MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



First State Reward Road in Grand Traverse County, in Whitewater township. Courtesy County Road Com- 

 missioner Frank Hamilton. 



APPROVES BOND ISSUES 



FOR GOOD ROADS 



George G. Jenkins, a good roads enth'. 

 of Big Rapids, heartily commends the action 

 taken by the taxpayers of Ravenna township, 

 Muskegon county, in bonding (or $35.000 to 

 build good n ads throughout the township. He 

 says: 



"I think this plan will be the final solution 

 of the good roads question in Michigan, and 

 there are many reasons in favor of this course. 

 First, the result will be a greatly improved 

 condition of roads almost immediately without 

 waiting 15 or 20 years for them, as we will un- 

 der the present system. The difference in ac- 

 tual cost to farmers in drawing their produce 

 to market over a well improved system of 

 roads for the next 20 years compared to the 

 present ones will pay the interest on such a 

 debt at more than double the rate such bonds 

 may be sold for. Again the enhanced value of 

 the taxable property of the township by reason 

 of much more land being put in cultivation, 

 by the investment of outside capital coming 

 into such a township, by reason of the im- 

 proved condition, the greatly increased value 

 of the present farms en account of easy means 

 of transportation to market, taken altogether, 

 will render the payment of these bonds after 

 say 10 years a very light matter to such a 

 township. And again, this Soo.OOO. if rightly 

 managed, will largely be paid to the farmers 

 and laboring men of that township for building 

 these roads and will in every case prove a 

 windfall to these people, being expended at a 

 season of the year when the farm work is not 

 exacting August. September, October and 

 Xovember of each year. 



"To illustrate, suppose there were to be ex- 

 pended in Grant township, Mecosta county. 

 the sum of say $1(1.000 a year for three years, 

 to be paid directly to the farmers for graveling 

 the roads. Think of the changed conditions 

 that would take place. Think of the new 

 woven wire fences, the new and improved 

 farming tools, the stumping and cleaning of 

 rields, the painting of houses and barns, the 

 new carriages and harness, the improved con- 

 dition of horses because no labor of a horse's 

 life so jades and wears him out as a six. eight 

 or ten-mile heavy pull over our sandy roads. 

 Why I assure you such an expenditure for such 

 purpose would add So per acre to every acre 

 of that township's 22.000 acre- of land, to say 

 nothing of the pleasure of such condition ex- 

 isting. 



"It was once my lot to be elected 



tion that placed me in charge of all the high- 

 in a certain township in another state. 

 There were 72 miles of road in the towffship, 

 every rod of which had been made by grading 

 up from the ditches each side cf the road, and 

 you can imagine the condition of such a road 

 a month in the spring and fall, being composed 

 of 18 to 20 inches of soft prairie soil. 



"I began a campaign at once for good roads. 

 I offered a reward of $25 to anyone who would 

 find a workable vein of gravel in certain sec- 

 tions of the township and began hunting on 

 my own account also, and in 30 days we had 

 what gravel there was to be found, located. 

 My predecessor had only levied a light road 

 fund tax the previous year, which only gave 

 me a few hundred dollars to work with, but I 

 at once began work of drawing gravel. This 

 aroused opposition from all the heaviest tax- 

 payers, they contending it was money thrown 

 away. However, we continued until the fund 

 was exhausted and built less than one mile of 

 gravel road. So well did this succeed that all 

 the heavy taxpayers requested that the town- 

 ship road tax be placed at the highest limit 

 and at the end of my term we had 25 miles of 

 excellent road in the township. Since I left 

 there that township has bonded for $40,000 for 

 road purposes and there is now pending six 

 other road improvements that will cost per- 

 haps half that much more. These roads are 

 now built with limestone crushed by machin- 

 ery and drawn 50 miles on the railroad and 

 then drawn miles into the country with 

 wagons. When this era of road building be- 

 gan in that township 15 years ago farms sold 

 at $40 to $50 per acre, while those same farms 

 now sell for from $110 to $150 per acre. 



"A township can hardly go amiss, I think, in 

 road building if the money is economically 

 expended and is secured on long time, as the 

 increase of value of property will take care of 

 the repayment without becoming a burden." 



GRAND TRAVERSE ROADS. 



Paradise. Acme, Whitewater and Blair are 

 the first townships in Grand Traverse county 

 to build state reward roads, says the Traverse 

 City Eagle. Whitewater is entitled to first 

 place because it was the township to start the 

 ball rolling. Acme should have second place 

 because it will be the first of the other town- 

 ships to get its improved road completed. 

 Third and fourth places belong to Paradise 

 and Blair respectively, because their better 

 roads will be completed in that order. 



Acme township expects to receive its reward 

 in the near future. 



The Kalkaska county road commissioners 

 have completed a strip of clay and gravel road 

 in Springfield township one and one-half miles 



long. The state award for this class of road is 

 $250 per mile. The county road crew's tents 

 are now in Coldsprings. A piece of good road 

 one mile long is also being built in Clearwater 

 township. 



Dowagiac good roads enthusiasts have sub- 

 scribed more than $500 towards the building 

 of a macadam road from Dowagiac to Indian 

 Lake. When this road is completed a fund 

 will be raised to build a road in some other di- 

 rection, and now that the work has commenced 

 it is thought it will not let up until Dowagiac 

 has some good roads leading into its limits. 



The highway connecting the Menominee and 

 Marquette iron ranges is to be constructed 

 forthwith. The contract for the Dickinson 

 county end of the highway has been let. The 

 contract calls for the construction of a high- 

 way from a point at Sawyer Lake, a short dis- 

 tance north of Channing, to Floodwood. It 

 will be known as the Sawyer Lake-Floodwood 

 highway. It will be about six miles in length. 

 The roadbed will be 18 feet wide, and no 

 grade will exceed 5 per cent. The contract for 

 the construction of the remaining link in the 

 highway from Floodwod to the Marquette 

 county line a distance of two miles will be 

 let soon. 



SIGN BOARDS FOR MICHIGAN ROADS. 



The principal roads throughout the state of 

 Michigan are to be signboarded by the Michi- 

 gan State Automobile Association. The first 

 road to be marked in the starting of this wide- 

 spread routing movement is that from Grand 

 Rapids to Detroit. The state association will 

 also look after the Detroit to Chicago road 

 via Kalamazoo. 



Individual clubs throughout the state have 

 been asked to take charge of the work in 

 labeling the routes most favored from their 

 own cities to neighboring points. The Grand 

 Rapids club will have charge of much of the 

 western Michigan territory. The routes from 

 Grand Rapids to Muskegon, Grand Haven, 

 Lowell. Ionia. Lansing and other points follow 

 the routes already laid out. Muskegon, Sagi- 

 naw. Bay City, Flint. Holland, Benton Harbor 

 and St. Joseph. Lansing. Grand Haven, Manis- 

 tee. Ludington, Traverse City and Port Huron 

 autoists will be approached in the effort to 

 form local clubs. 



Bay county farmers are enthusiastic over' 

 the treatment of the stone roads with the 

 preservative fluid manufactured by the Stand- 

 ard Oil company. Xo sooner were the good 

 results experienced on the Midland road than 

 residents living on other roads began clamor- 

 ing for the same treatment for their highways. 

 They are raising money to buy the oil. 



