MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



Best Road Material 



OUR HOBBY. 



Crushed Granite and Grave! 



SCREENED TO SUIT. 

 WRITE US. 



THE HENRY MERCIAN CO., 



43-44 Peninsular Bank Building, 

 Phone Main 6251 DETROIT. 



ROAD BUILDERS WANTED. 



Many different localities throughout Michi- 

 gan are writing the State Highway Depart- 

 ment, asking for names and addresses of con- 

 tractors and practical road builders who can 

 and will enter into a contract, or will take 

 charge of and superintend the building of 

 state roads. All persons who desire to make 

 contracts, or wish to be employed as super- 

 intendents, should send their names and au- 

 dresses to the State Highway Department, 

 Lansing, Mich. 



RECENT GOOD 



ROADS LEGISLATION 



The legislatures of a majority of the states 

 have been in session during the past few months, 

 and most of them have been considering or have 

 actually adopted one or more road laws. The 

 majority of the b Us which have already come 

 to our attention deal principally with questions 

 of local taxation and administration ; but some 

 of the states have passed general laws, a brief 

 review of which should interest the readers of this 

 magazine. 



The legislatures of Tennessee and Missouri 

 have passed laws which provide for state high- 

 way commissions and for state aid in the im- 

 provement of the public highways. 1 he Wis- 

 consin legislature also is considering the advisa- 

 bility of adopting a similar law, and it is ex 

 pected that state aid or state highway commis- 

 sion bills will be passed by it and two or throe 

 other states before their adjournment. With 

 Tennessee 'and Missouri there are now tvveiUy 

 four states which have state highway commis- 

 sions, or which aid in the improvement of the 

 public roads. 



The Tennessee law was approved April 15, 

 1907. It provides for a state highway commis- 

 sioner with two assistants. The commissioner 

 and his assistants must be selected, one for each 

 section of the state that is, one from east, 'one 

 from middle and one from west Tennessee. The 

 commissioner is to receive a salary of $2,500 per 

 annum, while his assistants are to receive $2,000 

 per annum each. The bill provides that the 

 state shall improve roads in every county, but as 

 it does not provide that the counties are to pay 

 a portion of the cost of such roads, it is as- 

 sumed that the state proposes to pay the whole 

 cost. The roads to be improved are to be 

 selected by four members of the county court of 

 the respective counties, who are to be aided by 

 the state highway commissioner or his represen- 

 tative. 



The sum of $500,000 per annum is appropriated 

 out of which to pay for the building of the roads 

 and the general and incidental expenses of the 

 commission. The money so appropriated is to 

 be apportioned among the counties in proportion 

 to area. 



Secretary of State John W. Morton, says that 

 the bill will not be effective until next year, as 

 the money appropriated by the act can be avail- 

 able only after all other state expenses have 

 been paid for this 5'ear. He further states that 

 the law might not go into effect even then, on 

 account of the fact that there would probably 

 be no balance left in the state treasury for this 

 purpose. 



It is hoped that by the time the bill does go 

 into effect it will be so amended as to provide 

 that the county governments pay a portion of the 

 cost, as it is believed that every county in Tennes- 

 see would be willing to meet the state half way 

 in this work. 



The Missouri legislature passed several bills 

 between March 15 and March 30, 1907, provid- 

 ing, among other things, for the creation of a 

 state highway fund, for the appointment of a 

 stats highway fund, for the appointment of a 

 gineer and for county road overseers. Copies 

 of the bills relating to state aid and to state and 



county highway engineers are printed in a sepa- 

 rate column. This gives Missouri practically a 

 new system of road administration. If these 

 bills are judiciously carried out all road work 

 in the state will hereafter be done under com- 

 petent supervision ; careful records will be kept 

 of all work done, and monthly reports of ex- 

 penditure and work done in every township in 

 the state will be filed each month with the 

 county highway engineer. 



A state highway engineer is to be appointed 

 by the State Board of Agriculture at a salary 

 of $2,400 per annum. The State Board of Agri- 

 culture may appoint one or more deputy state 

 highway engineers and fix their salaries. The 

 sum of $12,000 was appropriated from which to 

 pay -the salary and expense of the state highway 

 engineer and his assistants. The state engineer 

 must be a graduate in engineering and must be 

 well qualified by education and training to build 

 roads and bridges in the best and most economi- 

 cal manner. He and his assistants are to make 

 plans and specifications for state and county road 

 work and give advice regarding road matters 

 whenever they may be requested to do so. 



The county courts of each county are author- 

 ized to appoint a county highway engineer who 

 shall have charge of all roads and road expendi- 

 ture in their respective counties. The salaries 

 of the county engineers are fixed by the county 

 courts and must not be less than $300 nor more 

 than $2,000 per annum, and they must have a 

 practical knowledge of road and bridge building 

 The county engineer of each county is to pre- 

 pare each year a comolete map of his county 

 showing all roads, the boundaries of road dis- 

 tricts, the character of improvements already made 

 and those contemplated. These maps are to be 

 used by the county courts in laying out future 

 work. 



One road overseer is to be aooointed by the 

 county court for each road distance in each town- 

 ship in every county. These overseers are to 

 receive a compensation of not less than $2 nor 

 more than $3 per day for time actually employed. 

 They are subject to the direction of the county 

 engineer and are to report all road work and all 

 expenditure in money and labor to him monthly. 



In addition to arranging for a complete sys- 

 tem of organization, the legislature of Missouri 

 also adopted a state aid bill. This bill provides 

 that whenever a county, the districts or the cit- 

 izens thereof, either jointly or separately agrees 

 to pay at least half the cost of a road the sute 

 will pay the other half. This work will be done 

 under the direction of the state highway en 

 gineer. and his deputies in co-operation with the 

 county engineers. An appropriation of $500,000 

 was made to pay the state's share of the cost of 

 this work. This money is to be expended in 

 the various counties in proportion to the as- 

 sessed valuation of property. 



Another appropriation was made out of the 

 road fund arising from the sale of transfer 

 stamps by the state auditor. This money is to be 

 distributed by the state auditor to the various 

 counties and the city of St. Louis on the same 

 basis as the school fund. It is to be placed to 

 the credit of the road fund of the various coun- 

 ties and the street fund of St. Louis, and ex- 

 pended for roads in such manner as now pro- 

 vided by law. In counties acting under town- 



ship organization the funds are to be further dis- 

 tributed and expended by each township. 



The sum of $475.198.13 was also appropriated 

 by the legislature of Missouri to the several coun- 

 ties for road and bridge purposes. This money 

 was paid by the national government to Missouri 

 in settlement of war claims, and has been de- 

 posited in the state treasury. Each county and 

 the city of St. Louis is to receive an equal share. 

 The sum received by St. Louis is to be expended 

 on streets. In the counties where the road and 

 bridge work is done by townships, the money is 

 to be so divided and distributed that each town- 

 ship will receive an equal share. 



Advocates of the split-log drag will be pleased 

 to know the legislature of Illinois has recently 

 passed 'a bill which provides that the local road 

 authorities may enter into contract with land 

 owners, or with tenants living along the roads, 

 or with other persons for the maintenance of 

 earth roads by the use of the split-log drag. The 

 rate to be paid for this work must not exceed 

 $1 per mile for each dragging during the months 

 of December, January, February and March, and 

 75 cents for each dragging during the rest of 

 the year. The roads are to be dragged to a 

 width of twenty feet, where practicable, and the 

 work is to be done under the direction of the 

 township highway commissioner. Persons using 

 the roads immediately after they have been 

 .dragged are required to drive outside of the 

 'dragged portion until the road has either partly 

 dried or frozen. Persons violating these nro- 

 visions of the law are subject to a fine. Good 

 Roads Magazine. 



BAD AXE WAKING UP. 



A Bad Axe business man who has recently 

 been over the roads leading into Caseville, 

 Pigeon, Elkton, Ubly and Harbor Beach, comes 

 home with the comment that they are all infinite- 

 ly better than the roads leading into the city of 

 Bad Axe. 



It is claimed, and apparently with justice, that 

 the country roads to the Huron county seat are 

 the worst in the county and have had" the least 

 work done on them. That this state of affairs 

 is a serious detriment and drawback to a market 

 town and trading center goes without question. 



Bad Axe merchants are beginning to realize 

 that they are losing a lot of trade because of 

 bad roads, and a good roads movement is now 

 under way which promises to result in better 

 highways in the vicinity of tliat village. 



A few years ago there was a bad piece of road 

 leading into the live village of Marlette, Sanilac 

 count}-. Often the farmers had to go a long 

 ways around to avoid this road in getting to 

 Marlette or go to some other market. The lat- 

 ter they often did. Finally Marlette woke up 

 to its loss, raised $1,000 among its business men, 

 improved that road and in a very short time more 

 than had their money back in trade and business 

 which on account of that road used to go else- 

 where. It was the unanimous opinion in Mar- 

 lette that $1,000 was never donated and spent 

 to better advantage. 



The board of supervisors of Ingham county 

 have granted the petitions of Lansing city. East 

 Lansing, Lansing township, Delhi, Alaiedon and 

 Meridian townships to submit a proposition to 

 the taxpayers for good roads. 



