8 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



MICHIGAN 



ROADS AND FORESTS 



Official Paper of The Michigan Road Makers Association and 

 Michigan Forestry Association. 



70 Lamed 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 i ONE: DOLLAR A YEAR, 



PAYABLE IN ADVANCE). 



ROADWAY WIDTHS. 



Pasadena, Cal., has adopted a basis of pro- 

 portioning roadway and sidewalk widths 

 which is novel. This basis is apparently the 

 assumption that the roadway traffic on the 

 street is largely proportional to the length 

 of that street; that is, the greatest amount 

 of traffic follows the longest highways. In 

 general the rule embodying this idea is that, 

 for streets having a total width of 65 feet or 

 less, the roadway shall' have a certain mini- 

 mum width up to a total street length of 

 1,500 feet; that for lengths from 1,500 to 3,000 

 feet this width should be increased by two 

 feet; between 3,000 and 5,000 feet by two addi- 

 tional feet, and if over 5,000 feet long a third 

 increment of two feet shall be added. The 

 minimum roadway widths vary from 20 feet 

 on a 40-foot street to 30 feet on a 65-foot 

 street. The idea is an interesting one, and 

 has been worked cut in such a way as to meet 

 a number of questions, such as the method 

 of determining the future length of a street, 

 seeing that many of them will undoubtedly 

 be extended with the growth of the city. 



The Wexford county road commissioners 

 have rejected all -bids for building state re- 

 ward roads in that county. Commissioners 

 C. E. Haynes, Fred Usewick and T. E. Stan- 

 cliff had asked for figures on ten miles of 

 roads and the bids were too high, they con- 

 sidered, being from $200 to $500 a mile higher 

 than they believe they can build the roads 

 for themselves. 



BAD ROADS A STUMBLING BLOCK. 



"I hold that the building of good roads is 

 the thing which should enlist the most serious 

 attention of the farmer, because the improve- 

 ment of the country roads is the first great 

 step in the improvement of living conditions 

 on the farm," says John I. Gibson, secretary 

 of the Western Michigan Development. Bu- 

 reau. 



"The ordinary country read, especially in 

 Michigan, is a stumbling block to all real 

 progress and the one reason above all others 

 which looks country life so objectionable, and 

 which draws so many of the young people 

 from the country to seek employment in the 

 cities. 



"I feel that it is imperative that some action 

 be taken to make farm life more agreeable 

 and remunerative; and I ask you. Is there 



any better way in which the movement from 

 the country to the city can be checked than 

 through the establishment, everywhere, of 

 good reads system? I venture to assert that 

 if the energy expended in preaching the doc- 

 trine of "Back to the land" were devoted to 

 advancing the good roads movement, condi- 

 tions would soon be altered and the flow of 

 population would be from the city to the 

 countrv. 



Someone has said that land without man is 

 a desert; man without land is a mob. The 

 workers for good roads, by helping to bring 

 the landless man out to the manless land are 

 it seems to me, aiding in no small degree in 

 the solution of one of the most perplexing 

 problems cf our times. 



With the rapid extension of our industrial 

 life and the opportunities offered in business 

 and in the professions the cities have called 

 upon the country for clear brains and vigorous 

 bodies to such an extent that large areas have 

 become so depopulated of active and vigorous 

 minds and bodies that the stcck is insufficient 

 to repeople the country districts. The result 

 has been that some of the most fertile lands 

 right here in Michigan, some of the most 

 fertile lands of the world, have been left in 

 a condition of practical if not actual abandon- 

 ment, and the price of provisions has increased 

 for the simple reason that there are not people 

 to actually work the soil and to raise the crops 

 necessary to feed the nonproducing popula- 

 tion of the cities. 



If every part of this State was easy of 

 access by means of good roads, it would go a 

 long way to remedy this condition of things 

 for not only would the farms then be occupied 

 but the price of the land would be materially 

 enhanced. 



After all, the question resolves itself into 

 one of education. It is strange to me, though, 

 that on no question pertaining to his calling 

 does the ordinary farmer manifest so great 

 a misconception as upon the subject of good 

 roads. It is pretty generally admitted that the 

 farmer like the rest of us is after the dollar. 

 I am therefore convinced that if the farmers 

 of Michigan can only be shown that better 

 roads are to their pecuniary advantage and 

 that they benefit them not only financially 

 but politically and socially more than any 

 other class of our people, then they will all 

 be converted and those of us who are consid- 

 ered good roads cranks will have plenty of 

 disciples. 



It should always be kept in mind the fact 

 that county roads are built with money raised 

 on every dollar's worth of assessed property 

 in Michigan and farmers, while neglecting 

 their own roads are largely engaged in the 

 foreign missionary business paying taxes 

 toward the state reward road fund, which is 

 being spent where the wise ones, with their 

 good money, are building roads, in the coun- 

 ties under the county road system. These 

 counties which have adopted the county road 

 system are building four times as much good 

 read as the counties which are not under it. 



THE GOOD ROADS MISSIONARY. 



All honor to the man who is working for 

 good roads. If you have any spare time, be- 

 ccme a good roads missionary. The resi- 

 dent of any township in Michigan who does 

 the most toward the securing of good roads 

 for his locality will leave behind him a record 

 that will be worth more than will any monu- 

 ment of marble or granite that may be erected 

 at his grave in the cemetery. If you wish 

 to live in the hearts of your fellow townsmen, 

 go to work in earnest on the important pro- 

 ject of improving your highways. Your ef- 

 forts may not be appreciated now, but they 

 will be in the future. 



GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION AT VAS- 

 SAR. 



A good roads association has been organized 

 at Vassar. W. J. Spears is president and E. 

 W. Ellis, secretary. A committee of 10 has 

 been appointed to act with the officers in 

 pushing the movement in that section of Tus- 

 cola county. 



USING OIL ON STREETS. 



A large number cf villages and small cities 

 in Michigan will this year experiment with oil 

 on unpaved streets, instead of sprinkling the 

 thoroughfares with water. It is figured that 

 oiling the roads will save municipalities many 

 thousands of dollars in the course of a few 

 years. 



MICHIGAN ROAD NOTES. 



Vernon township, Isabella county, has voted 

 $1,500 for the building of a state reward road, 

 $597 for general road improvement and $1,750 

 for the road repair fund. The township has 

 a balance of about $000 in its road fund. 



Clare county farmers voted down the county 

 road system on April 4. The vote of the 

 farmers against the proposition was a sur- 

 prise. Clare needs good roads if the county 

 is to compete with her sister counties. 



"Four years ago," says Postmaster S. C. 

 Kirkbride, of Clare, "when I bought my farm 

 out in Sheridan, there was only one mile of 

 graveled road the entire ten miles. Now there 

 are only two miles not graveled. Sheridan 

 township has voted to bond for $6,000 for 

 roads, the Arthur-Hatton town line activity 

 and Grant township's proposal for half a mile 

 of state award road on both the Dover and 

 state reads are evidences of a desire for bet- 

 ter roads. But one fact is evident. Clare 

 county should be getting more money out of 

 the state reward fund. Grant township has 

 had two slices of $500 each, and that is all. 



The township of Fremont, Tuscola county, 

 will raise $2,000 for highway improvements 

 this year, of which $1,000 will be expended 

 in the village of Mayville. 



The committee on roads and bridges of the 

 board of supervisors of Grand Traverse coun- 

 ty is as follows: E. E. Champion, John An- 

 derson and Thomas Shilson. 



Dayton township, Tuscola county, has voted 

 to build two miles of state reward road, one 

 mile running from the village of Mayville 

 east and the other running from the village 

 of Silverwood west. 



The township of Forest, Genesee county, 

 has voted to bond $10,000 for good roads. 



