10 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



I F YOU WANT 



BUILD 'EM WITH THE 



Port Huron Dumping and Spreading Wagons 



AND ROLL 'EM WITH THE 



Port Huron Road Roller. 



[Write us for Ways to Save Money in Road Building. 



Port Huron Engine & Thresher Co, 



Port Huron, Mich. 



"HARD-HEADS" FOR BAY ROADS. 



The Bay county road commission has by 

 unanimous vote decided to return to the use 

 of hard-heads as a top dressing for stone 

 roads. The step was taken under pressure 

 that has been exerted for several years back, 

 and it is pointed to by Commissioner K. FI. 

 Fletcher as a vindication of his stand years 

 ago when he was on the early good roads 

 boards. "Hard-heads or no hard-heads" be- 

 came an issue in the county, was pushed in 

 the papers, and resulted in the defeat of 

 Fletcher and his retirement for years from 

 stone road activity. He fought for the hard- 

 heads to the last ditch, claiming that the lime- 

 stone, used singe that time, was too soft for 

 a wearing surface. 



"I w-as practically responsible for the intro- 

 duction of hard-heads on the few roads that 

 were built with hard-head dressing," says Mr. 

 Fletcher, "and I still think they are superior 

 to an all-limestone road. I don't think there 

 is any question about it. The Midland road 

 was dressed with hard-heads and it lasted. 

 Of course, now, the hard-heads have been cov- 

 ered with limestone so that they can hardly 

 be found. They beat me on the hard-hcacl 

 issue, but hard-heads will be cheaper in the 

 end." 



OFFERS $1,300 FOR GOOD ROAD. 



Wm. McAvoy, a farmer living near Owosso, 

 is a good roads advocate and he doesn't care 

 who knows it. He says that farmers who say 

 that Shiawassee county roads are all right 

 have yet to show him. He says: 



"I have to laugh when I hear some of 

 those farmers say that the roads are all right, 

 and that you can hitch up old Dobbin any- 

 time, and drive anywhere in the county. That 

 isn't true, and the people who said it should 

 know doubtless they do that it isn't so. 

 There are times when you would be in danger 

 of losing Dobbon in some mudhole. I have 

 cleared the farm where I live, so I guess 

 I've been in the county long enough to be 

 acquainted with conditions. 



"I live thirteen miles from Owosso, and I 

 appreciate good roads, properly built by sci- 

 entific methods,, so highly that I will deposit 

 $1,300 in the bank the minute that a modern 

 highway is begun from Owosso to my place. 

 I'm not offering this money as a present, 

 either. I'll get it back, and more, too, if a 

 road is built that I can travel over any day 

 of any week in the year. 



"There are weeks at a time when we have 



to sit at home and watch our chances to get 

 out with a load for town. When that road 

 is covered with slush or mud. it is awful hard 

 to get through with it, and all the resolutions 

 in the world can't convince me to the con- 

 trary, for F know what I'm talking about. 



"How would I get my $1,300 back? I could 

 haul bigger loads and let my team run in. 

 the pasture oftener than now. There would 

 be a saving on oats, hay and horseflesh. I 

 could save more in hired help, and I could 

 save considerably in peace of mind and worry 

 if I knew that when I started out with a 

 load of produce I was going to get to Owosso 

 with it. 



"Then, too, if I had a first-class highway 

 to my farm, it would be worth more than 

 $1,300 more to me. Our country roads in 

 good condition? That's rank nonsense, as 

 every fairminded person who ha's to travel 

 over them will admit." 



COUNTY ROAD COMMISSIONERS. 



C. D. Buys, of Levering, Henry Leismer of 

 Petoskey, and Frank Voorheis are the candi- 

 dates on the Republican ticket in Emmet 

 county for road commissioners. 



H. W. Reade is the Republican nominee for 

 county road commissioner of Delta county, to 

 succeed B. Lenzi, whose term will expire 

 July 1 next. 



Stone Road Commissioner Harser, of Bay 

 county, is a candidate for renomination for 

 that office. 



J. J. McGee, of Alpena, is a candidate for 

 the nomination of Alpena county road com- 

 missioner. 



The Republicans of Wexford county have 

 renominated C. E. Haynes, of Cadillac (six- 

 year-term); Fred Usewick, of Antioch (four- 

 year term), and T. E. Stancliff, of Boon (two- 

 year term), for county road commissioners. 



TURNS DOWN GOOD ROADS. 



The county board of supervisors of Hough- 

 ton -county has again turned down a petition 

 to submit the county road proposition to the 

 voters at the April election. After an execu- 

 tive session lasting over an hour the com- 

 mittee on highways and bridges, to whom the 

 petition was referred at the last meeting of 

 the board, reported that the petition was still 

 defective, and moved that furcher hearing be 

 continued. 



Houghton county, the secoml in wealth and 

 in amount of taxes paid, is among the last 

 in point of good roa_ds. Witn an abundance 

 of the best road making material possible, the 



highways have been allowed to practically 

 care for themselves, with one or two excep- 

 tions, and the county at large suffers as a 

 result. 



TIP FOR HIGHWAY COMMISSIONERS. 



The attorney general of Michigan has dug 

 up an old supreme court decision that is worth 

 thousands of dollars to the townships and 

 ct unities of the state. The decision was made 

 in the case of the Highway Commissioner vs. 

 Ely, and appears in the fifty-fourth Michigan 

 report. It states clearly that a highway com- 

 missioner in digging a ditch for the good of 

 the road cannot be held liable if the ditch is 

 so deep as to make it impassable from a land 

 owner's property. There is no law which re- 

 quires the township authorities, in making or 

 repairing roads, to construct proper or con- 

 venient passageways to enable an adjoining 

 land owner to reach the traveled part of the 

 highway, yet thousands of dollars are spent 

 each year by the township authorities for such 

 work, simply because they thought they had 

 to do it. 



If in filling up the low places or in cutting 

 down the hills to improve the public roads 

 ar. adjoining land owner is inconvenienced, or 

 his Innd made more difficult of access, it is 

 an inconvenience or loss which he sustains for 

 the public benefit. 



CASS FAVORS COUNTY SYSTEM. 



Cass county farmers' institute is in favor 

 of submission of the township road proposi- 

 tion. Resolutions adopted at the recent insti- 

 tute at Cassopolis are: 



Resolved, That it is the sense of the farm- 

 ers' institute of Cass county, Michigan, now 

 in session, that the question of adoption of 

 the county road system be submitted to a vote 

 of the electors of said county as soon as pos- 

 sible, and that our representative at Lansing 

 be requested to vote and work against the 

 repeal of said act No. 8, known as the cash 

 road system law. 



At the meeting of the State Association 

 of Supervisors, held in Lansing, a resolution 

 was adopted recommending that the automo- 

 bile license fee be raised to $10. The reso- 

 lution,, which was introduced by ex-Senator 

 John Leidlein, of Saginaw, also declared in 

 favor of the present highway law and against 

 its repeal by the present legislature, and in 

 the opinion of the supervisors the building 

 of good roads should be encouraged. 



