The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-05-12
GOOD ROADS.
From the ''Gospel of Good Roads,
CHAPTER XIV.

CHAPTER XIV. -,
OF course you know that the dis
tance of any farm from the nearest
market affects its value. If located
within short distance of the town it
is worth much more than a farm of
the same quality six miles distant.
The reason of this is that the farmer
nearest the town has many advan>
tages which the more remote farmer
has not. He can haul his load to mar
ket in q shorter time and save much
labor In marketing his crops. His So
cial advantages are increased and he is
possessed of many opportunities that
would have been denied him had his
farm been located any considerable
distance from the town. But you
know also that nothing shortens dis
tance and saves time to the traveller as
improved methods of quickening traf-
tic and the means of transit upon
which the traveller relies. 1t used to
be long weeks journey for the Amer
ican farmer to travel two hundred
miles by wagon road to the nearest
city, and since the railroad enables
him to cover the same distance in five
hours, he feels that his farm and home
arc so much nearer to the great center
of trade and that its value has been
enhanced accordingly. II you could
drive over the six miles of wagon road:
between your house and the village in
one hour 1T all times Of year, and haul
u tull load Of farm produce into the
bargain, you would feel your farm has
been moved considerably nearer the
market than it now seems to Oe and
its value would feel the bpntf fit Of that
difference. There is no guess work
about this statement. 1t is y result
which has always followed the con-
structio of good roads. l could tell
you Of a hundred instances, but one
Or two will answer fully our purpose
here.
Not many years ago in the state IF
New Jersey, there were three or four
small towns in which the community
was made up of plodding population
in moderate circumstances, doing bus
mess on a low scale, in accordance
with their poor facilities for communi-
cation. When the mud was hub deep
the patient New Jersey farmer who
lived in those towns stayed at home
aud waited for the roads to dry up.
No matter what might be the prevail
ing prices in town, he had no means of
taking substantial advantage of them.
Meanwhile, the consumers in the
cities and villages depended in mea-
sure upon the supply of the country
produce raised in that vicinity, and in
times when the farmers were tied up
by the bondage of 6ad roads they were
oppressed by slack supply and conse~
quently by enhanced prices. Trade
was uncertain and farming was car
ried on with Indifferent success. If
you could 60 with me to those towns
today you would find a marvellous
Transformation. From collection of
farms at one time connected by dirt
roads, there has, in the last few years,
sprung up one of the richest farming
and residence localities in the United
States. Many rich people have moved
their homes to these towns and q
fourishing condition of things has
taken the place of the easy going and
slip-shod methods which existed in the
days of the dirt roads. The prime
reason of all this Improvement is FAM
iliar to every resident who lives in
those towns today. The beginning of
prosperity began with the construction
of the first improved road. Land
values increased, traffic was quickened
aud enlarged, social communication
became more easy and more frequent,
schools, churches, shops, market
places and railroad stations became
more accessible and the country in
consequence more attractive as a pla. q
of residence.
One Of the oldest inhabitants of that
section, Mr.. Thomas Nevins, in an in
terv:ew relating to the roads in his
county, short time ago, made prac-
dence and familiar knowledge makes
worthy to be repeated. He stated that
the common idea that the roads OF
these towns are well paved because
rich people had come there was erro.
neous, and declared that rich men had
come there simply because the roads
were we'll paved; that it had been
found by the New Jersey people of his