MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 9 



The Standard Dumping Wagon for Twenty Years 



For twenty years the Watson lias been the dumping wagon by which the others are 

 judged. In the number of wagons being used, the number of years they stay on the 

 j h 5 anc l the freedom from repairs, the Watson is absolutely without a peer. 



If quality means anything to you; if the verdict of fifteen thousand individuals, firms 

 and corporations has any weight then the Watson is entitled to your consideration. Get our catalog, 

 and learn about the dumping wagon that is 



"First in the Field; Last in the Repair Shop" 



Watson Wagon Co., Canastota, N. Y. 





Michigan Road Makers' Association 



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

 Vice-P resident; 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. 



NATIONAL ROADS CONVENTION. Roads," in which the split log drag can be A GOOD OBJECT LESSON. 



( >nc of the most interesting features of the. " Sl ' (1 t(1 great advantage. County Road Commissioner Willard B. Ly- 



tld annual national good roads convention 1:m - v other addresses were made by engi- ons> o{ Mecosta county, sent to the state 



in Cleveland Sept. 21-23 was the prominent "" United Statcs office of Public Roads, in hi S hw <}y department a statement showing the 



part taken in the proceedings by officers of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, cos i, of constructing the two mi es of road re- 



thc National Grange, the organization which was represented .by Logan Waller Page, direc- "/ ft fi "' shed ' ne . m Wheatland township 



tor anri sevpril nipmhprs nf hie stiff and the ot "e r ' Morton. He feels JUSt a little 



represents ,.000,000 American farmers. Up to tor^and seralmem beof his st aff h;s of ^ . g ^ 



omparatively short time ago the great ma- c j re - s s-uj- submit his work and compare expenses with 



jority of fanners were inclined to oppose , <In milea thjs CQU hag thg most tfe . ^^^^^^IS^SSJS.*^ 



movement for improved highways, a few years mendous system of .roads which any country {"he county "usi $1$1 18 and the mil? built in 



ago because the cyclists were the most enthu- has ever possessed since the world began. The Morton only $574.64; that is, this will be the 



siastic advocates of good roads, and later be- le "g th of a11 r r ads amounts to 2,155,000 net sum a f ter tne county gets its $500 per 



e the owners of automobiles were most mlles ' Expenditures upon them, both in milc back f rom the state The average for 



1 money and labor, was a fraction over $79,000,- t h e two miles will be i little over $810 The 



prominent in the endeavor to secure the bet- 00 in 1904, or about $1.05 per capita. At the fig^'eTas sent The highway department are as 



terment of the highways. same rate this would be an expenditure of follows: 



This attitude of the farmers, to a very great about $90,000,000 a year at the present time The Wheatland road has a turnpike 22 feet 



extent h-is been clmmed in the list few vears En S'? nd ' with only $150,000 miles of road, w jd e , with nine feet gravel. The engineers' 



spends about $80,000,000 a year, or about 14 expenses, including cost of survey and profile, 



the more thoughtful members and officers tlrnes as much per mile. w / re $12 '. the cost % f grading, $672.76; cost of 



of the local, state and national granges have "We have less than 40,000 miles of stone- labor and hauling, $754.16; cost of gravel, $100; 



come to realize the annual loss to the farmers surfaced road and 108,000 miles of gravel road. ceme nt and tile, $52.20; total cost, $1,591.12', 



from having to haul the products of their farms ^ K *? te ^Inn'nnn nnn* W ^^h"? fr m which is to be ded c tl $500 for state 



18iO to 1900 was $1,800,000,000. We may there- reward, eav ng a net total of $1091 12 



to market over bad and indifferent roads. In f ore say that road-building in the United The Morton township mile is charged up 



part- (it the country where the roads have States is, considering area, population and w ith $6 for engineer's expenses, $464.62 for 



been improved the farmers have been able to wealth, at the same point where it stood 30 cost o f grading, $90.63 for gravel, $489.83 for 



haul from two to four times as much farm y c . r . s ag . ,? nd ^ sevcllt . een J"""d and odd l abor and hauling, and $23.56 for tile and ce- 



produce to market in the same time as their SjSu ^ * ^ ^ '"' '"* aPprCClab ' e "<> making a total of $1,074.64, of which 



$oOO will be paid by the state. This leaves the 



rtunate brothers could in districts where "About half the states are operating under ne (. cost o { one m jj e o f r oad $574.64. 



thr roads were roads only by courtesy, and practically the same road laws that prevailed xhe length of the haul in Morton was a lit- 



lacts have been brought forward by the in England when America was a colony. tie shorter than in Wheatland, Mr. Lyons says. 



officers of the organization. "In the other states the principle of state Mr. Lyons's low figures will probably be 



There was a very large attendance of dele- aid and supervision have been adopted, $56,- better appreciated when compared to the cost 



gates and much enthusiasm was manifested. 000,000 have been expended from the state o f building roads under the township system 



Aiming those who made addresses were treasury and we may feel encouraged for the ; n Wheatland township, where two miles were 



former Governor N. J. Batchelder of New future of road-building in this country. recently built, not far from where the county 



Hampshire, master of the National Grange, on "The most important point that should en- roac [ has been laid. These figures show that 



The Xational Grange and Good Roads;" gage the attention of legislatures is road main- the township of Wheatland paid out just 



George S. Ladd, special good roads lecturer of tenance, Many are spending large sums for $3,858.86 for two miles of road, and that the 



tin Xational Grange, on "The New England construction of roads, but are giving little at- township received as reward from the state 



Plan for Connecting Lilies of Trunk High- tention to their care. England pays for main- $978, leaving the net cost to the taxpayers of 



Hon. ". C. Laylin, master Ohio State tenance $440 per mile per year, France $243, Wheatland township of $2,874.25. 



Grange, on "The Farmers' Interest in Road Germany $214 and Belgium $277. The roadbed built by the township was only 



Improvement; Hon. F. N. Godfrey, master "\Ve need, and must have, more money for 13 f ee (; w id e , whereas the roadbed built by the 



Xew \ork State Grange, on "The New York roads, definite provision for maintenance, a county is 22 feet wide. 



State Grange and Good Roads Legislation in system of continuous repair and a centralized, 



That State;" H. H. Gross, president of the Illi- skilled supervision." An appropriation of $30,000 will be asked 

 Farmers' Good Roads League, on "Illi- In addition to the addresses by highway en- by the good roads commission from the super- 

 nois Good Roads," and D. Ward King, who gmeers and others who have devoted years of visors of Kalamazoo county at the coming 

 was a farmer of Maitland, Mo., before he be- study to the building of good roads, there was session to be used in this county next spring 

 came a member of the Missouri State Board also a series of thorough and practical demon- for the improvement of roads. This amount. 

 <>t Agriculture, and who has become famous stratum-; upi.n different roads in and around if granted, will be the largest sum ever ex- 

 all over the country by his invention of the Cleveland, in which many methods of construe- pendcd in Kalamazoo county in one year for 

 King split log drag, on "Treatment of Earth tion were critically examined. road improvements. 



