12 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



Lake Superior 



Genuine 



TRAP ROCK 



For Road Making and Fireproof Con- 

 crete. 



Rail and Lake Shipments. 



Write for prices. 



MARQUETTE STONE CO., 



Marquette, Mich. 



ROAD BUILDERS WANTED. 



Many different localities throughout Michi- 

 gan are writing the State Highway Depart- 

 ment, asking for names and addresses of con- 

 tractors and practical road builders who can 

 and will enter into a contract, or will take 

 charge of and superintend the building of 

 state roads. All persons who desire to make 

 contracts, or wish to be employed as super- 

 intendents, should send their names and ad- 

 dresses to the State Highway Department, 

 Lansing, Mich. 



Best Road Material 



OUR HOBBY 



Crushed Granite and Gravel 



SCREENED TO SUIT 

 WRITE US 



THE HENRY MERDIAN CO., 



43-44 Peninsular Bank Building;, 

 Phone Main 6251 DETROIT 



EARLE'S SUCCESSOR APPOINTED. 

 Gov. \\arner has sent in the nomination of 

 lownsend K. Kl\. of Alma, as state highway 

 comm:sMoncry ( Michigan. to succeed Hora- 

 no >. Earle. There has been much discussion 

 what the governor would do relative to 

 In view .if the opposition of Earle to 

 governor in the campaign and the ginger 

 with which he campaigned, it has not been ex- 

 pected that the governor would re-appoint him, 

 although many people have declared that Earle 

 should !>< continued in office to complete the 

 great work he has instituted. Unless the sen- 

 iid house pass the bill which extends Mr. 

 Earle's job until 1911, this means the end of his 

 ice in the department which he created. 

 In arousing the public to the necessity for bet- 

 ter roads, investigating and drafting the law 

 under which the department operated and de- 

 :'ng the system of constructing good 

 roads, Mr. Karle has worked tirelessly in a 

 manner which will make his name an honor- 

 able one in the state as the years go by. 

 M r. Karle says: 



"Why should I care for a $2,500 job as state 

 .-ay commissioner of Michigan, when an- 

 other state has offered to make me their high- 

 <-nnnissioner at double the salary; when 

 Detroit concern has offered me a position 

 an elegant private office and without the 

 obligation of selling a dollar's worth of goods 

 at $6,000 a year: when another concern has of- 

 fered me a $5,000 job traveling the length and 

 lire;;, 1th of the United States preaching the 

 good roads doctrine; when F have a substantial 

 business of my own that demands my atten- 

 and where my services would probably 

 me more for the time and energy ex- 

 pended than any position I could take?" 



Mr. Karle asserts that he does not want to 

 be highway commissioner of Michigan and 

 that he has not and will not exert any energy 

 in that direction. 



will not be until he knows what is expected 

 and what the salary will be. J. W. Frakes of 

 Vicksburg. D. G. McGregor of Cooper, Leon 

 Keith of Cpmstock and W. A. Verity of Texas 

 have also been suggested. 



State Highway Commissioner Earle has re- 

 quested the attorney general to proceed against 

 the highway commissioner of Battle Creek 

 township, Calhoun county, to recover $121 paid 

 to the township as a state award upon the com- 

 pletion of a half mile of road in that township. 



and preliminary surveys already made so there 

 is a probability of the work being en- 

 tirely completed during the summer of this 

 year. The road will extend west of the village 

 limits to the boundaries of the 1'sle Royale 

 Mining Company's property twenty-four feet 

 in width and curbing and gutters will be con- 

 structed at each side. It will be constructed 

 in compliance with regulations of the state 

 reward clause whereby $1,000 will be contrib- 

 uted from the state coffers. 



\\ork has commenced on repairs on all the 

 stone roads in Saginaw county, Buena Vista 

 township receiving attention first, and from 

 now on the work will be carried throughout 

 the county. The people of Frankenmuth are 

 very enthusiastic over four miles of stone road 

 to be built from the north town line through 

 the village of Gera and into the village of 

 Frankenmuth, this being the old state road. 

 The township of Frankenmuth will advance 

 the money, which is approximately $12,000, to 

 carry on the work and will be reimbursed from 

 township road moneys when levied and col- 

 lected. 



Baldwin. Lake county, has tried out its road 

 roller and is entirely satisfied that the village 

 made a good investment. Baldwin is enthus- 

 iastic on the good roads question and has 

 voted $2,200 for good roads to be expended 

 this year. 



Sebewaing township, Huron county, has 

 voted to build another mile of stone road this 

 year; also to grade two additional miles of 

 road and have them ready to convert into 

 stone roads next year. 



Another mile an a quarter of the so-called 

 Montague road for the improvement of which 

 the Muskegon board of supervisors has pro- 

 vided has been declared a county road at the 

 regular meeting of the board of county road 

 commissioners. The road had already been 

 declared a county road for a mile west from 

 the Montague village limits to the township 

 line between Montague and White River town- 

 ship. This road was improved under state 

 specifications with crushed stone last fall. The 

 mile and a quarter added has been surveyed 

 and will be improved. It lies for a quarter of 

 a mile north on the White River township line 

 and a mile west into White River township. 



Lake Odessa has voted $1,500 for road repair 

 work and $2,000 for highway improvement. 



The township of Davison, Genesee county, 

 has voted to raise $4,000 for the roads of the 

 township, which is double the amount raised 

 last year. Of the $4,000 to be raised $2,500 

 goes for the road repair fund and $1,500 for 

 road improvement fund. 



Lawrence township, Van Buren county, will 

 spend $600 on the Angling road west of Law- 

 rence. The village of Lawrence voted $700 

 for graveling its streets. 



MICHIGAN ROAD NOTES. 



I'n Gi-rrish township. Roscommon county, 



they petitioned the town board to submit to 



oters the question of bonding for good 



. but the town board didn't see fit to do 



The rc.Miit is that the board is now replaced 



by men that will do it. They appreciate things 



V In Higgins township the free- 



for the same thing and it was 



ted. The board worked bard to get things 



in shape so that the contracts could be let. The 



r< suit i- that the tax-payers elected a new 



boar.!. That is the way they appreciate things 



in I lig^in> township. 



nncil of Fscanaba awarded the 



for macadamizing the Danforth and 



: ord River Switch roads to the Solid Rook 



'ig & Construction Co. The company 



wh'cl ganized by John Richler & Sons! 



vest bidder on the work. 



'iniril also voted to have Charlotte street 



Faced with fine crushed rock and treated 



to a tar dressing. . 



Chassell township, Houghton county, tax- 

 payers voted to appropriate one-half of one per 

 cent of the tonwship valuation for the building 

 of highways, and one-fourth of one per cent 

 of the township valuation for road repair work. 



Highway Commissioner Pattison of Maren- 

 go, Calhoun county, will commence work at 

 once on the roads. There is a balance of $11 

 in the road fund and an appropriation of $1,- 

 "()() was voted at a recent meeting. Marengo 

 has always been generous in giving to the 

 highways, but when it comes to building boule- 

 for automobiles, the vote is usually three 

 to one against. 



Lexington township, Sanilac county, has 

 voted $1.200 for the highway fund and 20 cents 

 per $100 valuation for a road repair fund. 



Twenty-two hundred dollars was voted at 

 the township meeting at Oxford. Oakland 

 comity, for the road funds for the ensuing 

 year. $1,000 for the repair fund and $1,200 for 

 the improvement fund. 



.There are many available candidates for po- 



- as road commissioners in Kalamaxoo 



J \VelN X Adams, an original good 



man from Pavilion, has been asked to 



tter the job. He is not a candidate and 



The owners of the Park addition in Fast 

 Honghton nn . contemplating the construction 

 mile of macadamized road. Proposals 

 will be received within the course of a few 

 weeks for the purpose of completing this im- 

 provement. The plans have been prepared 



The township of Benton, Berrien county, is 

 one of the most valuable and productive of 

 any in the state of Michigan. There is pro'b- 

 ably no township where the land will produce 

 acre for acre more in dollars and cents than 

 will that of this favored section during the 

 prosperous years. Yet the farmers of this pros- 

 perous township voted down a proposition to 

 bond for $50,000 for the building of good 

 roads. The farmers could not be made to see 

 that the building of good roads would increase 

 the value of their farms for more than the 

 cost of the improvement to them. 



STRAW BINDS MUD. 



Paving town streets with wheat straw as a 

 means of binding the mud in the spring and 

 keeping the dust down later in the season is 

 being demonstrated at Endicott in Whitman 

 county. Wash., south of Spokane, where two 

 miles of streets were treated this spring, a 

 foot of fresh straw being laid from curb to 

 curb and packed into the wet ground following 

 a slight rainfall. The experiment is considered 

 to be a success, as the streets are neat and 

 clean and there is no dust, though traffic to 

 and from the big wheat ranches is heavy. 

 Country roads in other parts of Washington 

 have been "strawed" for years during the sum- 

 mer months to hold the dust, but this is the 

 first time it has been tried in a town and it is 

 not unlikely that other communities will take 

 up the work until permanent pavements are 

 built. 



