MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



BAD ROADS COST 



FARMERS MILLIONS. 



It cost a little over a billion dollars to haul the 

 farm crops of America to market last year. 

 With good roads, roads such as are to be found 

 in some parts of America and in all parts of 

 France, the marketing of the crops would have 

 cost $400,000,000. Six hundred million dollars a 

 year, then, is the price we pay in this land of the 

 free for having impassable roads. Did ever a 

 nation spend so much for so doubtful a luxury 

 before? With American roads lying open and 

 fathomless before the eyes of our foreign critics, 

 what monstrous injustice it is to talk of Ameri- 

 can dollar worship. 



Most men of middle age can recall the annual 

 picnic known as mending the roads. Just why it 

 got that name no one has ever explained, for in 

 practically every case the picnic left the roads in 

 worse condition than before. The law in many 

 states prescribed that each resident of a rural dis- 

 trict must pay a certain road tax in labor each 

 year. The payment of this tax was done under 

 the supervision of a local officer known as the 

 pathmaster. The customary time of payment 

 was in the early summer, just before haying 

 time, when there wasn't much else for the men 

 and teams to do. The neighborhood turned out 

 with horses and nlows and harrows, ripped up 

 divers sections of highway which the year's 

 travel had packed to a more or less navigable 

 condition, rounded them up nicely in the middle, 

 and scratched them smooth with the harrows. 

 You were never expected to work very hard at 

 these festive occasions, and the pathmaster who 

 insisted on real work soon found himself un- 

 popular. It was just as well, for since nobody 

 had any real notion of roadmaking, the more 

 work the worse results. 



What some of those results were and are we 

 have vivid testimony. Across Iowa last winter 

 "racing" automobiles had to take to the railroad 

 tracks because the common roads were simply 

 impassable. Last March some misguided crea- 

 ture began an automobile race from New York 

 to Savannah, Ga. It was just at the opening of 

 navigation on the country roads of the middle 

 south, the time when the roads are too thin for 

 wheels and too thick for boats. Across Virginia 

 each racing automobile had an escort of six 

 mules to pull it out of extra deep mudholes and 

 to haul its emergency rations of gasoline. Usu- 

 ally this was enough, but when au automobile 

 was so thoughtless as to stay in the mudhole all 

 night the mule team had to be doubled and all 

 the negroes of the neighborhood commandeered 

 to service before that particular contestant could 

 proceed. The racers averaged four miles an 

 hour, across the Old Dominion a perfectly 

 stunning rate of speed, all things considered. 



And yet the roads of America are vastly bet- 

 ter than they once were, and the improvement is 

 going on apace. The United States government 

 is lending a hand by setting its spare scientists to 

 work teaching the people of different regions how 

 to make the best roads at the least cost. The 

 states are doing vastly more. .New York in 1905 

 voted to spend $50,000,000 on her highways, and 

 while no other state is investing in roads at this 

 rate, all are doing something. Cities are finding 

 it good business to improve the roads leading 

 out into the farming region ; the farmers are be- 

 ginning to tax themselves in a rational fashion 

 for highway improvement, and many philan- 

 thropists have passed by the conventional college 

 and library donation to spend their surplus funds 

 on good roads. Historic mudholes are being 

 slowly filled up. stone and concrete are replac- 

 ing the crazy wooden bridges, and a hundred in- 

 ventions have been made to help get the best re- 

 sults for the lowest expense. 



Some of the last deserve attention. Macadam 

 roads have long been accepted as the standard of 

 highway construction. But macadam roads of the 

 old oattern, with crushed stone eight inches 

 thick, cost from $G.OOO to $10,000 a mile. Now it 

 has been found that three or four inches will do 

 quite as well, and the cost is cut squarely in two. 

 In some parts of the central states, where 

 crushed stone is rare, it has been found that the 



very clay that makes the roads almost impass- 

 able is the best of track making material when 

 burned. In yet other regions the farmers have 

 discovered how to make good roads by the 

 simple expedient of rolling or dragging them 

 after each rain, and in yet other places a mix- 

 ture of sand and clay costing $300 or $400 a mile, 

 is found almost as good as the best macadam. 



It is well that the roadmaking materials are 

 abundant and varied. For there are roads 

 enough in the United States to reach eighty-six 

 times around the earth at the equator and near- 

 ly all those roads are bad. The advocates of 

 good highways will find ample room for their 

 missionary enterprise for a generation to come. 



DUST LAYING ON ENGLISH ROADS. 



The dust problem on English roads promises 

 soon to be a problem of the past. It is being 

 solved by developments of road tarring. Two 

 years ago there were thirty miles of tarred roads 

 in England; last year there; were 200 miles; there 

 are now 1,500 miles, and in two years you may 

 expect 20,000 miles. On these roads the dust 

 problem is absolutely killed. 



Until recently what tarred roads England had 

 were nearly all in short lengths. Now long 

 stretches have been completed, such as from 

 Coventry to London and from London to Herne 

 Bay. In many counties, notably Hertfordshire, 

 Middlesex and Kent, the advance has been rapid. 



Today England leads the world in road im- 

 provement. France comes next. Five years ago 

 the routes nationales in France were, as a whole, 

 superior to English roads as a whole, although 

 not equal to England's best. Today England is 

 enormously ahead even of France, and the work 

 done in other countries is comparatively small. 



Tar fresh from the gas works is totally un- 

 suitable for using on the roads. It contains a 

 proportion of soluble matter which washes out 

 and which, if it runs into streams, may kill fish 

 and do other damage. The ordinary tar splashes 

 and injures dresses, etc. These facts have caused 

 considerable natural prejudice against tar prepar- 

 ations among many land owners and country 

 residents. Methods had to he found of removing 

 the soluble matter without going to the other ex- 

 treme and making the coating brittle. There are 

 now various ways of doing this. 



The Roads Improvement association's experi- 

 ments showed that roads can be made dustless 

 by applying one gallon of tar to every four super- 

 ficial yards, costing about $200 a mile for an 

 average road. It was found that satisfactory re- 

 sults could only be had by giving much heavier 

 dressings than were formerly considered neces- 

 sary. 



This tar dressing so adds to the wear-resisting 

 qualities of the highway that so far as can be 

 now seen it will more than repay its cost by the 

 saving it effects in road maintenance. But it is 

 not possible to speak finally on this point until 

 the tarred roads have been laid down for a 

 longer period. Chicago Tribune. 



MICHIGAN ROAD NOTES. 



Lake county taxpayers will vote next spring on 

 the proposition to adopt the county road system. 



Kalamazoo county will vote on the adoption 

 of the county road system next spring. 



The good roads district, comprised of the town- 

 ships of Indiantields, Aimer and Ellington, will 

 raise $5,265 for road purposes for next year. The 

 amount was apportioned to the three townships 

 as follows: Indianfields, $3,033.96; Aimer, $1,- 

 4.->2.44, and Ellington, $744.20. The district is one 

 of the best in Tuscola county. 



The Franklin road in Oakland county, a mile 

 of which was built this year, has passed the in- 

 spection of the state highway commissioner and 

 has drawn an award of $500. 



The village of Reese and Denmark township. 

 Tuscola county, have been designated a good 



r ads district. 



Horatio S. Earle has been in Eaton county 

 looking over some of the roads that have been 

 built on the "state reward" idea of good roads 



construction. On those that he has been able 

 to spare time to inspect, he has placed his O. K. 

 in emphatic fashion and thinks they are built 

 better in the most part than specifications call 

 for. The few miles of state reward roads in. 

 the vicinity of Eaton Rapids are thought so much 

 of by those who have to drive over them, and they 

 are growing so strongly in popular favor that 

 much more will probably be constructed next 

 year than is in use now. 



The County Road System will De submitted in 

 Hillsdale county at the spring election. 



Tuscola county will vote on the adoption of 

 the County Road System next spring. 



Surveyors have surveyed the roads in Erin 

 township, Macomb county, which are to be im- 

 proved next year, and work will begin at the 

 earliest possible moment in the spring. 



Harrison township, Macomb county, will un- 

 doubtedly be the next township in that county 

 to bond for good roads. 



Highway building is beginning to receive the 

 attention it deserves by Thompsonville people. A 

 fine stretch of gravel road a mile long and 

 extending north from the city along the town 

 line is completed. The work has been. well done 

 by the officials of Weldon township. This first 

 mile of road is, it is said, only the beginning of 

 a much needed good roads campaign. 



More than a mile of "good road," built in ac- 

 cordance with specifications sent out by the state 

 highway commissioner, has been completed on 

 the A. M. Todd farm at Mentha, ten miles west 

 of Kalamazoo, during the season. Seven miles 

 more is now being prepared for the gravel sur- 

 face. This road is costing about $2,000 a mile to- 

 build, and when completed the state pays a bounty 

 of $500 a mile for it. Mentha farm is all muck 

 land, but gravel is secured at the edge of the 

 marsh and is hauled about two miles to the new 

 roadway. 



The Marquette County Road Commission is to- 

 devote considerable attention to the road leading 

 east from Marquette next summer. Soon there 

 will be a very fine highway all the way to Muni- 

 sing. The Cleveland Cliffs Company has graded 

 about 18 miles of road west from Munising this 

 year, and will continue the good work with the 

 going of the snow next spring. This will be one 

 of the prettiest drives in the region. 



County Road Commissioner E. N. Hines, of 

 Wayne county : "One of the most serious propo- 

 sitions we have to face after the improved roads- 

 are constructed is their use as scorchways for 

 automobiles. I wish we could secure the Massa- 

 chusetts form of regulating autos. There it is- 

 provided that if a driver is convicted of violating, 

 the vehicle laws in the matter of speed or care- 

 less driving, he shall be prevented from operat- 

 ing a machine again. I think this would be more 

 effective than fines." 



Street work at Marquette has been wound up 

 for this season, but Street Commissioner Mitchell, 

 will begin work again at the earliest possible mo- 

 ment next spring. The season of 1908 has been, 

 the most active in this department that the city 

 has ever seen. More work than ever before has 

 been done, and, of course, more money has been 

 spent. The season was marked by the introduc- 

 tion of improved methods in the department. It 

 is believed that a dollar has gone farther the past 

 season in street and sidewalk work than ever be- 

 fore in Marquette. Fully $55,000 were expended in. 

 street work and highway improvements. It is not 

 likely such an amount will be expended next year. 



TRAP ROCK FOR SALE 

 Fine trap rock for sale, best in the 

 country. Inquire JAMES M. 

 YOUNG, 15 Winder St., Detroit. 



