MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



13 



A fifteen year old plantation in Michigan of pine, spruce and hardwoods, trees 10 to 16 feet in 

 height. A practical demonstration that moving sands are not a desert and can do more than feed a 

 few sheep to the square mile. 



MICHIGAN WATER POWERS. 



The gigantic task of harnessing the St. 

 Joseph river and converting its power into 

 electric current for commercial purposes which 

 began several years ago through the proposed 

 'erection of six mammoth dams, is being carried 

 forward to a successful termination. Opera- 

 tions have begun at Berrien Springs on what 

 will be the fourth dam in the chain. The en- 

 terprise is the project of the Berrien Springs 

 Power and Electrical Company, of which Fred 

 A. Byran is vice-president and general man- 

 ager, and Charles A. Chapin the multi-million- 

 aire is president. 



The other three dams of the system arc in 

 successful operation at Twin Branch and Elk- 

 hart, Ind., and Buchanan, Mich. It is one of 

 the greatest power undertakings ever attempted 

 in tlie middle west. 



Much of the power now used in South Bend, 

 Mishawaka, Elkhart and Goshen in Indiana 

 and Niles, Buchanan and Berrien Springs in 

 Michigan, is derived from the St. Joseph river. 



The project means that when the great task 

 is completed, most manufacturing concerns 

 in that section will be using power generated 

 from the old St. Joe. The Oliver Chilled Plow 

 works, the biggest plant of its kind in the 

 world, is now deriving all its motive power 

 from the St. Joseph river, the company having 

 an independent dam in the river at South Bend. 



The corporation engaged in this big har- 

 nc-sing enterprise will have practically 20,000 

 horse power at its disposal when the dam now 

 bring built is ready for operation. 



The other two dams of the chain will be 

 built as requirements make their construction 

 necessary, one at Bristol, Ind., above Elkhart, 

 and the other at the state line. They will sup- 

 ply about 20,000 additional horse power. 



It will require consider;; hie more than ;. 

 year's time to complete the Berrien Springs 

 dam. A force of men and teams is now at 

 work clearing off the ground. The stakes 

 have been set and every preliminary has been 

 arranged. Before another month rolls around 

 a small army of workmen will be employed on 

 the dam. Fully 300 men and nearly as many 

 teams will push the work to completion. Tem- 

 porary quarters will be erected and a regular 

 colony will be maintained, having its own 

 stores and other necessary business buildings. 

 The lumber will be cut from the land to be 

 flooded by the dam and a saw mill will be run 

 at the site. , 



The dam will be 400 feet long and will have 

 a 20-foot head of water. The river banks will 

 be flooded for a distance of 30 miles back of 

 the (lam. 



The major portion of the power now fur- 

 nished by harnessing the river is used in South 

 Herd. The Hen Island or Twin branch dam 

 supplies (i.ODO horsepower, the Buchanan dam 

 about 2,500 and the Elkhart dam between 1,500 

 and 2,000 horse power. The electric company 

 and the power corporation which built the 

 various big dams have been granted the right 

 to merge the interests of the various contrib- 

 uting companies into one gigantic corpora- 

 tion. 



A big steam plant is being erected at South 

 Fiend which will be used as a relay in case of 

 any accidents at the various river power 

 houses. 



The Berrien Springs dam will cost consid- 

 erably in excess of $1,000,000, but the horse 

 power furnished is expected to more than pay 

 for this great expenditure in time. The Hen 

 Island dam cost more than $1,000,000 also, and 

 the Buchanan dam fully $800,000. The dam 

 at Elkhart was purchased from the C. G. Conn 

 interests and cost nearly as much as the Bu- 

 chanan structure. 



LESSON OF ARBOR DAY. 



The lesson of Arbor Day is the use and 

 value of the tree in the life of the nation, says 

 a Forest Service bulletin. The sentiments and 

 emotions aroused on Arbor Day pass only too 

 quickly; the important thing is that permanent 

 results be left lasting impressions in the 

 minds of the children, and, flourishing in the 

 earth, an object lesson in a tree plantation ot 

 use or beauty, or both combined. 



The tree that is significant in the life of the 

 nation is, of course, the forest tree. Isolated 

 trees, along the roadside, in the city streets, 

 or in the school yard, please the eye and cool 

 the air with their refreshing shade. But the 

 forest of trees, where wood is growing to sup- 

 ply material for homes, for fuel, for a hundred 

 industries; where the forest litter is storing 

 the waters for streams to quench men's thirst, 

 to irrigate their lands, to drive their mills, to 

 fill their rivers deep for the vast traffic of in- 

 land navigation; in a word, the forest as pro- 

 ducer and custodian of the necessaries of life 

 and happiness, is the true message of Arbor 

 Day. Forestry is based on this idea of the 

 forest, and all its teachings aim to put this idea 

 into actual practice. 



\Ve can reforest Michigan again if we will. 



Saginaw's county road law will be amended 

 to permit the improvement of certain streets 

 with' n tlie city limits, which connect with 

 coii.ity roads that have been improved largely 

 wit'i city money, the expense of such improve- 

 1111 nt to be paid from the county road tax 

 raided in the city. Sixty per cent of the county 

 tax is paid by the city, and since the establish- 

 ment of county roads the city has paid over 

 $17.5.000 road tax. Under the amendment, 20 

 per cent of the road tax paid by the city will 

 be used in the improvement of the streets 

 connecting with country roads. 



