Report of State Highway Engineer. 49 



engine, the convict cage, cooking tent and guard outfit. The crew 

 of a team, two guards, an engineer and 12 prisoners with an out- 

 put of about 80 c. y's. per day at a cost to the county of about 

 $15.00 per day. The convict outfit does only the crushing, the 

 road district doing everything else. So successful has it proven 

 that the demand for it from different districts is great enough 

 that two or three such outfits could be kept busy. The cost to 

 the county is so small that the taxes on the increased valuation of 

 property caused by the improvement will pay the county a good 

 interest upon the capital invested. 



The work of a large number of our county highway engineers 

 cannot be too highly praised. In some counties it has required 

 the man to be philosopher, orator, politician, economist and engi- 

 neer. It has been a hard position to fill, and even with a dis- 

 couraging season the roads have been improved. The haphazard 

 v\^ay of attending to the road interests is fast disappearing, and is 

 superceded by order and system under the supervision of the 

 county highway engineer. There is a saving in handling and buy- 

 ing tools, implements and materials; there is better and more 

 permanent work and better maintenance. More hedges are 

 trimmed, more poll-tax collected, and men and teams are worked 

 to better advantage. Small things, as opening ditches, placing 

 culverts in the right place or abandoning others, putting fences on 

 the established lines or clearing the right of way of obstacles have 

 been attended to. Many things which any sensible man knows 

 how to do, have never before been done simply because there was 

 nobody whose business it was to do them. This is the result of 

 supervision, and in every county where it has had a fair, honest 

 trial the results are good. 



The roads of the State have been gradually improving for 

 years along with the natural growth and progress. But the year 

 just past shows more advance and improvement in the roads than 

 any other one year. With the plans already made by the county 

 engineers for next year's work the end of another year will see 

 the most decided advancement in road improvement that has been 

 seen in any other one year. The efforts of the State highway 

 department shall be for the improvement of the roads as a system 

 and not for an isolated road here and there. In order to accom- 

 plish this, it is necessary : 



1st. To give whatever assistance we can to any place or 

 community showing a spirit for improvement and a desire to im- 



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