8 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



MICHIGAN 



ROADS AND FORESTS 



Official Paper of The Michigan Road Makers Association aiul 

 Michigan Forestry Association. 



70 Larned Street West, Detroit, Michigan. 



Entered as Second-class Matter April 27, 1907, at the Post Office at De- 

 troit, Michigan, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



Frank E. Carter.... ....Editor 



PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH 



BY 

 THE STATE REVIEW PUBLISHING CO., 



SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, 

 PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



THE PUBLIC DOMAIN BILL. 



From the beginning of the work along pro- 

 forestry lines until the passage of the Public 

 Domain bill unanimously by both the House 

 and Senate of the Michigan Legislature during 

 the closing hours of the 1909 session, it ap- 

 peared almost impossible to get any legislation 

 which would preserve the non-agricultural wild 

 lands for the state, conserve our forests and 

 stream rights, and to provide for the replacing 

 of the trees of which the state has been de- 

 nuded. The bill passed accomplishes all that 

 seems desirable or important. 



The bill provides for a commission of six 

 members, and, as Solomon said, there is safety 

 in numbers. The commission has subordinated 

 to it the Auditor General, the Land Commis- 

 sioner and the Game and Forestry Warden. 



The commission has absolute power over the 

 public lands and forests and forest interests, 

 for the protection and control of streams, for- 

 est fire protection, trespass, etc. , 



The commission shall investigate what lands 

 are circumstanced as to be deeded to the state 

 and cause them to be deeded forthwith. 



It shall have the lands appraised and sell 

 such as are suitable for agricultural purposes 

 at their value, or shall cause them to be used 

 for forestry reserve purposes, but the state 

 forestry reserves must not be allowed to fall 

 below 200,000 acres. 



When any sales are made, the commission 

 shall reserve to the state all mineral, coal, oil 

 and gas rights, which may be removed on con- 

 tract by others, on a royalty basis. 



The bill provides that the lands are to be 

 offered for sale at the county seat, instead of 

 at Lansing. 



The dead and down timber is to be sold and 

 the proceeds used to prevent the starting and 

 spreading of fires, thus making the forests pay 

 for their own protection. 



The value of the law will be appreciated 

 later on, and the friends of the measure have 

 cause to congratulate themselves on the result. 



districts telephone lines have been built be- 

 tween the supervisor's office and ranger head- 

 quarters, ana to prominent peaks which are 

 used for lookout stations to observe fires. 

 These telephone lines and trail systems are 

 of vital importance, resulting in the remark- 

 ably small area burned over since the iorests 

 have been under government supervision. 



Other necessary improvements provided 

 for and taken up by the forest service a'rc 

 the construction of drift fences for stock pro- 

 tection, the improving of springs and watering 

 places, the fencing of bog or mire holes, the 

 fencing of poisonous plant areas. 



The forest service also co-operates with the 

 states, counties and communities in the con- 

 struction of wagon roads, trails and bridges, 

 making accessible bodies of mature timber. 

 The new Boise-Atlanta ninety-six mile wagon 

 road is an example of useful co-operation. 

 The former road follows over high mountains, 

 and is snowed in during six or seven months 

 of the year. Atlanta. Idaho is ninety miles 

 from a railroad. The new road will be 

 snowed in for only two or three months of 

 the year. The scenery 'along this road rivals 

 that of many of the scenic highways. It opens 

 up a large area of national forest heretofore 



we as a county drew the first money from 

 the state we have fallen away behind as the 

 years have progressed. 



THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



During the present fiscal year $500,000 will 

 be spent for the construction of roads, trails, 

 telephone lines and other permanent improve- 

 ments on the national forests. Congress has 

 appropriated the same amount for this purpose 

 for the fiscal year of 1909-10. 



Trails are being constructed along routes 

 which give the best control of the areas to 

 be patrolled by the forest rangers. In many 



HIGHWAYS HAVE BEEN NEGLECTED. 



There is no function of public administra- 

 tion that has been so unworthily performed 

 as that relating to the highways, says F. E. 

 Rice of Millington, Tuscola county. There 

 has been enough money squandered upon 

 highways in the last century to pay off the 

 national debt and perhaps the debts of many 

 of the states as well; yet there is but little 

 to show for this vast expenditure. 



The people very naturally object to heavy 

 road taxes when the results are so unsatis- 

 factory. One soon tires of pouring water 

 into a rat hole unless one can get the rat. 

 Therefore when any scheme for highway im- 

 provement of any magnitude is proposed, im- 

 mediately there is a call to arms without 

 waiting to consider whether or not it is a 

 wise one. 



It is presumed, and the prediction is made, 

 that the taxation necessary to build good 

 roads will be ruinous, that it will confiscate 

 farm property. Wherever the subject has 

 been earnestly pursued the progressives have 

 won after a hard battle, and the road building 

 has begun. When the roads were built and 

 the citizens had had the experience of using 

 them and paying for them, in every case the 

 sentiment has changed and the people have 

 begun clamoring for more roads and each 

 succeeding election for road improvement 

 purposes has been carried by larger majori- 

 ties. The men who at first opposed have 

 joined the front ranks of the aggressive force. 



So far as can be ascertained no community 

 ever began the building of stone or gravel 

 roads that did not continue to build them 

 year after year. The only trouble is to get 

 the work started and started right. 



Tuscola county has more miles of road 

 than any other county in the state. She also 

 has the honor of receiving the first reward 

 money paid by the state under the state re- 

 ward road law. Now the right thing to do is 

 to get under the county road system. While 



ONTARIO'S METHODS. 



Road building is essentially a work requiring 

 engineers, and is so .recognized in England, 

 France and Germany, and wherever roads are 

 being constructed in a proper manner. This 

 road work has formerly been regarded as a 

 holiday occupation; everyone and any one is 

 eligible either to umpire or play in the game. 

 The results are self-evident. No doubt the 

 average man does know how to build roads 

 in a certain way, but it is an inefficient way, 

 and those who have looked into the cost are 

 convinced that it is the most expensive way. 

 It is the province of the engineer to perform 

 the work, not only in the proper way, but at a 

 minimum cost. Only men trained in the work, 

 with a knowledge of the first principles, can 

 build roads with the minimum amount of labor 

 demanded by the results to be reached. Engi- 

 neers need not be placed in charge of the work 

 to get good results. 



In Ontario, as a step towards proper super- 

 vision, municipal councils are doing away 

 with the statute labor system and are appoint- 

 ing the best available men in the municipality 

 to take charge of the work. They are retained 

 in office year after year, so that they can give 

 careful study to the subject and maintain a 

 perfect organization: In this way skilled su- 

 pervisors are created. 



Labor is the all-important item in the cost 

 of road building and the energy of those 

 leading the movement for road reform should 

 be directed towards the utilization of all labor 

 to the best advantage. The cost of road ma- 

 chinery, while it may appear to be consider- 

 able, is nevertheless chargeable to a long road 

 mileage and a long term of years, so that the 

 cost per mile per annum is but small. The 

 price of gravel in the pit, or stone in the 

 quarry, is comparatively little. It is the labor 

 required in these matters, the labor of men 

 and teams in grading and preparing the road- 

 bed, and in putting the metal in place, that 

 creates the cost of roads. The efficient road 

 supervisor, in addition to understanding the 

 principles of road building with practical ideas, 

 must be capable of organizing and utilizing 

 labor to the best advantage. 



GOOD ROADS FOR HILLSDALE. 



Andrew Long, president of the State Good 

 Roads Association, Pittsford, Mich., writes: 

 "We are trying to bring harmony out of chaos 

 by inducing the people to elect commissioners 

 who will employ farmers to do the work of 

 repairing roads, which work is to be paid for 

 mostly by the farmers themselves. We are 

 having good results in Hillsdale county and 

 expect to enlist the township board in our 

 efforts to have section 16 of article No. 108 of 

 the road laws lived up to hereafter. It has 

 been an eye-opener to many highway commis- 

 sioners to learn that they have not been doing 

 their work according to law. If necessary to 

 enforce the law, the aid of the prosecuting at- 

 torney will be invoked. We are determined 

 that all roads in Hillsdale county shall be 

 brought up to standard for both the benefit of 

 the fanners and autoists as well. 



