Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-12-21
GOOD ROADS,
The Ohio System Of Making Them Explained and
Its Value shown.

uUVD hUADS.
The Ohio System OF Making Them Explained and
Its Value Shown.
Paris, Illinois, Correspondence of tie
ChicdJo Tribune:-The question of good
roads is ne that should engage the at
tention of every citizen of Illinois.
There is no one thing more conducive
70 the prosperity and comfort of people
than good roads. In a prairie country
like Illinois the expense Of making good
roads would, of course, be compara-
lively great; but once made the greater
expense is over. Their great value to
our railroads would be incalctlabie had
we a system Of improved highway j;
and the railroad companies could well
afford to transport material for making
them at cost, and no doubt a majority
Of them could be induced to do so.
During the winter months there is
generally a great falling off in freights,
which would not be the case if our farm
ers could reach the various railway sta
tons during that period, and the rail
roads could well afford to transport
stone and gravel for the purpose of
making passable highways at all sea-
sons of the year.
The increase in the value of farming
lands would be almost, if not quite,
doubled, saying nothing of the conve-
nience TO the farmer in hundreds of in
stances.
The question then is, what is the best
mode for securing this great object?
The system adopted in Ohio seems to
your correspondent to be the easiest
and most available. The Ohio plan is
as follows: The line of the proposed
road is surveyed, parallel to which on
each side to the distance of two miles
lines are surveyed, and the lands on
either side are taxed for the purpose of
improving the road, the tax per acre
being apportioned according to the
proximity of the lands to the road.
These free turnpike roads were made
under a law enacted by the legislature
of that state, and Ohio to-day is blessed
with good roads in nearly every county
in the state, made under this law. Al
ter the tax was levied for building a
certain road, the people taxed foc such
purposes were given six years in which
to pay it, making it comparatively easy
upon the taxpayers.
The roads were first graded and
ditched, after which broken stone to the
depth of ten inches in the centre and
eight inches on the sides, was laid, the
width being sixteen feet. Upon this
stone basis gravel to the same depth
and width was laid, which made a most
permanent and durable road-bed. The
expense of keeping these two roads in
repair was very light, and done in the
ordinary way of repairing the highways.
by the usual road-tax. 1t was found
that the ditching of the roads was a
great aid to the drainage of these lands
along the lines of these highways.
As an instance of the great value of
these improved roads, your correspond
ent will cite the readers of the Tribune
to one county (Fayette) in Ohio: About
fourteen years ago Fayette county had
not a mile OF good road in it. Under
the Free Turnpike law of the state the
citizens of that county resolved to build
a system of improved highways. Lines
We're surveyed and the work COM
menced. In five or six years there was
a macadamized road-bed upon every
important highway from the extreme
limits of the county, ccntering at the
county-seat. 1t was a heavy tax upon
the people, but they endured il six years,
when the roads were paid for, and the
people more than satisfied with what
had been accomplished. In ten wears
from the time they commenced work
upon these roads, farming lands and
city property nearly doubled in value,
and the c~ounty-seat nearly doubled IN
population and amount of business.
The farmers then had \ ready market
for their produce, and could reach it
any day in the year.
Material for making these roads was
of course available, and the people did
not ask aid from the State. But here in
Illinois it would have to be transported
by rail, and it would cost considerably
more to make good roads over our
broad productive prairies, and state aid
would be very desirable, and at the
same time justify the outlay in the great
enhancement of property values of all
kinds, and the money would speedily
return TO u state treasury. There is
no grander state than Illinois, and none
more susceptible of becoming the
wealthiest of all the states by proper
improvements; and there is no one Inn
provement that will go as far towards
developing Il wealth as good roads.
These secured, every other development
follows rapidly in their wake. One good
road in a county begets a desire for
more i'll other directions, and this one
great cause of the multiplicity of good
roads in Ohio. The farm located on a
good macadamized road is far val
liable than one on u mud road.
The question of good roads is one
that should claim the attention of the
press and the people to a much larger
extent than it has in the past. Our
farmers are becoming Weather every
year. They have never been MOI Q pros
porous than now, and there is nothing
they can do that add so greatly and SC
quickly with the same expenditure tc
the value of their lands as the making
Of good highways, OHIoAN.