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 MERCIAN CO., 



43-44 Peninsular Bank Building, 

 Phone Main 6251 DETROIT 



SOME PERTINENT QUESTIONS. 



Every township highway commissioner in 

 whose territory a piece of state reward road has 

 been asked for by a formal application, is to get 

 a postal card from State Highway Commissioner 

 T. A. Ely. On the back of the card is a list of 

 questions the recipient will be expected to answer. 



A piece of prospective state road that shall 

 not have been completed within two years after 

 the application for a state reward was made is to 

 be declared ineligible under the application. A 

 new application must be filed or the project 

 abandoned. This is a rule instituted by Mr. Ely 

 to cut off the records any application over two 

 years old. 



More data is desired concerning the strips of 

 road covered by the hundreds of applications on 

 file. Among the questions asked are "Will any 

 work be done this season ?" "When did grading 

 begin or is to begin?" "Is first or second layer 

 of gravel or stone on?" "How much of road 

 is completed ?" "When will road be ready for 

 final inspection ?" 



the work of building good roads, which was be- 

 gun last year. The town board has decided to 

 extend the present state county road west of 

 Rochester village half a mile, which will bring 

 it up to the Hubbel school house. A second road, 

 running south of the vilage, will be started, half 

 a mile being built this year. 



a good grave] road from Chicora to Pullman this 

 year. 



CROSWELL SETS GOOD EXAMPLE. 



Croswell has gone at the good roads question 

 in the right way and as a consequence has some 

 of the best streets to be found in the Thumb. 

 The village had a main street that was like those 

 of other towns, a hole into which a vast amount 

 of money could be poured without lasting results. 

 The enterprising citizens took the matter up a 

 couple of years ago, bonded for the money and 

 about a mile of brick paving was put down. This 

 year a stone crusher has been at work and sev- 

 eral miles of good stone, roads are being built in- 

 side the- city limits. They are built right and will 

 stand for years with little repairing. As one 

 citizen puts it, "We do not call it an expense, but 

 an investment. I can sell my place today for far 

 more than the paving cost in front of it on ac- 

 count of the fine street." This is trie right way 

 to look at it. 



GOOD ROADS NOTES. 



The Kalamazoo county road commissioners 

 have about completed their first bit of road 

 work. Lake street from the city limits to Recre- 

 ation Park has been made a model road. M. H. 

 Lane and F. B. Lay donated 2,000 yards of gravel. 



losco county road commissioners will expend 

 $2,000 this year on the settlement road out of 

 Oscoda and Au Sable. 



The highways leading north from Sturgis have 

 long been the subject of much criticism, and 

 rightly so, for the sand and hills of Sherman 

 township are certainly far from being conducive 

 to good roads. As neither the county nor the 

 township system for the improvement and re- 

 pairs of highways has been in use there, the con- 

 dition of these roads has been dependent for the 

 most part on the voluntary labor of public spir- 

 ited men, with the usual result. Now an organ- 

 ized movement for better roads is on with prom- 

 ise of better results. 



The Agricultural College road from Lansing 

 to the college has been resurfaced and treated 

 with a preparation which it is believed will pre- 

 vent the road from disintegrating as rapidly as 

 it did after it was first built. 



Homestead township, Benzie county, is going to 

 pull down some more state reward road funds 

 this year. The township roads are under the su- 

 pervision of Highway Commissioner C. F. Bishop, 

 who was highly complimented by State Road In- 

 spector Smith last fall. The new road when 

 completed will extend from Homestead station on 

 tile Ann Arbor railroad to a point one mile north, 

 and is watched by the residents in that section 

 with a great deal of interest and pride, for it is 

 expected to be one of the best miles of gravel 

 road in the state. 



Charles J. Glidden, of automobile fame ,says 

 that Michigan roads are bad, and he knows what 

 he is talking about. 



If we were to vote on the good roads question 

 again it would carry in our township," says an 

 official from Lee township, Calhoun county. "We 

 are not going to build any good roads this year, 

 but I would not be surprised to see some built 

 in our township another year," said he. "Judg- 

 ing from the amount of good roads to be con- 

 structed this year in several townships, it ap- 

 pears that the farmers who opposed the good 

 roads proposition are becoming more and more 

 in favor of it." 



Long Lake township, Grand Traverse county, 

 is not breaking any records at road building this 

 year. As a matter of fact, the township is hardly 

 keeping up with the pace that is being set by 

 Whitewater, Acme and Paradise. The taxpayers 

 at town meeting in April voted to raise only 

 20 cents on the $100 of valuation. Half of this 

 money is to be for repairs and half for improve- 

 ments. Twenty cents on the hundred in Long 

 Lake means a total of only.about $540. This sum 

 can hardly be spoken of aloud when it is remem- 

 bered that Peninsula township is raising approx- 

 imately $4,000; Acme, $2,800; Garfield, $2,000; 

 Whitewater, $2,300; Paradise, $2,100, and so on 

 down the list. 



Iron Couty's road campaign this year will be 

 a limited one because of lack of funds. The 

 greater majority of the road work to be done 

 will be in the western section of the county. 



Both the amount and the quality of the road 

 wor.k done on the Kalamo and State roads out 

 of Bellevue in Eeaton county, is a matter of 

 every day comment. 



The township of Sparta, Kent county, will 

 build two miles of state reward gravel road this 

 year. 



Hill township, which 1 includes the village of 

 Rose City, has voted to bond for $4,300 for good 

 roads. 



Avon township, Oakland county, is continuing 



Vernon township, Clare county, is building two 

 miles of state reward gravel roads this year. Th'e 

 good roads sentiment is strong in the township. 



Lee township, Allegan county, proposes to build 



KALKASKA'S ROAD CAMP. 



Among the interesting things seen by the "bet- 

 ter roads" men of Grand Traverse county during 

 their recent visit to Kalkaska county was the 

 camp of the Kalkaska road builders, located just 

 east of Fife Lake. 



The road commissioners of Kalkaska county 

 have found by experience that it is much better 

 to keep the same road crew all summer than it is 

 to depend upon the farmers in the different town- 

 ships where work is being done, and that it is 

 better to have the men fed and lodged near the 

 job than to have them using up good energy get- 

 ting to the job in the morning and returning 

 home at night, so they have a complete camp out- 

 fit and take care of the men at county expense. 



The outfit consists of four tents, tables, dishes, 

 a range, bunks, bedding, etc. The horse tent is 

 the largest. It is 30x50 feet in size. Inside of 

 the tent stalls have been made from rough boards. 



The tent which does duty as a dining room, 

 kitchen and cook's quarters is 30x40 feet in size. 

 The dimensions of the bunk tent are 18x36 feet. 

 The bunks are so arranged that they can be 

 quickly taken apart and put together again. They 

 furnish sleeping accommodations for 16 men. 

 The tool tent is 16x24 feet in size. This tent is 

 used by the foreman and for the purpose of 

 keeping the more valuable of the tools under 

 shelter. The camp outfit, represents an invest- 

 ment of $600. 



In the dining tent is the telephone, which is 

 wired up with central whenever a new camp is 

 established. This is the third year that the camp 

 system has been in operation and the Kalkaska 

 commissioners are well pleased with the results 

 secured by its maintenance. The county hires the 

 laborers for so much a day and board. The chair- 

 man of the board is responsible for all the pur- 

 chasing and the board meets every second Sat- 

 urday to audit bills. The county supplies are 

 bought at a price 10 per cent below the regular 

 retail price. 



The Kalkaska county road camp will be moved 

 upon the completion of road building operations 

 near Fife Lake, to Rapid River township, where a 

 strip ot road graded last year, is to be covered 

 wHh gravel. From Rapid River township it will 

 be moved to Coldsprings township, where a mile 

 of gravel road is to be built on a highway lead- 

 ing toward Rapid City. As few moves as po.-.- 

 sible are made in a season, as the expense of a 

 move is in the neighborhood of $100. R. H. Ells- 

 worth in Traverse City Eagle. 



