8 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



MICHIGAN 



ROADS AND FORESTS 



Official Paper of The Michigan Road Makers Association and 

 Michigan Forestry Association. 



70 Larned Street West, Detroit, Michigan. 



Entered as Second-class Matter April 27, 1907, at the Post Office at De- 

 troit, Michigan, under the Act of Congress of March J, 1879. 



Frank E. Carter Editor 



PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH 



BY 



THE: STATE: REVIEW PUBLISHING co.. 



SUBSCRIPTION: ONE: DOLLAR A YEAR, 

 PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



COMMISSIONER ELY'S PLAN FOR 

 CHEAPER ROAD MATERIAL. 



The plan of State Highway Commissioner Ely, 

 to have the commonwealth engage in the stone 

 breaking business, should not be confounded with 

 the scheme of former Commissioner Earle to 

 have Michigan erect a new state prison devoted 

 entirely to stone breaking. Mr. Ely and his 

 deputy, Frank A. Rogers, have found that one 

 of the greatest road building difficulties to be 

 overcome in the lower peninsula of Michigan is 

 getting material at a reasonable price. There is 

 plenty of limestone in Monroe and some other 

 counties, but limestone is too soft for heavy traf- 

 fic. So it has been necessary for Wayne county 

 to go as far east as Little Falls, N. Y., and as 

 far west as Winconsin, to find trap rock suitable 

 for good roads. But freight rates make Wiscon- 

 sin material practically prohibitory for eastern 

 Michigan, and stone that costs less than a dollar 

 a square yard in New York, costs $3 and more 

 before it reaches Michigan. 



Within half a mile of the Marquette state 

 prison in the upper peninsula, is an inexhaustible 

 quantity of trap rock, and only a short distance 

 away are plenty of docks. The stone, after being 

 mined by prison labor, can be loaded by machin- 

 ery on a short line gravity car line and dumped 

 directly into boats with very little handling. The 

 cost of the stone at the docks, it is thought, need 

 not exceed 25 to 40 cents a square yard, and 

 with freighting charges not over a dollar, the 

 state can provide this raw material for road 

 building in place of the present bonus being paid 

 for good roads. 



This plan also solves the prison labor problem, 

 by giving convicts work that does not interfere 

 with the labor now being employed. It opens up 

 a new industry, for Michigan, without placing ad- 

 ditional burdens on taxpayers, and at the same 

 time it puts within easy reach of county good 

 roads commissioners stone that they cannot now 

 obtain without making the roads too expensive. 



If, after thorough investigation, it is found that 

 this trap rock can be furnished by the state at 

 little or no greater expense than limestone is now 

 costing, one of the greatest obstacles to the im- 

 proving of the state's 75,000 miles of roads will 

 (.-moved. Detroit News. 



forests and mineral wealth from the hands 

 of the people into those of private individuals. 

 His policy in this direction was clear, straight- 

 forward and simply demanded that the people 

 and the people to come should be considered 

 in the disposal of these resources. When Mr. 

 Ballinger was made Commissioner of the Land 

 Office under Secretary Garfield and President 

 Roosevelt, he knew the policy of the president 

 and the secretary, but he, like most western 

 politicians, had the spirit of the boomer, the 

 land and timber grabber, whose motto has 

 been for years: "Alienate the Government 

 lands at all cost and by any method," another 

 way of saying: "We own the earth," and he 

 went straight against the policy of the presi- 

 dent and resigned. (Was he fired?) In spite 

 of this experience with Ballinger, President 

 Taft not only put this man back to direct the 

 disposal of lands, forest and mineral wealth 

 of the people, but put him still higher into the 

 position of Secretary of the Interior, where 

 his powers for working harm to the cause of 

 forestry are infinitely greater. Ballinger 

 naturally interprets this as a Taft O. K. and 

 proceedes to undo what Roosevelt and Pinchot 

 have built up. Ballinger is faithful to his 

 western boomer and political ideas, but is Taft 

 faithful to the people? 



which reads, 'This is the property of New York 

 state. Any one removing this stone will be 

 prosecuted." Other signs enlist public assist- 

 ance in keeping the roads in good condition. 

 One sign frequently seen reads: 'Please do not 

 drive in one track. Avoid making ruts in the 

 roads.' Thus a silent campaign of education 

 is being conducted in the Empire State." 



There is nothing of greater utility or which 

 is more profitable to the agricultural as well as 

 the municipal interests of a community than 

 permanent and substantially constructed high- 

 ways. They facilitate the transportation of 

 crops at the lowest cost and enable the moving 

 of agricultural products to market when the 

 prices are the best. 



The people of Michigan should bend every 

 energy in the creation of a system of good 

 roads covering every nook and corner of the 

 commonwealth. Progressive civilization re- 

 quires it. Rude and primitive methods no 

 longer satisfy the ambition of the dweller 

 either in the city or country. We must have 

 better and more improved methods in our 

 every-day life. Good roads are essential to 

 comfort and prosperity. Progress is the un- 

 written law. 



ROAD BUILDING IN 1910. 



THE BALLINGER AFFAIR. 



President Roosevelt was the first president 



i fully realize the necessity of a radical 



ii our land and forest policy and es- 



|.i(.ially in the methods of turning the lands, 



GOOD ROADS IN EASTERN STATES. 



Substantial progress is being made in many 

 counties in Michigan in the matter of con- 

 structing and maintaining permanent high- 

 ways. Bay county was one of the first to en- 

 gage in good road building, made necessary 

 by the fiat surface of the country and conse- 

 quent need of passable thoroughfares in the 

 wet seasons of the year. 



The greatest progress in road building, how- 

 ever, is in the eastern states. Massachusetts, 

 New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have 

 made the greatest progress. Liberal appro- 

 priations are being made for the building of 

 good roads. Newspapers have for years con- 

 ducted an educational campaign and the auto 

 industry has been a great promoter of good 

 roads. 



A gentleman who recently made an automo- 

 bile tour of New York, Massachusetts, Con- 

 necticut and Pennsylvania covered 1,400 miles 

 in ten days, making stops at such places as 

 Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Bridgeport, New 

 York City and Binghamton. He did not travel 

 at all during the night, and says that the jour- 

 ney would have been impossible in so short a 

 time but for the excellent roads in New York 

 state. 



"They are constructing hundreds of miles of 

 fine roadbed down there," he said. "Excava- 

 tions are made for the foundation, which con- 

 sists of one and a half feet of cobblestones. 

 Over this there is a top dressing of finer hard- 

 head stone, and this again is covered with as- 

 phaltum. A surface dressing of fine sand and 

 gravel completes the work. The roads slope 

 gently, shedding the water into a curved gut- 

 ter, which completes drainage and protects the 

 roads from damage due to collecting pools of 

 water. 



"After roads are built provision is made to 

 keep them in repair," he said. "At every half- 

 mile the >tatc has st ne piles for dressing de- 

 pressions, and over these is a metallic sign 



State Highway Commissioner Ely Expects 

 Record-Breaking Year in Michigan. 



The work of road building for the seasc 

 is practically closed, and State Highway Con 

 missioner Ely reports nearly all roads unde 

 construction in Michigan as having been 

 ished, with the exception of a few miles 

 the northwestern part of the state and a 

 roads in eastern counties. 



A large number of new applications ha\i 

 been filed with the State Highway Depar 

 ment for work to commence in the sprir 

 and everything seems to indicate that nej 

 year will exceed all previous years in the nui 

 ber of miles of road built, as the season ju 

 closed has exceeded the mileage of all forme 

 years in the history of the department. The 

 people of the state are awake to the fact that 

 good roads mean something, and that the 

 progress of a rural community is largely in- 

 dicated by the number of miles of permanent 

 roadways built in its township or county. 



A GENEROUS OFFER. 



County Road Commissioner Edward N 

 Ilines has addressed a communication to ever) 

 township highway commissioner in Wayn( 

 County, urging a closer co-operation betweer 

 the county and township commissioners, anc 

 placing the services of the commission's, engi 

 neering staff, and its experience in road build 

 ing, at the disposal of the township official;- 

 in order that the cheapest and most perma 

 nent results will be secured in dragging Wayn 

 County cut of the mud and dirt. 



Under the direction of W. L. Kelley, high 

 way commissioner for Cambria township, tli 

 \>\K Roberts hill south of Hii'lsdale has bee 

 lowered several feet and the dirt used for til 

 ing the valleys on either side of the hill. Th 

 I '\vnship appropriated $200, the villa. 

 Cambria donated $70, and the Biisine s Men 

 Vcsociati n of llillsdale raised $70. Upwan 

 of 2,000 loads of dirt were moved The in 

 provement is of great benefit. 



