MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



15 



ing blow by quoting the cost in ten towns where 

 the coal price is about the same as Syracuse. 

 The cost in each is as follows : Batavia, .0213 ; 

 Castile, .0689; Dunkirk, .0479; Fredonia, .0395; 

 Groton, .0858 ; Hamilton, .0380 ; Holly, .0428 ; 

 Herkmier, .0256 ; Westfield, .0225, and Watervliet, 

 .0247, while at Boonville, where the plant is run 

 by water power, the cost is .0215. 

 "The indications are now that, judging by the 

 unfortunate experience of many other towns and 

 cities with municipal ownership, the people of 

 Syracuse will decide aga'inst the proposition to 

 establish a municipal lighting plant. 



GOLD PRODUCTION. 



The only official statistics which are kept by 

 months of the production of gold in the world 

 are those of the Transvaal and Rhodesia. The 

 final statistics of the world's gold production 

 in 1906 have not yet been completed by the 

 director of the mint and the production of the 

 United States for that year is still partly esti- 

 mated. Returns of the Transvaal gold produc- 

 tion for the first three months of 1907 show 

 an increase in fine ounces over the same per- 

 iod in 1905 of 435,108, which is an increase of 

 38.50 per cent. The similar statistics of the 

 production of Rhodesia show an increase of 

 1907 over the same period in 1905 of 35,813, 

 which is 36.70 per cent increase. The last of- 

 ficial figures for the world's production are 

 those for the calendar year 1905, which was 

 $378,225,500. If the production of the rest of 

 the world increased this year as much over 

 1905 as the Transvaal and Rhodesia, the world's 

 production for 1907 would be about $510,000,- 

 000. 



Allowing about the average increase in the 

 world's production for the previous four years, 

 the world's production in 1906 is estimated at 

 about $410,000,000 and for 1907 at $435,000,000. 

 The latter figure is considerably below the 

 production indicated by the increase in the 

 output of gold in Rhodesia and the Transvaal. 



The following table shows the production of 

 gold in the world and in the United States by 

 calendar years from 1901: 

 Calendar year World's United States 



1901 $262,492,900 $78,666,700 



1902 296,737,600 80,000,000 



1903 325,961,500 73,591,700 



1904 346,892,200 80,464,700 



1905 378,225,500 88,180,700 



1906 *410,000,000 *97,000,000 



1907 *435,000,000 *105,000,000 



*Estimated. 



$100 a ton Mexican money, equivalent to $50 

 United States gold. The average yield to the 

 acre in Mexico is said to be about two tons of 

 the shrub. It will reproduce itself every two 

 years if cut off at the roots. 



As a result of the discovery that this shrub 

 is ot value the price of land has increased enor- 

 mously. Before the value of the shrub was 

 known land upon which it grows could have 

 been purchased for from 20 cents to 30 cents an 

 acre and some of it for 10 cents an acre. This 

 same land is now yielding its owners $100 an 

 acre. Men who were land poor now find them- 

 selves rolling in wealth. 



The Madero family of Parras, Mexico, who 

 were already wealthy when the value of the 

 guayule shrub was discovered, have had their 

 fortune augmented by many millions of dol- 

 lars through this product. This family are 

 owners of several million acres of land upon 

 which the shrub grows abundantly. 



The guayule shrub grows less profusely in 

 Texas than in Mexico. It is estimated that 

 the average yield of the shrub in Te.:as upon 

 the 20,000,000 acres of land upon which it is 

 said to grow will not exceed one-half ton to 

 the acre. Even at this rate there is great 

 wealth for the State in the new industry. The 

 land upon which it grows is worthless for any- 

 thing else except cattle and sheep grazing. 



The rubber which is manufactured from 

 guayule is softer than some other kinds of rub- 

 ber and does not vulcanize so easily, but these 

 difficulties are overcome by mixing it with oth- 

 er rubber. 



Detroit and Michigan people are interested 

 in the guayule rubber industry in Mexico. The 

 Mexican Crude Rubber Company was organ- 

 ized a year ago by Detroit capitalists, who have 

 acquired vast tracts of land upon which the 

 shrub is growing. A factory for the manu- 

 facture of rubber is in operation. 



SHORT CHICAGO LINE. 



Recently there has been considerable indefinite 

 chatter about a survey for a change of a portion 

 of the line of the Michigan Central railroad be- 

 tween Jackson and Detroit, and some intimations 

 have been made as to the proposed new route. 

 As a matter of course, no information is obtain- 

 able from those high in authority, but the question 

 is asked : "What are the possibilities of such a 

 change being made?" 



To every one who will carefully investigate the 

 subject it will seem evident that a change at some 

 time in the near future is very probable. The 

 necessities of modern railroading are the shorten- 

 ing of distances between important points, the 

 avoidance of curves and lower grades for hauling 

 long and heavy freight trains. With the con- 

 struction of the tunnel under the Detroit river, 

 and straightening its line in two important in- 

 stances, the Michigan Central will have the 

 shortest line for traffic between Chicago and 

 Buffalo. 



Twelve to thirteen miles of the present distance 

 between Jackson and Detroit can be saved. 

 Counting townships in a straight line the distance 

 is not over 63 miles, while the present travel by 

 rail is 76 miles. The township line that runs 

 east and west through the center of Jackson, 

 along which Main street is located, extended due 

 east, reaches Detroit river a little south of Del- 

 ray, a suburb of that city. From Detroit to Ypsi- 

 lanti the Michigan Central line is very straight. 

 To save the twelve miles the new route would 

 have to diverge from the present line west of 

 Ypsilanti, pass along the southern boundary of 

 Ann Arbor, and extend west nearly to the village 

 of Grass Lake, saving the many curves, the seven- 

 teen bridges across the Huron river, and the run 

 north of over six miles to the village of Dexter 

 and back again before reaching Grass Lake. 



Another thing: Should all the water powers 

 along the Huron river be utilized for generating 

 elc :tricity, as is proposed by the North American 

 Power Company, organized for that purpose, 

 there are many places where the construction of 

 Jams mis-lit raise the water to such a height that 

 wnuM completely saturate the soil anri =o 

 weaken the present roadbed of the Michigan Cen- 



tral as to render passage of heavy freight and 

 passenger trains somewhat dangerous. 



The late Hon. Henry A. Hayden, for a long 

 time one of the most prominent and useful citi- 

 zens of Jackson, was a member of the surveying 

 party that ran the line of the Michigan Central 

 road into Jackson. After this preliminary work 

 was accomplished, Mr. Hayden was employed by 

 the state of Michigan, which owned and was 

 building the road. In a conversation with Mr. 

 Hayden, only a short time before his death, he 

 related many details of the survey he helped to 

 make. He stated that the first line run by the 

 engineers was a little. south of the then village of 

 Ann Arbor and almost a bee line to Jackson, and 

 he remarked that it was a much better line than 

 the one that was finally adopted. Judge Samuel 

 W. Dexter, the founder of the village of Dexter, 

 was an influential citizen, and wanted the road 

 located along the Huron river, so as to furnish 

 an outlet for the town that was the center of his 

 interests and hopes. 



There were strong arguments in favor of keep- 

 ing close to the Huron river, even if its bends 

 troit and Jackson. The Huron furnished many 

 excellent water powers ; Michigan was a splendid 

 wheat state, grist mills would turn out an excel- 

 lent quality of flour that would furnish large 

 volumes of business for the road in transporting 

 it to eastern markets. All this was true, and the 

 influences were strong enough to secure the loca- 

 tion of the road over the longer and crookeder 

 route. 



Political influence, no doubt, was a strong fac- 

 tor in locating the state-owned road. 



Times have changed. Water powers in Michi- 

 gan are no longer needed to grind flour for the 

 eastern or s any other markets. Today they are 

 of greater value for generating electricity than 

 they were fifty to seventy-five years ago for pro- 

 ducing flour. They have had their day. for their 

 first utility, and now are needed for something 

 else. The thriving villages that sprung up around 

 the mills are no longer thrifty, but have an an- 

 cient anH outworn nr>nearance. Indeed, some of 

 them have entirely disappeared, and not even a 

 mill dam is left to indicate the source of their 

 former prosperity. In the growth of population, 

 and exhaustion of the wheat-producing elements 

 of the soil, Michigan does not grow wheat enough 

 now to supply its' own citizens. Mills for the 

 export flour trade are built close to the railroad 

 track and run by steam, like the Eldred Mill in 

 Jackson, where car loads of wheat can be deliv- 

 ered and car loads of flour taken away at the 

 minimum of cost for handling. These considera- 

 tions aid in compelling the conclusion that the 

 Michigan Central cannot afford for all time to 

 make an extra detour of twelve miles, over a 

 crooked line, to the detriment of its immense 

 did lengthen the line twelve miles between^ De- 

 through business, at the same time maintaining 

 seventeen steel bridges, because of what was done 

 seventy years ago, under entirely different con- 

 ditions. 



There is also talk of eliminating another long 

 curve. The station at Bedford, Calhoun county, 

 is the northernmost point touched by the Michigan 

 Central. Perhaps there is no station there now. 

 From Battle Creek the line swings north to Bed- 

 ford, and then southwest to Galesburg, in Kala- 

 mazoo county. A direct line from Battle Creek 

 to Galesburg would save perhaps four miles, mak- 

 ing sixteen miles saved in all. Jackson Patriot. 



Charles H. Frisbie, of Jackson, widely 

 known throughout central and western Mich- 

 igan, is dead. He was one of the promoters 

 of the Jackson & Battle Creek Traction Com- 

 pany and of the Commonwealth Power Com- 

 pany. 



The East Jordan Electric Company is in- 

 stalling a 150 horse-power gas producer engine 

 to be used to generate its power. The engine 

 was built by the Traverse City Iron Works. 

 The Traverse City company has turned out a 

 large number of these producers and they 

 are all in successful operation. The power for 

 the Klk Rapids electric light plant is furnished 

 by one of these outfits and it i.s in every way 

 satisfactory, running smoothly and steadily. 



