Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-06-29

wrestling match, a horse-race or a
10 ,d-gradcr trial, if it is fair and
square and a real test Of speed skill,
strength or excellence, there is sure
to be an interested audience
SO il Is not TO he wondered ut that
the grader contest in south Lancaster
last week was well attended, especially
as everyone residing in district
where a road-grader is to be bought
has financial interest in the trial to
the extent Of knowing whether his
money would be paid for the best
machine,
The trial was result Of 4 law
passed by the last legislature. Chap.
3d. Laws Of 1899 The law provides
that whenever a majority Of the tax
payers including the superintendent
Of road district, and representing
more than half the taxable property
Of the district petition The town chair
man he may contract for and purchase
aroad grader for said district to be paid
for by the district
Road district No. >, presented such
= petition to Chairman Webb. There
were two rival machines i'm the market.
One was "The Indiana" represented
by a Mr.. Marklcy with Hon. Tom Me-
Donald rs local agent. The other ma
chine was "Thc Western" manufact-
urcd by the Western Reversible Grad
er Co, of Aurora, H., and represent
eel by agents G. r. Minonbcrgcr and
+ w. Foster,
Accordingly contest was arranged,
asked for by the representatives of
the Indiana aud agreed to by the
Western" men For Judges in the
contest Chairman Webb appointed
John + Cox, Chas. I l.angridge and
James G. Baltic, all reliable and prom
inent farmers residents of district
number five
The contest began ON Wednesday
lorcnoon there were perhaps one
hundred spectators farmers in the
vicinity and interested towns people
Each agent wanted his competitor
to work first. To decide the matter
the judges Tipped coin. The
Western men won the toss, so the
Indiana" had TO work first This
and othcrproliminary talk led to words
between the agents that became SO
heated on the part Of Mr. Mcdonald
that Mr., Cox, one of the Judges, in
tcrtcrcd and informed Mr. Mcdonald
that the contest was TO be of ma
chimes not Of words and that if he had
come TO quarrel and ian9le hc might
take his machine and get of the
ground
The ground ehostn was piece Of dirt
road by the side 81 the farm Of Mr.
Langridgc, on the potos and l.ancas-
tar road Just south Of the Cox place
rwenty-iour rods Of road was Inc
work to be done and one hour and
twenty-five minutes the timcallottcd
The Indiana worked full time and did
some very nice grading but did not
quite finish what ii had marked out
The "Wcstcrn" then worked a
piece Of road north Of that graded by
he Indiana. Ii finished its stint,
moved more dirt than its competitor
had done and was through in one
hour Work was then called off for
dinner
In this forcnoon's work there were
six horses used two teams abreast al
he pole and one team ahead The
horses used were the teams Of Rudolph
WcIaud Carl Roth and Chas Cox.
In the afternoon the team of Lovi
Garner was added on account Of the
hardness and llinty conditi of the
road worked Ii was remarked by
many hat both teams and drivers did
their work exceptionally well The
graders were operated by Mr. Markley
Tor the Indiana and by Mr. Milton
BERGER for the Western
After dinner the more severe test
occurred The ground chosen was
the rough, stony hill south OF the
bridge by the Carl Roth place, about
two miles south of the asylum. The
Western worked first on the east and
lower side OF the road The Indiana
followed for the same length Of time
on the west and upper side of the
road For best and most grapid work
and for case Of handling the Western
was easily the superior ana was the
general favoritc Of the crowd. As 4
further test the Judges asked the In
diana To cut oil u portion Of the bank
on the east side of the road 1t start
"a to do so and got along nicely until
gravelly point was struck The
blade jumped out The claim was
made that the drivers were ~ fault.
but second trial resulted no better.
and after several more attempts the
bank was still there
MIR Miltonberger asked the privi-
lege TO try the Western on it, Ills
first trip was a failure, owing rs he
claimed TO he blade being incorrectly
set. The next Time though he
ploughed il ont smooth and clean
If doubt existed in The minds of any
Of the Westerns superiority this in
cidont Of the work dispelled ID.
The committee to he thoroughly
satisfied however asked thai the ma
chimes be left aud that they have the
privilege to test them on Thursday
when no agents or experts were
around This permission was grant
ed and thorough test was given by
the farmers of the district Follow
inc is the verdict Of the judges and OF
the district road supervisor
LANCASTER, WIS June 25. 1899.
We, the undersigned committee APP
pointed by the chairman Of the Town
Board Of Lancaster township, Grant
county, state of Wisconsin, to pur-
chase a road grader for our road dis
trict No s. after witnessing a fail
aud impartial trial between the West
ern Reversible Grader Of Aurora, ILL.,
and the Indiana Grader. and making
thorough test of both machines
taking into consideration the mechan.
ical work of both machines and retain
ing the use oiboth next day which were