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 



& Thresher Co., Port Huron, Mich. 



THROUGH STATE ROADS. 



Michigan as a state is not an originator of 

 ideas, and is mighty slow to adopt those orig- 

 inated elsewhere, declares Horatio S. Earle, 

 former state highway commissioner. The nat- 

 ural inclination of the Michigan people is to 

 believe every new idea is a "fool" one. So 

 the goord roads cause has made haste slowly, 

 but, on account of the persistence of a few, it 

 has arrived at the point where it is safe to say 

 we are going to have a flood of good roads. 



And we are going to have through good 

 roads, he says. Within ten years it will be 

 possible to tour from Detroit to Port Huron, 

 Detroit to Bay City, Detroit to Grand Rapids, 

 Detroit to Toledo, Detroit to Chicago, Grand 

 Rapids to Mackinac, Mackinac to Bay City, 

 St. Ignace to Sault Ste. Marie to Marquette, 

 Marquette to Calumet through Houghton and 

 Hancock and from Calumet to Menominee 

 through Iron Mountain and Escanaba. Under 

 the new constitution the state has a right to 

 build these roads, and as such roads would run 

 through the counties that constitute more than 

 three-fourths of the valuation of the state and 

 more than three-fourths of the members of the 

 legislature come from that same territory, 

 there is more than a probability that some 

 early legislature will enact a law whereby this 

 great boon to the state will be realized. 



The legislature should provide for a commis- 

 sion of three, one from the Upper Peninsula, 

 one from the west side of the Lower Peninsula 

 and one from the east side, and make an ap- 

 propriation of a million a year for six years to 

 enable such commission to build these roads. 



"Oh, but they would be automobile roads!" 



Yes, they would, and they would also be 

 roads into and out of every village and city 

 on the whole line; further, they would be in 

 roads for. the farmer and out roads for the vil- 

 lage and man. 



Lying within a range of one mile on either 

 side of such a road would be 2,000,000 acres of 

 land. The road would increase the value of 

 this land at least ten dollars an acre, and much 

 of it twice that amount, but figuring on ten 

 dollars an acre it would enhance the value of 

 such land $20,000,000 at an expenditure of 

 $6,000,000. 



Let the townships and counties build the 

 less important roads and get the state reward, 

 but let Michigan follow New York, who is go- 

 ing to build 3,200 miles of state road and pay 

 the whole cost. Michigan has built in the last 

 four years four hundred miles of good road. 



This is the sprinkle that precedes the shower 

 which will give us a flood of good roads. 



Detroit, Port Huron, Saginaw, Bay City, 

 Jackson, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Manistee, 

 Traverse City, Cadillac, Petoskey, Cheboygan, 

 Alpena, Soo, Marquette, Menominee, Escanaba, 

 Hcughton, Hancock and Calumet should see 

 that the state senators and" representatives 

 elected for the legislature of 1911 are every 

 one in favor of fifteen hundred miles of state 

 roads, and an appropriation of a million a year 

 for six years. 



FIGHTING FOR GOOD ROADS. 



With the question as to whether or not to 

 bond the township for $35,000 for good roads 

 the proposition before the voters of Ravenna, 

 Muskegon county, this fall, the township is in 

 the throes of a good-roads agitation. Good 

 roads is the principle topic of discussion in 

 Ravenna, with the pros and cons being argued 

 daily about the township and in the village. 

 The Ravenna Times, edited by Tom F. 

 Rogers, postmaster and justice of the peace, 

 is making a hard campaign in favor of bond- 

 ing for improved highways. 



The assessed valuation of the property in 

 the township totals $720,000. The limit for 

 which the township can bond is $30,000, or 5 

 per cent of the assessed valuation. It is pro- 

 posed to bond for $35,000, the bonds to run 

 for 30 years. Last year the township raised 

 $3,000 highway money, and $1,750 in money 

 raised on valuations, at the rate of 25 cen'ts on 

 each $100 of valuation, making a total of 

 $4,750. 



It is estimated that the annual interest on 

 the bonds at 4 per cent will amount to $1,400. 

 With an annual sinking fund of $1,000 and 

 with the money raised on valuations, 15 cents 

 on each $100, totaling $1,050, the total amount 

 to be raised for highway maintenance and im- 

 provement annually is $3,450, it is estimated, 

 or $1,300 less each year than under the pres- 

 ent system. Besides, friends of good roads 

 argue, farmers will then have improved high- 

 ways to bring their products to market. 



NEW MARQUETTE COUNTY ROAD. 



Four members of the highway and bridges 

 committee of the board of supervisors of Mar- 

 quette county, together with D. W. Powell, 

 chairman of the board, have looked over the 

 territory between Palmer and Princeton with 

 a view to selecting a route for a team road to 

 connect with the main highway between Ne- 

 gaunee and Palmer. The county board has 



been asked by the officers of Richmond and 

 I'orsyth townships, also by some of the prop- 

 erty owners in the district through which the 

 road will pass, to aid in its construction. Rich- 

 mond township is not in financial condition to 

 (In the work, but Forsyth township has already 

 started on its end of the thoroughfare, leading 

 out from Princeton. 



The construction of a good road between 

 Palmer and the Swanzey range, connecting 

 with the road between Negaunee and Palmer, 

 which is now being put in first-class condition, 

 is needed. Such a road would enable Swanzey 

 range people to come to Negaunee and Ish- 

 peming frequently. The distance between Pal- 

 mer and Princeton is about eleven miles. 



EMMET COUNTY ROADS. 



Active work has commenced on what will 

 be known as the Charlevoix turnpike, one of 

 the first big moves in Emmet county in the 

 campaign for better roads. Apparently, judg- 

 ing by the way the county road commission 

 has gone after things, Emmet county will have 

 results in the shape of many good roads in the 

 next few years. The new road extends from 

 the west city limits on Charlevoix avenue. 

 Charlevoix, to a point about two miles west 

 of the city. 



Henry Leismer, a member of the road com- 

 mission, has charge of the improvement, and 

 expects to have the work completed in the 

 shortest possible time. 



$60,000 FOR GENESEE ROADS. 



At a meeting of the county road commis- 

 sioners of Genesee County recently, Linus 

 Wolcott, of Burton, was chosen chairman and 

 County Clerk Blackney as secretary of the 

 board. It decided to recommend to the Board 

 of Supervisors to raise $2 on each $1,000 val- 

 uation for the work on county roads, which 

 will amount to $60,000. In the opinion of the 

 commission this amount is needed the first 

 year to put the roads designated as "county 

 roads" in a proper condition. However, this 

 is not final, as the Board of Supervisors, at its 

 October session, must pass upon the recom- 

 mendation before it becomes mandatory. 



State Highway Commissioner Townsend A. 

 Ely has paid his first visit to Holland in his 

 official capacity. Mr. Ely was brought there 

 at the solicitation of the farmers of Holland 

 and Olive townships, who are desirous of se- 

 curing the improvement of a two-mile section 

 of road near the Harlem creamery under the 

 State bounty law. Mr. Ely was tendered an 

 informal reception during his stay. 



