MICHIGAN A. 



ROADS ^FORESTCS 



DETROIT, MICHIGAN, DECEMBER, 1908. 



Michigan Road flakers' Association. 



W. W. Todd, Jackson, President; P. T. Colgrove, Hastings, First Vice-President ; C. C. Rosenbury, Bay City, Second 

 Vice-PresJdent ; E. N. Hines, Detroit, Secretary; E. B. Smith, Detroit, Treasurer. 



Board of Governors: Royal T. Taylor, Cheboygan; D. L. Case, Detroit; Frank F. Rogers, Lansing; W. W. 

 Trayes, Hancock. 



GOOD ROADS INSTITUTE. 



At the good roads institute of Grand Trav- 

 lanau counties, held at Traverse 

 City, State Highway Commissioner Earle told 

 the delegates that Manistee county roads were 

 a good example to follow and highly praised 

 Commissioner J. W. Bradford, of that county. 



Grand Traverse county is assessed $20,000 

 ra year for good roads and with this it could 

 build pretty nearly 20 miles of good roads, 

 receiving back from the state $10,000. And 

 whether or not it improves the roads, it is 

 Assessed as taxes. 



Mr. Earle then spoke of the kind of roads 

 that should be built. Eighteen to 24 feet is 

 wide enough for any road, though in roads 

 near Detroit, the width is 35 feet. Yet there 

 is no bigger reward from the state. The road 

 shall be built nine feet from shoulder to shoul- 

 der. In a year or two, the road will look as 

 though it had been built 12 feet wide. 



Kalkaska county is a fine example of a 

 county wanting good roads. The farmers 

 there petitioned the legislature for the right to 

 tax themselves $4 on a $1,000 valuation instead 

 of the usual $2. The legislature granted this 

 and the money was raised, though the act was 

 unconstitutional. Kalkaska is a county as- 

 sessed at only about $.'5,000,000, but the farmers 

 know the value of good roads. 



The gravel in roads shall be 60 per cent 



pebbles and 40 per cent sand. A cheap roller 



Bor a road can be made by a boiler filled with 



concrete. Before this roller is used, however, 



la spite tooth harrow should be run over the 



road. An eight inch layer of gravel, or about 



1,600 cubic yards to the mile, will make an 



ideal country road. "But don't use clay!" 



As a result of Mr. Earle's talk a committee 

 will inspect Manistee county roads before the 

 question of good roads in Grand Traverse and 

 Leelanau counties is submitted next spring, 

 that the people may be educated before they 

 Vote. 



UPPER PENINSULA ROAD MAKING. 



One of the probabilities of the not distant 

 future is that a first-class highway will con- 

 nect Marquette and Munising. The Marquette 

 county road commission have had such a pro- 

 ject in mind for some time, and the commis- 

 sioners of Alger county have determined to 

 nd their road to the Marquette county line, 

 which has already been built as far as Chat- 

 ham. 



Pt is between twenty and twenty-five miles 

 from Marquette to Lawson. where the pro- 

 posed road would join with the Alger county 

 road, but there is already a fairly good road 



part of the way. The Marquette county com- 

 missioners have made more or less definite 

 plans to macadamize the sandy stretch of road 

 through Chocolay township, which is consid- 

 ered the most expensive part of the whole 

 proposed highway. For this purpose the trap 

 rock found near Green Garden will be used, 

 as this has been found even superior to lime- 

 stone for roadmaking purposes. 



The Alger county commission have followed 

 closely the route of the Munising railway in 

 building their road from Munising to Chat- 

 ham. For two miles out of Munising the road 

 has been macadamized, but from there to Chat- 

 ham it is a graded dirt road. The only really 

 bad stretch of highway in this whole distance 

 is from the end of the macadam to Munising 

 Junction, where it is sandy. It is planned to 

 build macadam through the sandy territory 

 within the coming year. 



The construction of the remaining nine 

 miles from Chatham to the county line is not 

 expected to entail any great expense or diffi- 

 culty, as the country passed through, with the 

 exception of a short stretch of swamp, is suit- 

 able for roadmaking. When completed, the 

 Munising-Lawson road will make a beautiful 

 driveway. 



The engineers of Marquette and Dickinson 

 counties are also making surveys, with a view- 

 to constructing a highway between the two 

 ranges. This road will run south from Re- 

 public, to the Sagola township highway at 

 Sawyer lake. It is planned to build this 

 stretch of road the coming summer. 



FARMERS AGAINST GOOD ROADS. 



At the meeting of the Michigan State Asso- 

 ciation of Farmers Clubs held at Lansing, a 

 resolution prepared by C. B. Scully, of Almont, 

 signed by more than twenty delegates to the 

 State Association of Farmers' Clubs, endorsing 

 the work of the state highway department as 

 beneficial and recommending the assistance of 

 the farmers was laid on the table. The refusal 

 nl the association to adopt 1he resolution pro- 

 duced a heated discussion in which two at- 

 tempt.- were made to take the resolution from 

 the table and endorse it. 



Those favoring endorsing the good roads 

 system believe the farmers should consider an 

 appropriation from the State a benefit and 

 said: "The worst enemy to the system is the 

 man who should back it. When cities and 

 towns are ready to help, farmers sit down 

 a, d say, 'we won't have good roads.' " 



The argument against the resolution was 

 that good roads cost the farmers large 

 amounts, that they are built principally on 

 main thoroughfares for the use of automobile 



drivers and that if the farmers want better 

 roads each can build his own. 



The association adopted a resolution stating 

 that good roads are believed to be beneficial 

 to all, and knowing that both people and 

 wealth are centralized in villages and cities, 

 that national aid should be given that the 

 farmer may be relieved of a large portion of 

 the cost of building and repairing public high- 

 ways. 



EMPIRE STATE LEADS. 



State Engineer Skene, of New York, says 

 the present year has been the banner year for 

 good roads construction and that the Empire 

 State now is far in advance of New Jersey 

 and Massachusetts in good roads work. The 

 total number of miles completed from January 

 1 last was 820, or two and one-half times that 

 constructed in any year previous to last year. 

 The total mileage constructed this year ex- 

 ceeds by 15:i miles the total mileage construct- 

 ed previous to January 1, 1907. If the roads 

 completed during the last season were placed 

 end to end they would reach from New York 

 city to Buffalo via Albany and Rochester, and 

 from Buffalo to New York city via Elmira 

 and Binghamton. 



Of the $30,000,000 State money voted by the 

 people for this work $11,000,000 has been ap- 

 propriated by the Legislature. There is at 

 the present time approximately 500 miles un- 

 der contract and over 1,000 miles awaiting 

 contract. 



COUNTIES SHOULD CO-OPERATE. 



The County Road Commission of Bay coun- 

 ty has applied to theMichigan Freight Com- 

 mission for a ruling allowing the board three 

 days free time in which to unload crushed 

 .'tone for building roads. The board says: 



"\Ye have been put to considerable expense 

 during the past season through our inability 

 to unload stone in the free time allowed. We 

 think this is an evil which should be remedied, 

 and believe that concerted action on the part 

 of Michigan boards of county road commis- 

 sioners and the quarries furnishing the stone 

 w : ll brng about favorable action on the appli- 

 cation." 



__ The authorities of Battle Creek township, 

 Calhoun county, have decided to improve the 

 Goguac Lake road in the spring from W r illard 

 Park to the Leroy township line, where it con- 

 nects with an improved bit of Leroy highway. 



The Brady road in Shiawassee county, built 

 this year, has passed the inspection of the 

 State authorities. 



