44 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Northward from the town ran the Monterey road, and for two miles it was 

 as wretched a piece of sand as this state afiPorded. I will not except any 

 equal distance in the whole state that ever came under my observation. 

 Besides being so sandy, it was very hilly, making passage over it slow, 

 toilsome, and expensive of both time and material. It was the dread of 

 everyone obliged to traverse it. One mile of the two was within the village, 

 the other one in Allegan township. Work began by the town-meeting 

 appropriating $2,000 for the grading of the second mile, the condition 

 being that the graveling should be done by contribution of the work and 

 cash. It required all the appropriation to grade that mile. Meanwhile 

 the village graded and graveled its mile at a cost of $2,500, the work in 

 each case being done by the day, under supervision of the officials, 

 perhaps not the most economical way. A subscription paper was circu- 

 lated in the village, and several hundred dollars raised in that way, while 

 the farmers contributed work of men and teams, the contributors receiving 

 the benefit of hire for the paid labor, so far as possible. The result was 

 the completion of two miles of excellent road the first season — the only 

 piece of thoroughly built roadway in the county. The total cost of the 

 two miles, contributed labor included, was not far either way from $5,500. 



All the work here referred to was done under supervision of Mr. 

 Claek Collins, highway commissioner, who was aided and advised by the 

 supervisor, Mr. A. E. Calkins. 



Very wisely, the officials determined that, as this road would be in great 

 measure the pattern for other improved highways in the county, it should 

 be made on a generous scale, so the grade was made thirty feet wide, and 

 although there were numerous and good-size hills, the ascent nowhere 

 exceeds seven feet in one hundred. The gravel was spread twenty feet 

 wide, and one foot thick, a trifle thicker in the center and thinner at the 

 edges. Tile for drainage was laid wherever necessary. So great was the 

 satisfaction of the public with the results of this experiment, that the 

 work was continued the next season, and yearly to this day. The adjoin- 

 ing township of Monterey took up the work at the line, and has car- 

 ried it on northward, until now nearly eight miles of the best of graveled 

 turnpike is established. It never breaks up, no matter what the weather. 

 One may trot along upon it when diverging roads are all but impassable 

 for mud, or when the heats of summer have made the sand nearly as deep 

 and tiresome. But this is not all. We had other roads nearly as bad. 

 The policy of taking one of them in hand each year, or a portion of one, 

 was continued, and the village adopted the same policy with the connect- 

 ing streets. No money was wasted in temporary repairs, save such as 

 could not possibly be avoided. This has cost the township from $3,000 to 

 $6,000 yearly, but there is no complaint that it has been a bad investment. 

 On the contrary, sentiment in favor of continuing the work is stronger 

 than ever. The township has adopted the policy of grading any piece of 

 road which the farmers chiefly using it would gravel. The work of gra:v- 

 eling is generally done in the lull of farm work between wheat harvest 

 and seeding. 



There are now in the township, exclusive of the village, fourteen miles 

 of completed road, with an additional three miles graded. The grade is 

 generally like the original piece, so far as degree of ascent is concerned, 

 but in some parts the gravel is sixteen feet wide instead of twenty. 

 Nowhere, however, is the gravel less than one foot in depth. The average 



