328 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



followed by a Department of Highways with a single 

 Highway Commissioner who continued exhortation 

 toward desirable ends but no funds adequate for the 

 realization of results were available. 



During the first decade of this century while ce- 

 mented highways seemed wholly out of reach, much 

 attention was given to promotion of oiling dirt roads 

 and careful specifications were issued, based on wide 

 observation and study, by the State Highway Com- 

 missioner. This recourse was a satisfactory make- 

 shift and when the soil was sufficiently firm and the 

 oil adequately and properly applied, the result was 

 so good that oiling has been practiced to the present 

 day, one county using more than 100,000 barrels of 

 road oil at a cost of $229,951 in 1919, although the 

 oil had practically doubled in value since it was first 

 employed. There was also in other counties increas- 

 ing expenditure for road-grading, wells and water- 

 wagons for systematic sprinkling and excellent re- 

 sults and good repute were achieved by progressive 

 county policy in this direction. It was, however, 

 not until owners of motor vehicles multiplied and 

 insisted on good roads to run them over, that the 

 system of highways which is now one of California's 

 chief agencies of industry and development began 

 to be realized. 



The foundation for a system of cemented high- 

 ways in California was laid in 1910 by the passage 

 of a State Highways Act by the legislature which 

 provided for the issuance of bonds to the amount 

 of $18,000,000. The bonds were voted by a bare 



