1912-13 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 149 



through a country in which there is a fair percentage of good agricultural land, 

 under cultivation. In places the country is broken and rocky. Tributary to this 

 road on the north are to be found areas of good land well cultivated. Large clear- 

 ings and fine buildings are to be met with everywhere. 



Owing to the unsatisfactory condition of the roads heretofore, it has been 

 difficult and at periods almost impossible for the settlers to reach good markets 

 at Sault Ste. Marie or other smaller towns along the railway. The road as now 

 constructed will allow the settlers as far as Blind River, about eighty miles east 

 of Sault Ste. Marie, to reach that point. It will also give them access to all the 

 stations along the Canadian Pacific Railway, 



Part of the road only has been surfaced with gravel or stone and it will take 

 another season to finish the road to Blind River. Several culverts and small 'bridges 

 are required to be built. The work as performed this season covered the worst 

 parts of the road, thirty-five miles out of the eighty. The following is a general 

 description of the work done: — 



Commencing at the eastern limit of the town of Sault Ste, Marie and running 

 east, the road was well graded and ditched for eleven miles. The first % of a 

 mile, after being macadamized, was surfaced with rocmac 12 feet wide. The 

 next % of a mile was covered with three course macadam 12 feet wide. This 

 mile and a half of the road had a very bad sub-grade and it was necessary to 

 make the stone from ton to twelve inches deep, consolidated. The balance of this 

 section up to mileage 5^ was covered with two course stone. 



Section two extended from Garden River to Echo Bay. The work done in this 

 connection consisted of raising, widening, riprapping and railing Echo Bay fill, 

 the North Channel fill ajid the Root River fill. Gravel put down on this road 

 during tlie winter of 1912 was found insufficient. It was raked and rolled and 

 the whole section regraded and widened and resurfaced with one course of lime- 

 stone. A gap is thus left unsurfaced of nearly a mile between Root River at 

 mileage hy2 and mileage 6i/2- Eight miles of road were under construction. 



Section No, 3'. — The work done in this section consisted of grading and 

 draining between mileage 15, Echo Bay, and mileage 201/2? a large amount 

 of riprapping was necessary as a considerable portion of this section of the road 

 had been badly washed out, the ditches having been deepened and widened by 

 freshets so that it was dangerous for teams to pass owing to the narrow road 

 bed, A new right-of-way was required for a distance of % of a mile. This was 

 purchased from the adjoining land owners and a new road constructed. This 

 section was also gravelled with the exception of 2% miles, which was left to be 

 gravelled during the winter season on account of the long haul. This work has 

 been completed since the close of the fiscal year. Ten Corrugated Iron Culverts 

 were placed in this section. 



Section No. 4. — This camp built and graded the section between Nestor- 

 ville, Mile 4414 and Mile 493/4, a distance of five and a half miles. Gravel was 

 also placed between mile 4414 and mile 48; the remainder being left unsurfaced 

 on account of there being no material available without too long a summer haul. 

 This work followed in the main an already existing road, which, however, was 

 little more than a trail. The construction was practically new. On this section 

 twenty-one metal culverts were placed. 



Section No. 5. — This camp built, graded, drained and gravelled three miles 

 of a road immediately east of Portlock, between mile 34^2 and mile 371^. As in 

 Section 4 this road was already in existence as a mere trail. A considerable amount 



