MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



MORE CONCRETE ROADS. 



"We have opened up Grand River road to 

 the Monnier road," says County Road Com- 

 missioner Edward N. Mines, of the Wayne 

 County Commission, "having completed close 

 to a mile and three-quarters of concrete, which, 

 with the macadam and concrete previously 

 built gives four miles of improved highway 

 on this thoroughfare. We will make a stren- 

 uous effort to finish this road this fall to Red- 

 ford Township, if we can secure early action 

 on our appropriation by the Board of Super- 

 visors when they convene in October. There 

 is still about \ 1 A miles of old plank left in 

 Greenfield Township. Redfcrd Township is 

 building 4 miles of 9-foot concrete roadway 

 out of the proceeds of a bond issue, which it 

 expects to finish this fall, and some time in 

 the near future we will widen it out to con- 

 form to the width of our road. While a 9- 

 foot road isn't the best that can be built, it is 

 so far ahead of the mud and plank that there 

 is no comparison, and Redfcrd deserves a lot 

 of credit for its commendable progressiveness 

 in going ahead. The half mile of unpaved 

 street in the city of Detroit which intervenes 

 between pur road and the paved portion of 

 Grand River is a disgrace to any civilized 

 community, and steps should be taken by the 

 common council of Detroit, or the state legis- 

 lature when it convenes, to remedy the pe- 

 culiar situation which exists on this portion 

 of the highway. 



KICKS ON MICHIGAN ROADS. 



Are the roads in Michigan extending from 

 Grand Rapids to Detroit in need of the atten- 

 tion of good roads advocates? 



If one has any doubt on that score a few 

 minutes' conversation with N. A. Christensen 

 will convince one that there is abundant op- 

 portunitv for improvement in that direction. 



Mr. Christensen, who is president of the 

 Christensen Engineering Company of Mil- 

 waukee, started from Grand Rapids in a tour- 

 ing car, with his daughter and chauffeur, at 

 fi:15 in the morning. He traveled through 

 Lansing and arrived to within nine miles of 

 Detroit at 8:30 at night. 



"We found the roads in the state fearful, 

 but when we neared Detroit they were so 

 much worse that the others seemed good in 

 comparison,' he said. "It was raining, and the 

 roads were as heavy as lead. There were no 

 sign posts or directions, and we had to ask for 

 information at farmhouses. At one saloon a 

 man told me that he thought if I would go four 

 miles one way I would strike a road that 

 would bring me to Detroit. He said that was 

 the only go'-d road because a man had passed 

 that way the day before and had not come 

 back, so he assumed that the fellow got 

 through all right. 



"Well. I went the four miles and came to a 

 board nailed arrosse the road informing me 

 that it was closed. Then I went back four 

 miles and asked my informant if he did not 

 have some other road handy that I could use. 

 He directed me to another, and I followed 

 that until it ended in the middle of a large 

 field. It was darker than the inside of a 

 camera and finally we found the car track and 

 were told to follow that. We slipped over 

 one side of the rail-backed road into the ditch 

 and then back on to the other side, where th<r 

 other ditch was yawning at us. In this way 

 we crept along. It was just 3:50 in the morn- 

 i"cr when we got to the road and came into 

 tbe city. Good roads! Whew! It took us 

 over eight hours to travel nine miles. 



"Along the roads we found one large motor 

 tnick in the ditch and two other automobiles. 

 They were deserted, and cne must have been 

 that which the fellow told us tried the road 

 and did not come back." 



BAD ROAD BEING IMPROVED. 



It will be good news to all who have occa- 

 sion to drive between Coldwater and Quincy 

 to Jearn that work has begun on the repairing 

 of the three-quarter mile stretch of the Cold- 

 water township (Calhcun County), part of 



S K TH E US ER 



The Port Huron System of Grad- 

 ing, Hauling, Dumping, Spreading 

 and Rolling greatly reduces costs, 

 saves labor in spreading, saves ma- 

 terial and makes a better road. 



R. J. FREEMAN, Commissioner of Roads and Revenue*, 

 DeKalb Co., Ca., said : 



"I take pleasure in stating that the machinery has worked entirely satisfactory and we 

 are more than delighted with its operation. 



Any County that may invest money in this hauling outfit will save money and will be 

 more than pleased after thoroughly testing it." 



The "Men Who Know, "the practical Road Builders, 

 are the men who are spreading the Gospel of "Better 

 Roads at Less Cost by the Port Huron System." 

 Let us send you names of 



"Men Who Know" 



Port Huron Engine & Thresher Co. 



Port Huron, Mich. 



the Chicago road that has long been in such 

 wretched condition. 



It has been utterly impossible to get at the 

 repairing of this highway because of work on 

 other roads cf the township, particularly the 

 road to Coldwater lake, but when Seth B. 

 Randall and assistants get through with the 

 Quincy-Coldwater road it will be a fine drive- 

 way, for they surely do know hew to build 

 a good road. 



MICHIGAN ROAD NOTES. 



Ceresco (Calhoun county), town board has 

 decided to build a mile of state reward read 

 this fall, commencing at the interurban sta- 

 tion north of the village and running south 

 a mile and all to be completed by the new 

 year. 



The Mancelona township board, Antrim 

 county, has decided to gravel the road in the 

 village limits of Mancelona, running north- 



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east along the railroad past the stave mill. 

 The work will be done yet this fall. This 

 will be good news to everybody who has 

 occasion to drive over this road as it has 

 been for years the poorest highway leading 

 into the village. The taxpayers in the village 

 have always gladly paid their proportion of 

 the special highway tax of the township, 

 which has been a big percentage of the total 

 amount, and this will be the first time that any 

 part of the money has been expended on the 

 roads in the village. 



