12 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



Patented 



Economy Road Rollers & Floats 



Practical in DeiifD, Simple in Construction, Efficient 



in Service, Economy in Fact and not in 



name only, Indistructible. 



J The ECONOMY ROAD ROLLER cofls 

 only one third as much as other Road Rollers. 

 Made of Steel. Gives better service and never 

 needs repairs. Reversible. Sizes---4 and 5 tons. 



q The ECONOMY ROAD FLOAT is the 



only road drag that is superior to a road grader 



for repairing and maintenance of Good Roads. 



Made entirely of Steel. Fully adjustable. The 



only practical road drag made. Notice the front 



Cutting Blade. 



<J A Card will bring you full description of these 



tools. 



F. L. GAINES 



509 Athlon Bldg., Grand Rapids, Michigan 



GOOD ROADS PROGRESS 



IN MICHIGAN STATE 



GENESEE COUNTY. 



Lynus Wolcctt, chairman of the Genesee 

 County Road Commission, writes: 



The Genesee commission intends to build 

 just as much good roads this year as the funds 

 raised will allow. We raised $4,500 for one 

 and one-quarter miles south on the Fenton 

 read; $5,000 for one and one-quarter miles 

 north on the Saginaw road, and $3,000 for one 

 and one-quarter miles of gravel on South 

 Saginaw road. The Fenton road and North 

 Saginaw will be macadam, built of limestone 

 for the foundation, and hard heads en trap 

 rock for the top course. 



IONIA COUNTY. 



The township of Ronald, Ionia county, voted 

 at the April election to take advantage of the 

 state award highway law, by appropriating 

 $2,000 for a trial mile, and a lively rumpus has 

 developed. Every section of the township, 

 very naturally, wants that trial mile. Paloites, 

 who get about all their coal via Shiloh, have 

 bethought them that a mile of macadamized 

 road in the coal-drawing season would not be 

 such a bad thing, and so are making an extra 

 effort. This mile would be on the extreme 

 side of the township, hence a big kick on that 

 scheme from nearly all the central sections. 



The Portland Motor Club is sign-boarding 

 all of the roads leading into Portland. 



contract for the third mile of the Au Sable 

 road, running north from Kawkawlin. His 

 price is $2,250. 



Chairman Campbell, of the Bay county road 

 commission, and Commissioner C. B. Chat- 

 field lost out in their efforts to do away with 

 the system of hiring foremen on the various 

 county roads and employing instead, a general 

 superintendent. The matter came before the 

 board recently and Commissioners Fletcher, 

 Lintz and Schweinsberg defeated the measure. 



BAY COUNTY. 



Supervisor N. D. Zimmer of Bay county has 

 attacked the practice of the Road Commis- 

 sion in that county of using crushed lime stone 

 for road building instead of "hardheads." A 

 year ago, he .said, he had prepared a resolu- 

 tion and it was adopted by the Supervisors 

 recommending that the County Road Commis- 

 sion should use "hardheads" and that little, if 

 any, attention was paid to the matter. The 

 Commission claims that it used 3,000 tons of 

 "hardheads" last year and that the result was 

 not entirely satisfactory. 



The Bay County Road Commission formally 

 organized for the year by electing Hugh 

 Campbell chairman. The new chairman is the 

 senior member of the board. The board let 

 contracts for two miles of road. The third 

 mile, on the Pinconning road, running west, 

 was let to Louis Rushbush of Pinconning for 

 $1,650. Edward Laracey was awarded the 



OAKLAND COUNTY. 



The taxpayers of Royal Oak township, Oak- 

 land county, will be asked to vote shortly on 

 a good roads proposition, which includes the 

 building of a concrete road on Woodward ave- 

 nue from the Wayne county line, four miles 

 through the township, and the erection of a 

 gravel road on Oakland avenue, in the same 

 township, for a distance of two miles. Both 

 improvements, it is estimated, will cost in the 

 neighborhood of $45,000. Little difficulty will 

 be experienced in raisng funds for the purpose, 

 providing the voters of Royal Oak decide to 

 accept the offer made by Edwin S. George 

 and Horatio S. Earle. The plan involves the 

 bonding of the township of Royal Oak for 

 $25,000. The state will contribute $4,000 for 

 the project, and Mr. George guarantees to 

 raise the $16,000 necessary to complete the 

 $45,000 among the residents of Bloomfield, 

 automobile enthusiasts and others in Detroit. 

 More than half that amount has already been 

 subscribed. 



Baldwin street, from the city limits of Pon- 

 tiac two miles north, will be improved this 

 spring by the building of two miles of state 

 road. It was determined to build this strip at 

 a meeting of the members of the Township 

 Board of Pontiac township. Residents of 

 Baldwin street offered to donate $1,730 toward 

 the road. The state contributes $500 a mile, 

 and the township will levy an assessment of 

 \ l /2 miles on the property of the township at 

 large. This, with the amount given by prop- 

 erty owners, it is believed, will be ample to 

 meet the cost of building the read. 



last fall, it will be necessary to do mere or 

 less work on the highway. All is in readiness 

 to make somewhat extensive improvements on 

 the county road from Chatham to Trenary and 

 plans therefor perfected last season will, if 

 possible, be carried out the coming- summer. 



In voting bonds to improve her highways 

 Rock River has set an excellent example for 

 the other townships in Alger county, most of 

 which have inferior roads. The township is 

 fortunate in being able to secure excellent ma- 

 terials for road building both clay and gravel 

 right where they must be used. Then, too, 

 nature has provided a splendid and durable 

 foundation for the roadbed in the shape of 

 rock which comes close to the surface. The 

 engineer's estimate of the cost of the construc- 

 tion of the six miles of Rock River road is 

 $18,000. With the completion of the Rock 

 River road now building there will be a good 

 highway for driving or automobiles from 

 Munising to Marquette. 



The Board of Supervisors of Alger county 

 have appointed the following Board of County 

 Road Commissioners: John McMillan of 

 Munising, for ten years; Swan Anderson of 

 Limestone, for eight years; William Green 

 of Grand Marais, for four years, and John 11. 

 Gatiss of Chatham, for two years. A. O. Jop- 

 ling, the fifth member of the board, was 

 elected by vote of the people. 



IRON COUNTY. 



The Board of Supervisors of Iron county 

 has approved the extensive system of county 

 road improvement that the Board of County 

 Road Commissioners has laid out. This pro- 

 gram includes the elimination of the big hills 

 between the Bates school house and Chicagon 

 creek by swinging the road to the north. A 

 grade comparatively level can be made there 

 with much less expense than would be in- 

 curred' by attempting to cut down the hills 

 along the present road. The next piece of 

 work will be the elimination of the very steep 

 hill at Rev. Poyseor's place by swinging the 

 road to the north at Fortuana park gate and 

 following the comparatively low ground and 

 even grade and joining the present roadbed at 

 the elbow on the sand plains west of Geo. 

 Myer's place. 



The next in order, moving to the west, will 

 be to finish graveling the present roadbed, 

 commencing where the work was stopped last 

 year. 



Another piece of work agreed upon was the 

 construction of a new road so as to avoid en- 

 tirely the Bristol mine. 



It is also planned to straighten out the road 

 between Runkle lake and the Armenia mine. 



It is not possible that all of this work will 

 be completed the present year, but as much 

 of it will be done as the county funds will 

 allow. 



The Road Commissioners are Supt. Wm. H. 

 Jobe, Wm. Holmes, Jr., and William Tully. 

 and the Supervisors have so much confidence 

 in their judgment that their plans were ap- 

 proved without question and they were given 

 carte blanche permission to go ahead. 



ALGER COUNTY. 



Owing to lack of funds, which under exist- 

 ing conditions may not be forthcoming this 

 season, comparatively little work will be done 

 this year on the Munising-Chatham county 

 road. However, in order to preserve intact 

 some parts of the road which owing to early 

 heavy rains was left in an unfinished condition 



TUSCOLA COUNTY. 



Elmwood township, Tuscola county, has 

 voted to build one mile of state road to meet 

 the Elkland state reward road. Cass City bus- 

 iness men subscribed $300 towards the road. 



The Good Roads Club of Vassar has had 

 the roads in the vicinity of that village in- 

 spected by Deputy State Highway Commis- 

 sioner Frank T. Rogers. Mr. Rogers says 

 that with small expenditure several of the 

 highways can be put into first-class condition. 

 The club is now working to secure funds for 

 this purpose. 



W. J. Spears is president and E. W. Ellis 

 secretary of the club. 



Application has been made by the Township 

 Board of Indian fields, Tuscola county, to the 

 state for two miles of state reward gravel road 

 instead of the one decided upon at first. 



Elkland township will build two miles of 

 gravel road this year. * 



New road work under the state bounty act 



