MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



THREE MILLIONS FOR ROADS 



Amount Spent in 1904 Upon 69,296 Miles of 

 Public Highways. 



Logan Waller Page, director of the office of 

 Public Roads of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, has issued a circular upon the public 

 roads in Michigan. The circular covers the 

 year 1904 and is valuable as showing the mil- 

 eage and expenditures in that year. 



It shows that in 1904 there were 69,296 miles 

 of public* road in the state of Michigan. Of 

 this mileage, 6,777 miles were surfaced with 

 gravel and 248X> miles with stone, making in 

 all 7,025}/2 miles of improved road. It will be 

 seen from these figures that 10.1 per cent of 

 the roads has been improved. It will be no- 

 ticed from the table that some of the counties 

 have an unusually large mileage of gravel 

 roads. This is due principally to the fact that 

 these counties are well provided with gravel 

 suitable for road building. By comparing the 

 total road mileage with the area of the state 

 it appears that there were 1.2 miles of public 

 road per square mile of area. A comparison 

 of mileage with population shows that there 

 was 1 mile to every 34 inhabitants, and 1 mile 

 of improved road to every 344 inhabitants. 

 Sources of Revenue. 



The commissioners of highways of each 

 township may levy anually for road purposes a 

 labor tax of not to exceed one day's labor 

 upon each $100 of taxable valuation of prop- 

 erty, and a money tax of not to exceed 50 cents 

 on ea^h $100 of taxable valuation. The labor 

 tax may be paid in money at the rate of $1 

 per day for each day assessed, or may be 

 worked out by a substitute unless the qualified 

 voters of the township have decided that the 

 same shall be paid in cash. In townships in 

 which the labor tax is paid in cash, the rate 

 is fixed by the electors at the annual township 

 meeting and must not exceed one-half of 1 

 per cent (5 mills on the dollar) on the aggre- 

 gate assessed valuation of the property of the 

 township. 



Every male inhabitant residing outside of 

 incorporated cities and towns, above the age 

 of 21 and under the age of 50, unless by law 

 exempt, is required to perform one day's work 

 annually on the public roads in his district or 

 furnish a substitute. In lieu of this labor he 

 may pay $1 in cash. It will be seen from the 

 table that this tax is not enforced in more than 

 25 per cent of the townships. 



In counties which by a majority vote of the 

 people adopt the county road system, an an- 

 nual tax of not to exceed 2 mills on each 

 dollar's worth of taxable property may be 

 levied by the county road commissioners for 

 the purpose of improving county roads. 

 Expenditures in Money and Labor. 



The amount derived from the township 

 property tax and expended in money amount- 

 ed to $1,549,957.51 in 1904; the estimated cash 

 value of the township property tax expended 

 in labor amounted to $1,252,050.67; the county 

 road tax, which was collected in only seven- 

 teen counties, amounted to $266.546.70, and the 

 value of the road poll tax. which was worked 

 out or paid in cash at the rate of $1 per poll 

 per annum, amounted to $111,233, making an 

 all a total expenditure in money and labor of 

 $3,179,787.88. By comparing the total expendi- 

 ture with the total mileage of public road and 

 with the population of the state, it is found 

 that the funds collected and expended for road 

 purposes, including the estimated cash valvli 

 of the property tax and the poll tax paid in 

 labor, amouned to $45.88 per mile of public 

 road, or $1.31 per inhabitant. 



BAY COUNTY ROAD NOTES. 



An effort to reduce the membership of the 

 Bay County Road Commission from five to 

 three has fallen through. Supervisor Howell 

 declared at a meeting of the board that he 

 believed the commission should be reduced to 

 three members, if possible. Under the laws 

 pt present the board of supervisors determines 

 the amount of money 'to be raised for the 



commission and also apportions the money 

 to the different roads. This leaves the com- 

 mission with little to do, and the work could 

 just as well be performed by three men and 

 the county save the salaries of the other two, 

 he declared. 



The other supervisors were willing to re- 

 duce the commission to three, but the attor- 

 ney of the county vetoed the proposition, 

 pointing out that the law provided for the 

 appointment of five commissioners, and noti- 

 fied the supervisors that they could not over- 

 ride the law. 



The Bay County Road Commission finds 

 itself in a peculiar position at present. Under 

 the law the commission must spend its money 

 according to the apportionment made by the 

 board of supervisors. The commission finds 

 itself with a deficit of approximately $14,000, 

 and with no means to meet the obligations. 

 The commission is absolutely prohibited from 

 spending any money except in the manner 

 provided by the supervisors, and the overdraft 

 must be carried until some means are provided 

 possibly by legislative enactment for wiping 

 it out. 



LIKES TAR MACADAM. 



Menominee council wiii make provision for 

 a tar covering for all the macadam paved 

 streets in that city. As soon as the streets are 

 entirely dry they will be swept clear of dust 

 and dirt and hot tar applied similar to the 

 application of the tar to State street in that 

 city last summer. By this treatment the life 

 of the pavement will be greatly increased, the 

 street will be practically free from mud even 

 in the wettest of weather, and a sprinkling 

 cart will hardly be needed, so completely is 

 the dust laid by the tar. The tar was applied 

 as an experiment to the whole of State street 

 last year and last fall the street resembled 

 asphalt, so completely had the surface hard- 

 ened and become free of dust. While at first 

 the tar was a little disagreeable because o.f the 

 strong odor and because of the fact that the 

 children carried the sticky mixture all over 

 the walks, after it soaked into the surface the 

 residents were more than paid for their trou- 

 ble and the street is without doubt the finest 

 macadam street in the twin cities. The sur- 

 face was as smooth as asphalt, the street would 

 be dry in half an hour after the heaviest of 

 rains, it was easy to keep clean, and although 

 the sprinkling cart went over the thoroughfare 

 only once during the day. dust was practically 

 unknown. The entire treatment did not cost 

 more than $300. It is believed that all of the 

 macadam streets in the city can be treated for 

 less than $1,200 and the results of the work 

 will more than make up for the expense. The 

 thoroughfares which will be treated are Wells 

 street, Grand avenue, Williams avenue, Amyra 

 street, and the new pavements to be laid on 

 State and Van Auken streets. 



CONVERT TO COUNTY SYSTEM. 



Joseph A. Gallagher, highway commissioner 

 of Gerrish township, Roscommon county, has 

 become a convert to the county road system. 

 He says he has come to the conclusion that 

 it is the best system to insure good road? 

 in the future. Heretofore he has been an op- 

 ponent of the system. 



"I would even venture to say that there 

 are those who held the same opinion as my- 

 self, that we would be paying a larger tax 

 with smaller chances of good roads, but I am 

 now convinced that such is not the case," he 

 continues. "It does not affect our township 

 road system and puts us in a position to get 

 some benefit out of a tax we are already 

 paying. 



"I am sure this question will soon again 

 come before our Roscommon board of super- 

 visors, as I think all the commissioners have 

 petitions that are or will be willingly signed. 

 arid by citizens who before opposed it." 



MUST KEEP ROADS OPEN. 



The county road commissioners of Kalkaska 

 county have found out that they are up against 



something ot a problem in the matter of keep- 

 ing the county roads open in winter, a duty 

 that under the law devolves upon the county. 

 With something like thirty-five miles of count}' 

 road to look after and keep open, especially 

 against such storms as that of this month, 

 is no small matter, and the funds for so doing 

 are supposed to come out of the amount raised 

 by tax for county road repairing. The ques- 

 tion came up at the recent institute as to 

 whether this work should be done by the 

 county or individual township, and Deputy 

 State Highway Commissioner Rodgers said it 

 was a county matter. That, of course, put 

 it up to the county commissioners and lets 

 the townships out as individual organizations, 

 though, of course, each ha-s to put up its pro- 

 portion of the county money required to keep 

 the roads open. 



IMPROVING GRATIOT COUNTY ROADS. 



The business men of Alma have formed a 

 good roads association, the object being the 

 improvement of roads in Alma township and 

 Gratiot county. A permanent organization has 

 been effected, with Dr. J. H. Lancashire as 

 president, Postmaster C. F. Brown as secre- 

 tary and Frank Convis as treasurer. 



It is the intention of the association to pro- 

 mote the building of good roads under the 

 provision of the state aid law whereby $500 

 a mile is allowed by the state to assist in the 

 work. 



The Alma Sugar Company has. as a further 

 inducement, offered $100 for every mile of 

 road built under the state aid law within eight 

 miles of Alma. This will mean $600 total 

 for each mile of road so constructed. With 

 such liberal aid at hand, the friends of good 

 roads see no reason why every road in Alma 

 township should not be improved. 



Since this aid is not confined ti Alma, it 

 is the purpose of the association to urge the 

 business men of St. Louis and Ithaca to form 

 similar associations. It. is also possible a 

 county association will be organized in the 

 near future. 



Such road improvement means much to the 

 beet growers in the vicinity of Alma and St. 

 Louis. One of the greatest obstacles encoun- 

 tered now by farmers growing beets is getting 

 them to the factory. Good roads will prac- 

 tically eliminate the trouble. 



The taxpayers of Muskegon county will 

 vote at the spring election on a proposition 

 to build four bridges in that county which 

 will be part of the good roads system. 



Iron county is going to improve her high- 

 ways if the taxpayers do not vote down the 

 proposition to bond for $100.00 for good roads. 

 The proposition will be submitted in April. 



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