The record-union., 1897-01-25
SIDEWALKS FOR THE COUNTRY.
Proof of Their Value-DemOnstration
i'm This County-Folsom By-Path.

"A Dill mas Deen anIrCQuceO III lle Leg
islature permitting mot requiring)
Supervisors to set aside not more than
six feet on the side of country roads for
use of pedestrians and vehicles moved
by the power Of the rider. There is no
compulsion in the matter proposed by
the author, Assemblyman Ennis of this
county, but If the Supervisors choose
they may improve such paths.
Less than a year ago a local club laid
out such a path from this city to Fol-
som along the highway in part, and in
part along the railroad right Of way. 1t
has now passed through q winter and
a summer, used every day by hundreds
of people, and is nearly as good to-day
as it was at the outset.
A trip was made over it to Hangtown
Crossing on Saturday by a Record
Union" representative. He counted on
that gloomy, cold day fifty-four persons
walking on the path. Eleven of these
were women, nine were little girls, and
the remainder men and boys. One lady
living on the line OF the road expressed
to the reporter her great thankfulness
for the path, and asked If it was to be
abandoned or kept up. She said:
"It has been a blessing to ell of us.
Before 1t was laid out and the weeds
cut away, we women and our boys and
girls, to foot it to school, or church. or
to the nearest store, or to visit a neigh
Dor, had to trudge through the dust in
summer In the road, or wade In the mud
in winter. True, there were here and
there some narrow paths along the
fences, but they were stock paths and
full Of weeds, burs and thistles, and half
the time because Of gophers and old wire
and tangled grass not safe to walk on.
Since the club cut away the weeds, and
made the path smooth it has been as
good as anl sidewalk. 1t Is a blessing" ="
This path beyond Brighton for seven
teen miles is simply an earth path, no
gravel or decomposed granite being put
on it. Yet 1t is smooth, hard, dry and
nice and has kept so, proving that mere
walking on it and bicycling over 1t keeps
it in prime condition. This side of
Brighton it has, in spots through low
places, been lightly covered with decom-
posed granite It Is the only country
road in this county where there is
good four-foot path or anything like a
path or sidewalk.
If one goes out of this city on the
Stockton road, he or she will find 1t
guttered to the fences on each side, and
one on foot must walk 'in the middle of
the road" whether or not. In Ken
lucky, New York, Missouri, Massachu-
setts and several other States the law
reserves a pathway along all public
roads, and it must not be less than three
feet wide On this no one must ride a
horse, or drive one, or draw vehicle by
horse power.
Use of the paths keeps them free from
thistles and weeds and makes them firm
and hard as there is nothing to cut
them up and make dust. The condition
of the foot path from Sacramento to
Folsom proves this to be true, and that
it is simple folly to take the whole road
width for cutters and wagon way.
Most of our roads are so, 100 or 120
feet wide, and why this whole space
should be taken for a twenty-foot road
way and forty feet of cutters is puz-
zle. The examination of the Folsom
path proves that such use of roadways
is unnecessary and foolish, and that
simply reserving a pathway is a good
thing, and that is all that is asked in
the Ennis bill. Leave is given to i'm
prove it if Supervisors wish and the
people desire.
But the proof of the pudding being in
the eating, Sacramento County has an
example that is proof conclusive that
an earth path along a roadway is, as the
good woman quoted put 1t, indeed IA
blessing" Many legislators on the trip
| TO Folsom yesterday noticed the path,
| and asked what it meant. When told,
| they expressed their surprise that a
| mere earth path would keep so smooth
and neat, and wondered why they were
not laid out along all roads.
1t is wonder, but it is brought out of
wonderland by asking any of the 500
| people who live along the line of the
| Folsom path what they think of It as a
| practical thing. At Folsom yesterday it
was learned that the path referred to
| is quite as good beyond Hangtown
/ Crossing as it is on this SIDE and is
muddy only near Folsom.