MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



$48,000 FOR GENESEE ROADS. 



Asking for a tax levy of one and one-half 

 mills on the present valuation of the county 

 for the purpose of carrying on work planned 

 in beginning the construction of a road system, 

 the Genesee county road commission presented 

 to the board of supervisors a report and rec- 

 ommendation covering its contemplated oper- 

 ations. 



The commission also presented a list of the 

 roads it proposes to begin work on, and the 

 sum to be expended on each, as follows: $15,- 

 000 for improving the Saginaw road by ma- 

 cadam, beginning at the north city limits of 

 Flint and running north three miles; $6,000 

 for improving the Saginaw road by macadam, 

 beginning at the south city limits of Flint and 

 running south to the county farm; $10,000 for 

 the Fenton road, beginning at the south city 

 limits of Flint and running south two miles; 

 $2,000 for the Morris road, township of Gaines, 

 by gravel; $2,000 for the Flushing road, by 

 gravel; $2,000 for the Vienna road, by gravel; 

 $2,000 for the Wilson road, township of Forest, 

 by gravel; $4,000 for the Fenton road, by 

 gravel. Five thousand dollars is asked for the 

 purchase of road machinery. 



GOGEBIC ROAD COMMISSIONERS. 



The board of supervisors of Gogebic county 

 has appointed the following members of the 

 county road commission to serve until May 1, 

 1910, when a new commission to be elected at 

 the spring election will come into office: Henry 

 Rowe, Ironwood; C. E. Walton, Wakefield; 

 G. S. Barber, Bessemer. 



The commission chose J. S. Barber as chair- 

 man. Mr. Walker, of Iron Mountain, has been 

 appointed engineer and superintendent. It has 

 been decided that the first road to be built will 

 be a trunk line from Ironwood to Watersmeet 

 and that the first section constructed will be 

 built between the cities of Ironwood and Bes- 

 semer. It has also been decided to raise by 

 taxation the maximum amount allowed under 

 the law, which will be about $30,000 per year. 

 It will be necessary to purchase the first year, 

 an outfit of road building machinery, the expe- 

 rience of other upper peninsula counties hav- 

 ing demonstrated that this is a measure of 

 economy. This outfit will cost in the neigh- 

 borhood of $10,000, leaving $20,000 to be laid 

 out on the road the coming year. 



HOUGHTON'S FIRST REWARD ROAD. 



As a result of an inspection made by Deputy 

 State Highway Commissioner Frank F. Rog- 

 ers, of Lansing, the Shelden-Douglass estate 

 and Park addition will receive on the mile strip 

 of road extending through the Park addition 

 and east and south along the lake shore to the 

 Isle Royale mills, the first state reward of 

 $1,000 per mile ever paid for a highway in 

 Houghton county. 



Houghton county, while paying about one- 

 eleventh of the entire state tax for highway 

 purposes, has heretofore not received one cent 

 in return, while lower peninsula counties pay- 

 ing less than one-fifth of Houghtons' taxes 

 have been receiving several thousands annu- 

 ally. 



TOWNSHIPS ARE ACTIVE.. 



Croton township, Newaygo county, is now 

 engaged in building a new, permanent road 

 east and west to connect with the improve- 

 ments made in that township last fall, co-op- 

 erating with Reynolds (Montcalm county) 

 township's improvement made last year. 



Commissioner LaBarr, of Reynolds town- 

 ship, has commenced operations on building a 

 gravel road from Withey's corner, west of 

 Howard City, to the Twin bridge a little over 

 a mile further west. This will be a great im- 

 provement and in line with the progressive 

 policy in road building begun last year. 



It is not too much to expect that eventually 

 there will be a first-class road all the way from 

 Howard City to Newaygo, which for half a 

 century has been a hard drive at best. 



Gravel Road Near Fife Lake, Grand Traverse County. 



Courtesy of Grand Traverse Daily Eagle. 



FORTY-SEVEN DIFFERENT SORTS OF 

 ROAD TO THE MILE. 



Forty-seven different sorts of road to the 

 mile seems a pretty large order, but that is the 

 sort of construction that the road office of the 

 department of agriculture has undertaken in 

 New York state. It is a large piece of work 

 and promises to give some of the most val- 

 uable comparative data on road making that 

 have ever been accumulated in this country. 



The work is to 'be done in conjunction with 

 Cornell University and will be on a stretch of 

 well traveled highway outside of Ithaca. The 

 materials for the construction have all been 

 accumulated and work will soon be com- 

 menced. The road has been divided into sec- 

 tions of 100 yards each, and each of these will 

 be built of different material and in a different 

 manner. The road office has made plans for 

 the construction of telford and macadam sec- 

 tions, and these will be given a top dressing of 

 almost every conceivable sort of road binder. 

 The roads will be coated with asphalt, different 

 sorts of tar, light and heavy oils, and such 

 other binders as have been brought to the at- 

 tention of the department from various sec- 

 tions of the world. 



There will be roads constructed of slag, 

 granite and various sorts of rock, and these 

 will be combined with different sorts of top 

 dressings tending to form a good chemical 

 combination for preserving the surface from 

 wear. 



It is expected that the road will be finished 

 before the coming of cold weather, and the 

 first report on its wearing qualities, will be 

 made early next spring. From that time on 

 there will be periodical inspections and reports, 

 so that the department will know just how the 

 various sections are standing up to the work. 

 All of the sections will be kept in as perfect 

 repair as is possible, and a record will be made 

 of the cost of the work, so as to give not only 

 the original cost of building, but the annual 

 cost of upkeep. 



The cost will be calculated for the various 

 materials used, both with and without includ- 

 ing the transportation charges, to tell just what 

 a certain sort of read ought to cost in its own 

 vicinity. The whole work probably will cover 

 about a mile. 



One of the essential features of the periodi- 

 cal reports that will be made will be how the 

 different sections withstand different sorts of 

 traffic. It has been found that some of the 

 best roads where iron-tired vehicles and horses 



are used are the poorest in withstanding the 

 scouring effect of rubber automobile tires. 

 One great object of the various sorts of bind- 

 ers to be experimented with is to find some- 

 thing that will make a permanently dustless 

 highway and one that will not be disintegrated 

 by motor traffic. 



The experiments of the road office with 

 what it terms "palliative" dressings has been 

 quite wide in the past season and tolerably 

 satisfactory. The stretch of roads laid in the 

 agricultural department grounds and treated 

 with wood pulp sulphite liquor has stood up 

 quite well, but it is found that it will require 

 about two dressings per year to keep the road 

 in good condition. As the liquor now costs 

 more than light oil for road dressing, it seems 

 not to be an economical material to use. 



FIVE MILES MORE IN BARRY. 



This year two miles of good road have been 

 built in Carleton township, one in the township 

 of Hastings, and two in Baltimore township, 

 Barry county. The road in Hastings starts at 

 the city limits and connects with the mile of 

 good road built last year, making three miles 

 of good road from State street. The road in 

 C'arlton township is on what is known as Carl- 

 ton Center road and is also an extension of 

 the good road built in that direction. The two 

 miles in Baltimore township is west from 

 Dowling and it is not only a much needed but 

 decidedly an improvement that will be lasting. 



In Baltimore township it is proposed to 

 build two miles from Dowling towards Hast- 

 ings. It is a wonder that more townships in 

 the county are not taking advantage of the 

 road law which awards to each mile of ap- 

 provel gravel road, $600 from the state. The 

 state taxes paid by each township goes to 

 make up the good roads fund and the town- 

 ships not building two miles of graveled road 

 each year is contributing the money to other 

 localities, which is needed right at home. 



The Good Roads Association of South 

 Haven is a live mody, and is wroicing hard 

 for the improvement of all roads leading out 

 of that city. Recently the association took a 

 large number of farmers to Benton Harbor and 

 St. Joseph to inspect the roads in that ter- 

 ritory. The farmers were much impressed and 

 have become enthusiastic good roads boomers. 

 The result will probably be an election to au- 

 thorize a bond issue to put the highways in 

 the township in first class condition. 



