MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



The Holtcn Road, Muskegcn County. Courtesy Muskegon News. 



WILL EARLE STAY IN OFFICE? 



Whether Gov. Warner will leave Horatio S. 

 Earle in office as state highway commissioner, 

 will be watched by the people of Michigan inter- 

 ested in good roads, with much attention, for 

 generally throughout the state it is known that 

 only the persistent agitation by Mr. Earle se- 

 cured the first enactment for good roads, and he 

 has organized and built up the department. His 

 friends do not claim that no other man can look 

 after the road building as well as he can, but 

 thev do assert that no one else is conversant with 

 the exact situation in the state, the sentiment of 

 the people and just the right way to continue the 

 good work. 



That Earle views the department as peculiarly 

 his own no one denies. It is said that he has 

 reason for this, because back in the days when 

 the good roads plan was viewed by the majority 

 of the people as a joke, Earle spent his own 

 money to get the thing started and finally won 

 put unaided, in getting action towards establish- 

 ing the system. When he first began to impor- 

 tune the legislature for the organization of a 

 good roads department he was laughed at. He 

 "dinged" so many legislators, however, that 

 finally to get rid of him they provided for the 

 appointment of a commission to investigate the 

 matter, carefully avoiding any reference to the 

 state treasury which would allow the use of any 

 state money for the project. The other members 

 of the commission elected Earle chairman, gave 

 him full authority to make all the investigation 

 he wanted to all at his own expense, and Earle 

 did the work, hired the necessary assistance and 

 paid the bills out of his own pocket. Then he 

 induced the legislature by means of further agi- 

 tation to provide for a department which the su- 

 preme court said was unconstitutional and he 

 had more bills to pay, for he would not allow the 

 employes to serve without pay. Afterwards some- 

 one proposed to introduce a bill to recompense 

 him, but he refused, because he thought the peo- 

 ple would not understand the deal, he told the 

 legislators. 



Then came his triumph in the adoption by the 

 people of an amendment to the constitution under 

 which the state could interest itself in the con- 

 struction of good roads and he became "Good 

 Roads" Earle in fact. Since that time he has 

 been up and down the state, haranguing the peo- 

 ple on good roads, literally flaying alive anyone 



who does not believe in good roads, and by his 

 own force and enthusiasm inducing many sec- 

 tions to do the things they did not intend to do, 

 vote money for building roads, which when com- 

 pleted have caused those same people to wonder 

 that they had to wait for Earle to come along and 

 tell them something so evidently for their own 

 benefit. If after all this he is obliged to step 

 down and out for political reasons, the man who 

 gets his place will find he has tackled a big job 

 in trying to fill Earle's shoes in the highway de- 

 partment. 



WILL BUILD FOUR ROADS. 



One of the best things that will happen in 

 Wexford county next year will be the construc- 

 tion of a few miles of highways under the direc- 

 tion of the county road commissioners, Messrs. 

 Haynes, Usewick and Stanclift. The roads will 

 be what is now known as state reward roads. 

 That is, if they are built according to state 

 specifications, the state will give a bonus of $500 

 a mile, which goes a long way towards meeting 

 the expenses. The committee has gone into the 

 preliminary work in detail, has secured an ap- 

 propriation of $10,000 for the work. 



Four roads will be built next season, their lo- 

 cation being as follows : 



Starting at J4 post between sections 28 and 33 

 Cedar Creek townships, thence south one mile. 

 Estimated cost, $3,000. 



Commencing at a point 20 rods north of % 

 post on east side of section 12, Cherry Grove 

 township, thence southwest to a point 20 rods 

 west of % post, thence west on Y\ line one mile 

 from point of starting (as per the petition, from 

 Cherry Grove residents) or: Starting at the south- 

 east corner of section 15 (Benson school house), 

 thence north Yi mile to /4 post between sections 

 14 and 15, thence northeast following present 

 meandering road YI mile. Estimated cost, $2,000. 



Commencing at southeast corner of section 24, 

 Selma township, thence north one mile. Esti- 

 mated cost, $2,000. 



Commencing at YA- post between section 30, 

 Hanover township, and section 25, Wexford, 

 thence north one mile. Estimated cost, $2,400. 



BARRY COUNTY ROADS. 



Under the new state law whereby a farmer 

 pays his road tax in money instead of working it 

 out in any old way as he did in former years, 



[here was paid out in Barry county during the 

 past year for road repair and road improvement 

 $28,565.65. Of this amount $14,508.76 was paid 

 out for repair work and $14,056.65 for road im- 

 provement. 



Rutland township has completed its sixth mile 

 of good roads this year, under plans prescribed 

 by State Highway Commissioner Earle, and for 

 each mile the township has been awarded the 

 state bounty of $500. The best roads in the coun- 

 ty are in Rutland, and the residents of the town- 

 ship have planned to keep the good work pro- 

 gressing. 



Several have suggested that the highways 

 across the county which connect villages with the 

 county seat ought to be made into roads that 

 cannot be excelled in the state. Those who are 

 considering it have the following plan : Let each 

 township jthrough which a main highway passes 

 for instance, the old Battle Creek road begin- 

 ning at its northern section through which the 

 road passes, build a mile of good road under the 

 state law and receive a bounty of $500 for it, 

 adding each year another mile till the southern 

 town line is reached, and all the townships con- 

 nected. In this manner, at the end of six years 

 a road will be completed to the southern county 

 line. In order for the people of a township to 

 carry out this plan .it is necessary that they or- 

 ganize especially to do this work under the state 

 good roads law. The roads of the township could 

 be improved and repaired with the funds raised 

 by taxes in the township. 



The "Board of Supervisors of Saginaw county 

 has ordered the macadamizing of the Watrous- 

 ville road in Blumfield township ; also the Town 

 Line road between Bridgeport and Spaulding, a 

 distance of two miles ; and one-half mile of the 

 Deerfield County road in Buena Vista township. 



The township of Leroy, Calhoun county, is 

 raising funds to improve a two-mille strip of road 

 in that township to start at the Battle Creek 

 township line and run to Barnum lake. This 

 improvement would give Battle Creek people an 

 excellent road to the lake, a distance of seven 

 miles. . 



The citizens of Genesee county will be asked 



to vote at the spring election in 1900 upon the 



adoption of the county road system for that 

 county. 



