MICHIGAN 



ROADS 



FORESTS 



DETROIT, MICH., AUGUST, 1910. 



Michigan State Good Roads Association 



P. T. COLGROVE, Hastings, President. N. P. HULL, Diamondale, Vice-President. 



THOMAS SATTLER, Jackson, Secretary and Treasurer. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



H. S EARLE. Detroit. P. T. COLGROVE. Hastings. W. W. TODD, Jackson. 



Exhibition of Good Roads Building 



Will Be Striking Feature of State Fair 



One of the most striking features of tbe 

 Michigan State Fair to be held at Detroit 

 Sept. 19-24. w 11 be the exhibit rf good roads 

 construction. The Michigan State Fair is the 

 fir-t in the country to make such an exhibition. 



There will be the actual building of good 

 roads going on during every day of the fair. 

 Visitors will have an oportunity of seeing not 

 only the preparatirn of all material, but the 

 operation of building sample roads by at least 

 half a dczen exhibitors of the most improved 

 road machinery. A strip of road 600 to 1.000 

 feet in length will be laid during the week 

 and there will be lectures by competent offi- 

 cials from the Department of G:od Roads at 

 Washington, D. C.. under the direction of 

 George D. Marshall, who will explain the pro- 

 cess of preparation and advantages of the 

 various materials used in construction of im- 

 proved highways. The United States Govern- 

 ment is taking a particular interest in this 

 display, and proposes to do everything pos- 

 sible to make such an exhibit both interesting 

 and instructive. 



It is an opportunity that ought not to be ne- 

 glected by the highway commissioners of 

 Michigan. If the townships have funds which 

 can be u>ed fur the purpose it would be an 

 excellent investment for it to pay the expenses 

 of its highway commissioner to the fair. The 

 instruction he will receive, and the knowledge 

 he will acquire of road making machinery in 

 actual operation ought to be worth a great 

 many dollars to the township when it begins 

 building good roads. Every highway com- 

 missioner should be conversant with the latest 

 good roads machinery. At the state fair he 

 will see half a dozen or more firms giving 

 practical illustrations of the work their ma- 

 chines can do. It will be an exhibition such 



as it would hardly be possible to give even 

 thrugh a township were in the market for 

 road making machinery. 



Among the concerns who will build sections 

 of roads with their machinery are the Port 

 Huron Engine & Thresher Company, repre- 

 sented by Jas. W. Kennedy, of Detroit; Kelly- 

 Springfield Road Roller Co., represented by 

 YV. I. Thompson, cf Jackson; A. D. Baker 

 Company, of Swanton, O., by F. W. Marquette 

 of Lansing; Huber Manufacturing Company, 

 of Marion, O., by C. H. Shoemaker: Good 

 Roads Machinery Company by H. K. Wilson 

 of Hillsdale: Galion Ircn Works, by Charles 

 W. Carter of Detroit. In addition there will 

 be any number of firms represented who build 

 dump wagons, road plows, scrapers and any- 

 thing and everything used in connection with 

 the building of good roads- 



The exhibit will be conducted in such a 

 manner as to appeal to every section of the 

 state, no matter how bad the roads may be 

 or how poor material the commissioners may 

 have at hand. 



It is the purpose to demonstrate with all 

 kinds of read material. In this way the town- 

 ship .commissioner that has only gravel at 

 hand will be instructed on gravel roads; where 

 hardheads abound the crushing and laying of 

 this material will fit the case of the commis- 

 sioner who has this material to deal with. 



Supt. V. V. Green of the Machinery and 

 implement division of the fair is the man to 

 whom credit should be given for this effort 

 on the part of the association to educate the 

 people in the building of better highways. 

 The exhibit should become a permanent fea- 

 ture of the fair. 



Branch township, one mile: Cedar Creek 

 township, two miles: by the County Road 

 Commissioners, six miles. Other roads are 

 projected but not yet under construction. 



Throughout the county there were eighty- 

 three persons who donated an aggregate of 

 $750 per mile for state reward roads up to 

 a minimum of ten miles each year for three 

 years. Then, added to this, is the $500 re- 

 ward paid by the state for each mile of road. 

 As no roads have yet been wholly completed, 

 the exact cost is not known, but the average 

 for the thirteen and one-half miles is esti- 

 mated at $2,000. After receiving the $1,250 

 rewards this will only leave an average net 

 cost of $750 per mile to the townships. 



The work has been under the ' personal 

 supervision of the three county road commis- 

 sioners, assisted by the officers of the asso- 

 ciation. The three commissioners are: 

 Charles E. Hayives, Cadillac: Fred Usewick. 

 Sherman: H. E. Stancliff. Boon. 



The following are the officers of the Wex- 

 ford County Good Roads Association: D. B. 

 Kelley. president, Cadillac; V. F. Huntley. 

 vice-president, Manton; F. H. Meyer, secre- 

 tary, Manton; Henry Knowltcn, treasurer. 

 Cadillac: Charles E.' Mitchell, Cadillac: Ed. 

 Brehin, Cadillac, and A. B. Southwick, Sher- 

 man members, who, with the officers, com- 

 pose the executive committee. 



DOING GOOD WORK. 



Deputy Highway Commissioner Rogers 

 has made a trio thronghout the extreme north- 

 ern portion 'cf the lower peninsula, in which 

 he attended several good roads meetings and 

 looked over a number of miles of new 

 highway. 



Mr. Rogers states that the farmers of the 

 northern section of the state are showing a 

 laudable desire for good roads, and that, while 

 all of the highways are not built in a manner 

 which will win state rewards,' they are valu- 

 able because they open up new territory and 

 replace old trails and log roads with a very 

 modern form of highway. 



While the department is anxious to see_state 

 award roads constructed, it is likewise inter- 

 ested in seeing some of the worst roads of 

 the state bettered in any manner and thor- 

 oughly approves of the course which the 

 weaker townships are taking, realizing that 

 they are doing all in their power to better 

 conditions. 



THIRTEEN MILES OF GOOD ROAD. structipn within the county thirteen and one- A gravel road is to be built out of Boyne 

 The \Vexford County Good Reads Associa- half miles of state reward road, as follows: An- City to connect with the Bohemian settle- 

 don, which was organized last year to work ti-ch township, one and one-half miles: Hen- ment. Residents of the city have subscribed 

 in conjunction with the county road commis- derson township, one mile; Slayle township. $1.000. and the townships to be benefitted have 

 sion, reports that there is now under con- one mile; Boon township, one mile; South appropriated $3,000. 



