10 



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 



PUK STATE HKVIEW PUBLISHING CO., 



SUBSCRIPTION i ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, 

 PAYABLE IN ADVANCE:. 



WHAT GOOD ROADS COST. 



There are in the Empire State 80,000 miles 

 of roads, greater mileage of which is improved 

 highway than all of the other Eastern states 

 put together, not excluding Massachusetts. 

 There are now 2,000 miles of state roads more 

 under construction. There are macadam roads 

 totaling in mileage 2,400 miles, constructed by 

 towns. There are more than 40,000 miles of 

 earth roads, properly shaped and crowned, 

 stones picked and removed, depressions filled, 

 culverts and bridges repaired. Towns have 

 constructed 8,000 miles of gravel roadi, in first- 

 class condition. 



To keep these roads in navigable, so to 

 speak, shape means work, systematic, untiring 

 labor on the part of a great corps of people. 

 The state is divided into nine districts, with 

 Frank D. Lyon, Deputy Commissioner of the 

 State Highway Department, in actual charge 

 of these. Each district has a superintendent. 

 an assistant to Mr. Lyon. Then the state is 

 again subdivided into fifty-four counties under 

 the supervision of fifty-four superintendents, 

 who in turn are answerable to the nine -assist- 

 ants to Mr. Lyon. Then it is further subdi- 

 vided into 934 towns under 934 town superin- 

 tendents. By this system Commissioner Lyon 

 can reach within twenty-four hours after noti- 

 fication any road in the state in need of repair. 



Work of construction and repair is now at 

 its height, and Mr. Lyon's report of recent 

 date showed that on one particular day there 

 were 26,000 men and teams on the roads of 

 the state. 



"The upkeep of motor cars," says Mr. Lyon, 

 "will this year be reduced forty per cent, in 

 my mind, on account of repairs to highways 

 being made." 



Towns are this year raising by taxes for 

 highway improvements the sum of $2,504,- 

 675.23. The state is turning over to the towns 

 to aid them in this work $1.593.070. Bridge 

 work in 1910 is to cost $628,414.63. The 

 amount to be paid out for new machinery is 

 $180,011.25. Special road improvement in 

 towns of the state is to cost $279,706.22, mak- 

 ing in all $5,185,877.33 to be expended by 

 towns this year. 



The state is to bond itself for $10.000.000 

 for the construction of state roads. Towns 

 and counties are to be called upcn to provide 

 as there share $5,000,000. The State Legisla- 

 ture has appropriated $1.800,000 for the main- 

 tenance of State roads already constructed. 



The sum of $21,985,877.33 is to be expended 

 in one year, this year, for road construction 

 and improvement throughout the great Em- 

 pire State, that is, this amount is available for 

 the work and in all probability will be utilized 

 by the State Department of Highways. 



ROADS AMERICA'S GREAT DISGRACE. 



"The most disgraceful thing in America is 

 the shocking condition of its roads," said L. 

 Taylor, of the firm of Craven, Taylor & Co., 

 of Sydney, Australia, during an interview 

 while in Detroit the other day. 



Mr. Taylor's remarks on American roads 

 showed that he had given careful study to his 

 subject. This Sydney gentleman has made 



eight trips to America and found very little 

 improvement in American roads since his first 

 trip here several years ago. 



"If 1 would travel in Spain." said Mr. Tay- 

 lor, "I w<:uld nnt be surprised to find poor 

 roads, but in a nation like this which we colo- 

 nials look to for the greatest and most ad- 

 vanced signs of human progress, it is simply 

 appaling to observe how far behind the times 

 the United States is in the matter of high- 

 ways. 



"I haven't seen the worst roads in America 

 but the best I have seen are bad. In my trips 

 to America I always discern a healthy prog- 

 ress in every line except road-building. In 

 this country the greatest good to the greatest 

 number does not obtain on account of bad 

 roads. In a sparsely settled country like Aus- 

 tralia which cannot be compared with Amer- 

 ica in the matter of progress and natural ad- 

 vantages since it is so far from the rest of 

 the civilized world we have roads fully as good 

 as those in this country and I believe a little 

 better. 



"Our roads are made by the government. 

 The government of the United States should 

 have charge of the highways in this country; 

 if it did there would be a decided improvement 

 in the road conditions very soon. 



"Americans, I am sure, do not realize how 

 far behind the times they are in their road 

 building. Even the city streets of the great 

 centers like New York and Chicago would be 

 considered disgraceful to communities of one- 

 fifth the size of these famous places. 



"It is hard to understand how the American 

 farmer has prospered the way he has with such 

 roads. Usually good roads are the first sign 

 of a nation's progress. In this country prog- 

 ress has set the pace for the world in spite 

 of bad roads. I believe that is just another 

 way of demonstrating that Yankee grit is all- 

 powerful even under the worst conditions. 



"The next time I come to America I hope 

 to find a great improvement in the American 

 highways, but I have little hopes since the 

 people of the United States seem determined 

 not to wake up on this vitally important sub- 

 ject. I heard the other day that the road 

 between Detroit and Toledo was so bad that 

 motorists almost invariably ship their ma- 

 chines by boat to Toledo from Detroit. To a 

 foreigner accustomed to looking for the most 

 up-to-date conditions in this country, this state 

 of affairs is shocking and almost unbeliev- 

 able." 



MICHIGAN'S GOOD ROADS DELEGATES 



The following delegates have been appoint- 

 ed by Gov. Warner to the eleventh national 

 good reads convention, to be held at Okla- 

 homa City, Okla., Oct. 4, 5 and 6: Nelson 

 Bean, Mud Lake; A. O. Jopling, Munising; W. 

 H. Evans, Grand Junction, R. F. D. No. 2; 

 James Briselden, Alpena; Mason Austin, Man- 

 celona; Joseph Johnson, Twining; James Mc- 

 Kercher, Michigamme; J. T. Lombard, Hast- 

 ings; Hugh Campbell, Bay City; Samuel Wes- 

 sing, St. Joseph; J. J. Cox, Coldwater; A. H. 

 Chase, Marshall; C. H. Laylin, Dowagiac; 

 Frank Clute, Boyne; John B. McArthur. Che- 

 boygan; Willam Godfrey. Sault Ste. Marie; 

 W. C. Corn well. Clare; Oliver S. Angell, Lans- 

 ing; C. S. Barber, Frederic; H. W. Reade, 

 Escanaba; W. Kelley, Vulcan; William Hale, 

 Eaton Rapids: Linus Wolcott. Flint; Frank 

 Voorheis. Harbor Springs: Wallace McCrack- 

 en, Gladwin; Henry Rowe, Ircnwood; Frank 

 Hamilton, Traverse City: Burton I. Gee, El- 

 well: W. B. Hewlett, Jonesville; Edward A. 

 Hamar, Chassel: B. W. Jenks, Harbor Beach; 

 II. F. Wallman. Okomos; Norman Foster, 

 Sar.inac: J. M. Waterbury, Tawas City; W. 

 H. Jobe. Palatka; George Fenby, Shepherd; 

 W. A. Leeke, Munith: W. M. Bryant, Kala- 

 mazoo; L. A. Atkins, South Bnardman; W. T. 

 Shafer, Grand Rapids, R. F. D. No. 10; S. R. 

 Smith. Allouez; Claude M. Nicholson, Luther; 

 A. J. Fox, Almont: William Walter, Sutton's 

 Bay; John Richard, Hollo way; P. W. Con- 

 way, Pinckney; John Fyvie, McMillan; Jacob 



Hough, Ozark; W. L. Evans, Richmond; John 

 W. Bradford, Bear Lake; J. E. Sherman, Mar- 

 quette; F. W. Harding, Scottville; W. B. 

 Lyons, Big Rapids; C. H. Haggerson, Menom- 

 inee; George Brown, St. Louis; J. H. Slick, 

 Manitou; Howard M. Bowser, Temperance; 

 M. \V. Stephenscn; Alonzo Manler, Big Rock; 

 Martin Ryerson, Holton; Hiram Walters, 

 Grant; Edward A. Tucker, Rochester; George 

 Dewey, Shelby; William Barber, Ellake; John 

 Vance, Hersey; S. G. Belden. South Branch; 

 William H. Peck, Gaylord; Eli Arnold, Conk- 

 lin, R. F. D. No. 3; Herman Karsten, Rogers 

 City: George W. Sackrider, Roscomm n; Al- 

 pheus Green, Saginaw; Michael Devereoux, 

 1'ort Sanilac: X. S. Johnson, Manistique; T. 

 J. Hicks. Bennington; Chas. A. Bailey, Port 

 Huron; W. H. Burke, Three Rivers; Joseph 

 Beckton, Caro; L. H. Waber, Kendall; John 

 Egeler, Dexter; J. S. Haggerty, Detroit; C. E. 

 Haynes, Cadillac; J. D. Van Slyck, Ontcnagon. 



EVERYONE WANTS GOOD ROADS. 



In its quest for signatures to the petitions 

 for an appropriation for $2,000,000 fcr good 

 roads improvements in the county of Wayne 

 the Detroit Board of Commerce is meeting 

 with hearty co-operation. Many of the peti- 

 tions have been sent in filled, and other copies 

 asked for. They are being generally circulat- 

 ed throughout the county and in the various 

 large industrial establishments in the city. 



George H. Wooley, one of the managers of 

 the Pontchartrain hotel, returned one filled 

 and, like Oliver Twist, said "he wanted some 

 more." Alanson S. Brooks, of the Michigan 

 Drug Co., sent in one and indorsed the idea. 

 A. A. Schantz, alias "Gus," forwarded a filled 

 petition and said it was such a good thing 

 that it should be "hastened along." L. H. 

 L'Hommedieu, general manager of the Michi- 

 gan Central railroad, returned a long list 

 of names and will gather some more. Supt. 

 Charles B. Bohn, of the Aluminum Castings 

 Co., got busy and sent for his quota, while 

 Frank G. Ryan, president, and E. G. Smith, 

 general manager, of Parke, Davis & Co., add- 

 ed some more names to the growing list. 

 Arthur L. Holmes, and Hamilton Carhartt 

 mailed in filled petitions and a number of 

 others have said theirs were on the way. 



Judging by the way the petitions are being 

 taken up a long list of names, possibly 25,000 

 will be in readiness to hand to the supervisors 

 when they meet in Otober. 



-Acting Secretary Flowers says that requests 

 are coming in by phcne, mail and messenger 

 for petitions and that the indications point 

 to an awakening in Wayne county in the in- 

 terest of good roads and the benefits that 

 will accrue therefrom. 



YOU SHOULD HAVE THIS BOOK. 



The 1911 Port Huron Good Roads Book is 

 being distributed by the Port Huron Engine 

 & Thresher Company. It is a credit to the 

 company, as all its publications are. The book 

 contains something about the history of good 

 roads, which extends back 2,000 years; Michi- 

 gan bounties; machine made macadam roads; 

 the Port Huron system of grading, hauhng 

 spreading and rolling, which greatly reduces 

 costs, and in addition gives the opinions of 

 many judges. 



The book is bound in a rough, double flam- 

 ingo cover of an unusually neat design. The 

 entire make-up reflects much credit on the 

 officials of the Port Huron Engine & Thresher 

 Co. and especially on Jay R. Worden adver- 

 tising manager for the company. 



The highway commissioner of Bethany 

 township. Gratiot county, Frank P. Shook, has 

 just completed the survey of 3% miles of state 

 aid road. It is expected that at least 2J4 

 miles will be gravled this fall. One mile from 

 miles will be graveled this fall. One mile from 

 and one and one fourth miles from the Mc- 

 Gregor bridge south to the sugar factory at 

 St. Louis. Mr. Shock's postoffice address is 

 St. Louis. 



