The King road drag (also known as the Missouri road drag and the split log road drag) was a

road grader A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, motor grader, or simply a blade, is a form of heavy equipment with a long blade used to create a flat surface during grading. Although the earliest models were towed behind horses, and la ...

implement for grading

dirt road A dirt road or track is a type of unpaved road not paved with asphalt, concrete, brick, or stone; made from the native material of the land surface through which it passes, known to highway engineers as subgrade material. Dirt roads are suitable ...

s that revolutionized the maintenance of the dirt roads in the early 1900s. It was invented by

David Ward King David Ward King (October 27, 1857 – February 9, 1920) was an American farmer and inventor of the King road drag. His invention, which was the horse-drawn forerunner of the modern road grader, had a great influence on American life because his in ...

, who went by "D. Ward King" and who was a farmer whose farm was in Holt Township, near Maitland, Missouri. It started out as two parallel logs with the cut side facing the front separated three feet by rigid separators and pulled by a team of two horses. Variations of the two-plank drag design but pulled by trucks or tractors are still used today to smooth the dirt

infield Infield is a sports term whose definition depends on the sport in whose context it is used. Baseball In baseball, the diamond, as well as the area immediately beyond it, has both grass and dirt, in contrast to the more distant, usually grass-c ...

s of

baseball diamond A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

s. In this simple design, the first log would remove clods and the second log would smooth the road. The logs were staggered so that dirt would be pushed to the center to create a crown so that water would rush off. The very simple design replaced the old practice of dragging a road with a single log which left the surface unrepaired and rut filled. It also made it possible for farmers to improve roads near their homes without having to wait for government graders. D. Ward King of

Maitland, Missouri Maitland is a city in Holt County, Missouri, United States. The population was 276 at the 2020 census. At one point the city billed itself as the "Bluegrass Mecca"—home to the largest bluegrass farm in the world. History Maitland was platted ...

requested a patent for the process in 1907 and received Patent 884,497 in 1908. He widely publicized the process in a

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

''Farmers' Bulletin'' #321 in 1908 under the title
The use of the split-log drag on earth roads
' An important component of the grading process was that it had to occur when the road was wet. This invention was the horse drawn forerunner of the modern day road grader. It was a sensation in its day. States passed laws requiring its use. The design was so simple that King did not enforce his patent rights. However he did tour the country explaining to how to use it. He also wrote articles such as one that appeared in the May 7, 1910 issue of the

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

entitled “Good Roads Without Money.” King would further enhance his invention with his patent 1,102,671 in 1914 which included four bars and two triangular scrapers. Before the King Road Drag, dirt roads turned into a quagmire when they were wet—especially in the winter. The widespread use of the King Road Drag came along during the

Good Roads Movement The Good Roads Movement occurred in the United States between the late 1870s and the 1920s. It was the rural dimension of the Progressive movement. A key player was the United States Post Office Department. Once a commitment was made for Rural Fre ...

, driven by bicyclists and later by automobile drivers. Automobiles benefitted since

Macadam Macadam is a type of road construction, pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam around 1820, in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the o ...

roads were rapidly destabilized by cars, which sucked the cementing dust out of smooth macadam roads. Solid roads meant people could use their automobiles on the roads between cities. Solid rural roads also made possible reliable rural mail delivery, which did much to promote commerce in the United States between city based businesses and the rural population. For instance, they allowed

Sears, Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

to start sending out its catalogues to small towns and farms and thereby vastly increase the size of its customer base.Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, December 6, 1999, ''Don't believe the Internet hype: the real E-commerce revolution happened off-line.'
Historic Importance of King Road Drag
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External links

How to build and use a King road dragTheory and use of the drag

References

{{reflist Road construction