8 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



MICHIGAN 



AND 



Official Paper uf Tlic Michigan Road Makers Association and 

 Michigan Forestry Association. 



70 Larned Street West, Detroit, Michigan. 



l:m<T<-iI 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: me v raw PUBLISHING co., 



SUBSCRIPTION i ONE: DOLLAR A YUAN, 

 PAYABLE: IN ADVANCE:. 



THE SAGINAW-BAY CITY STONE ROAD 



It is a pleasure to record that the Bay City 

 business men have found a way out of the 

 difficulty to which attention was called by the 

 Hay county prosecuting" attorney and that the 

 Bay county end of the through stone road 

 between Saginaw and Bay City is to be con- 

 structed at once, thus assuring that the road 

 will be ready to accommodate traffic this fall 

 at as early a date as possible. This will open 

 up for the first time a through route between 

 the cities over which drivers will be assured 

 of good roads for the entire distance. 



Since the matter was taken up, largely 

 through the efforts of the Saginaw Board of 

 Trade, there has been no opposition from any 

 source. The need of the road has been rec- 

 ognized at both ends and the most satisfactory 

 zeal has been displayed in endeavoring to se- 

 cure a speedy adjustment of the preliminaries 

 necessary to the work. At this end arrange- 

 ments have been readily made. In Bay 

 county, however, obstacles have Ixeen encoun- 

 tered. The road work there is in the hands 

 of a board of county road commissioners, and 

 this, according to the report of the Bay county 

 prosecuting attorney, is restrained by law from 

 entering into any contracts for the expendi- 

 ture of more funds than it has actually in 

 its hands. Consequently for a time it seemed 

 that the Bay county improvement was halted. 

 The announcement now that even this ob- 

 stacle has been surmounted, through the rais- 

 ing of funds by the Bay City merchants, is 

 accordingly gratifying, for it ensures the com- 

 pletion of a project of importance which prom- 

 ised to be held up. 



The completion of the through route this 

 fall and the addition of the other through 

 route, on the other side of the river, next 

 season, will bring the two cities closer to- 

 gether and will make traffic and intercourse 

 between them easy. These roads ought to 

 have been completed long ago, and it is a safe 

 prediction that they will be among the most 

 traveled in this part of the state. Saginaw 

 Courier-Herald. 



with which the public protects its peace, order 

 and property, he finds awaiting him a steady 

 job at the mind-resting but body-wearying 

 job of breaking stone. Under the new state 

 law. which shortly goes into effect, the board 

 of supervisors may relieve the jail prisoner 

 from his monotonous sessions at the stone 

 pile and take him out on the public highway. 

 there to do his share iu the cause of promoting 

 good roads. That is what the board may do. 

 What it will do is still an umlcbated question. 

 Kent county needs good roads. It needs 

 miles and miles of them enough to keep sev- 

 eral jailfuls of offenders busy for years. The 

 county wants these roads just as fast as it 

 can get them, but cost is a big obstacle in 

 the way of securing them. Prison labor would 

 assuredly help to solve the cost problem. 



Of course there' is another side to the pris- 

 oner-labor question. It is the moral side. Is 

 it a good thing morally for these minor offend- 

 ers to be put to work on public highways 

 where their ignominy will be visible to all who 

 may pass? Or will it have a deterrent effect 

 on others sufficient to make men more careful 

 about landing in jail? These questions will 

 have to be answered within the next year or 

 so, for the new law makes the road labor 

 problem a live issue in every county. But the 

 issue is several sided, and it will take much 

 thought to reach a conclusion. The whole 

 county will have to help the supervisors in 

 reaching their decision, and it is about time 

 that the county was beginning to form opin- 

 ion.- on the matter. 



Palmer a considerable distance, but from Pal- 

 mer to the Swanzey range will pass through 

 unbroken country. The company will likely 

 find it necessary to construct a road along the 

 right of way, to be used in the event repair-. 

 to the line are necessary. A member of the 

 Xegaunec council says he thinks that the city 

 and townships should cooperate with the com- 

 pany in the construction of such a road, as it 

 would be of much benefit to the general public. 

 The company has designated locations for all 

 of its towers along the line and other prelimi- 

 nary work is well advanced. The towers will 

 be constructed of steel. 



CLAIMS FINEST ROADS. 



What is today the finest piece of road in the 

 state of Michigan, the one running north out 

 of Mohawk, Keweenaw county, was made still 

 better, as the township authorities gave a 

 contract to the Standard Oil Company to ap- 

 ply a car load of oil dressing on it, says a Ke- 

 weenaw correspondent. About two miles were 

 treated this year. The oil dressing is a mix- 

 ture of crude oil and asphalt, containing 20 

 per cent of the latter. About twelve feet of 

 the road received the treatment. It requires 

 from one-third to one-half gallon of the mix- 

 ture per square yard. The manner of apply- 

 ing it is to- sweep the fine top dressing of the 

 road off to one side, then the mixture is ap- 

 plied by a hose attached to a tank wagon. 

 Then the stuff is spread evenly over the road 

 with heavy brushes, after which the fine stuff 

 is swept back again, the whole being allowed 

 about half a day to settle. Allouez township 

 now probably has the very finest stretch of 

 country road that any community in the 

 United States can boast of. 



$50,000 PRACTICALLY WASTED. 



Xearly $50,000 has been spent by Hart town- 

 ship, Oceana county, on its roads within the 

 last ten years and about $20,000 for bridges. 

 'This amount properly expended together with 

 the statute labor formerly assessed would have 

 given first-class roads all over the township 

 and first-class bridges as well. 



The job recently completed by Mr. Doyle 

 for $070 and one completed at $1,000 gives a 

 splendidly graded highway to the KIbridge 

 town line and Hart township gets more value 

 twice over for the money expended than it 

 ever received before. The law requires that 

 such jobs be let to the lowest bidder, but it has 

 been customary to ignore this law in the past. 

 The new highway commissioners are to be 

 congratulated on the stand they have taken. 

 Hart citizens have put up with a heavy burden 

 or road taxes in the past and have received 

 very little benefit in return. A better day is 

 evidently coming and it is safe to say that 

 hereafter the law will be more carefully fol- 

 lowed in spending the people's money in Hart 

 township. 



SURVEYING FOUR MILES OF ROAD. 



Mecosta county's surveyor has surveyed the 

 road through Colfax township, which will con- 

 nect with the road east of Big Rapids, about 

 four miles out. County Road Commissioner 

 Lyons proposes to build four miles of road in 

 this township if the supervisors approve. When 

 the road is built it will give a continuous 

 stretch of eight miles of state reward road out 

 of l.ig Rapids. The commissioner hopes to 

 begin work on the road next spring. 



ST. CLAIR FARMERS PROGRESSIVE. 



A Detroit concern has 100 men and fifteen 

 teams at work building ten miles of macadam 

 road in the township of Kimball, St. Clair 

 county. The Griswold street, Port Huron, 

 road will first be extended through the town- 

 ship to the Wales line. Citizens of Wales 

 and Riley townships have started a movement 

 to extend the road across these two town- 

 ships, and are in hopes that Berlin will fall 

 in line. If the scheme can be brought about 

 it will only be a short time before there is 

 a continuous strip of macadam road from Port 

 Huron west to the Lapeer county line. It 

 would run through five of the finest townships 

 of St. Clair county. 



PRISONERS ON THE ROADS. 



Nowadays when a frisky citizen is sent to 

 jail for smashing one of the various laws 



HOLD OFF ON NEW ROAD. 



It is not likely that a new road will be built 

 to the city line of Xcgaunee, extending from a 

 point near the east range properties, this year. 

 The members of the council looked over the 

 territory and it is their impression that the 

 need for the new road is not pressing. It will 

 be necessary, however, to abandon the present 

 road within a year or two. as a part of it is 

 being undermined by the Oliver Iron Mining 

 Company. 



The proposed new route will be much short- 

 er than the present one, and will be more con- 

 venient in some respects. It will be possible 

 to connect it with the Goose Lake road, short- 

 ening the distance about half a mile. The 

 farmers to be benefited have sought the im- 

 provement for some time, but as it will be an 

 expensive job it is likely that the council will 

 put it off for at least a year. A portion of the 

 road to be abandoned was constructed only 

 about two years ago. 



It is expected that ultimately a good wagon 

 road will be provided between Xegaunee and 

 the Swanzey range towns. The Cleveland- 

 Oiffs Iron Company has secured a right of 

 way for its steel towers, which arc to carry 

 the wires for the proposed electric transmis- 

 sion line. It follows the highway leading to 



NEW COUNTY ROAD IN IOSCO. 



Xotice is given that the losco county road 

 commissioners have taken up a certain road in 

 the township of Oscoda and have declared the 

 same to be a county road under the provisions 

 of Act 14!) of the year 1*'.i:;. said road to be 

 known as the Van Ettan county road, the cen- 

 ter of which is described as follows: Begin- 

 ning at a point on the east and west quarter 

 line of Sec. 28, town 24. north of range 9 east 

 41!!) feet west of the southeast corner of s. w. 

 J4 of n. e. *4 f said Sec. 28 and running thence 

 north 35 degrees west 7,401 feet, thence north 

 4.") degrees west 3,150 feet. Said highway to be 

 four rods in width. 



BARRY COUNTY ROADS. 



A mile of "good road'' is to be built from 

 the city line of Hastings north to the Judge 

 Robinson farm, where it will join a mile of 

 road already built to that point. As this is 

 about one of the worst roads running into 

 Hastings, the improvement is a much desired 

 one. 



Another mile of road, that from the Dan 

 Manec residence to the county farm, is also 

 under way and this is another piece of bad 

 road, but in both cases excellent clay gravel 

 ran be had near by and the road made good 

 bv its use. 



Antioch township. Wexford county, under 

 the supervision of its highway commissioner. 

 Art Miller, has completed one mile of state re- 

 ward road, and it is a good job, well graveled, 

 rolled and made up in first-class shape. It is 

 a good example for other townships to take 

 pattern from. 



