10 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



IF YOU WANT 



GOOD ROADS 



BUILD 'EM WITH THE 



Port Huron Dumping and Spreading Wagons 



AND ROLL 'EM WITH THE 



Port Huron Road Roller 



Write us for Ways to Save Money in Road Building 



Port Huron tngine & Thresher Co., 



STATE REWARD SYSTEM AND SAGI- 

 NAW COUNTY. 



Rep. W'helan, of Shiawassee county is mak- 

 ing himself ridiculous by his prejudiced and 

 unwarranted attacks upon the state highway 

 lepartment and the system of state rewards 

 for building roads. His latest assault is so 

 glaringly inaccurate and misleading that we 

 feel called upon to refute his statements. After 

 declaring that the total of rewards paid by 

 the state since the establishment of the sys- 

 tem in 1905 is $397,000, W-helan is credited with 

 asserting that "not one dollar of this amount 

 went to build roads." He also says that the 

 average cost of building a mile of macadam 

 road is $4,568. We do not know how other 

 counties may be conducting their road depart- 

 ments, whether economically or extravagantly, 

 but so far as these statements apply to Sagi- 

 naw. and they dp apply to this county because 

 it is an extensive reward drawer, they are 

 not true. The average cost of building a mile 

 of macadam road in Saginaw county is not 

 $4,568. It is only $3,200, or more than $1,300 

 below the amount given by the Shiawassee 

 representative. Mr. Whalen also says that not 

 a dollar of the state reward goes into the 

 actual cost of building the road. This state- 

 ment is equally at variance with the facts. 

 The $3,200 which builds a mile of road in 

 Saginaw count" is paid for actual construction. 

 Every dollar of it goes into stone and work 

 and supervision. Every practical road builder 

 will recognize the truth of this statement be- 

 cause $3,200 is a low average for macadam 

 even under favorable conditions. It more fre- 

 quently will average in the neighborhood of 

 $4.000. The full cost of building a new road 

 is advanced by the county and after it has 

 been approved by the state commissioner the 

 reward of $1,000 per mile which he authorizes 

 is returned to the county treasurer and cred- 

 ited to the fund from which original payment 

 was made. 



Saginaw county is as well qualified as any 

 county in Michigan to pass judgment upon 

 the state reward system. It has, we think, 

 with possibly one exception, built more roads 

 under it than any other county. The method 

 has not encouraged looseness or extravagance, 

 as Mr. Whelan iiitimatcs. It has. on the con- 

 trary, developed the most efficient, economical 

 and satisfactory road building ever known in 

 the county. The record left by Commissioner 

 Kderer is one of which any county in the state 

 might well be proud. He did his work under 

 the state reward system and it has encouraged 

 highway improvement as would never have 

 been possible under any other plan. If other 



counties are throwing monev away on their 

 roads or if it is going into the pockets of of- 

 ficials instead of into stone it is their own 

 fault; certainly not the fault of the system. 

 If Michigan is to have good roads it must pay 

 for them and the bill will be large. Because it 

 may run into the millions, however, is no 

 reason, as Rep. Whelan suggests, why the 

 state should not assist in meeting it. The 

 state receives benefit from these improvements 

 and it ought to encourage and help pay for 

 them. If there is politics in the state highway 

 departments, or in its relations with county 

 officials, it ought to be eradicated, but it is 

 not necessary to destroy the department to 

 eliminate its evils. Saginaw News. 



EMMET COUNTY ROADS. 



Henry Leismer, the Petoskey member of 

 the Emmet county road commission, says that 

 the county surveyor, John Keen, has com- 

 menced the survey of the Cross Village turn- 

 pike, from Harbor Springs to the village, and 

 work will soon be commenced on that thor- 

 oughfare. The commission, Mr. Leismer of 

 Petoskey, C. D. Buys of Levering and Frank 

 Voorheis of H'arbor Springs, are puttine forth 

 a great deal of energy to get a large amount 

 of work in the way of good roads accom- 

 plished, and the result of their efforts even in 

 the short time the commission has been in 

 existence are already commencing to show 

 up well. Mr. Leismer is also working hard to 

 get something accomplished on the Charle- 

 voix road, and is soliciting assistance to get 

 the roadway in shape to have it top-dressed 

 and finished. This improvement will be on 

 a two and one-half mile stretch between the 

 west corporation line of the city of Petoskey 

 and section 9 and 10. The commissioners 

 have an ultimate plan in view of pushing a 

 trunk line road through from Petoskey to the 

 north end of the -county, and a start will 

 be made soon to that end with an improvement 

 in Car]) Lake township. 



PRACTICAL GOOD ROADS WORK. 



Results of the excellent work of Street 

 Commissioner Emmons are in evidence on 

 many streets. Mr. Emmons is following a 

 new plan. A road roller, preceded l>v a 

 grader which smoothes the surfaces of the 

 streets and pushes the loose material from 

 the gutters to the centers, compacts the sur- 

 face, and the result is a nicely-crowned, 

 smooth road incomparably better than any- 

 thing ever known in Jackson, at the same 

 eost. 



The board of public works and Mr. Km- 



Port Huron, Mich. 



mons are doing good work, and it is work 

 that needed to be done. There is plenty of 

 good road material on many of Jackson's 

 streets, if it is properly used. General ma- 

 cadamizing is out of the question at present. 

 Thousands of dollars have been invested in 

 hauling on gravel, and part of it has been 

 hauled away later. But in the past the streets 

 have not been solidified, except by. traffic, and 

 results have been impermanent, unsatisfactory 

 and expensive. Now machinery has been put 

 to use, together with intelligent direction, and 

 the improvement is most gratifying. Besides, 

 the paved streets and alleys arc cleaned as 

 never before. 



It may cost some money, but no better in- 

 vestment can be made. Street Commissioner 

 Emmons should be provided with means for 

 continuing his program of road improvement. 

 Jackson Patriot. 



KALAMAZOO'S NEW COMMISSION. 



The new county road commissioners of 

 Kalamazoo county, although they have been 

 in office only a week or so, have already 

 mapped out a strenuous campaign for this 

 year. W. M. Bryant of Kalamazoo, Byron 

 Carney of Prairie Ronde, and Charles Clarke 

 of Yorkeville are the commissioners. 



Mr. Bryant is an enthusiast on the subject 

 of first-class highways, and it was as much 

 due to his efforts as anything else that the 

 county system was adopted in Kalamazoo 

 this spring. The other two members of the 

 commission are also enthusiasts. The first 

 mile of state reward road will be built from 

 the city limits of Kalamazoo to Recreation 

 Park. The commissioners hope to build two 

 miles of good roads in each township this 

 season. 



$100,000,000 NEEDED. 



The legislature appropriated one hundred 

 thousand dollars for good roads, and that will 

 help some, if the officials don't squander half 

 of it in administration and getting ready to 

 start to do something. It will require a hun- 

 dred million dollars to make the roads of 

 Michigan fairly passable, but the good work- 

 is moving and when every citizen becomes 

 charged with it like an electric battery he will 

 he willing to pay a poll tax of say $5 a year 

 to attain this great benefit, and by the way, it 

 would be a good investment. Adrian Times. 



Xels S. Johnson of Manistique has been ap- 

 pointed county road commissioner of School- 

 craft comity. Schoolcraft has only one com- 



