n; the hauls from the railroad siding
averaged about one and three-quarter miles; price of teams in summer,
when farmers were busy, about $3.50 per day. In preparation for road
construction there were several hills to be cut from one to three feet;
causeways and embankments to be made over wet and swampy ground. For
this latter work the property holders and others interested along the
road agreed to furnish teams, the township paying for laborers. The next
difficulty was the kind of a road to build. As the width was fixed at
nine feet as a part of the conditions for bonding, there seemed only one
way left to apply the economics--that was, in the depth of the roads.

On the dry, sandy soils I put the macadam six inches deep; this depth
was applied to about six miles of road. On roads where the heaviest
travel would come the roadbed was made eight inches deep. On soils
having springs and on embankments over causeways the depth was ten
inches with stone foundation, known as telford. Where springs existed,
they were cut off by underdrains.

It had been the practice of engineers in their specifications to call
for the best trap rock for all the stone construction. As this rock is
hard to crush and difficult to be transported some seventy or eighty
miles to this part of New Jersey, I found that in order to construct all
of the road from this best material it would take more money than the
bonds would provide; so I had half of the depth which forms the
foundation made of good dry sedimentary rock. Of course, in this there
is considerable slate, but the breaking is not nearly so costly as the
breaking of syenite or Jersey trap rock, and there was a saving of
thirty per cent. As the surface of the road had to take all the wear, I
required the best trap rock for this purpose.

Since the construction of these roads in Chester Township, roads are now
built under the state-aid act by county officials and paid for as
follows: One-third by the state, ten per cent by the adjoining property
holders, and the balance (56-2/3 per cent) by the county. The roads
constructed under this act are generally leading roads and those mostly
traversed by heavy teams. They are constructed similarly to those in
Chester Township, excepting that they are generally twelve feet wide and
from ten to twelve inches deep. Many of them have a telford foundation,
which is now put down at about the same price as macadam, and meets most
of the conditions better