Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-08-07
A CASE IN POINT.



gent Effort Can Improve Highways.
The people who claim that road i'm
provement in the rural regions is not
practical nor possible will find fact
not an argullent-which refutes their
claims in the Sheridan road, running
from Chicago to Waukegan, Wis.
This, the most magnificent highway in
the United States, is the outgrowth of the
intelligent efforts of few men, and it
proves once more, what advocates of good
roads all claim, that road improvement,
instead of imposing an additional expense
on the people, will so enhance land values
as to doubly repay the amount expended
in the work.
Thirty-seven miles of continuous paved
road, passing through ten or twelve
towns and lying within two counties,
would be something remarkable, even in
the earliest settled portions of the United
States. That the greater portion of such
road already exists, with prospect of
its early completion to the extent in
Dictated and the possibility of its ulti-
mate extension fifty miles further, is the
boast of northern Illinois, and partlcu-
larly of Chicago. The thoroughfare in
question is the Sheridan road, which,
connecting at the south with the lake
shore drive that is part of the mag
nificent boulevard and park system of
Chicago, extends northward, with but
few trif1ing breaks, to Highland Park.
distance of twenty-five miles, and will
doubtless be completed to Waukegan,
twelve miles further on, by the time
the Worlds fair is opened to visitors.
This, with the lake shore drive three
miles in length will make thirty-seven
miles of continuous paved road.
The Sheridan road is distinctively a
carriage drive, and is dedicated by the
various towns through which it passes
for that purpose. For the main part the
roadway is fifty feet in width, but at
points it is eighty and for one stretch of
mile one hundred feet wide.
The material of which the road is con-
structed varies according to circum-
stances. In Evanston, which is the most
populous of the towns traversed by the
road, for example, there is mile or more
of well made asphaltum road, extending
from the university campus to South
Evanston; in other villages cedar block
pavement has been laid, and in others
macadam constitutes the material. But
between villages-and in some cases
through them-the road is constructed
more cheaply. A layer Of blue clay, four
inches thick, is spread upon the sand or
sandy loan, which are the prevalent soils
of the lake shore strip, and well rolled;
upon this two inches of lake gravel is
thoroughly rolled, while over all is spread
and rolled two inches more of finer lake
gravel. The cost of such road as this,
fifty feet wide, is about $3.50 lineal
foot Lake gravel is found to be more
satisfactory than bank gravel.
One peculiarly about this great car
riage road is that it is primarily the out
come of the efforts of a number of gentle
men of Chicago and Evanston, who in
the fall of 1888 organized the Sheridan
Road association, without capital, but
merely as a base from which to operate
in an effective manner upon town and
and village governments and individual
property owners. The first plan looked
no further than the connecting of Chi
cago and Fort Sheridan, in the town of
Highland Park, but the success of the
project and the benefits to real estate
that have accrued have been so great
that it was soon decided to extend the
road to the city of Waukegan, while
there are those who look confidently to its
being ultimately carried on to Keokuk,
Racine and Milwaukee.
The advantages of such drive to
holders of suburban tracts were pointed
out until the land owners were persuaded
to contribute to the cost Of roadways and
bridges where the expense was greater
than the official boards were willing to
assume. The result has justified all the
representations made by the association
members. Subdivisions for residence
purposes have been made more numer-
ously and at a greater distance from
Chicago than had ever been dreamed Of
Hamlets with electric lights for streets
and houses and with water and sewerage
systems all complete have been created
AS the result OF this enterprise, entered
upon in the first place and with the sole
object of securing a carriage road prac-
ticable in wet weather as we'll as in the
dry season.
To show the spirit in which the work
Of the Sheridan Road association has been
prosecuted, it is interesting to cite that
portion of the road that passes through
Calvary cemetery. The archbishop gem
erously vacated TO the road a strip 800
feet in length and 100 feet in width
across the east end of the cemetery. The
grading of the strip involved the removal
Of Il 900 cubic yards of material, the ex-
pense being 81 600. This sum, and the ad-
ditional amount Of 81, 400 for graveling,
We're contributed by private citizens of
Evanston and Chicago, who subscribed
800 each to the object.
1t was inevitable that in the CARRYING
out of this scheme there should be OBJ
structionists found. Narrow cupidity of
individuals has been the main obstacle
the Sheridan Road association has had
to contend with. A very few property
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