The record-union., 1896-09-10
FIFTEEN HUNDRED MILES.
Commissioner IrYine'S Travels on a Buck
board.
The People Of the State Alive on the
Good Roads Question and
Favor State Roads.


Hon. r. G.. Irvine of the Bureau of
Highways returned on Sunday last
after long, tedious and hard drive of
1856 miles over some of the highest
mountain roads in the State.
In an interview with a reporter of the
Record Union he made the following
very interesting report of his visit
through the counties of Yolo, Colusa,
Glenn, Tehama, Shasta, Trinity, Modoc,
Siskiyou, Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendo-
cino, Lake, SonOma, Napa and Solano:
When 1 left Sacramento on June
2Sth the water was so high in the tules
that l was forced to ship my horses to
knights Landing and drove from there
to Woodland. OF all the counties in the
State that should have the very best Of
roads YOlO should take the lead. Nature
has blessed her with an unlimited sup
ply of the very best gravel in the world
1t is true that there are some stretches
Of very fair roads, but in most cases
they are becoming badly cut up simply
for the lack Of water. l was Informed
by the Chairman of the Board of Su-
pervisorS that they could not sprinkle
because it took all their money to stop
up the chuckholes.
'YOlO is free from any Indebtedness;
her tax rate was as low as any in the
state; yet, under these circumstances,
twenty cents is the extent of the road
tax. They could we'll afford to levy the
full extent of the law, forty cents and
sprinkle at least fifty to seventy-five
of far. in mil 1ir,1tf a6
supply could be had by gravitation, a
condition not to be met with in any
other county I find one thing in Yolo,
however, that I can but compliment
them on, and that is their manner Of
constructing bridges. OF late the
County Surveyor, Mr. Ashley, has been
building and supervising the construc-
tion of one or two steel bridges. and has
succeeded in cutting the contract price
more than 80 per cent In one case, a
bridge built under his supervision cost
SO per running foot, while the con-
tract price was $33 75 for a bridge not
as we'll constructed.
From Yolo drove up to Colusa, go
ing via College City and Grimes Land
ing. The greatest difficulty in Colusa
County is to maintain roads that are
subjected to double flow Of water from
the Sacramento River and the storm
water from the foothills Bridges are
numerous, from fifty feet to half a mile
In length, and 1t Is an expensive prop
osition to build and maintain these
structures. The streams from the foot
hills are continually changing their
courses, and in one instance they have
a bridge that was built at an expense
of $4,000 sitting out in the plains with
out any water In the bed of the creek
Here they are doing most of the road
work by contract. 1t has been the
means Of getting double the amount Of
work for the same money. This was
the first county in which I was able to
get the correct mileage Of roads, and
1 gathered this data from the maps Of
the former County Surveyor, J. R. Price,
now Engineer-in- Chief Of the Board Of
Public Works. The present surveyor,
j. w. Hearth, is doing good work. and
this is one Of the few counties where
the Board Of Supervisors utilizes the
County Surveyor.
GLENN IS ALIVE.
The next county I Investigated was
Glenn. The citizens of this county are
to be congratulated on it's present coun-
ty officials, especially the Board of Su-
pervisors. They are doing good work
on the roads and much Improvement
can be noticed since visited this coun-
ty last year, notably In the matter of
culverts. In every instance where the
culverts become worn cut they are re-
placing them with vitrified pipe, which
d0aG <bo
wood. and will last for ages Bridges
are numerous in this county also, and
they have several fine structures that
cost from $4,000 to $4,000 each. The
weather was excessively warm, and in
driving from Willows to Tehama took
a look at a thermometer in Orland. 1t
only registered lis degrees. I travelled
as slowly as possible, yet when Ireached
the town Of Tehama r thought my long
distance team would not recover, but
by continual bathing I brought them
out In good shape.
TEHAMA ALL RIGHT
con reaching Red Bluff l was cor
daily received, and am indebted to Mr..
Luning, the very efficient County Sur
veyor, for many valuable statistics for
our report / noticed many improve
ments here also since our last visit, and
found two or three carloads of vitrified
pipe of various sizes, from eight inches
to twentyfour inches, and they are re-
placing all wooden culverts with pipe
The road records had all been over
hauled and put in excellent shape by
Mr.. Luning, and the data required was
ascertained without any difficulty. I
found teams here loading for Oregon,
they having brought down wool, and
finding it economical to take back pro-
visions, etc. Red Bluff is the head of
navigation, and many teams from Mo-
doc and Oregon freight from there.
"A new road has recently been built
between there and the county line of
Shasta County, by which the grade was