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. 



SUGGESTS NEW STYLE OF CONCRETE 

 ROAD. 



A. \V. Wolfe, of Esennaba, has a suggestion 

 for a new kind of country road which he says 

 would cost only a quarter as much as the 

 present improved rural highways and would 

 last longer. He write- as follows: "First, 

 prepare the road bed, having it well turn- 

 piked, then in its center dig two parallel 

 trenches eight inches wide, the inside walls 

 being about forty inches apart. Then full 

 these ditches up with a good concrete, in 

 blocks "about four feet long, the concrete be- 

 ing built similar to the manner of b.uilding 

 sidewalks, but no top dressing being used, 

 and the concrete being rounded or crowned 

 in the center with still more rounded or in- 

 clining corners. To build a mile of this kind 

 of road will require 8,800 cubic feet of con- 

 crete which could be built for 10 cents per 

 cubic foot, or $SSO per mile. The space be- 

 tween the concrete can be filled with gravel. 

 soil, or stone for the foot path of horses, 

 while the concrete will carry the wheels. Of 

 course, the outside of the concrete must also 

 be leveled up with soil for turn out conven- 

 iences. Here is what I maintain is reasonable 

 to claim for this kind of road: First, its cost 

 will be less than half the cost of roads we are 

 now building: second, it will never be in- 

 jured by water: third, horses will always have 

 easy footing: fourth, its maintenance will be 

 only nominal: fifth, it will always be in good 

 condition and unlimited loads can be hauled: 

 sixth, automobiles could not tear up this kind 

 of road: seventh, it will be dustless. If this 

 kind of road should prove practical the high- 

 ways could be double tracked in sections 

 where file traffic demanded it. You all know 

 that in the country, no matter how well a 

 road is macadamized, after a little time the 

 teams will be following a path and rut. With 

 this kind , f road we will have the path but 

 not the rut.'' 



$12 



Weekly and Expenses 



Selling Chinaware. 



No capital required, exclusive ter- 

 ritory, permanent rapid promotion. 

 FREE SAMPLES. 



REX CHINA CO., Harrisburg, Pa. 



to property will be entirely obviated in this 

 section. 



The construction planned on Mack will also 

 finish this road to the county line, the same 

 thing being true on Jefferson avenue. With 

 the completion of Woodward, Mack and Jef- 

 ferson roads during the coming summer, the 

 County Road Commissioners' plan of work 

 will begin to show tangible results. From the 

 city hall in Detroit to the county line out 

 Mack road is twelve and one-half miles. From 

 the dividing line between Wayne and Ma- 

 c nib counties on Jefferson avenue to the city 

 hall is thirteen and one-half miles, and from 

 there on down River road below the village 

 of Trenton sixteen and one-half miles, a total 

 distance of forty-two miles of good road and 

 paved streets all the way, except a stretch 

 cf about six blocks in the southerly part of 

 the city of Wyandotte. The total mileage to 

 be constructed in 1910 will approximate fifteen 

 miles. 



The'maintenance of roads already built will 

 receive adequate attention, this being a spe- 

 cial feature of the county commission's plan. 



Contracts have been awarded on cement, 

 gravel .stone and other commodities, cf which 

 the board uses large quantities. It is planned 

 to push the work rapidly on a given section 

 of the road, and the board has devised sev- 

 eral labor-saving contrivances with a view of 

 cheapening the cost and expediting the work. 



WAYNE ROAD WORK IN 1910. 



The Board of Wayne County Road Com- 

 missioners have practically completed its 

 plans for roadwork for 1910, and the concrete 

 road will be largely favored, plans having 

 been made for this form of construction en 

 iward. Grand River, Michigan, Gratiot, 

 Mt. Elliott. Fort, Eureka, Mack and the sec- 

 tion of River road to be improved below Tren- 

 ton. Bituminous macadam will be used on 

 River read up to the village of Trenton, and 

 rock asphalt is planned for Jefferson and Van 

 Dyke roads, and gravel for the Plymouth and 

 Xorthville roads. The 1010 appropriation has 

 already been expended on the Wayne road 

 south, this being a combination of concrete, 

 gravel and limestone. 



Woodward avenue road will be the first 

 piece of work started and will be finished to 

 the county line, a distance of one and one- 

 quarter miles now being unimproved. The 

 culvert at the Seven-mile road and Woodward, 

 was built last fall, and it is expected that 

 when its construction, together with the dig- 

 ging of one-half mile of ditch connecting with 

 the county ditch, the annual springtime floods, 

 with their attendant annoyances and damage 



NECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS CANNOT 

 BE STOPPED. 



The supreme court of Michigan has affirmed 

 the decision of Judge Smith in the case of 

 John W. Smith vs. .Ora L. Barrett, highway 

 commissioner of the township of Eaton Rap- 

 ids. Eaton County. The case involved the 

 right of the township to construct a fcur-foot 

 cement conduit through and across the high- 

 way. The electors had voted an appropria- 

 tion to defray the cost of this improvement, 

 and the commissioner was about to let the 

 c ntract when Mr. Smith filed an injunction 

 bill enjoining the commissioner from further 

 aiting the same, on the ground that a 

 f. ur-foot conduit across the highway would 

 permit a large amount of water to flow down 

 up. n his lands, causing him thereby irreparable 

 damage and injury. The township stood be- 

 hind the commissioner and insisted that the 

 improvement was necessary for the proper 

 protection of the highway and those travel- 

 ing over it, and that so long as the proposed 

 improvement did net exceed in dimensions 

 the size of the original channel the commis- 

 sioner had a right to go ahead with his work. 

 The case was stubbornly contested on both 

 sides, more than forty witnesses being sworn, 

 and the case taking the attention of the court 

 f r nearly a week. Judge Smith decided that 

 the commissioner had a right to make the im- 

 provement for the township and dismissed 

 the bill of complainant. 



USE 1SCONSIN BLUE LIME STONE 

 FOR ROADS AND CONCRETE 



96% of . the Macadam roads and 



streets of western Michigan have 



been built with our stone. 



LAKE SHORE STONE CO. 



Michigan Headquarters, Muskegon. Mich. 



usual "bump" found on most bridges. Wood 

 in every form, and any other material sus- 

 ceptible to decay, is strictly tabooed. 



"We found after a year or mere of wear 

 on our trunk roads, that owing to the crown 

 there was a tendency of vehicles to follow 

 one track, with a consequent starting to rut. 

 This led us to look about to see if we could 

 not find some other form of material which 

 would net exceed, to any great extent the cost 

 of a first-class macadam, and as a result of 

 our investigation have evolved, and are build- 

 ing our roads of, concrete. This is one of the 

 oldest and most valuable forms of construc- 

 tion, and has been used for years as a base 

 or foundation for some form of brick, cedar, 

 cedar block or asphalt wearing surface. 



"We are building roads cf this character at 

 a much lower price per square yard than the 

 average cost of macadam roads built in Xew 

 York and Pennsylvania from trap rock, and 

 think they are better in every particular than 

 any macadam road which can possibly be 

 built. We have formulated plans for between 

 seven and ten miles of this class cf roadway 

 to be built during the season of 1910, abandon- 

 ing to a very large extent the construction of 

 macadam." 



32 MILES OF ROAD TO BE BUILT. 



Kalamazoo county, which adopted the coun- 

 ty road system last fall, is planning to build 

 32 miles of good roads this season. It is 

 planned to build two miles of read in every 

 township. If the new board of county road 

 commissioners accomplishes the task it has 

 set for itself, Kalamazoo county will make 

 a record. 



The roads will be constructed of gravel, 

 as there is an abundance of that material in 

 Kalamazoo county. The county has made 

 application for state reward en 32 miles of 

 road, which would give it $16,000. The road 

 commission will have a fund of $50,000 to 

 work with in addition. 



BRANCH TO VOTE ON GOOD ROADS. 



Branch county tax-payers will vote on the 

 adoption of the county road system at the 

 spring election. An active campaign of edu- 

 cation is in progress in the county, and will 

 undoubtedly do much towards swinging 

 Branch county into line. Branch county is 

 not entirely deficient in good roads, but those 

 built so far have been by townships. Xo 

 definite plan for the improvement of the trunk 

 roads has been carried out. 



CONCRETE ROADS ARE COMING. 



Edward X. Hines, of the Board of Road 

 Commission of Wayne county, in an address 

 before the commissions of Saginaw, Midland 

 and Tuscola counties, said in part: 



"The general idea of permanency is kept 

 to the fore in all cur work. All culverts which 

 we make are re-enforced concrete. We have 

 adopted as a standard for our bridge con- 

 struction, steel and re-enforced concrete, with 

 concrete decks, which we flare at the inter- 

 section cf the roadway, thus preventing the 



William J. Tully, of Iron River, has been 

 elected a member of the Iron County Road 

 Commission to succeed James Long, resigned. 



Marlette township, Sanilac county, will prob- 

 ably build a mile of state reward gravel road 

 this year. The township in the past has made 

 liberal appropriations for road work, but the 

 work has not been done systematically. Xow 

 it is proposed to start right. 



