MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



ing on the Custer and Freesoil road, beginning 

 three miles north of Custer river. Also the 

 repairing the clay, grading and cleaning the 

 ditches from Lincoln river to Mallory's mill. 

 This latter job must be completed by July 1. 



MARQUETTE COUNTY ROADS. 



The Marquette County Road Commission 

 has started on its work for this season. The 

 commission is finishing a stretch of one and 

 one-half miles of road to the City of Mar- 

 quette along the western limits. 



The commission has now advanced work 

 well along to the western limits of Marquette. 

 Some of the rough work has been done in 

 Lover's lane and there is only about a mile 

 and a half of road, on which nothing has been 

 done, to be completed before the Marquette 

 city line will be reached. This work should 

 not require more than five or six weeks, if the 

 weather is favorable. 



The commission has a similar amount of 

 work to do east of the western limits of Ne- 

 uvaunee, where the road was not built in prev- 

 ious seasons because some questions as to 

 the route the railroads were to follow had not 

 been settled, and the commission could not be 

 >ure that the route it selected would be left 

 undisturbed. 



There will, however, be a good part of the 

 -ca-<in left, as well as a considerable balance 

 in the commission's treasury, when the last of 

 the work on the road between Marquette and 

 Xegaunee has been completed. 



The commission has had surveys for a road 

 to Republic, also to Michigamme, made in the 

 western end of the county; also a survey of 

 the region populated by farmers out beyond 

 Chocolay. It is likely that work will be 

 started on one of these projects the present 

 season. 



ROAD MAKING IN IONIA. 



A. X. Bateman, of Lansing, civil engineer 

 from the Good Roads Department of the state, 

 has surveyed a mile of road running south 

 from the City of Belding, which will be built 

 under state supervision, with an appropriation 

 f $500 from the state good roads fund. Ex- 

 County Drain Commissioner John F. Kohn 

 and forty-four other taxpayers of the town- 

 ship petitioned the town board of Otisco for 

 an appropriation to be made at recent elec- 

 tion, and the township voted $3,500 for high- 

 way purposes. Seven hundred dollars of this 

 amount will go to the Kohn good road. 



ROAD WORK IN ALGER COUNTY. 



Carl Hall & Co., contractors, are pushing the 

 ci instruction work on the Alger county road 

 from the South Shore track on towards Chat- 

 ham. There are 150 men at work on the job. 

 Hall Camp Xo. 1 is located about a mile from 

 Munising Junction, Camp Xo. 2 is located at 

 Stillman and Camp Xo. 3 at the Au Train 

 river. Mr. Hall does not anticipate any serious 

 difficulty in pushing the work forward to a 

 successful and speedy completion. He hopes 

 to complete his contract not later than Sept. 

 1 next. The work has commenced of clearing 

 the right-of-way for seven miles of new county 

 road, which will be built from Limestone 

 cemetery, on the Chatham- Winters highway, 

 west to the Marquette State road. The Alger 

 county road commission will take over the 

 road and complete it after the right-of-way is 

 cleared. The building of this road will be a 

 at boon to residents of western Limestone 

 township. 



NATIONAL GOOD ROADS CONGRESS. 



Two important good roads meetings on the 

 cards to take place, the one at Chicago. June 

 \~>. and the .other at Denver, July 6, are at- 

 tracting considerable attention. Michigan has 

 been asked to participate in both, by sending 

 a large delegation. Arthur C. Jackson, vice- 

 president of the Xational Good Roads move- 

 ment, has the matter in charge. He states 

 that the governors of more than thirty states, 



and the mayors' of many cities, have promised 

 to attend, and it is anticipated that each of the 

 big political parties can be induced by a repre- 

 sentative attendance of officials and citizen- 

 ship, from all parts of the country, to incor- 

 porate a plank in the platforms calling for 

 substantial support to the movement. 



GRAND TRAVERSE ROADS. 



Good roads, bad roads and road building 

 were the subjects discussed at the meeting of 

 Grand Traverse Grange. Kach member re- 

 sponded to roll call with a description of either 

 the best or the poorest piece of road that he 

 or she has had experience with. This roll call 

 brought out descriptions of stone roads, clay- 

 roads, sand roads, gravel roads, sawdust roads, 

 corduroy roads, level roads, hilly roads, sum- 

 mer roads and winter roads. It was quite gen- 

 erally agreed that about as beautiful roads 

 as can be found in that part of the state are 

 in Peninsula township. 



There was an informal discussion of "Good 

 Roads" Earle's plan for having convicts in the 

 state prisons crush trap rock for road building 

 purposes. A number favored the proposed 

 plan. One speaker, a prominent Grand Tra- 

 verse farmer, said if there is anything that we 

 do need in this region, and need badly, it is 

 better wagon roads. 



The question, "Why Are Xot State Reward 

 Roads Being Built in Grand Traverse Coun- 

 ty?" was answered by several. The answers 

 were to the effect that the reason is because 

 the people of this part of the state are not 

 sufficiently wide-awake as to what is going on 

 in the matter of road improvement. As one 

 speaker put it the people of this county need 

 educating on highway building matters. 



HART TOWNSHIP IN LINE. 



James K. Flood has been chosen chairman 

 of the Board of Township Road Commission- 

 ers of Hart township, Oceana county. The 

 board voted to grade the mile of road running 

 south from Anthony's corners to Blohm's 

 corners at once. The chairman and clerk were 

 instructed to ascertain the lowest price for 

 crushed stone to be applied to the road run- 

 ning north from Hart village limits to the 

 town line the Pentwater road. When this 

 improvement is completed. $2,000 can be se- 

 cured from the state reward system. The 

 township road fund has a balance on hand of 

 some $2,400, and $5,000 more will be available 

 after taxes are collected. 



DICKINSON COUNTY'S ROADS. 



Dickinson county will build a new bridge 

 across Sturgeon river, to be built as a part of 

 the extension of the Dickinson county road 

 east to Loretto. The bridge will be erected 

 near the dam of the O. C. Lumber Company. 

 A span of one hundred feet is needed at that 

 point. 



The Dickinson Board of County Road Com- 

 missioners, after favorably considering the 

 plans and profiles of an extension of the high- 

 way east, from the end of the so-called East 

 Vulcan road, at X T orway, concluded to con- 

 struct .it as far as Loretto this year, leaving 

 the remainder of the road to Waucedah to be 

 built as time and money available may war- 

 rant. 



KENT COUNTY ROADS. 



Work on the eight roads to be improved this 

 summer in the good roads district in Kent 

 county, formed last fall from Grand Rapids 

 and the four adjoining townships, has begun. 

 Twenty thousand dollars \vill be spent this 

 summer and about eight miles of road built. 

 Gravel roads, for which the state pays $500, 

 will be built, but the district will not get back 

 a reward for all it builds, as much of this 

 year's contract is in the City of Grand Rapids 

 or on the boundary line, and the attorney- 

 genera! has ruled that rewards cannot be paid 

 fur such roads. The city pays about $18,000 

 of the $20,000 tax. This district was the first 



formed under the amended law of last year by 

 which districts smaller than county districts 

 were made possible. 



BIG RAPIDS TO BENEFIT. 



The county road commissioners of Mecosta 

 will begin the improvement of the roads of that 

 county on the main road east out of Big Rapids. 

 With this plan worked out, the residents of Col- 

 fax township will have a road running a little 

 north of the central line and by coming direct 

 west can strike Big Rapids. Martiny, Chippewa,. 

 Grant and Fork will be benefited by this pro- 

 posed road. This will save the farmers of Mar- 

 tiny, Chippewa and Fork a trip of four miles, 

 as they will not have to go around by the way 

 of Rodney if this road is improved. 



BAY COUNTY ROAD ACCEPTED. 



State Highway Commissioner H. S. Earle 

 has finally approved of the Kawkawlin stone 

 road in Bay county and the county will re- 

 ceive a $2.000 award. "We found that the 

 faults in the road had been corrected," says 

 Mr. Karle, "therefore there was nothing in the 

 way of accepting it. The stone roads are in 

 fine condition, considering the heavy rains this 

 spring, and are a striking evidence of the bene- 

 fit of good roads." 



ROAD NOTES. 



If the townships in Michigan would follow the 

 good example set by Chester, Ottawa county,, 

 it would not be long before the good roads prob- 

 lem would be solved. At the township election. 

 it was voted to raise $6,500 for the maintenance 

 of the highways in the township this year. The 

 township board has decided to build seven miles, 

 of permanent road this year, which will be built 

 in different sections of the township, with perma- 

 nent bridges. The good repair work to be done 

 this season also is a big step forward toward 

 a system of good roads. 



The gravel road east of Millington village, 

 Tuscola county, has been completed to the rail- 

 road. This makes one and one-half miles of state- 

 reward road the village of Millington has built 

 on which it will get no reward from the state, 

 but hopes to reap a reward in having the best 

 roads of any village in that part of the state for 

 farmers to haul their produce over. 



Calumet township, Houghton county, will ex- 

 pend some $20,000 on its roads this year. It is 

 probable that considerable macadamizing will be 

 done during the summer. The rock can be ob- 

 tained for next to nothing and the roads of 

 Calumet township can very cheaply be made the 

 best township roads in the- state. 



Portage township, Houghton county, farmers 

 are again howling for good roads. Last year 

 it was the Otter Lake road that Portage town- 

 ship officials had to contend with. Xow that 

 this has been favorably disposed of, by the re- 

 ceiving of county aid, there are other districts 

 that will have to be attended to. It is not im- 

 probable the board will' see its way clear to take 

 care of the present- needs of the farmers and 

 settlers and that before next fall several roads 

 will have been built. 



Iron Township, Gbgebic county, has bought 

 a crusher. It is the intention of the officials to 

 cover all the main roads of the township with 

 crushed trap rock. 



Charles E. Haynes, of Cadillac, one of the 

 county road commissioners of Wexford county, 

 says that the board will do nothing this year 

 toward building good 'roads. All of the prelimi- 

 nary work incidental to the building of good 

 roads will be done this year, and the commissioner 

 will be ready to start work in earnest early next 

 spring. 



Iron county taxpayers will vote on June 10- 

 on a proposition to bond for $100,000 for good 

 roads. James Long has been reappointed county 

 road commissioner for --a term of three years. 



