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. 



Prank E. Carter Editor 



PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH 



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GOOD ROADS ARE "CATCHING." 



A very interesting proposition is that of O. D. 

 Gilbert relative to the proposed boulevard be- 

 tween Saginaw and Bay City, that "it would be 

 a good plan to establish a fine park half way be- 

 tween the two cities on the island through which 

 the channel will run. A large piece of property 

 could be purchased here at a reasonable rate and 

 placed in good condition for park purposes. Mr. 

 Gilbert proposes that the state buy the property 

 and operate it. It would be an excellent loca- 

 tion for an aquarium and similar buildings. This 

 would be operated in connection with the boule- 

 vard, making it within easy reach of both cities, 

 while the interurban would run within a short 

 distance of it. Mr. Gilbert calls attention to the 

 fact that Massachusetts and other states own 

 and take care of bathing beaches and parks and 

 Michigan would here have an opportunity to dp 

 the same, aiding not one city, but several." 



It is also suggested that "if the state could not 

 do this Saginaw and Bay City might take the 

 matter up and come to an agreement whereby 

 the park property could be jointly owned and 

 operated." 



The distance between these cities is only some 

 thirteen miles; from the suburbs of each city, 

 less than ten miles. The distance, therefore, 

 from either city would be less than thousands of 

 Detroiters habitually travel to reach Belle Isle, 

 Bostonians to reach Forest Hills, or New York- 

 ers to Coney Island, and a comparatively small 

 expenditure would make this proposed park al- 

 most as attractive a resort as Detroit's far-famed 

 playground. 



The four cities which it would benefit should 

 not wait for state aid, but should make it a city 

 ;iffair, boulevard the necessary roadway in a 

 manner to reflect credit on the cities and attract 

 larger population, which it would certainly tend 

 to do. 



But the value of a park, like that of a farm, 

 and to an even larger degree, depends upon easy 

 accessibility. Roads must be of ample width and 

 of a thoroughly permanent character. The wis- 

 dom of our ancestors is still wise, in many cases, 

 and "penny wise" is still "pound foolish." No 

 money properly and honestly spent in establish- 

 ing good roads in a growing community was 

 ever other than a very wise investment. 



At least two projects are receiving serious con- 

 sideration in the east which involve the expen- 

 diture of millions of dollars for boulevards, or 

 at least wide, permanent highways between dis- 

 tant cities, notably between Montreal and Boston, 

 also New York and Philadelphia. 



This is a fair indication of the spirit of the 

 limes, and those who do not join in the march 



i if progress must inevitably fall to the rear. 



Saginaw and the Bay Cities are on the right 

 track for a greater prosperity and a more per- 

 manent growth. 



LESSONS FROM OUR NEIGHBORS. 



A good road movement is a hard one to start, 

 but once it gets under way, it spreads at light- 

 ning speed. Witness the experience in Arcadia, 

 Illinois, as related in the Arcadia Weekly Ar- 

 cadian, as follows: 



''The experiment with paved highways in 

 Newman township (Illinois) has been more of a 

 success than the promoters of the improvement 

 anticipated. Farmers living on all sides of the 

 city are shouting for more paved roads and the 

 men who were most bitter against the improve- 

 ment when it was first started are now the most 

 enthusiastic in favor of the paved highways. 



' 'Twas ever thus. Men persist in being blind 

 to their own interests. Some of the greatest 

 movements for the improvement of this country 

 have been stubbornly fought by the very men 

 who were to receive the most benefit. A few 

 years ago men bristled with antagonism at the 

 mention of the word drainage and argued that 

 Charley Eckert with his ditches was going to 

 bankrupt the land owners. The drainage was 

 the making of the country and the land holder 

 has waxed fat and prospered. The man who at- 

 tempted to snatch the ditches away today would 

 be mobbed. 



"Some day these same words will apply to 

 paved highways. A coming generation will mar- 

 vel at the stupidity of men who were literally 

 stuck in the mud for half a century without 

 making an effort to extricate themselves." 



GRAZING EXAMINERS FOR FOREST 

 SERVICE. 



Examinations were held Feb. 23-24 for three 

 grazing examiners for the forest service. This 

 position is a new one, the establishment of 

 which is in line with the objects which the De- 

 partment of Agriculture has always had in view 

 in its management of grazing on the National 

 forests. It is not merely seeking to prevent cat- 

 tle and sheep from doing damage to forest 

 growth and watershed conditions, as they graze 

 on the herbage which is yearly produced in the 

 open forests, parks, and high mountain meadows 

 within the National forests. Range fed stock 

 are a matter of decided importance to the Amer- 

 ican people in these days of rising prices for 

 food products and diminishing supplies, in pro- 

 portion to population, of live stock ; and there- 

 fore Secretary Wilson intends that every acre of 

 National forest range shall be made to produce 

 as much foliage as it is capable of doing, con- 

 sistently with the carrying out of the other pur- 

 poses for which the National forests are main- 

 tained. 



The proposal to appoint specialists who are 

 both thoroughly trained botanists and men of 

 practical experience in range matters indicates 

 recognition of the fact that to attain the highest 

 point of range productivity the best scientific 

 knowledge must be applied to the study of the 

 problems of forage production and utilization. 

 As stock graze on the range, the effect on the 

 different kinds of vegetation differs both with 

 its palatability or unpalatability and with its ca- 

 pacity to produce seed, its time of seeding, its 

 resistance to trampling, its manner of growth, 

 and many other elements. 



What is aimed at now is nothing less than to 

 find out all the things on which depend the pro- 

 duction of the largest amount of beef, mutton, 

 wool, and hides on a given area. 



Data will also be obtained on subjects perti- 

 nent to a wise use of forest resources and which 

 it is hoped will eventually bring about a much 

 more intelligent and intensive use of the Na- 

 tional forest range. 



GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT STARTED 

 AT ANN ARBOR. 



At a banquet held recently in the Y. M. C. A. 

 building at Ann Arbor, and attended by a large 

 croud, many first rate addresses were delivered 

 on the subject of good roads, which should go 

 a long way in stirring up interest, awakening 

 enthusiasm and inaugurating a mavement which 

 shall proceed by its own momentum to a con- 

 clusion in better highways in every township in 

 Washtenaw county. 



The first speaker was Prof. Filibert Roth, of 

 the University of Michigan, and he drove home 

 a few telling arguments in favor of good roads 

 in a speech of a humorous nature,, which kept 

 his hearers convulsed with laughter. 



Among other things, Professor Roth said : 



"Man is a social animal, and the foundation 

 of civilization is a proper means of communica- 

 tion. Rome held the world by paving her roads. 

 She quickly realized the value of a proper means 

 of communication between her provinces, and 

 luiilt roads, portions of which after 2,000 years, 

 still exist. When President Roosevelt caused 

 his country life commission to do some work 

 among the rural people of the country, it dis- 

 covered that the trouble which was greatest was 

 the lack of good roads. When I was abroad 

 last summer I talked with people, and when I 

 asked them what they most wanted it was good 

 highways. I discovered land in the mountainous 

 districts upon every acre of which more was 

 being produced than is produced upon each acre 

 in Washtenaw county, and the secret of it is 

 plenty of good roads." 



Professor Roth also told of the benefits ac- 

 cruing to the farmer when his means of com- 

 munication with cities and towns are good. He 

 said that with good highways the farmer could 

 place his products in the markets of the city at 

 all times, and that hundreds of thousands of 

 bushels of fruit and grain which are now al- 

 lowed to waste because the farmer cannot haul 

 them to market, would bring in revenue 



City Engineer Groves, of Ann Arbor, also 

 spoke, and he produced some figures to show how 

 Washtenaw county is missing an opportunity of 

 improving her roads by the assistance of the 

 state. He showed how several counties in the 

 northern part of the state whose assessed val- 

 uation is not more than three or four million 

 dollars each, are spending each year several 

 thousand dollars in building new highways, 

 while Washtenaw. with something like $40,000,- 

 000 in valuation, is doing nothing. 



Road Commissioner Hines, of Wayne county, 

 a national authority on good roads, also deliv- 

 ered an excellent address which, from its length, 

 we shall have to postpone publishing until next 

 month. The address enters somewhat exhaus- 

 tively but interestingly into the Michigan law 

 and practice of the subject, and quotes John 

 Wesley as follows, from his journal: 



"I was beholden of the truth that farmers 

 who live along a good road grow rich, while 

 those who are on a bad road are usually very 

 poor." 



John Wesley was born in 1703. This is the 

 twentieth century. Are our perceptions behind 

 the times? 



The taxpayers of Mason County, Western 

 Michigan, will vote on April third next, upon 

 the issuing of bonds in the sum of $105,000 

 for the purpose of extending macadam and 

 gravel roadways to the county limits. 



