The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1894-07-28
Highways OF Douglas County.

ing Telegram from the pen OF l.. X. OTIS
Of Superior in regard to our highways
and those OF Douglas county especially,
II has set me TO thinking how to build
up and keep in repair our highways,
which, We must admit are far behind
the age in general, and of older coun-
tries in particular. and although We
Americans feel pTowd of our growth
and unprecedented development along
the line Of labor saving machines and
railroads which have outstripped our
common highways if they can be called
such. Now We all know how much
easier it is to do business on Tower
avenue especially in South Superior
than II was three years ago, and why?
Because the streets are paved and
proper drainage is provided. These
two things are essential TO good roads,
especially good drainage. Now We are
proud of Tower avenue as a thorough
fare.
If YOU were to ask 4 commissioner of
roads in France, England or Ireland
what he thought of Tower as compared
with the common highways in any OF
those countries he would ask you,
HOY long will this paving LAST" and
of course we would have to admit that
twenty years with some repairs each
year would be a. long as we could ex-
pect it to last and | doubt if it would
last that long he would tell YOU that
the highways in his country would with
yearly repairs last for centuries, and
why? Because they are bnilt to last,
and they are good every day in the
year. These highways are generally
made OF stone and are graded and
rounded as We do the streets in the
city before paving. Rough stone is
then laid all over the road bed, which
is twenty to thirty feet wide in the
country, and some wider. 1t is then
filed in with sand and finally with
broken stones which must be so small
that they can go through an inch and
half ring if they were wanted to.
This stone is of the hardest kind of
rock, and is broken in a good many
instances by old men for which they
receive pay by the yard. After this
stone is put on the road and worn
smooth it makes a road that will last
and a road that frost and rain does not
effect
But, saws one, a road of that kind is
too expensive, especially in a new and
unsettled comfy, like Douglas County"
But that is just the reason why We want
good road that we may have our coun-
ty thickIy settled and fully developed.
| want to say right here that we have
resources i'll Douglas county that we can
develope and build up our own comfy
SO that it will benefit us as a city more
than selling real estate to suckers.
For instance how much money is sent
out of this county for hay, potatoes,
vegetables, eggs, butter, etc, which can
all be produced in abundance and with
profit to the grower. This would at the
same time keep our money at home and
We would be independent at the same
time. There is a good market in
Duluth and the Mesaba range for all
surplus. | know some of my readers
will smile when they read this article
and think of their being a surplus of
the products in Douglas county, but |
tell you that the time is not far distant
when we will not only produce enough,
but will have a surplus. There is not
county in Wisconsin, or Minnesota for
that matter, that can produce more hay
to the acre than can be raised in this
county, also potatoes, oats, peas, straw
berries, raspberries, currants and other
small fruites can be raised in album
dance and with profit and have an I'M
limited market.
But | am rather off from the highway
which | commenced to write about. l
DO not see why our country could not
issue bonds TO build good roads where
they are needed and where it would
tend to develop and build up a county,
just as well as they can bond them
selves to build railroads or help them.
Of course they help to develop the
country We admit, put the railroads Of
the country are able to take care of
themselves, and it is high time that the
taxpayers OF our country were alive to
the fact that they should build up our
highways and develop our county. l.:
there were family on every eighty
acres of Douglas county that is product
i've, it would not be long before taxes
would be light, and if we had good
roads 1t would not take long to have
Douglas county one of the foremost if
not the foremost county in the state.
Now | do not think it is necessary to
have macadamized roads in order to de-
velop this county because a good clav
road If 1t Is in proper shape is a good
road most of the year, but | do not be-
lieve tits best to have stones, stumps,
logs water and every thing imaginable
in the highways, neither do | think it
necessary to have it four rods wide, A
road from twelve to sixteen feet is all
that is needed when properly drained
and graded, and if Douglas county had
a few good roads Of this kind YOU
would not see potatoes = per bushel as
we have in the last few weeks. With
these few remarks | will close hoping
to hear something from others, along
this line; in the near future l will give
some more simple facts in regard to
building our roads and developing our
grand resources. T. p. Hunter,
South Superior,
Wisconsin.