Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1903-06-04
BARNSTABLE'S PLAN.
CAPE COD TOWN SOLVES THE GOOD
ROADS PROBLEM.

VIII Expend $4,000 on Stone Roads
In Term of Three Yenrs-Debt to
BE Paid In seven annual Payments
of $1,000.
a matter Of vital Importance to the
residents Of Cape Cod and one which is
ct present holding the attention of the
taxpayers in many towns is good roads.
There is perhaps no section of the state
where the natural conditions for the
construction Of roads are as poor as on
the cape, says the Boston Globe. For
years experiments have been conducted
along one line or another looking to-
ward the building of roads and their
maintenance, but little success was OBJ
tained until the state came to the res
cue and began the construction Of the
state highway, so called.
The method Of roadbuiiding as en-
ployed by those who began the con-
struction Of the state highway on the
cape was vastly different from that
ever before tried in this region, and the
work was viewed with the keenest in.
tcrest by the old roadbuilders and high
way surveyors. While the coutribu-
tons received from the state each year
helped materially to put the roads on
the cape in excellent condition, the
process was necessarily slow, and years
would have to eIapse before such roads
could predominate.
Most Of the towns on the cape did not
feel that they were able to expend the
vast sums that would be required to
build stone roads, and they continued
to appropriate the usual amount each
year as in times past, which barely
kept the old roads in condition. BY
the old method Of making approprla-
tons for roads as employed by the
towns on the cape little or no progress
was made IN the construction of new
roads, and matters were not getting
any better, while the demands for good
roads were increasing each year.
To build stone roads required the out
lay Of large sums of money, which
most Of the towns felt they could not
afford without increasing the tax rate
to such figure that 1t would deter per-
sons who might wish to take up a res
idonce on the cape from coming hither.
The residents Of the cape agreed that
to promote a healthy financial growth
OF their respective towns good roads
must be built
Prosperity follows good roads, and
the improved financial conditions in all
towns where good roads prevail can be
traced directly to excellent roads. The
residents Of the cape likewise agreed
that the time had come for a radical
change in the method of roadbuilding
and their maintenance, and plans for
the construction of stone roads and for
the payment of the debt which would
be incurred thereby were discussed
from one end of the cape to the other.
While the various towns were dellb-
Grating over the methods they would
employ to build stone roads and were
formulating plans for the payment OF
the debt that would thereby be in
CURED Captain Thomas Patterson OF
Barnstable, who for years had been
making a study Of stone roads, their
construction, etc, presented a plan to
his town which solved the problem, for
that town at least, and seems likely to
be adopted by other towns on the cape.
In submitting his plan Captain Pat
tersOn, to use his own words, said,
"The thought that was uppermost In
my mind was that Of not raising the
tax rate and also that the burden OF
liquidating the debt should be shared
by those who will enjoy and be mate
rally benefited by the adoption of the
modern and progressive policy"
The plan presented by Captain Pat
terson and which the town adopted was
that Of expendlng $4,000 on stone
roads in a term Of three years and the