MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



DELTA COUNTY ROADS. 



The board of Delta county road commis 

 sioners have awarded the contract for the 

 construction of five and three-fourths miles 

 macadam road to John McLaughlin, of Escan- 

 aba. Although the board advertised for bids 

 in Menominee, Marquette and Delta county 

 newspapers, Mr. McLaughlin's was the only 

 proposal received for performing the work. 

 The board made careful inquiry and was ad- 

 vised by the county engineer, D. A. Brother- 

 ton, that the bid was reasonable and was un- 

 der the estimated cost, and therefore the con- 

 tract was awarded. 



The road to be built is a part of the Bark 

 River section of the county road system. It 

 begins at the western limits of Escanaba and 

 two miles of the road will extend due west 

 from the Escanaba city limits. The cost of 

 this will be $3,327 per mile for the macadam 

 and $600 for excavating and filling. A one 

 and one-half mile section is near Xarenta and 

 will cost $2,970 per mile for the macadam and 

 $600 for the excavating and filling. Two and 

 one-fourth miles of the new road will extend 

 east from Bark River, and this will cost 

 $3,520 a mile for the macadam and $500 fot 

 clearing and grading. 



The roadbed will be 16 feet wide and will 

 in every way conform witli the state require- 

 ments, which will entitle the county to receive 

 the state bounty of $1,000 per mile. The con- 

 tractor will begin work at once and every 

 effort will be made to complete the work this 

 season. 



When this road is completed the only poor 

 piece of road between Escanaba and Green 

 Bay will be a little over one mile which is 

 within the Escanaba city limits. With the 

 exception of three miles of good hard road all 

 of the road between Escanaba and Bark River 

 will be macadamized. It is now up to the 

 city council to do its part in building a pass- 

 able road west from Sarah street to the city 

 limits to connect with the new road, which is 

 to be built this season. 



No more than two miles of the new road 

 will be built in any one township, owing to 

 the provision of the state law which prohibits 

 paying a state bounty on more than that 

 amount of new road in any township in one 

 year. 



This marks the inauguration of the good 

 roads movement in Delta county in earnest. 

 Erick Anderson, of Escanaba, John Gasman, 

 of Bark River, and B. Lenzi, of Defiance, who 

 compose the board of county road commis- 

 sioners, are taking a great interest in tfie work 

 in their department and it is their intention 

 that the county will get value received for 

 every dollar spent on the roads. The commis- 

 sioners look upon the county road fund as a 

 sacred trust and they will guard it carefully. 

 Pelta county needs good roads. It is the plan 

 of the commissioners to have a trunk road 

 east and west and north and south through the 

 county to comprise the county system, and the 

 townships can build township macadam roads 

 to the trunk roads. It will be only a few 

 years before we shall see prosperous and 

 happy farmers marketing their farm products 

 in Escanaba and transporting them here with 

 automobile drays. Escanaba \Yeekly Journal. 



Delta County Roads Two Sections in Wells Township Built Two Years Ago. (Courtesy 



Escanaba Weekly Journal.) 



$11,003 FOR EDUCATION. 



Highway Commissioner H. S. Earle is about 

 to begin the expenditure of about $11,000 in 

 an educational campaign for good roads in 

 fifty-seven different counties in Michigan. 

 Representatives of the department will be sent 

 into each of the counties to point out the ad- 

 vantages of the county road system and urge 

 that the system be adopted at the election 

 next fall. 



The automobile men of the state are back 

 of the commissioner in the propaganda for 

 good roads, and it is in reality their money 

 which will be used for the expenses of the 

 campaign. The fund is made up of the auto- 

 mobile license fees in the hands of the secre- 

 tary of state and the automobile men and 

 Commissioner Earle claims the right to use 

 the fund under a section of the law which 

 says that after the expenses of collecting the 

 license fee are paid the surplus shall be applied 

 to the furtherance of good roads for the bene- 

 fit of the state at large. Petitions are now 

 being circulated and signed generally, it is 

 stated, among automobile men, asking the 



commissioner to use the money in this way. 

 In speaking of the matter Commissioner 

 Earle said: "I expect that some will say this 

 fund provides for the expense of an Earle 

 machine in the state, but I don't know as I 

 care, if I succeed in inducing most of those 

 fifty-seven counties to adopt the county road 

 system. Last year 58 per cent of the good 

 roads built were constructed by twenty-six 

 counties having the county road system and 

 only 42 per cent in the fifty-seven counties 

 without system. Th : s shows it is a good 

 thing. The men I am going to send out will 

 not only talk the gold' points of the county 

 system, but they will circulate the necessary 

 petitions in the townships, villages and cities 

 to bring the matter to a vote. It may be 

 called an Earle machine if they want to. but 

 it's his machine for good roads, not for Earle's 

 nomination for governor." 



If the campaign is successful it is pointed 

 out it will be but a few years before the state 

 is covered with a network of fine roads, which 

 will not only be of great value to the different 

 localities in which the ronds run. but will 

 furnish good road running for automobiles in 

 e^ery direction and to every point, which is, 

 of course, the reason the Automobile manufac- 

 turers are anxious the money should be used 

 in fir's way. 



