14 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



IMPROVING MARQUETTE ROADS. 



The County Road Commission of Marquette 

 county has had a very busy year. Work is 

 progressing on the Goose Lake road and the 

 supervisors have been asked to appropriate 

 an additional $600 to complete this year the 

 repair work that is needed. A committee of 

 the supervisors went over the road a few 

 days ago and the members were very favor- 

 ably impressed with the work accomplished 

 on the first appropriation, which was very 

 small. It is expected that the improvements 

 on the main highway between Negaunee and 

 Marquette will be completed within a few 

 weeks, as there is only a short piece near 

 Eagle Mills still to be gone over. The men 

 have been working close to the Negaunee city 

 line lately, and the first covering of crushed 

 rock has been laid through the greater part 

 of the swamp west of Eagle Mills. 



The commission recently started work on 

 the road between Humboldt and Republic, 

 where a force of from forty to fifty men are 

 employed. This thoroughfare has been in 

 poor condition for a number of years and the 

 commission expects to go over at least two 

 miles of it this fall. It is likely that the re- 

 maining seven miles will be improved next 

 year. No crushed work will be used there at 

 the present time, as the plant is to be kept on 

 the highway between Negaunee and Mar- 

 quette until that work is finished. The farm- 

 ers and others in the district between Repub- 

 lic and Humboldt have not been able to use 

 the road much the past year or more, or ac- 

 count of its poor condition, and the work now- 

 being done will be much appreciated by prop- 

 erty owners in the western end of the county. 



LENAWEE NEEDS GOOD ROADS. 



The farmers are unanimous in the opinion 

 that the roads were never in as bad a condi- 

 tion as they are at present, as a direct result 

 of township supervision. It seems to the Ga-, 

 zette as though in the case of our own city 

 that the municipal authorities should take an 

 interest to the extent of giving "good roads" 

 all the moral support possible even and to 

 raising money to help defray the cost. With 

 the co-operation of the towns and cities with 

 the farmers, aided by both the state and na- 

 tional governments, the question of "good 

 roads" will result in doing something except 

 , talk about the subject. The main thing after 

 all is to get started. Hudson Gazette. 



all the time that you are fighting water! You 

 will notice that the roads always remain in 

 the best condition on the grades where the 

 water can easily run away, and you will also 

 observe that they always grow bad first in 

 the. valleys and level places, and that it is be- 

 cause the roadbeds are flat, or perhaps even 

 hollowing with little dams of sod on the sides 

 so that the water stands there until it soaks 

 in or dries up, instead of running away quickly, 

 as it should, and would, if the surface was 

 kept crowning and the furrows kept from 

 forming, which act as canals to conduct the 

 water down into the .lowest part of the road, 

 where mud and destruction join hands in their 

 evil work. 



payers of Calhoun county. The Industrial 

 Association of Battle Creek has been the 

 leader in the movement for good roads in that 

 county. 



CHARLOTTE AIDS GOOD ROADS. 



The members of the Charlotte city council 

 seem to think it a profitable investment to 

 assist in the improvement of the principal 

 roads leading to that city. A year ago they 

 gave a considerable amount of gravel to the 

 township of Brookfield. This year they gave 

 150 loads of gravel to the township of Carmel. 

 The gravel was taken from the city pits under 

 the supervision of the street commissioner and 

 was used for the improvement of Carmel's 

 share of the improvement south of Charlotte 

 and between that city and Five Corners. A 

 small amount of gravel will, also be given u 

 be used in the improvement of the county 

 f arm road. 



GOOD AND BAD ROADS. 



Work has been started on constructing one 

 miFe of gravel road south from the city limits 

 of Lansing, on the Mason road out Cedar 

 street. If com-leted according to specifica- 

 tions prepared by the state highway depart- 

 ment the state will pay $500 towards the ex- 

 pense of construction. 



In decided contrast to this bit of road con- 

 struction is the manner in which some farm- 

 ers farther from the city on the same high- 

 wav have repaired the road. Common surface 

 dirt and sod have been heaped up in the center, 

 not in any way bettering the road, but as a 

 matter of fact, making its condition worse 

 than before, according to the opinion of ex- 

 perts. , 



ROAD CONSTRUCTION. 



A few suggestions about the proper con- 

 struction of a roadbed may not amiss. 



To begin with the surface should be made 

 very crowning, for it immediately begins to 

 flatten by use, and will continue to grow more 

 and more so all the time if nothing is don'.: 

 to prevent it. But it can be held in i;ood 

 shape by occasional scraping. The scraping 

 will also do a great deal towards filling up the 

 small depressions, which are the real begin- 

 ning of all trouble. But some new material 

 must be carefully put in by hand where needed 

 not too much, as that will create two holes, 

 where before there was but one. Use more 

 brains and less stone! A good road cannot 

 be made without hard thinking. Keep in mind 



COUNTY SYSTEM FOR JACKSON. 



Highway Commissioner William A. Leek 

 of Henrietta township, Jackson county, has 

 been circulating petitions for the purpose of 

 putting before the people at the November 

 election an opportunity to vote on the adop- 

 tion of a county road sysetm. Mr. Leek- 

 states that as the people learn of the merits 

 of the system and the plan on which it is 

 operated they are enthusiastic over its adop- 

 tion. In the townships so far canvassed the 

 petitions have been liberally signed by the 

 property owners, realizing that the- building 

 of good main* roads is not only a convenience 

 to them but materially increases the valuation 

 of their property. 



MICHIGAN ROAD NOTES. 



Frank Voorheis of Pieasantview, John Keep 

 of Bear Creek and Clifford D. Buys of Mc- 

 Kinley township, are the new members of the 

 Emmet county road commission. 



After nearly three years of expectation a 

 practical demonstration of road building has 

 been given in Pontiac. During all this time 

 the question of better roads and how to se- 

 cure good permanent roads, at not too heavy 

 an expense has been before the city council. 

 Each time the question came up the argu- 

 ment was advanced that the city had not the 

 necessary machinery for building roads ac- 

 cording to the most advanced ideals. 



A road roller was purchased this month and 

 the work which it has accomplished satisfies 

 the aldermen that they have secured what 

 they have been looking for. 



During the summer Portage township, 

 Houghton county, has built two miles and a 

 quarter of new road, most of which is in the 

 outlying districts where it is most needed. 

 Farmers have from time to time petitioned 

 the board for new roads and improvements on 

 roads in various parts of the township, and 

 although it has been impossible to grant the 

 wishes of all, highways have been provided 

 where they were most urgently needed. 



Pentwater township, Oceana county, has 

 finally made a start towards building good 

 roads. Half a mile of road is under way. It 

 will be a macadam road and will begin at 

 Pentwater on the Crystal Valley road, lead- 

 ing to Ludington. Next year will witness 

 great activity in road building in the town- 

 ship. 



Vermontville township, Eaton county has 

 expended more than $500 in a futile effort to 

 fill up a sinkhole in a highway in the north- 

 east end of the township. It would have 

 been more profitable to have built a good road 

 around the hole, which will probably have to 

 be done anyway. 



Work on the extension of the county road 

 from East Vulcan to Lorctto is well under 

 way, and the bridge work across the Sturgeon 

 is completed. The new roadway will not be 

 rocked and rolled until next year. 



The Business Men's Association of Lansing 

 has undertaken the repair of the Michigan 

 Agricultural College road. The repairs will 

 cost $1.600. The contract was let to the 

 Indian Refining Company of Cincinnati, O. 

 The road will be resurfaced with crushed rock 

 and asphalt. 



The work of macadamizing the Jamestown 

 road. Saginaw county, is under way, under 

 the supervision of County Road Commis- 

 sioner Ederer. 



The tax-payers of the County of Van Buren 

 will vote at the November election on the 

 question of adopting the County Roads Sys- 

 tem. 



Sufficient names have been secured in Eaton 

 county to submit the "Good Roads" proposi- 

 tion to the voters next spring. R. A. Garber, 

 who secured the names for the western half 

 of the countv and who will be a candidate for 

 one of the commissionershins, if the plan is 

 carried, is going into Barry county to assist 

 in getting; the required number of names to 

 submit the issue in that county. 



Two improved highways in the vicinity of 

 Lansing are being rapidly completed by the 

 state highway commission. One mile of road 

 just east of the city limits of the city of 

 East Lansing is nearly completed. 



South of Lansing, beginning at Mt. Hope 

 avenue, "the Mason road," is being recon- 

 structed for a distance of one mile southward. 



The road commissioners for the good roads 

 district in Tuscola county, created last spring, 

 have been appointed. The district comprises 

 the townships of Aimer. Ellington and Indian- 

 field, and the village of Caro. Ellington .was 

 the first to choose its commissioner in the 

 person of Charles Campbell; Aimer followed 

 with J. J. England; then came Indianfields 

 with the appointment of Fred Long and 

 Henry Herman, who was so active in the pro- 

 motion and work of building the stone road 

 north of Caro, has been appointed to repre- 

 sent Caro. 



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