OCR Text |
Show Oil Prevents Sand Dunes Shifting on New Roads One serious obstacle to Improved road building, particularly In the Northwest, has been the shifting sand dunes which cover up a highway soon after It Is completed, and to remedy this evil the bureau of public roads of the Department of Agriculture has resorted to the spraying of the sand with oil. Fifty-three miles of construction con-struction of the Columbia river highway high-way from The Dalles eastward lie through sandy country in many places of a volcanic ash as light as flour. As fast as cuts are opened up and fills made In this light soil the wind whips out the fill slopes and sand dunes creep into rock cuts, completely blocking block-ing the road. Oil Is the only agency yet found to stop the trouble. The equipment used to spray the crude oil consists of two supply tanks, or drums, In which the oil Is carried.' from the storage tank at the railway siding, and a tractor, which draws the oiling rig and supplies the steam through a hose to the compressor tank, which is carried on a trailer. The oil is heated by the steam and forced through a hose with a nozzle, consisting of a half-inch pipe. The steam atomizes the oil and sends It In a fine spray for 100 feet or more, depending de-pending on whuther the spray is projected pro-jected in the direction of the wind or against it. For obvious reasons, spraying spray-ing is usually carried on in the direction di-rection of the wind. Where sufficient oil Is used this means of controlling the sand dunes is very effective, and It is believed that the cost will not be excessive.. |