the good roads move-
ment in every possible way.'

Db. Stockton, being called upon by the Chairman, said that it
gave him much pleasure to be present. He quite agreed with Mk;
Emmebson that it was important to have good roads in the Province
as far as our means would permit. It seemed to bira that it was
impossible for agriculture to make much progress unless there were
good roads throughout the Province.

The Chief Commissioner administered the great roads, which
were the main highways and mail routes before railways were intro-
duced, but now some of the great roads were not as much used as
what were called bye-roads. It seemed that it was a proper matter
for this Association to consider whether or not this distinction
should be maintained, and if so, if it would not be better to place
some of the little used great roads on the bye-road category, and
some of the much used bye-roads upon the great road list.

Having a given amount of money to spend on the bye-roads, he
thought there should be uniformity in the construction of roads
throughout the municipalities. The county should be divided in
districts or made into one district, and an experienced man, one
with some engineering knowledge, should be employed to see that
the money was spent to the best advantage.

In building roads he would offer one or two points on road
making: They should be wide enough for twb teams to pass easily.
They should also be well and deeply ditched. Also the loose stones
should be kept off the roads. A good way to do this in a district

'^j^r*»*!ii8iww»#SKww=»^^ " '"•'"'•

BErOET OF THE CONVENTION AT FKEDERICTON.

where there is not sufficient money to employ a man to give his
whole time, is to let the road out in small sections, and to have the
different men keep their own piece of road free from f>tones, etc.
Again some permanent work should be Hone each year. Better fay
to build five rods of good and permantat road than one hundred
and fifty rods that will be washed away by the first thunder shower.
He held that work should be done in June or July. Work done in
the fall was of little use.

Regarding the Highway Act, he said if it were ne- -sary to
make changes in it he would be glad to lend his assis xme to the
work. He thought the members of the Legisla. . ve would do ar •
thing within reason to carry out the objects which they all had m
view.

Mb. Howabd Tbueman thought there was a fine field for effort
in connection with the work of the Association. j

Others spoke in favor of the resolution, sad it was put and
carried unanimously. ^ ,

Mb. J. S. Armsteong moved, seconded by Mr. W. A. West :

" liesolved. " That it is expedient that local improvement soci-
eties be organized in all village d'^tricts for the purpose of discuss-
ing and studying roadmaking an.) ,.''\^ management thereof, raising
funds for sidewalks, planting trees and keeping them in order,
removing dead ones, and otherwise improving and beautifying the
roadside; and that a comnuttee be appointed later to draft a
constitution for such soituies and look up literature bearing on the
subject, distribute the same, and otherwise promote this object."

In moving the resolution, Me. Armsteong said that it was not
one likely to excite much discussion, as all were likely to agree
to its intent, but any suggestions as to how it could best be carried
into effect would be acceptable.

It was carried unanimously.

Me. W. S. Tompkins moved, seconded by Mb. CaABLES
Smith :

Hesolved, "That in the opinion of this meeting it would be an
"advantage to wholly substitute a money assessment for statute
"labor."

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD BOADS ASSOCIATIOIf.

In moving the resolution Mb, Tompkins spoke of the great
advantages of the money assessment system as he had seen its
workings in British Columbia, and he strongly urged its adoption
for our Province instead of continuing to allow the performance of
statute labor, which was too often a farce.

Mb. Bubditt said that while he was personally in favor of cash
assessment, and felt that the day was approaching when the people
generally would see it to their interest to voluntarily substitute the
cash assessment for statute labor, he thought that th& country was
not yet ready for a compulsory measure. From his knowledge of
the rural districts of the Province he was convinced there were
many localities in which it would work great hardship to compel
people to pay in money instead of working out their tax. In some
sections it would be very difficult to collect a money tax, and he
thought that in such districts better re<3ults could be had under the
present system if the statute labor were properly directed and
controlled.

Mb. King and Mr. Bbtts strongly supported the resolution.
Mb. Nkil Shaw said that he had many years' ejtperience as road
commissioner, and that he considered that the measure proposed
was not practicable.

Mb. Lowell said that he had always obtained good results with
statute labor. He knew of a case in which one thousand dollars in
statute labor accomplished more than three thousand dollars cash,
but he thought it depended very laigcly on the commissioner or
road masters in charge of the work.

Mb. Shanklin was in favor of cash assessment ; it had been
adopted in the Parish of St. Martins, St. John County, from which be
comes, and was found to work well. He pointed out that the cash
system did not prevent any man from working upon the road who
wished to do so, the only difference was that they were hired by the
commissioner to do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, and he
thought that better results were obtained in that way, but the
results depended mainly upon the commissioners who directed the
labor. Under a good commissioner peo}>le were sometimes willing
to do more work than their tax called for,

■^'d^'A '■

!f» i<P i

BEPOBT OF THE CONVENTION AT PKEDERICTON.

Mb. J. S. Armstrong, seconded by Mr. H. J. Stephen, moved
the following amendment : '

"That it is the opinion of this meeting that it would be
" for the public good to do away with statute labor as soon as it
"may seem practicable, and that the government be asked to amend
"the Highway Act so that a proportion, say twenty-five per cent, of
" the tax bills, both property and poll tax, be payable in cash, the
" balance to be optional where it is under the present Act."

Mr> Armstrong said it seemed almost necessary to have some
cash coming into the commissioner. In many districts there was
next to none. In such a case, if road work was done with a road
machine, the commissioner's compensation would be a charge on
the whole parish. This causes friction. If there was a certain
amount on hand it would facilitate this and other matters. He
recognized the difficulty of carrying the full change to cash assess-
ment before the people generally are educated up to a realization of
the great benefits that would ensue. A ve/y nnimated discussion
followed, many thinking that the amendment would complicate
matters too greatly, among whom was tte Hon. Mr. Emmerson,
who reminded those present that the existing law was an optional
one. The counties could regulate the statute labor as they liked.

Mb. S. L. Peters was unable to agree with the sentiments
expressed in the amendment, nor was he in accord with the resolu-
tion. He advised them not to crowd the farmers, but to tell them
what they wanted done, and give them a chance.

C. L. Smith, M. P. P., said to get at the right system it was
necessary to get at the tax. So long as we continue the statute
labor we will never make much improvement.

The resolution was further discussed by Messrs. McGaffigan,
Searlb, Betts, HoRNnROOK, W. A. West, W. L. McFarlane,
HuNBY WiLMOT, and others.

Mb. West thought the adoption of the amendment would
complicate the road law so that it would be difficult of enforcement.
Regarding the resolution, he thought it proposed a change for which
the country was not ready.

w»«

NKW BRUNSAVICK GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION;

Mb. W. S. Tompkins again spoke in support of his resolution,
making a strong bid for the meeting to pass it.

Mk. McGaffigan, in a vigorous speech, strongly condemned the
present system employed for doing statute labor. He claimed that
the farmers who did the statute labor loafed, and smoked, and
talked politics along the road instead of working.

Mk. S. L. Pktebs claimed that the road work was honestly
done in Queen's County.

Mb. Tompkins created a laugh by stating that on a visit to
Queen's County not long since he had to ride in an ox cart because
it was the only kind of a vehicle that could be got over the roads
so wretched was their condition.

The vote was then taken on the amendment, which was lost by
a large majority.

The original resolution was then put and lost by a small

majority.

The proceedings of the meeting were very lively and interesting.
The best of good humor characterized the discussions*

At 10.30 o'clock the meeting adjourned.

FRIDAY MOIINING.

The following resolution was introduced by Mb. Oka P. Kino,
seconded by Mk. W. V. Betts :

Whereas, " It is desirable that the road commissioner should be
" freed as much as possible from collecting the road taxes, and yet
" that he should have definite information by a certain date as to
♦' who claim the privilege of working out their road tax ;

2'herefore Jiesolued, " That provision bo made in the Act some-
" what as follows : That the regular Parish tax collectors make out
^*and distribute the road tax notices at the same time as other
"country tax notices, and that the said road tax notices have a
" coupon attached showing the items of the road tax, and with blank
"spaces to be filled up by the ratepayer if he be desirous to work out
"his tax, and with a notice that unless the ralepnyer duly fills out

» i

KEPOET OP TUK CONVENTION AT FREDEKICTON.

" the blank and delivers it to the road commissioner, personally, on
" or before a certain date, he will be required to pay the tax in
" cash, this coupon only being used in districts where statute labor
" is in operiition, and that commissioners be authorized to add to the
" list names which have been omitted by the assessor."

Mr. King said that from what little experience he had with the
new Highway Act he found that one of the chief complaints of the
commissioners was that the distribution of the notices took up a
considerable amount of their time, and they could ill afford to give
the time necessary for the distribution of those notices for the
remuneration allowed them under the Act. It seemed to him
(King) th-"t if the distribution of the notices or the collection of the
money could be placed in the hands of some one engaged in that
class of work, such as the collector of parish rates and taxes, poor
and county taxes or school taxes, it would free the commissioners
from that labor which in his opinion they justly complained of. It
seemed to him that very much better service could be obtained
under the Act if the commissioner's hands were freed as much as
possible, so that he could devote that time to the matter of good
roads, lie has little enough time to devote to the roads, and is

poorly paid for that time.

--,.'--■ ■ ■• •

Mil. Uetts said he heartily agreed with the resolution, inasmuch
as he found that in some parishes there wns not suliicient money paid
in to pay the commission of the commissioner. It was said that this
was going to create a tax and make it a hardship upon the rate-
payer, but ho thought that if this were adopted the assessing to pay
the commissioner would be done away with, and it would come
directly out of the people instead of indirectly as at present.

Mil. King said he had tacked on to the resolution a statement
that it would be desirable in his o]>inion that the commissioners be
authori/.ed to add to the list furnished them by the assessors any
name that might be omitted by the assessors. I'ossibly this should
be in the form of a resolution, but ho h'ui joined the two together
with a view to getting an expression of opinion from the meeting.
It had been his experience that the assessors in making up the list
almost invariably omit names which bhould bo on, aiid i i the

liJaiHklLkB.

NEW BEUNSWICK GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATIOIT.

interest of the roads every man who is assessable should be on that
list. While the Act of 1886 made provision for this, he did not
think the present Act did, and in his opinion that power should be
given the commissioners.

Mb. Wm. Wise said that before they proceeded to pass any
such resolution he thought it would be well to find out what the
Government proposed to do with respect to dividing the Province
into districts. If the Government intended to appoint salaried men
they should collect the taxes and do all that kind of work.

Hon. Mb. EMMERCk>N said that to his mind the course proposed
by the resolution would not work at all. It would further compli-
cate the Act, which was none too simple now. The idea of the Act
was to place the responsibility upon the commissioner, and if such a
course as that outlined in the resolution was adopted, the responsi-
bility would be taken away from the commissioner and placed upon
the collector, and if any question should arise the commissioner
would say that he was not responsible.

Mb. S. L. Peters said he concurred with the chief commis-
sioner. The resolution says the commissioner shall not be required
^o serve the notices, but it requires the ratepayer to travel all the
way from his home, no matter if he lives ten or twenty miles away,
to give notice to the commissioner what his desires <ire.

Mr. King. — I would like to ask if the onus is not upon the
ratepayer now to notify the commissioner?

Mr. Peters. — He is only required to notify him by writing.

Mr. Kino said he did not agree with the chief commissioner
that this resolution would complicate the machinery of the present
Highway Act instead of simplifying it. It seemed to him (King)
an easy matter for the assessors to furnish two lists — one to the
commissioner and one to the tax collector. The commissioner has
his list before him, and he receives the notifications from the different
ratepayers as to whether they intend to do their work. You are not
freeing him from any responsibility. He knows there is a certain
amount of work to be done; that he will have a certain amount of

mM.'M

REPORT OF THE CONVENTION AT FREDKRICTON.

money coming into bis hands, and that there will be a certain
amount of labor at his disposal, and he is thus in a better position
to do good work. It seemed to him (King) that instead of compli-
cating the Act it was doing away with something which the people
who complained of the Act complained of very bitterly.

Delegate. — Another objection to this resolution is that the
collector of rates would often not deliver those notices until too
late to do road work. In many cases the notices of the County
taxes are not delivered until after the Ist of August, and therefore if
this resolution becomes law the road work, if it had to be done on
those notices, could not be done that year at all. My idea is to
place the responsibility more particularly upon one person. Divided
responsibility never brings forth good results. If you enlarge the
responsibility you will get better work. As to the question of
remuneration, the greatest complaint in my County is that under
the present law the commissioners receive too much.

Delegate. — I do not think you ought to add to the machinery
of the Act. I understand the commissioners have to give bonds,
and if this resolution was adopted it would mean that they would
have to give bonds for some other man to perform his duties. The
collectors are appointed by the Council, and they might, perhaps,
refuse to perform this work. If they object the Council would have
to be called together, which would mean a great deal of trouble and
expense.

Mr. J. H. Dickson said he was opposed to this resolution, as
he did not consider it at all necessary. In the early part of the
season the commissioner has to go over his district to ascertain the
state of the roads in order that he may properly repair them, and
that is the time for him to give the notices.

Mr. King said the only thing that the resolution changes from
the present Act is in the distribution of notices by the collectors.
The only question is whether the collector should distribute the
notices, or the commissioner.

Hon. Mr. Emmicrson said he thought he could detect in the
resolution a desire to wrench from the ratepayers the money, instead
of allowing them to perform statute labor in lieu of their tax. lie

^-3&'.

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION".

did not think the country was ripe for such a law as that. He
thought the Act should be so amended as to amalgamate the summer
and winter roadmasters.

The resolution was defeated by a large majority.

Mr. W. F. Burditt called attention to the subjects appointed
for consideration at this meeting, and asked that the discussion be
confined as closely as possible to the subjects laid down. These
subjects were as follows :

Questions Relating to Administratioe Organization for the Control
and Expenditure of Funds, Supervision of Work, etc.

(1) How does the present system of supervision and control of
expenditure work in your county? Can you suggest any improve-
ments ?

(2) Could any changes be advantageously made in the appoint-
ment of commissioners?

(3) What should be the duties of commissioners and extent of
their jurisdiction?

(4) What can be done to increase the interest of County Coun-
cils in seeing that the best possible results are obtained from the
expenditure made?

(5) What is the practice in your County with regard to the
appointment of surveyors or roadmasters? Is a good selection
made ? Are such appointments somewhat permanent or subject to
frequent change ?

(6) What should be the duties of roadmasters? How are such
duties usually performed ?

(7) Could the duties of roadmasters be formulated and set
forth in a list of printed rules ?

(8) Is the present practice of " selling road work " satisfactory
in its results?

The following resolution was moved by Mb. Thomas Hayes,
seconded by Mr, John Betts :

liesolvedy " That the government be requested to so amend the
"Highway Act of 1896 as to provide that the roadmasters appointed
"by commissioners from year to year remain in office until their

REPORT or THE CONVENTION AT FREDERICTON.

"successors are appointed, and that their responsibility be more
" clearly defined so as to state definitely that the road master shall
"perform his duties under the instruction of the commissioner from
"whom he receives his appointment, and be responsible to him."

Mr. Hayes said he thought the roadmasters should be appointed
by the County Council at their January session, as well as the com-
missioners. ; y "

Mr. J. S. Armstrong read sections 48 and 56 of the Highway
Act bearing on this question.

Mr. Joseph Hornbrook said the object of the resolution was
to enable the commissioner to appoint a roadmaster who should
remain in office throughout the year unless removed for some cause.
As the law now stands, or as it is carried out, one roadmaster
appears to be appointed for the winter season and another for the
summer, and before the Council can re-appoint commissioners at
their January session we very often have heavy snowstorms and
the roads become blockaded.

Mr. S. L. Peters thought it was a very desirable amendment
if the Act did hot now provide it.

Mr» Trueman said that by this amendment we were taking
away the power of the commissioner. It is within the power of the
commissioner to say that the roadriaster shall act throughout the
year. Under section 56 of the Act the commissioner can appoint a
roadmaster until his successor is appointed.

Mu. W. A. West said that in his County (Albert) the Council
had passed a bye-law saying that the officers should remain in office
until tlie second Tuesday in February.

Mr. Georoe Seymour was in favor of roadmasters being
appointed by the County Councils, but whoever appointed them
their term of office should be defined, and they should remain in
office until their successor is appointed.

Mr. Seart.e said the commissioner could turn the men out to
break roads, and he need not appoint roadmasters at all. >

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION.

Mr. W. J. OwKN said that in Carleton the appointment of the
roadmasters was a cause of dissatisfaction. He thought this would
be remedied if the roadmasters were appointed by the County
Council.

Mr. W. a. Wkst. — I consider that the commissioner has full
power to appoint and dismiss these roadmasters, and in my opinion
it is a very wise provision in the law.

Mr. Armstrong pointed out that the resolution refers to two
kinds of roadmasters, the winter and summer roadmasters, and that
they are not necessarily the same under the Act. It apparently was
desirable that the winter roadmasters should siiecially retain office
till their successors were appointed, as the commissioners who
appoint them come into office in the middle of the winter, and if a
new man is appointed it takes some time before he can act definitely.
The Act in regard to the summer roadmasters, following as it does
the old Act, under which the roadmasters had full control in their
districts, is liable to be interpreted by them as giving them the same
powers — wrongly no doubt; But what is wanted is to have it put
in plain words that they are to carry out. the instruotious of the
road commissioner.

Resolution carried unanimously.

Hon. Mr. Emmbrson called attention to the fact that under
Section 55 of the Highway Act the commissioner is responsible, and
he himself is subject to a penalty for neglect if the roads are not
kept up. The roadmasters are not in any way responsible. So in
respect to Section 48, he may or may not have the roadmaster in the
summer; he can appoint him or not, just as he pleases.

The following resolution was moved by Mr. Joseph Horn-
BROOK, seconded by Mr. W. A. West :

Resolved^ " That the County Council shall have authority to
" constitute a larger division than a Parish, or they should have power
'' to appoint a chief commissioner over a set of Parishes or divisions or
"overall the county, and his enlarged powers and emoluments should
" be defined ; and further

Resolved^ " That provision be made to enable the Council to
"bo appoint."

" ' -;.!.J ' ija J

REPORT OF THE CONVENTION AT FREDERICTON.

Mb. Hobnbbook said the object of this resolution was to secure
uniformity of work. We are on the verge of a new system of
road making, and while most people understand the old 8yst?m very
few understand the new one which is to be inauguratf^d. One of
the necessities of a good road was turnpiking, but there has got to
be a better system of drainage adopted and a better system of
gravelling. The commissioner appointed by the County Council
should be an experienced road maker, and he should be able to
instruct the roadmasters to make a uniform kind of road. Under
our present system each commissioner has a different idea as to how
the road should be made, and as a result there is no uniformity.

Mb. Seable said he thought the appointment of such a man
should be made by the chief commissioner of public works.

Mb. S. L. Peters said that if the power of the commissioners
was enlarged he thought the commissioners should be under the
direct control of the chief commissioner, and the appointment should
be made by the chief commissioner. The chief commissioner is
held responsible for the expenditure of the money, and it is only
fair that he should have the power of appointmentt

Mb. Armstrong suggested that if a practical man were ap-
pointed to look after this work he could examine bridges in the
county under his control, and by making slight repairs, in many
oases hundreds of dollars would be saved to the Province.

Mr. Burditt said the County Councils might perhaps object
to their funds being expended by a man appointed by the Govern-
ment.

Mr. J. H. Dickson moved the following amendment :

'* That in the opinion of this meeting it would be more condu-
** cive to the betterment of the good roads if the chief commissioner
" would appoint a commissioner who would have supervision over
" the roads in each county."

After some further discussion, at the suggestion of Mr. Burditt
both the resolution and the amendment were withdrawn and
the following resolution was substituted and carried :

JiMolved, "That in the opinion of this meeting it would be
" desirable to have competent men appointed having special know-

I'i

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD BOADS ASSOCIATION.

"ledge in roadmaking; drainage, etc., who would have the super-
" vision of work and expenditure over larger divisions than are now
" allotted to the commissioners appointed by County Councils.

The following resolution was moved by Mr, Howard Trukman
seconded by Mr. David Johnson :

JResolvedy "That in the opinion of this meeting the commis-
" sioners should have power to apply labor and funds in any part of
" the highway division rather than that all the labor and taxation
"of a given district must necessarily be expended within that
"district."

Mb. S. J. Shanklin was in favor of the resolution. Under the
present law large sums of money were spent on short pieces of road.
For instance, down in St. Martins there was a. road about one mile
long on which five hundred days' labor was spent every year, and
this could not be prevented.

Mb. S. Li Petebs considered that this would be most unfair.
If there were certain districts which could take care of their own
roads they should be allowed to do so, and where assistance is
needed it should be got from the Government. Under such a
system as outlined in the resolution the commissioner would have
the power to expend the money right at his own door.

Me. David Johnson told of a road in the County of Charlotte.
In one district on that road there were four settlers, while right in
the next district there were forty-four, and all the labor and all the
money of those forty-four ratepayers was put upon their own
section, and besides that they got bye-road money. He contended
that there was nothing fair in that.

Mb. Seable said they had had such a law a number of years
ago in his Parish. They paid their taxes in cash to the Town of
Chatham and never received a cent of itt

The resolution was passed.

Mb. Ji J. McGafpioan moved the following resolution seconded
by Mr. W. S. Tompkins :

Hesolved, " That in the opinion of this meeting it is advisable
" that any person or persons purchasing at public auction work to

RKPOKT OP THE CONVENTION AT FREDKRICTON.

"be done upon any great or bye-roaf' in this Province shall be
" required to place with the commissioner selling said work a bond
" in double the amount of the value of said work, or a cash deposit
" of twenty per cent, of the value of the work, and that the work
"should be performed under a definite contract with specification."

Mr. McGaffigan said that under the present system the
performance of the work was merely a matter of honor between the
party and the commissioner. The commissioner sold the work at a
certain price, and when he went to see if that work was done very
often he found that it was not. Parties find after the heat of the
sale is over that they have taken work at too low a figure, and as
they are under no obligation to perform that work very often they
pay no attention to it whatever. In such a case the commissioner
is powerless to compel the p^Elurmance of the work, and it was
to remedy this difficulty tUp am (McGaffigan) had moved this
resolution. * .

Hon. Mr. Emmerson saioVY j resolution involved the alterna-
tive proposition of .giving a bond or putting up a cash deposit. It
might be all right enough to give a bond, but if the party did not
perform his work the commissioner would not want to get into a
lawsuit with him. If a cash deposit were put up no doubt the work
would be done, but it would be a hardship on those who might not
have the money to put up. A poor man who could not put up the
necessary deposit might be the very best man to do the work.

Mr. Armstrong suggested that the resolution be modified so
as to provide that the commissioner could exercise his discretion as
to whether he would accept the lowest tender. He is sworn to act
for the best interest of the public.

Hon. Mr. Emmerson said this was a matter that could not be
remedied, and had to be left to the honesty, common sense, and
good faith of the people i

Mr. David Currib said the adoption of this resolution would
impose a hardship on the poor man, as it would prevent him from
getting the work. It was giving the man with money a chance to
get the work at a higher figure than ft was worth by reason of there
being no competition. He knew of a bridge in his own County

NBW BRUNSWICK GOOD BOADS ASSOCIATION.

(Victoria) for which a man was paid $300, while there were plenty
of people who were willing to build it at a much less figure, but they
had not the money necessary for the deposit, and therefore could
not tender.

Mr. McGaffioan said it was evident that the chief commis-
sioner did not like to take the responsibility upon himself of adopting
this suggestion. It was all very well to talk about the hardship to
the poor man who could not make a deposit, but we should also
consider the hardship to other people under the present system.
When a man took a contract and then failed to carry it out it was
imposing a hardship upon the County and upon the people who had
travelled long distances to the sale and were willing to have taken
the work at a few cents a rod more. Councillors and politicians
should not be afraid to pass a law dealing with this Subject.

Mb. Thomas Hatks said ip|raKl|mw would bear very heavily
upon the poor man. Many of the men who attend the sales have
not a dollar in their pocket, and t^^ ^meh would do the work much
better than the rich man* v.-

Mb. Joseph Uobkbbook thought security should be given, as
thereby more would be saved to the Government than the poor man
would lose.

Mb. Shanklin said he thought in all amounts over $25, bonds
should be taken. He thought if bonds were required parties would
not Md so low that they could not do the work. In his opinion a
money security was out of the question.

Mb. William Simpson said he thought there was nothing to
prevent the giving of bonds, but there was a good deal of formality
about it. His practice was to sell the roads, and if the party did
not do the work according to contract he did not pay him until it
was properly done. In nearly all cases, after commencing the work,
instead of losing his money, he does it up promptly.

, , The resolution was defeated.

' Hon. Mb. Emmebson said he would like to have the Convention
taV© into consideration the question of wide and narrow tires, and he
read from the Engineering N'ews of March, 1897, the result of a

faffl,.:v.f i,v;....^ ^-v^ .|^,^j^

aeii

^ "P" lliliiwiiiii

BKPOBT OF THE CONVENTION AT FBBDERICTON.

test of resistance to vehicles on common roads, made by the United
States Department of Agriculture, as follows : :

" To demonstrate the practical advantage of wide over narrow
" tires the following test was made : A piece of clay road was made
•' thoroughly wet, and over one portion a heavily loaded wagon with
" two-inch tires was rapidly drawn, and over the other portion an
" equally heavy wagon with four and five-inch tires was drawn the
*'same number of times. In the latter case the front axle was
" shorter than the rear axle, so that the wheels did not run in the
*' same track. The result was that the narrow tire cut the road into
"ruts several inches deep, while the broad tires rolled the road into
" a smooth surface. The tractometer showed that twice as much
"pull was necessary to draw the same load over that half of the
" road cut by the narrow tires." ; ,

Adjourned until 2 P. M. ' <.■:'-.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

Mb. Burditt stated that the subjects for discussion at this after-
noon's session were:

Questions ReloAing to the Practical Work oj Road Construction and
Repair — Good Location, Drainage, Proper Formation, and a
Hard, Smooth Surface the Four Cardinal Requisites of a
Good Road.

(1) Could the location of any of the highways in your county l)e
changed within reasonable limits so as to afford better drainage and
easier grades by circumventing hills, avoiding bogs, etc.

(2) Has anything been done in your county to improve the roads
by re-locating, so as to avoid hills, swampholes, or other parts that
were difficult and expensive to keep in repair, and with what results ?

(3) What is your experience with regard to drainage or the need
of it? What general rules or specifications, if any, could be laid down,
for the guidance of roadmasters as to surface drainage ?

(4) Has under-drainage Ijeen practiced in your county, and with
what results ? What general rules, if any, can be laid down as to the
conditions under which under-drainage should be adopted, and how
best accomplished ?

NEW BBUN8WICK GOOD EOADS AS30CIA.TI0N.

i
I

(5) What general rules, if any, can be laid down for the construc-
tion of cross-drains or culverts? Have terra cotta, cement, or iron
pipe culverts been used in your county and with what results? Do
you not think they would prove more economical and satisfactory, if
properly laid, than wooden culverts ?

(6) What is the best width, crowning and general form — includ-
ing depth and shape of gut<-. rs or ditches for surface fJrainage — for
different classes of highways ? Would it be practicable to formulate
definite specifications for the guidance of roadmasters and commis-
sionei-s with the view of obtaining a greater degree of uniformity in the
work of diflFerent districts ? Within what limits might such specifica-
tions be varied ?

(7) What general rules, if any, can be laid down with regard to
various kinds of materials for surfacing, their use and application?'
What are the best surfacing materials available in your district, and
what is your experience as to results from use of difiFerent kinds ? ''

(8) Are there any roads in your county subject to such traffic
that it might be considered advisable and in the interest of true
economy to thoroughly macadamize them . according to the most
approved specifications of modern road engineers ? What means can
be suggested for ac(!omplishing permanent improvements of this kind ?

(9) How can more or less constant care of the principal highways
be provided for? Could statute labor be utilized for the purpose, or
how. could it be accoiipliuhed? Great damage to roadways is often
occasioned for want of a few minutes or an hour's work at the right
time — "a stitch in time saves nine."

(10) To what extent is improved machinery used in your county?
Could not the use of it bo further extended with atlvantage ? Could
not road rollers, such, for instance, as the water-ballasted steel roller
of about five to eight tons maximum weight, Ije used with advantage,
and possibly in some localities rock crushers in addition to the road
machines or grader now coming into general use?

(11) How can damage to highways, caused wilfully, or by care-
lessness and excessive use, be prevented or remedied, such, for instance,
as the washing of roads by obstruction of ditches and watercourses, or
the hauling of very heavy loads on narrow tires ?

IIIIMWI

BEPOBT OF THK CONVENTION AT FBEDEBICTON.

Mr. Richard O'Brien moved the following resolution, seconded
by Mr. Burditt:

Whereas, " It appears from expressions of opinion in this Conven-
" tion the time has arrived, or is near at hand, when better and more
"permanent work than any heretofore undertaken will be required
" upon the highways of this Province ; and

Whereas, " There is a general lack of technical knowledge as to
" improved methods of highway construction adopted in other coun-
" tries; > • " ;

There/ore Resolved, " That this Convention suggest to the Provin-
** cial Government tlie advisability of appointing a competent engineer
*' as Provincial Inspector of Highways for the purpose of carrying on
" an educational work, and such other duties as may be assigned to
"him."

This was carried. . , : .

Mr. Joseph Hornbrook moved the following resolution, seconded
by Mr. J. H. Dickson : r

Resolved, " That this Convention approves of the steps taken by
" the Legislatui'o in providing that on and after the fii-st day of May,
" 1 899, lojwled vehicles shall have wide tires, but would urge that they
" vary tho provision in the way of making it more easily enforced, and
" provide that it can be enforced on the complaint of any ratepayer."

And suggest that the following provisions be suitable :

" All vehicles having wrought iron axles two inches square, or
• an axle of e(|uivalent capacity, shall be equipped with tires not less
" than four inches in width.

" All veliicl«s having a wrought iron axle one-and-three-(iuarter
" inches H«{uare, or an axle of e()uivalent capacity, shall be equipped
" with tires not less than three inches in width.

"All vehicles having a wrouglit iron axle one-and-a-half inches
"squaiti, or an axle of ecjuivaletit capacity, shall be e(iuipped with
" tires not less than two-and-a-half inches in width.

" Any pi 'son who shall violate any of the provisions of this Act
shall be fined not more than dollars."

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION.

Mr. Hornbrook said the object of this was to protect our roads
and aid the farmers who have heavy loads to haul. The highest
authorities agreed that a heavy load could be hauled much easier
with a wide than with a narrow tire, and the wide tire will act as a
roller and preserve the road, while the nai-row tire destroys it. The
Highway Act as it now stands reads as follows :

"WIDE TIRKS ON CERTAIN VEHICLES.

"(2) On and after the first day of May Id the year of our Lord
" one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine the wheels of every
" vehicle loaded with stone, gravel, sand i>r other material of any kind
'' or nature whatsoeve?*, when tlu; load exceeds in weight one and a
"half tons, shall when used and passing over or along any highway
" be provided with tires not less than four inches wide ; the owner or
"person in charge of any such vehicle shall, for every offence against
" this section, incur a penalty (»f five dollars."

It would be almost impossible to enforce this Act, as there would
be no way of ascertaining the weight of load, but if the suggestion
containc^d in the resolution be carried out there will be n»» difficulty,
ax a man will not {)ut a heavy load on a small axle.

Mk. J. H. Dickson said it gave him much pleasure to second the
resolution He had been puzzled to know just how the j)resent law
could be enforced, but the suggestion contained in the resolution
solved the difficulty.

Mr. BErrs said ho wjvs in favor of wide tires, but it seeinc*! tx)
him there should bo some pr(»viHion for wagons with wooden axles.

Mr. Tuueman said the resolution read "All vehicUw having
" wrought-iron axles two inches s<|uare, or an axle of equivalent
"capacity." That would cover any kind of axle.

Mu. Havks asked if all tlu; trucks now in use by the lumlM^rmen
ami fanners of the ProviiMie would have to im done away witli and
new ones substitut^'d inside of a year?

Mr. Hoknhkook. - Only the tires will have to Iki changed. New
tires can V>e put on any wagon with very little expense.

• 4

REPOET OF THE CONVENTION AT FREDERICTON.

A Delegate stated that when the wide tire law came into force
in the State of Maine the people built an inch and a half on each side
of their two-inch tires and put a six-inch tire over the whole, and tires
of this kind have been running for two or three years.

Mn. Dickson said he thought some means should be taken by the
Government to have notice given through the local press of the date
when the Act would come into force.

I«)

». -•

Hon. Mk. Hill suggested that the Government or tiie Association
have printe(i hiindbills distributed in the stores and bhwksmith shops
throughout the Provinces gi^i'ig this notice of what the law recjuires.
It was not to Ikj supposed that this law would Ixi enforced with harsh-
ness or severity; that every person whose wagon was not quite up to
the standard would be immediately seized upon and fined. A law like
this, with new penalties and making new pi-ovisions, was never
enforced with the utmost strictness in the beginning, but people would
have to come to it eventually.

Mr. Hill referred to a road in the City of Calais which it was
found very hard to keep in condition bv 'jason of the heavy loads of
lumltcr hauled over it by four and six-) )rse teams. The City finally
passed a law that on /i,ll four and six-horse wagons the tires should be
six inches wide. One large; linn of linnberm(Mi, who owned a large
number of wagons, objected vejy suoiigly to this clii'iige, as it would
cost them more than one thousand dollars to make such a change.
However, it was done, and after using th(* wide tires for two or throe
years the head of that firm tells nie tli/it he would not substitute the
narrow tires now for twice that amount, so great lias lu'en the benefit
of till! chiMige on his teams. ExpiwinuMits evrrywlK^re have shown
that on poor roa<ls tlu^ increased power obtained by the use of wide
tires is at least fifty })er cent, greater than where narrow tires aiv
used, and U'sides that tlu^y keep the roads in goo<l cotidition insteiul of
destroying them. He (Hill) thought the front axle should be longer
tiian the rear axle, thus enabling the wagon to 1m' more easily turned,
and nuiking it easier (o pass obstructions, as if tli(> front wheel (bleared
it ther«> would certainly U' no danger of the rear wheel striking.
Tiiough th^re would be some expense at first connected with the

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD BOADS ASSOCIATION*

change from narrow to wide tires, and it would, perhaps, come a little
hard on the poorer people, yet in the end the poor man with his team
will be Just as much benefitted as the rich man with his carriage.

Mb. Hubbard said it was* important that notice of the change
should be given to carriage manufacturers, as he had found by inquiry
that they did not make a wider tire than two-and-a-half inches, and
he had been assured by one firm of manufacturers that this law would
never be enforced.

The following amendment to the resolution was moved -by Mu. W.
A. West:

Resolved, " That all two-horse team wagons have a tire not less
" than four inches, and all single horse team wagons have a tire not
"less than three inches."

After some discussion this was withdrawn and the original
motion was carried.

The following resolution was then moved by Mr. Dickson,
seconded by Mr. Hounuuook :

Ketsolwd, "That the Government be asked to advertise the
"proposed change in tires by having the section of Jaw published by
" handbills throughout the country."

This was carried.

Mr. Burditt said it was agnuMl that the foundati<jn of all true
road work was proper drainage. No inatler what was [»ut o/i the
rojuls unless th(!re was proper drainage good roads won.' inijKjssible.
Sometimes iv was found impossibl(! to sei a proptn* outlet for the

water, and he thought that in such case he conimissionei-s or super-
visors should liave jM)wer to open an outlet through adjoining proper-
ties to carry this water off. He would tluMvfore move the following
resolution, which was seconded by Mr. IIornhrook:

irW«fM, "There is iu» provision in the Act for carrying the
"drainage away froni the n»ad sid(s and in many cases it is absolut<^lv
" necessary that drains sliouul Ik' carrifd, f(»r a grt-ater or \v.m distance
"awuy, over or through private pk«)perty, and the local highway

BBPOBT OP THE CONVENTION AT FEEDERICTON.

"commissioner and those under his authority t^hould have power to
" enter upon private lands or property and construct such drain, doing
"as little damage as possible, and if any permanent damage is suffered
" thereby, provision should be made whereby the owner could recover
" damages from the Road District or County ;

Therefore Mesolved, " That due provision be made therefor."

This resolution was discussed by several of the delegates, all
agreeing that in nine cases out of ten the direct cause of bad roads
was improper drainage. It was not sufficient to deepen the ditches,
but it was most important to have a proper outlet. The speakers
agreed that this question of drainage could not be too strongly urged
upon the commissioners and supervisors.

Mh. Armstrong moved the following resolution, seconded by Mr.
Wise: \' ; ' ^*- , ' -.

Resolved, " That it is most important tliat the benefits of under-
" draining the roads, wherever the frost heaves them to any extent,
'should l)e made clear to all in the Province, and that they should be
" encouraged to pujh drainage v/ork ; and therefore that the Govorn-
"r>ent should considei- the expediency of underdraining with tiles
" short stretches of the most travelled roads, in four or five places in
" eaclt County, under such conditions as they may see fit, employing
" men of exj)erience." ' ' ,

Mr. AitMSTUONd, in speaking to tluj resolution, said that the
question of ch'ainago was the most important one in connection with
road making. Thi.-, and the wide tires, were the two thitigs that
would go a long wjvy towards making the d(^si^ed improvement in our
wads at the smallest cost. And that while sid(^ ditclies were necessary
to carry off th«! surface wakM', "inderdi-aining was quite as necessary,
and even inon' important in many cases.

In some places the ground is of nn open sandy natuie and (irains
itHclf naturally, but wlienc'ver the frost h(!aves the grounti and makes
a bad spot in the soring, it is evident that undenhaining is re<juired.
The effect t»f the i.ndcrdrain is to tiraw the water down from the
surface so that th;re is a coinparativeiy, d?y and comn: ..T stratum or
layer of earth through which the surface w.iter rs «< .t not readily
penetrate, but any that does, sinks down tttwa'tv^ tiie level of the

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD BOADS ASSOCIATION.

underfirain and the frost does not penetrate this layer to any great
extent. Tlius a solid foundation is formed for the road.

If the Government could be induced to make this exhibition of
underdraining it would lie of great benefit as showing its use in road
work, but also agriculturally in teaching the people how to underdrain
their lands. For even at fifty dollars per acre the cost was often
, cturned in the fii-st crop or two.

Mr. West said that to his mind underdraining was the very
I'ludamental principle of good roadnitiking. The idiu of underdraining
was not to catch the surface wate;, but was to prevent the sub-soil
water from rising to the surface. The surface drains for carrying off
the surface water were all right, but unless there was a system of
underdraining the water would rise to .the surface and make the road
soft. He thought tile drainage the cheapest and most effective method
for underdraining. Mu. West gave an illustration of the l)enefits to
be derived from underdraining. Down where he li\'ed there was a
section of road which had l)een simply a sea of mud every spring for
years, and it was no uncommon thing for the horses to get mired
there. Some years ago he had jiut in a system of underdrainage on
that rcvd, and now it was always dry and hard and in splendid
condition. He thought the idea contained in the re:solution a goo<l
one.

Mb. Wilmot expre8.v ; the opinion th>'t the best r«;sults could not
be obtained unless these '• ties were laid b_ experts. He hiwl found
this out by observation.

After some further discussion in Vmo with the re/aarks of previous
speakers the resolution was carried unanimously.

The question as to the most suitable width of roiul was di.vcussed,
and sixteen feet l)etween inner edges of the kind oi ditch shown on
Fig. 7 was mentioned as (juite sufiicient. No resolu'.ion was f()rniulate<l
on this question.

The matter of grading and ditching, the proper form of the
surface of roadway, and the depth and s]oi)e of ditches, wjis fully
discussed, many of the practical roodumkors present giving their

« ■ «

^ 4

BEPORT OP THE CONVENTION AT PREDKRICTON.

experience along this line. Diagrams showing the model method of
construction, grade and underdraining were circulated, and a variety
of opinions on this question were advanced, and the following resolution
passed :

Resolved, " That the form of cross-section Fig. 7 in the report of
"the Convention be recommended."

: The value and proper use of road machines then came up for
discussion. A number of delegates who had had experience in the use
of the road machfne took part in this discussion, and all expressed the
opinion that the road machines were very valuable when handled by
experienced men. It was suggested that the Government appoint an
experienced man to operate new machines purchased by the Province
and sent to different districts so as to instruct local men in the use of
them, as the machines seldom did good or satisfactory work when
operated by inexperienced men.

The following resolution was moved by Mr. Joseph Hornbrook,
seconded by Mr, Betts, and passed : " ,

Resolved, "That the use of the road machines has been found
^' very satisfactory, when thoroughly tried, under proper management,
"and then^fore its more extended use is strongly urged upon all
" sections of the Province."

Hon. Mr. Emmerson called attention to the growing tendency to
encroach upon the highways in all sections of the province by parties
when building fences, and .some action would have to bo taken to have
this regulated. It might even be necessary to have a survey made of
all the highways of tlie province in order to obtain uniformity in the
width of the highways.

Mr. Emmkrhon called attention to the fact that in the County of
Kings last year the road tax amounted to $12,602, and outside of
what was excused it was found that alx-ui fifty per cent, of this was
paid in cash and fifty per cent, in lalK)r. This would seem to show
that under the operation of the Act the condition of things was not
quite so black as was painted. He l)elieved that in a few years any
G(XKi Roads Convention meeting hero will be in favor of paying the
r«'tffl,«^ tiix ill njih. ' •

*'s

NEW BRUNSWICK GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION.

The following resolution was moved by Mr. Bktts, seconded by
Mr. King :

Whereas, "The Highway Act of 1896 provides that the council
" of any Municipality may, by bye-law, declare that the provisions of
" this Act, allowing performance of labor in lieu of road tax, shall not
"apply to such Municipality, Parish or Parishes therein; and

Wliereofi, " Several County Councils have shown a disposition to
" adopt the provisions of said Act ; therefore bo it

Resolved, "That the Legislature be requested to amend said Act
" so as to provide that any Municipality may, by bye-law, declare that
"a cash assessment lie paid in lieu of statute labor of 90 cents in lieu
" of .f 1.50; 30 cents in lieu of 50 cents as provided for in sub-section 1,
"section 31 of the Highway Act."

This resolution passed without much discussion, as the matter
had been thoroughly discussed at a previous meeting. ^ -

Meeting adjourned until 7.30 o'clock. r-iyl 1,

EVENING SESSION. ',

Mr. Hill stated that he would be glad to receive any resolutions
or remarks that might Ik; offered.

Mr. Burditt said that he did not know what the views of the
delegates might be in refei-enco to the use of rollers. Mh. Hornbrook,
he thought, Ixilieved rollers were not much required, but others thought
rollers would be valuable supplements to the roml machines. For the
purpose of bringing the matter up for consideration he reiwl the draft
of a suggested i"esolution.

Mr. Peters thought it was very important that heavy rollers
should be used in road making. A now road should V)e gone over with
a steel roller. He also thought a road should be wet when rolled, and
unless this were so it would Ije almost useless to roll it.

Mr. Hornbkook approved of what Mr. Petkhs said in reference
to the road being wet. He said you coultl not thoroughly make a

• •

Htwiawit

H> I

REPOET OF THE CONVENTION AT FREDERICTON.

road when it was dry and dusty. You could roll it when it was dry,
travel on it all summer, and it would remain firm, nice and level, but
as soon as rain came in the fall it would become a mud hole. If,
however, it was worked thoroughly when wet, and rolled, it would
settle down firm and become a compact road, and would not he opened
up in the fall by the rains. There was no good road made in the
United States or Canada with broken stone but what was thoroughly
saturated with water first. They put water on and thoroughly drench
it, and then either put on a steam roller or horse roller. A road
should be rolled from the outside to the centre. A roller would
be of great advantage if you were gravelling a road after it had been
tumpiked.

Some delegates expi'essed the opinion that road machines or
graders were more required than rollers, and that the Government
should not be asked to purchase rollers for those districts which were
already supplied with road machines until other districts were supplied
with the graders.

Mr Peters thought every Parish should own a roller with a
road machine, and moved the following resolution, which was carried :

Resohied, "That the use of heavy rollers in connection with tlie
" road machine in road work, and in grading the roads, is almost of as
" much importance as the road machine, and that highway commis-
"sioners be urged to procure rollers, or the use of rollers, whenever
" possible to do so."

Mr. Burditt said that attenticm should be given to the constant
or continuous care of the highways. A great amount of damage was
done to a road on accounc of not i-epairing it just at the right time.
Constant supervision and constant attention to the small repairs was
the idea.

Mr. Betts said that there was a tiii.e of year that the roads
needed the vigilance of some person in authority. In the spring of
the year snow remained on the road until very late, and then there
was a great rush of water, and if there was not some person on hand
to look after things hundreds of dollars worth of work was destroyed.

NKW BRUNSWICK GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATIOIir.

Mb. Hill thought the Counties should be divided in sections, and
each s('(;tion looked after by those having the distribution of the bye-
road money and great-road money, and that a certain portion of this
money should

reserviul for emergencies.

Mb. Siianklin said that in case of necessity where a commissioner
becomes good for any money, he should have some guarantee that it
would be paid. . <>'

' Mr. Betts moved: -

Rexolved, "That the commissioners be impressed with the im-
"portance of maintaining good roads by exercising constant vigilance,
" more particularly in the early spi-ing, or when exigencies of the case
" reqviire ; and, further, that when the finances will allow, a permanent
*'i(ian be kept on said road." ^ .

Carried.

T>#

Mb. Petebs said that the ordinary methods of protecting the
b'lnks of intervale land along the river from the wash of the stream
and ice and logs seldom accomplished the desired end satisfactorily.
E.e had a model of the system devised by him for protecting the banks,
and explained the process. Any person who wished to know in detail
about the method could get the information by addressing him at
Queenstown, Queens County. *

MACADAM ROADS.

Mb. Bubditt said that several of the delegates present had
remarked during the Convention that the day was near at hand, if not
ah-eady here, when better and more permanent work in road construc-
tion than any heretofore contemplated would claim our attention, and
he thought that this Convention should not break up without some
reference being made to the best kind of roads — those thoroughly
built with broken stone according to the system of Macadam, as
developed by modern engineeriTig skill. It will he said that we have

•The nil thod proposed by Mr. Pet
posed for the side walU of his culrert
■loping.

inilar in oonstruotion to that which he pro-
tl on page 61, except that the face is made

TION.

id in sections, and
ution of the bye-
in portion of this

ire a commissioner -
guarantee that it

sed with the im-
onstant vigilance,
encies of the case
How, a permanent

)f protecting the
sh of the stream
snd satisfactorily,
ecting the banks,
to know in detail
idi'essing him at

.tes present had
ar at hand, if not
in road construc-
ur attention, and
up without some
those thoroughly
of Macadam, as
aid that we have

to that whioh he pro-
bhat the face la made

BEPOBT OP THE CONVBNTION AT FBEDEBICTOIT.

not the means and cannot aflford in this Province to build the costly
roads here referred to, bvi while he admitted that the day was yet
distant when such a system could be adopted to any great exterft
throughout the Provin i-. '^ thought that there were some localities
where the traffic was li. ^uch as the principal highways leading

into the larger towns, m which even now it would be the truest
economy to build MacAdam roads in the best possible manner. To
show that the building of such highways did not necessarily add to
the burdens of the people, he would refer to the experience of the
State of New Jersey — the pioneer State in road improvement — where
it had been found that the enhancement in the value of property along
the macadamized highways amounted to sufficient within a few years
after their construction to more than counterbalance the cost of the
improvement, and that the interest on the bonded debt incurred for
the purpose could be paid without any increase in the tax rate. On
the same line was the experience of the State of Kentucky. The
representative of that State, speaking at the National Road Conference
in 1894, said :

" The question about this matter which is of great interest to our
"farmers is the question of taxes. When we first began to build
"those roads the county levy was thirty cents on the $100, and when
" we had got through building them, and had spent $60,000 of the
"county's money, it had been reduced to fifteen cents on the $100,
" which astonished them very much. But the increased value of the
"land along the road has almost doubled the taxable value of the
" county, and has thus reduced the levy so greatly."

I would also like to read one or two extracts from opinions
expressed by the farmers of New Jersey upon this subject. One
writer says :

"Prior to 1893 I lived within two miles of a stone road leading
"to Camden. My tenant hauled manure from Philadelphia during
" the fall and winter, going down with two horses and bringing out a
" load with them. When he got within two miles of home he had to
" double up his teams in order to bring the two-horse load the balance
"of the distance to my farm. It took him longer and was more
"fatiguing to the team to come those two miles than to come the
"entire ten miles from Philadelphia to Mercihantville, and he was

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WIUTIR.N.V. MSM

(7U) 173.4303

NEW BBUNSWICK GOOD B0AD8 ASSOCIATION.

" frequently obliged to throw part of the load off to get home with the
" four horses. It is this waste of time which makes it important to
" farmers that we should have improved highways."

Another New Jersey farmer says :

"Before the building of the turnpikes twenty-five baskets of
potatoes were considered a load from the farm I now occupy to
market. After the turnpike was built fifty to sixty baskets were
considered no more of a load than the twenty-five a few years
previous. And now since the stone road has been built our load is
eighty-five to one hundred baskets, and during the past winter our
team has carried over one hundred and fifty loads of manure from
Philadelphia, several of which I weighed and found to amount from
6,869 to 7,920 pounds clear of the wagon, which alone weighed
2,300 pounds — a combined weight of four-and-a-half tons. Many of
these loads were drawn from the city to the point of leaving the
stone road with only two horses, and the result has been the saving
of over $100 in my manure bill for the year."

Another writer says :

"I operate a farm of two hundred acres near the line of the
recently completed 'White Horse' Telford Road. I consider this
road one of the greatest public benefits ever conferred upon the
people of this locality. At a distance of eight miles it brings us
nearly an hour nearer the market. It enables us to dispense with
one team. Our teams are in better condition and require less feed
and attention in doing the same amount of carting."

Another says :

" I would not sell my house and accept another worth $7,000 as
a gift and be obliged to live in it if two miles from a macadam
road. No farmer in this neighborhood would buy a farm not
located on a macadam road. Now that they have a sainple of the
road they all want it."

Many more similar examples, Mr. Burditt said, might be given
showing the high estimation in which these macadamized roads are
held by those who are privileged to use them, but he would not take
up any more time of the Convention on this subject.

- t

BKPOBT OV THE CONyBNTION AT FBEDEBICTON.

Mr. D. W. Martin said that the subject of macadam roads was
one which particularly interested him. In the City of Moncton,
which is built on a clay soil, they had found great difficulty in getting
satisfactory results from work done on the streets. Any gravel or
other material they might place on the surface soon worked down into
the clay, and in spring and fall the roads were almost impassable on
account of mud, except where they had laid wooden block pavement.
He would like to get some information as to the best means of
remedying this state of things.

Mr. Burditt replied that the conditions described by Mr.
Martin emphasized the necessity for underdrainage. For detailed
information in regard to making macadam roads he would refer Mr.
Martin to some of the pamphlets which the Association had for
distribution, but he might say that it was utterly useless to put
broken stone or other surface material upon such soil as they had in
Moncton unless the subsoil was made dry and firm by a thorough
system of underdrainage. Sewers were intended for carrying off
surface water, and they alone did not afford sufficient means for
draining the soil. They were made tight so that the subsoil water
could not get into them.

Mr. Martin said underdraining was objected to on account of
the expense, as the frost penetrated to "> great depth at Moncton, and
the drains would have to be laid six feet below the surface to get clear
of frost.

Mr. Burditt, in reply, explained tliat when the water was drawn
out of the soil the frost did not penetrate as it did in a soil that was
saturated with water, hence it had been found that four feet beneath
the surface was quite a sufficient depth at which to lay tile drains
anywhere in this country.

Mr. Hornbrook said that in the United States when they
struck a soft surface they laid a quantity of very large stone in the
bottom. You should not attempt to make a foundation with small
stone, but put coarse, heavy stones in the bottom and then put on
your broken stones. If you put the broken stone or gravel on a wet

{ltt'UkV«t^..K .

I |pf|il)lt ) [ | ^ l| !|ni. ii£

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NBW BRUNSWICK GOOD BOADS ASSOCIATIOIT.

or undrained soil it did not matter how much stone you put on, it
would go down and the water and mud would come to the surface.*

Mr. Armstrong, in answer to some points raised by Mr. Martin,
said that there was no difficulty in running the tile drains in any
direction required and connecting them with each other or with the
sewers. If the land was flat they might have to give them less slope
than was desirable ; in that case they would have to use larger tile.
His idea was that underdraining lowered the subsoil water; the
surface water was in a great measure cared for in other ways. One
object was to (^tain a thick layer of dry earth so that the frost would
not penetrate it, and in such mud as they have in Moncton he would
put three lines in a wide street.

Mr. Armstrong, referring to remarks of Mr. Ekmbrson at the
afternoon session, with regard to encroachment on the highways, read
the following resolution which had been prepared by the committee :

Whereas, "It is very generally impossible to ascertain where the
"legal bounds of the highways of the Province are, or should be; it is,
" therefore, recommended that the Legislature provide for the appoint-
" ment of a commission, comprised of oile or more engineers, with all
" necessary powers, to traverse all lands and define and mark out and
" record the bounds of at least the principal roads of the Province."

Mr. Johnson thought the resolution involved a pretty serious
question. The practice of encrof>.> ^ on the highways had become a
great nuisance.

Mr. W. S. Tompkins thought that the Government should
provide the engineers with a body guard when they started them out
on that mission.

Mr. Emmerson said that, of course, he recognized the fact that
in the early history of the Province proper provision was not made in
this respect. He found that in some of the Counties this was a very

•Note. — Mr. Horn brook it here referring to what is called Telford Pavement. It !■
an exeellent but lomewhat eipeniiTe road ooTerIng akin to maoadam. In it, after the
roadway haa been exoarated to the proper depth and •hape, a layer of rather flat atone, set
on edge, ii packed by hand, the rough points are broken oflT with hammers, and the small
pteoes wedged In among main layer; broken stone, the same as in maoadam, Is thwk
distributed la layers and rolled to a smooth surfaee.

BBFOBT or THE COKTKNTION AT FBKDEBICTON.

it the \
, read

serious evil, but in others, perhaps, they had not felt it, nor had any
difficulty as regards this evil, and that was a question which, per-
haps, would be pertinent at this stage. The question he would put
was : Should this be done in Counties where they require it, and, if so,
should the other Counties contribute to the costs, or should the cost
be borne by the Municipalities ? He was glad to see the resolution,
but asked the question because there was a delicate point as to
whether the expense was to be borne by the Municipality or whether
it meant that the Provincial Treasury was to be drawn upon. There
were some Counties where this would not be required to be done, and
should the public funds be drawn upon to have the remedy applied in
some Countieia and not in others ? That was for the delegates to take
into consideration. If they voiced the opinion of the people of the
Province, and wanted the money expended in this way, the depart-
ment would not cry over it.

Pb »IDENT Hill thought the object of the resolution could be
accomplished by legislation which would give power to Municipalities
to have the work done where it was necessary.

Mr. Pstbbs said if there was any legislation to be had in
reference to fences they should be abolished.

After some further discussion, the resolution was withdrawn.

The following resolution was then put and carried after a brief
discussion:

Wherecu, " Great damage is frequently done to the highways by
" obstruction of ditches and by other encroachments ;

Ther^ore Resolved^ '*That the attention of the Government be
"directed to the advisability of empowering highway commissioners
" to compel any one causing damage to the highway by any obstruc-
" tion or encroachment to repair said damage to the satisfaction of the
" commissioner or be liable for damages, and that the commissioner must
"act on the written complaint of any stated number of taxpayers."

Carried. '

Prbsidknt Hill, in addressing the meeting, said that he had
been elected President of the Good Roads Vssociation much against
his will. He thought the President should reside in St. John, where

: ■as.'-iis

NBW BRUNSWICK GOOD BOADS AS&OCtATIOirl

the movement had originated. In view of that, and with the hope
that a younger man might be procured, he begged leave to tender his
resignation.

Messrs. Armstbong and Burditt both pvotested, and Mr. Hill
finally consented to remain in office.

Mr. Osman, M. p. P., thought it would be advisable to encourage
as much as possible the erection of wire fences along the highways of
the Province.

Mr. Stevenson thought that the best way to construct roads on
side hills was to have them incline towarJs the inside rather than
towards the outside, as when they sloped towards the outside the
water washed them away very quickly.

Mr. Armstrong approved the idea, but said that frequent cross
drains would be necessary.

Mb. Hobnbrook thought that the rush of water that would
accumulate on the inside down the hill, if this system of constraction
were followed, would sweep away everything. He suggested that
the roads be built very wide and almost level, but with a slight slope
to the outside, and the outside edge be finished off with a ridge of
small stones or coarse gravel.

Mb. Skablb thought that if the road sloped outward ice would
form in the winter and it would be impossible to keep a sleigh on
the road.

Mb. Hall said it would be well to try and do away with small
wooden culverts and substitute something better, as the frost heaved
them. He moved the following resolution :

Jiesolved^ *'That this meeting recommend the use of earthen^
" ware pipe, or that pipe of similar nature be used very largely instead
" of log culvert*."

Some delegates objected to the use of earthenware or cement
pipes on the supposition that in this climate they would be destroyed
by frost unless laid very deep. To disprove this an extract was
read from the report of the Convention held in St. Jobn last

«>

lUPOBT OF TRB OONYBNTIOK AT FBEDBBICTON'.

September, in which Mb. A. W. Campbbll, C. E., referred to his
experience in the use of such pipes for culverts in Ontario, and
showed that if they were properly laid with a free outlet, there was
no danger of their destruction by frost. (See page 47 of Report of
St. John Convention).

Resolution carried.

Mb. Kino moved : ..

WhereaSj " It is the intention of the Government to have the
" proceedings of this meeting printed and attached to the previous
** minutes of the meetings held in St. John, September 21 and 22,
" 1897, for distribution throughout the Province ;

Therefore Hesolved^ ** That a number of copies (to be left to the
*' discretion of the Government) be sent to the Secretary-Treasurer
*' of each Town Council and of the County Council of each County
" in the Province for distribution by him throughout such Town and
« County."

Carried.

Moved by Mb. Bbtts, seconded by Mb. Wisb :

Reeolved^ " That the thanks of this meeting be tendered to the
*' Government for the encouragement they have shown the Associa-
" tion, and the material assistance they have rendered it in carrying
"on its work."

Carried.

The Convention then adjourned sine die.

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« .»

ROAD DRAINAGE.

By Isaac B. Potteh, President L.A. W.

k .vi

WHY DRAINAOE IS IMPORTANT — NO WELL DRAINED ROAD CAN BE LONG
MUDDY — AMOUNT OP RAINFALL — SIDE DITCHES; HOW TO MAKE THEM;
THE DITCH gauge; HOW TO MAKE AND USE IT — LOCATION OF SIDE

DITCHES UNDER DRAINS — LEVELING — STONE DRAINS AND TILE

drains; SELECTING TILE; SIZES TO BE USED; LAYING TILE; TOOLS
AND MATERIALS.

m I t

//> *

^^^

Important Country Road, near Albany, N. Y.

The road surface shown in this picture is drawn from a photograph. The
section of road shown in the foreground is drawn to show the condition of a
saturated eaxih roadway; the small channels and interstices between the
particles of earth being filled with water which cannot run ofif till drainage is
provided for.

(97)

ipi

PPPiiM^

mimm

I IW I LJ.)J > | fl|J l k.ytj y>

ROAD DRAINAGE.

' The first necessity of every good road is drainage* Dirty water
and watery dirt make bad going, and mud. is the greatest obstacle
to the travel and traffic of the farmer. Mnd is a mixture of dirt
and water. The dirt is always to be found in the roadway, and the
water, which comes in rain, and snow, and frost, softene it; horses
and wagons and narrow wheel tires knead it and mix it, and it soon
gets into so bad a condition that a fairly loaded wagon cannot be
hauled through it. We cannot prevent the coming of this water,
and it only remains for us to get rid of it, which can be speedily
done if we go about it in the right way. Very few people know
how great an amount of water falls upon a country road, and it
may surprise some of us to be told that on each mile of an
ordinary country highway anywhere in this country (three rods
wide), there falls each year an average of twenty-seven thousand
tons of water. Water is a heavy, limpid fluid, hard to confine and
easy to let loose. It is always seeking for a chance to run down
hill ; always trying to find its lowest level. In the ordinary country
dirt road the water seems to stick and stay as if there was no other
place for it ; and this is only because we have never given it a fair
opportunity to run out of the dirt and find its level in other places.
We cannot make a hard road out of soft mud, and no amount of
labor and machinery will make a good dirt road that will 8taj/
^oo<i unless some plan is adopted to get rid of the surplus water.
To state it briefly, every country road should have side ditches —
one on each side of the roadway, wherever possible.

«*

SIDE DITCHES.

Side ditches are necessary because the thousands of tons of
water which fall upon every mile of country road each, year in the
form of rain or snow should be carried away to some neighboring
creek or other water channel as fast as the rain falls and the snow melts,
so as to prevent its forming deep mud and destroying the surface of
the road. When the ground is frozen and a heavy rain or sudden
thaw occurs, the side ditch is the only means of getting rid of the
surplus water, for, no matter how sandy or porous the soil may be,
when filled with frost it is practically water tight, and the water
which falls or forms on the surface, must either remain there or be
carried away by surface ditches at the sides of the road.

ROAD DRAINAGE.

Figure 8.

Showing proper form of ditch to be dug along the side of the country road.
The sides are broad and flaring and have slopes of "If to 1;" that is the slope
extends outward a horizontal distance of H feet for each one foot of vertical
rise. The bottom of the ditch may be from six inches to one foot wide. The
gauge is provided with a plumb line, fastened to the upright strip, as shown in
the ngure, and by this means the upright piece is held vertical and the slopes
made to correspond with the edge of the diagonal strip.

The bottom of a side ditch
should have u gradually falling and
even grade or run, and broad,
flaring sides. Look at Figure 8.
It shows you the forms which a
side ditch should have. Its banks
will not cave in. It can be easily
cleared of snow, weeds and rub-
bish; the water will run into it
easily from each side and it is not
dangerous to wagons and foot trav-
ellers. It is, therefore, a much
better ditch than the one shown in
Figure 9, which represents the kind
of ditch very often dug along the
country roadside.

Figure 9.

Showing form of side ditch fre-
quently seen along country roads.
The sides of the ditch are too steep
and quickly "cave in" at sides and
edges, thus obstructing the flow of
water at the bottom. This form of
ditoh is also dangerous to travellers.

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ROAD DRAIKAGE.

THE DITCH GAUGE.

To make the ditch shown in Figui-e 1, and to make it with even,
flaring sides, so as to produce a workmanlike job, we had better use a
rough gauge like that shown in Figure 8.

This gauge is made to fit the proper cross section of a good surface
ditch, and by "fitting" it in the ditch as we go along, the shape of the
ditch will be kept uniform and correct. The gauge can be made of
any convenient strips of wood, and the dimensions are described in the
text below the figure.

^5-

LOCATION OF SIDE DITCHES.

If possible the side ditch should be about three feet from the edge
of the travelled roadway, and there should generally be a side ditch on
each side. If the travelled roadway is fourteen feet wide, there will
then be twenty feet of clear space between the ditches; if the travelled

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lOURE 10.

Mb. a. W. Cahpbrll, in his address in St. John, did not favor leavine a
shoulder, or three foot sodded space, between the road formation and the edge
of the ditch, preferring the section shown in Figure 1, thoueh with more
rounded crownmg than your secretary has shown. Figures 7 and 10 are added
as good ditching sections, when work is done by the road machine. Figure 10
is the same as Figure 7 except in that it shows mode of deepening the ditches
in passing a smaU rise of ground, and where extra depth is required to obtain
sufficient fall. On any roiad where two loads of hay are likely to meet, the edge
of the steeper ditch slope should not be less than ten feet from the centre of
the road.

CI'

roadway is sixteen fe6t wide, there will be twenty-two feet of clear
!:paoe. Now and then we shall find a place where the roadway is too
narrow for these figures, and in such cases we may have to get along
with a single ditch and a narrow roadway. The best rule is the rule of
common sense.

ROAD DRAINAGE.

101

Sometimes side ditches are entirely omitted and the shallow
gutters at the sides of the wagon way are depended upon to carry off
the surface water. This form of construction is shown in Figure 11.
These gutters sometimes serve a good purpose, especially when made
in regular shape and with good grade (as can be done with a good road
machine), but they are likely to be clogged and destroyed by passing
wagons, and for this reason alone it is better to make one or more
separate side ditches when possible. When the highway space is too
narrow to admit of the use of a side ditch, and in fact, in all cases, it
is important to keep the angle ditches at the edge of the roadway clean
and smooth by cutting out the angle and smoothing the surface; using
a road machine and roller if these can be had. The work of a road
machine in cleaning out an angle ditch is shown in Figure 6. On this
point more will be said in the next chapter.

Common side ditches catch surface water and surface water alone.
When the surface of the roadway becomes rough and rutty by the
passing of wagons, the ruts and low places hold the water and prevent
its passage into the side ditches, and although thebe ditches carry most
of the water which falls, there is often enough left in the roadway to
create deep mud and produce much harm. In spring the frozen ground
prevents the water from passing downward into the soil, and it
remains to form mud on the surface.

Side ditches should be kept clear of weeds, grass, alders and all
sorts of material that will tend to clog the ditch and stop the flow of
water. They should be regularly examined and the greatest care
taken not only to keep the ditches open, but a free and unobstructed
drainage from the roadway into the surface ditches should also be
maintained.

UNDER DRAINS.

No way has yet been found of getting entirely rid of this mud,
but nearly every dirt road can be greatly improved and a practically
dry road obtained nearly the year round by the use of one or more lines
of under drains. It is safe to say that there is scarcely a dirt road in
the country which cannot be so improved by under draining as to
yield benefits to the farmers a hundred times greater in value than
the cost of the drain itself.

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102

ROAD DRAINAOB.

Few people understand what a
different kinds of soil. It has been
a cubic foot of sand will retain from

Figure II.

Showing "angle ditch" at side of
roadway being cleared and opened by
the use of a road machine. These
machines are great savers of time,
labor and money, and will open
ditches, clean out weeds and rubbish,
and give proper shape to a country
road quickly and more uniformly
than can be done by hand work.

In most soils this water evaporates
very slowly and we cannot prevent
the formation of mud except by
drainage.

Many miles of road are on
low, flat lands and on springy
soils, and are, for many weeks in
the year, underlaid by a wet
sub-soil. Whenever frost heaves
the roadway, and in coming out
makes it bad for any length of
time, it is a sign that it needs
underdraining. In all such cases,
and, indeed, in every case, where
the nature of the ground is not
such as to insure quick drainage,

great amount of water is held by
found by actual experiment that
twenty-seven to thirty-two pounds
of water; loamy clay, about forty-
one pounds; stiff clay, forty-five
pounds, and "humus" (soil formed
of decomposed animal or vegetable
matter), over fifty pounds. In
other words, the weight of water
in a cubic foot of humus, is more
than one and eight-tenths the
weight of the same earth in a
practically dry condition, while
the weight of water in a cubic
foot of loamy clay is about one-
half the weight of the entire cube.

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FincRE 1?

Showing form of under drain made
with field stones. The ditch is first
dug and carefully graded at the bot-
tom ; then large flat stones are carefully
placed at the bottom so as to form a
clear passage of good size for the flow
of water. The ditch is then half filled
with rough field stones (with small
sizes on top), and on these a layer of
sod is placed with the grass side down-
ward. The rest of the ditch is filled
with earth. If sod is not to be had,
fine brush, hay or straw may be used
instead.

ROAD DBAIKAOE.

103

the road may be vastly benefited by under drainage. An under drain
clears the soil of surplus water, dries it, warms it and makes impossible
the formation of deep, heavy, frozen crusts which are found in every
undrained road when the severe Winter weather follows the heavy

Fall rains. This frost
** ** causes nine-tenths of

the difficulties of tra-
vel in the time of
sudden or long con-
tinued thaws.

Examine the pic-
tures on pages and
cover. Each shows a
variety of ailments,
but the chief trouble
in each case is a lack
of draina-re. Thou-
sands of miles of these
impassable roads may
be found for weeks at a
time. Drainage is the

Figure 13 (added by Secretary).

Showing another form of under drain made with
field stones where flag l^ke stones are easily obtained.
The drain is filled by two flags {h h) set up against
its sides and meeting at the bottom, kept apart
above by stones of any shape large enough not to
fall in and obstruct the water way (g) ; above that fundamental necessity,
by a layer of stone or clean eravel, then earth above rr,i_ . j

(/) instead of stone, as shown. There can be no good

road without it.
Under drains are not expensive. On the contrary, they are cheap
and are easily made, and if made in a substantial way and according
to the rules of common sense, a good under drain will last for ages.

Use the best tools and materials you can get; employ them as well as
you know how and wait results with a clear conscience. Slim fagots
of wood bound together and laid lengthwise at the bottom of a care-
fully graded drain ditch will answer fairly well if stone or drain tile
CAnnot be had, and will be of infinite benefit to a dirt road laid on

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ROAD DRAINAGE.

springy soils. If the drain cannot be laid in the centre of the road
without seriously interfering with the passage of wagons, the ditch
can be dug on one side of the roadway and between the roadway and
the ditch. It should not be less than four feet deep, and this depth
will, in most cases, be about right. If we decide to use field stones,
we should select flat ones to form the opening or channel at the bottom
of the drain, and they should be laid with care, so as to leave a good
sized opening, as shown in Figure 7. The method of building this
drain is described briefly in the text under the figure.

HOW A DRAIN WORKS.

If we put a dry sponge in an open dish and place it outdoors in a
heavy shower, the sponge becomes filled with water and we say it is
"soaked" or saturated. If we then make a hole in the bottom of the

FlOUKE 14.

Showing how the soil under the road is drained by an under drain. This
figure shows the ordinary form of roadway made by a road machine, with no
side ditches except the angle ditches formed by the blade of the machine. The
drainage water is drawn out of the soil by the tile drain at the left, and the top
line of saturated earth is lowered to about the level of the tile. The drain may
be put either at the side or the centre of the road. It works about the same in
either position. It should be on that side of the road on which the natural
surface of the ground is the higher.

dish, the water at once finds an outlet and a large portion of it runs
out ; the sponge soon Ijecomes lighter in color and lighter in weight
and, if exposed to the sun, will quickly dry. Nearly every soil is
made up of a large number of particles filled with pores and separated
by very small channels, and these pores and channels absorb water
just as. the sponge does, and will hold it for a long time unless there is
an outlet »t the bottom through which the water may run out. This

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ROAD DRAINAGE.

105

outlet is provided by an under drain. The water ia heavy and limpid;
its natural course is downward; it enters the drain tile through the
openings between the different lengths of tile (the "joints") and runs
along down the grade inside the pipe till it reaches the outlet.

Each little channel between the particles of earth acts as a feeder
to the drain and each drain will clear the earth of drainage water
down to about the level of the tile. The water cannot leak out
through the open joints of the tile because the earth below and at the
sides of the tile is already completely filled with water and cannot
contain more, and as long as the channel of the drain is not entirely
filled with water, the soil will continue to empty its drainage water
into the tile. Figures 10 and 14 show the way in which an earth
road is drained by one or more lines of tile.

LEVELLING.

The use of a simple drainage level is easily learned, and the road-
maker who can employ a level in his work is certain to have the best

results. It will aid him in fixing
and staking out grades for the
roadway, for surface ditches and
for underdrains, rapidly and ac-
curately, and besides insuring a
better and more permanent job, it
will be a source of satisfaction to
him in every branch of his work.
The cheaper forms of levels sold
by dealers in surveyors' instru-
ments will generally answer every
purpose. There is now in the
market a special "drainage level"
which, by an ingenious mechanical
device, is made to indicate grade at
each point of the ditch or roadway without requiring the roadmaker to
"figure it out." The appearance of the grade level is shown in Figure
15. The price ranges from twelve dollars upward. Full directions
for using the level is contained in a handbook supplied by the maker,
and it is scarcely worth while to include them here.

THE DRAIN DITCH.

Before beginning to dig, lay out both sides of the ditch by two
lines of stakes set 25 feet apart lengthwise with the ditch. Do this
carefully. For a depth of four feet, in stiff clay soils, a width of 16 to
20 inches at the top of the ditch will be about right if narrow drain
tools are used. If any part of the ditch is deeper than four feet, widen
the top in proportion to the increase of depth. Use sharp narrow spades
for digging and cutting the sides of the ditch, and if you have much
underdraining to do get a set of draining tools, or at least a ditching
spade, a tile spade, and a "draining scoop" or finishing scoop to use in

Figure 16. — Harris's Grade Level.

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106

ROAD DRAINAGE.

shaping the bottom of the ditch to fit the tile. These, with a level, and
careful work will be enough. If the sides of the ditch
I show signs of caving in, brace them with short pieces of

J board or plank and cross brace as shown in Figure 18.

iJ Mile's improved

Iv .^Htet. ^ ■ II, ■■ Draining Scoop

for removing
earth from the
bottom of the
ditch and pre-
paring a bed for
Figure 17. the tile drain.

Begin at the lower or down stream end of the
ditch so that water will run out as you go along with
your work. Do not open too great a length of ditch
at a time; put your tile in place as you go along and
cover it. It will then help to keep the ditch dry and
will make your work easier. Be very careful to keep an
exact grade as you go along : a succession of humps and
hollows will cause your drain to clog and will in time
ruin it. ,

GRADE OF DRAINS.

If possible give the bottom of your drain ditch a fall of
at least six inches for each hundred feet of length. A
fall of three inches will carry the water, but with light
grades extreme care must be used in forming the ditch
bottom to exact grade in every part, and the lighter
you make the grade the greater will be the danger of
a sluggish flow of water and the clogging of the drain.

SIZE OF DRAIN.

If poles, withes, or faggots are used (as they sometimes are when
stone and tile are scarce or too expensive) they should be laid length-
wise in the bottom of the ditch to a height of not less than six or eight
inches. The ditch should be six inches wide at the bottom, and the
poles, withes or fagots should be carefully covered with sod, with the
grass side down, before the ditch is filled. If stone is used, select flat
pieces to form the opening, and make the cross section of channel at
least four inches in smallest dimension. If tile are used, the proper
size will depend on the length of the drain and the condition of the
ground. If the drain is long, the soil wet and "springy," and the
grade light, a five inch tile will be about right, and whether one or
two lines of tile should be used must depend on the judgment of the
roadmaker. Under ordinary conditions the following rule may be used :

For drains not longer than 1,200 feet use a 3 inch tile.
For drains 1,200 to 2,000 feet long use a 4 inch tile.

Figure 16.
Finishing Scoop
for shaping bot-
tom of drain
ditch- to proper
grade and of cor-
rect form to re-
ceive tile.

BOAD DRAINAGK

107

Beyond 1,200 feet, towards the lower end use 4 inch tile, and so
on. If the fall is less than what is desirable, the size of drain should
be increased.

Wherever it is possible to avoid it, the rate of fall should not
decrease, but when it must necessarily do so, and there is any consider-
able difference, a silt box should be placed at the point of change.
For drains 2,500 to 4,000 feet long use a 5 inch tile.
Remember the rule, that double the diameter gives four times
the capacity. A four inch (i-ound) tile will pass more than four
times as much water as a two inch tile, because
it has an opening four times as large and
an inner surface (which obstructs the flow of
water by friction) of less than four times the inner
surface of the two inch tile. A three inch tile
will pass about thirty-five gallons of water per
minute when laid on a grade having six inches
fall per hundred feet. But a larger drain is never
out of place in a roadway, and it is better in some
than the smaller one. It admits more freely the
warm air in spring and hastens the thawing of
the frost and the drying of the road.

cJsl^on of ditch QUALITY OF TILES,

with traced plank sup- Avoid soft, underburned tiles, which can

ports to prevent c.iving generally be detected by their pale color and by

the soft, dead, "punky " sound given out when
they are struck by a steel blade or hammer. They are likely to be-
come softer when saturated by water, and to yield to the pressure of
earth or become destroyed by frost. Avoid, also, over-burned tiles,
which, though often extremely hard, are generally shrunken, more or
less warped, and difficult to lay and to match joints one with another.
Select straight, hard tiles of a strong, bright cherry color, and see that
they give out a clear, ringing sound when struck by a trowel or
piece of steel. All tiles should be
assorted before using, and the least
perfect pieces should be put in the up
stream or inlet end of the drain.

LAYING DRAIN TILES.

If your drain fails in a single spot
it fails entirely, and no drain is better
than its worst laid tile. The grade -
cannot be guessed at or carelessly fol-
lowed, and in most cases it will be
best to employ a skilled djtcher to do
the work. A taut line should be
stretched lengthwise with the ditch and
over its centre, and this line should be exactly parallel with grade of the

FlOURB 19.

Workman at work in drain ditoh:
taking out bottom with draining
Booop and laying tiles as described
in tne text.

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108

ROAD DRAINAGE.

bottom of the drain and about seven feet above it. This being done.
Dr. Manly Miles, in his excellent little work on "Land Draining,"* gives
the following directions, than which the author can suggest no better :

"The ditch having been dug to within eight or ten inches of the
bottom, and the line properly adjusted over the middle of the ditch,
two men may begin the work of finishing the excavation and laying
the tiles, which we will suppose are for a four-inch main, beginning at
the outlet. A level-headed boy, or the proprietor as superintendent if
he does not prefer to lay the tiles himself, will facilitate the work by
managing the measuring rod, and performing any other service that
may bie required, from time to time, outside the ditch.

"One of the men standing in the ditch, with his face towards the
'outlet, with the six-inch draining spade slices off the earth, or loosens
it to nearly the required depth, moving backwards as the work
progresses, while the tile-layer stands facing him and throws out the
loose earth with a shovel scoop, or the draining scoop, Figure 1 7, as
may be most convenient. When the excavation has been finished for
a distance of three or four feet, the tile-layer planes a groove in the
bottom of the ditch with the draining scoop, to the required grade, as
gauged with the measuring rod, and lays two or three tiles in it with
their ends closely in contact, and covers them with five or six inches
of earth, on which he then stands, packing it around the tiles as he
proceeds with his work. The next section of the ditch is then
prepared for three or four tiles by a repetition of the process of
excavation — planing a groove for the tiles — laying them and covering
with earth, to form a platform on which the tile layer advances, and
the same routine is again repeated.

" By following this system, it will be seen that the feet of the
workmen are not within eight or ten inches of the bottom of the ditch,
the man with the draining spade standing on the earth to be excavated,
and the tile-layer on his underdrained platform, as represented in
Figure 19, is exempt from the annoyances of mud and water that are
usually associated with the work of draining. If the bottom of the
ditch is soft, and water is running over it, the man with the draining
spade will be standing in mud, which will interfere with his efficiency
and the general progress of the work. This can, however, be obviated
in a very simple way, that more than repays the extra trouble it
involves. A one and one-half or two-inch pine plank about six feet
long, and a little narrower than the bottom of the ditch, is laid down
for him to stand on. Near the upper end of the plank a hole should
be bored, in which a small rope is tied, its free end being thrown over
the edge of the ditch to keep it out of the mud. With this the plank
can be pulled back from time to time, as may be required."

COST OF TIIiE DRAINS.

Of course, no exact figures can be g^en to show the cost of
laying underdrains, since the expense will vary with the cost of labor,
the difficulties of digging, the size of tiles used and other items.
•PnMMMd hy Obakok JnoD Cumpamy, N«w York, ia08.

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