MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



No. 321 Manistee township, Manistee coun- 

 ty, j4-mile gravel road; reward, $250. 



No. 322 Bay county, 1 mile macadam road; 

 reward, $1,000. 



No. 323 Bay county, 1 mile macadam road; 

 reward, $1,000. 



No. 324 Bay county, J/^-mile macadam road; 

 reward, $500. 



No. 325 Bay County, 1 mile macadam road; 

 reward, $1,000. 



No. 326 Hersey township,. Osceola county, 

 1 mile gravel road; reward, $500. 



No. 327 Bennington township, Shiawassee 

 county, 1 mile gravel road; reward, $500. 



No. 328 Arbela township, Tuscola county, 

 2.004 miles gravel road; reward, $1,002. 



No. 329 No. Branch township, Lapeer coun- 

 ty, 1.306 miles gravel road; reward, $653. 



No. 330 Manistee county, 1 mile gravel 

 road; reward, $500. 



No. 331 Muskegon county, .131 mile ma- 

 cadam road; reward, $131. 



No. 332 Muskegon county, 1.033 miles ma- 

 cadam road; reward, $1,033. 



No. 333 Arcada township, Gratiot county, 1 

 mile gravel road; reward, $500. 



No. 334 Mancelona township, Antrim coun- 

 ty, j4-mile gravel road; reward, $250. 



No. 335 Mancelona township, Antrim coun- 

 ty, 1.718 miles gravel road; reward, $859. 



No. 336 Arcada township, Gratiot county, 

 1.038 miles gravel road; reward, $519. 



No. 337 Gilmore township, Benzie county, 

 ,438 mile gravel road; reward, $219. 



No. 338 Gilmore township, Benzie county, 

 .562 mile gravel road; reward, $281. 



No. 339 Otisco township, Ionia county, 1.06 

 miles gravel road; reward, $530. 



No. 340 Wayne county, 2 miles macadam 

 road; reward, $2,000. v 



No. 341 Bay county, .798 mile macadam 

 road; reward, $798. 



No. 342 Bay county, J^-mile macadam road; 

 reward, $250. 



No. 343 Bay county, j4-mile macadam road; 

 reward, $500. 



No. 344 Bay county, .804 mile macadam 

 road; reward, $704. 



26 COUNTIES ENJOY SYSTEM. 



Good roads obsess the "orain of Horatio S. 

 Earle, state highway commissioner. The very 

 slightest excuse or none at all will suffice to 

 start him talking upon the subject of which he 

 knows so much, at any time of the day, and 

 it is said that he wakes up at night to make 

 speeches to his wife on why every county 

 ought to enjoy the benefits of the good roads 

 systems made and provided mostly, it must 

 lie admitted, by little Mr. Earle himself, says 

 the Grand Rapids Herald. 



For fifteen years he has been going up and 

 down the state talking good roads to the 

 farmer, the manufacturer, the laboring man 

 and everyone else whom he could get to lis- 

 ten to him. At first he was called a crank. 

 There are many today who still term him one, 

 "but there are more who have fallen in line 

 and are talking good roads even as "Good 

 Roads" Earle does. 



And now the fruits of his work are begin- 

 ning to show. 



A few years ago it was possible to count all 

 the counties under the good roads system on 

 the fingers of one hand. Bay and Saginaw 

 were among the pioneers in the work and now 

 have many miles of stone road over the afore- 

 time impassable, but extremely fertile mud 

 river bottoms, to show for their work. 



Now, however, there are 26 counties oper- 

 ating under the county system and five good 

 roads districts were formed last fall or this 

 spring under the district good roads law 

 passed by the last legislature. 



One of these districts is composed of the 

 townships of Wyoming, Paris, Walker and 



Grand Rapids, and the city of Grand Rapids, 

 in Kent county, and there is a similar district 

 of four townships clustered about the city of 

 Lansing. 



Following is a list of the 26 counties now 

 working under the county system which, Mr. 

 Earle says, is a plan to make the entire county 

 pay the expense of building the roads in that 

 county: 

 "Alger. 

 *Alpena, 

 *Baraga, 

 Bay, 

 *Benzie. 

 *Cheboygan, 

 *Chippewa, 

 *Delta. 

 *Dickinson, 

 t Emmet, 

 *Gladwin, 

 *Iosco, 

 *Iron, 

 *Kalkaska, 

 *Luce, 

 *Manistee, 

 *Marquette, 

 *Mason, 

 tMecosta, 

 *Menominee, 

 tMissaukee, 

 *Muskegon, 

 *Oceana, 

 *Saginaw, 

 *Wayne, 

 tWexford. 



'Working. 



tVoted last April and will go to work in 

 1909. 



This leaves 57 of the state's 83 counties out- 

 side the fold, but they won't be out long un- 

 less they take special repressive measures to 

 hold Earle down. 



"I'm going to show 'em where they're 

 wrong, by gum," said that enthusiast recently. 



His plan is all mapped out. It includes a 

 visit to each and every one of these 57 coun- 

 ties before the fall election. 



In each of them the beauties and benefits 

 of the county good roads system will be 

 pointed out. They will be shown how they 

 can get the system by petitioning for its sub- 

 mission to the people of the county. If the 

 county votes favorably on the question then 

 the system goes into force. And it's a safe 

 bet to say that in at least half of those 57 it 

 will be put to vote this fall. 



Incidentally, in addition to talking- good 

 roads, Mr. Earle may, modestly, of course, let 

 it be known that he is a candidate for gov- 

 ernor of the state. 



Earle is not of the kind to hide his light 

 under a bushel and it's quite safe to guess 

 that in some manner the information will leak 

 out in most of these counties. Still, Earle will 

 reason, that can't be helped. 



ROAD WORK IN MENOMINEE COUNTY 



The road between Menominee and the .Delta 

 county line is now in the hands of repair 

 crews and in a short time the entire highway 

 will be like a city boulevard and numbered 

 among the best automobile roads in the north- 

 west. From Menominee to Birch Creek, the 

 roadway is perfect, and just beyond that point 

 there is being rebuilt by contract a stretch 

 that is about three miles long. The regular 

 county repair crew, in charge of Superintend- 

 ent Kenneth Sawyer, is at work north of 

 Stephenson, placing another sandy piece of 

 road in condition. Menominee county will 

 spend $20, 000 upon her highways this year. But 

 very little new road will be constructed, prac- 

 tically the whole of the amount being ex- 

 pended in the repair of the present roadways. 



GETTING STARTED RIGHT. 



The Manistique City Council has adopted 

 the following: "Resolved, that the mayor be 

 instructed to procure plans and specifications 

 for constructing roads and streets suitable to 

 cities of the size, of Manistique and submit the 



same to the council for adoption or rejection, 

 such plans and specifications to state kind of 

 material to be used and manner of laying it, 

 also width of roadway, parking and sidewalks, 

 and that no street work be started until such 

 plans and specifications are adopted." The 

 Pioneer-Tribune says in the connection: 

 "Manistique cannot afford to experiment in- 

 definitely along road building lines. The build- 

 ing and maintenance of its streets have cost 

 nearly $100,000 during the past ten or fifteen 

 years. It is high time that the city should get 

 on a business basis in this department. Not- 

 withstanding this large expenditure, there is 

 not a foot of absolutely permanent work in 

 the city; there isn't a foot of gutter in the city 

 save what was placed in front of the Nichol- 

 son and Putman properties on Lake street." 



ROAD CONTRACT AWARDED. 



At a meeting of the board of road commis- 

 sioners for Dickinson county, held last week, 

 the bids for macadamizing the Iron Mountain- 

 Twin Falls highway were opened. The ten- 

 ders were from Hoose & Pierson, Mary King 

 and John Blombren. The contract was 

 awarded to the first named firm for $7,945. 

 The contract calls for a macadam roadway 

 nine feet wide with six and a half feet gravel 

 shoulders. The length is two and a half miles. 

 Engineer Carpenter is now at work on the 

 plans for the Vulcan-Loretto road, which in- 

 cludes a bridge across the Sturgeon river, and 

 the contract will soon be let. The cost of this 

 work, including the bridge, will exceed $12,000. 



NEGAUNEE WOULD BENEFIT. 



The Marquette Board of Supervisors will 

 undoubtedly vote an appropriation to put the 

 road between Negaunee and Goose Lake in 

 good condition. When this stretch of road is 

 put into good condition the only impediment 

 to a passable road for automobiles or heavy 

 traffic between Negaunee and Chicago would 

 exist in the short stretch of road through the 

 Cyr swamp, north of Cyr station. Some repair- 

 ing was done to this part of the road a few 

 years ago, but the work was not of a lasting 

 character and the greater part of it will have 

 to be done all over again. With repairs made 

 to the road at these two points, both of which 

 are in Marquette county, there would be a 

 fair road to Lathrop and from that place clear 

 on to Chicago the road is in condition for 

 heavy traffic. Time and again autos have 

 made the trip from Escanaba to Chicago with- 

 out mishap due to any fault of the roadway. 



ROOSEVELT FOR GOOD ROADS. 



Arthur G. Jackson, president of the National 

 Good Roads Congress, has received a letter 

 from President Roosevelt which said in part: 



"A few years ago it was a matter of humil- 

 iation, that there should be so little attention 

 paid to our roads, that there should be a will- 

 ingness not merely to refrain from making 

 good roads, but to let the roads that were in 

 existence become worse. 



"I cannot but heartily congratulate our peo- 

 ple on the existence of a body such as this, 

 ramifying into every section of the country 

 and bent on that eminently proper work of 

 making the conditions of life easier and bet- 

 ter for the people whom of all others we can 

 least afford to see grow discontented with 

 their lot in life the people who live in the 

 country districts. 



"No one thing can do more to offset the 

 tendency toward and unhealthy growth from 

 the country into the city than the making and 

 keeping of good roads. 



"I am also tempted to say that tliey are 

 needed for the sake of special conditions in 

 the country districts. 



"If a little heavy weather means a stoppage 

 of all communication you must expect there 

 will be a great many young people of both 

 sexes who will not find life attractive. 



"It is for this reason that I feel the work 

 you are doing is so pre-eminently one in the 

 interest of the nation as a whole." 



