HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 341 
; Mr HaucEn. Did I understand that you had built some roads in 
owa! 
Mr. Dopex. No, sir. 
Mr. Haucen. In the Red River Valley—some $3,000 for building 
and grading? 
Mr. Donvceg. Yes, sir. 
Mr. Havcen. What would be your estimate for my State, in Iowa, 
outside—— 
Mr. Dopex. I think we can build a good road there for $3,000 a 
mile, exclusive of grading. 
Mr. Apams. That depends entirely on the accessibility of the right 
kind of rock, does it not? 
Mr. Dopex. It does not depend so much on that as you think, 
because, as you know very well, the rates of freight are the same on 
the long haul as they are on the short haul. That question has been 
fought for years; it is claimed there is unjust discrimination made on 
the part of the railroads because they charged the same for the long 
haul as the short haul. It really does not make as much difference as 
you suppose under that, for the rate of freight isalmost uniform. We 
have quite a remarkable illustration of that in the State of Tennessee. 
We built a road down at Jackson, Tenn., from material furnished from 
near Cairo, Ill., and it was so satisfactory that in two years from that 
a they extended the road 7 miles, bringing all the material from 
Hlinois. 
The Cuareman. Is not Jackson in the limestone belt? 
Mr. Dover. No, sir; I think not. 
Mr. Havcen. Have you any estimate of building these roads in a 
single State—for instance, the State of lowa? 
Mr. Dopar. We have not any estimate made with especial reference 
to that. : 
Mr. Havueen. The fact of the case is, it would cost more than one- 
quarter of the real estate of the State? 
Mr. Dover. Ob, no. 
Myr. Haveen. I think it is safe to say that in our State we have at 
least 110,000 miles of road, and, at $3,000 a mile, that would be about 
$330,000,000, would it not? 
Mr. Doper. Well, possibly. 
Mr. Havexn. I think the assessed valuation of my State is about 
$370,000, 000. 
Mr. Doves. The assessed valuation is a great deal less than the real 
valuation. 
Mr. Haucen. The assessed valuation of my State is one-quarter o 
the value. 
Mr. Dopex. Do you find anything on the map to indicate whether 
that 
The CHarrman. | thought Jackson was near enough to Columbia to 
be in the limestone belt. What was that material? 
Mr. Doper. That was what they call anoviculite. It is a very rare 
material, but it is suitable for road building, and I believe if the atten- 
tion of the people round about that situation—that is southern Illi- 
nois and over across the river in Missouri—if their attention was 
called to the extreme usefulness of that material, it would be worth 
hundreds and thousands and millions of dollars. 
I desire to state to the gentleman from Iowa that it is not possible 
