The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-06
WILL STOP WASTE
0flR0AD MONEY
Globes Protest Moves Commits
sioners to Declare for Better
Work on Highways.

Z e Clio b e's recent showing of the
bad condition OF highways and it's de-
mand that the waste of money in
| nakeshlft road building be stopped,
has brought the commissions board to
action.
County Commissioner Powers, at the
regular meeting of the county board
! yesterday, took a decided stand in IA,
vor Of a radical change in the system
of road building in Ramsey county.
In. a resolution offered and adopted
! by the board late yesterday afternoon
Mr.. Powers takes the initiative in the
/ matter Of permanent roads. and if his
plans are successful Ramsey county,
instead of exDending thousands of dol
/ lars each year in patching" roads,
! will devote the greater amount of its
road fund to building substantial high
ways.
| Commissioner Powers plan is to ex-
pend $4,000 or $4,000 on Hamline ave-
nue., it being his idea to make it stone
| and gravel road from the city limits,
! through to the Anoka county line. AT
| the city limits he would connect Ham
line with the Como road. which would
make an ideal driveway from the
heart of the city to the Anoka county
4 line. By doing this Mr.. Powers con-
| tends that hundreds of Anoka county
| farmers who are now trading in Min
neapolis would come to st. Paul.
Would Build Stone and Gravel Road.
The kind of a road Commissioner
Powers would build would be of stone
and gravel. He, has devoted consider
! able time to securing estimates as to
| the cost of such road, and Informed
! the board yesterday that it could be
| built at a cost not exceeding $3,26S per
l A 4 I'LL L,
| dation of crushed stone, nine feet wide,
| could be built The crushed stone
would be laid to "a depth of nine inches,
/ and on top of this would be placed
! three inches of gravel. Such road,
I Mr.. Powers contends, would last for
years, and the annual expense of keep
| ing it in repair would amount to almost
| nothing. fSE5
With but So, O00 available for road
building and repairs each year, Mr..
| Powers realizes that the entire ten
miles Of the, road could not be built In
| one year, but he is of the opinion that
! it is waste Of money to squander the
road fund on patchwork, and believes
the time has come when some
/ thing in the way of perna-
nent road building should be
done. There is now between $4,000
and $4,000 in the road fund, and but
a small portion of this will be needed
| this year. What is left over Mr.. Pow
! erS wants placed on the Hamline road,
with another large appropriation next
year, and the balance necessary to
complete the road to be appropriated
the third year.
| With this road completed in this
manner 1t is the plan OF the Mounds
View commissioner to follow it UP with
| similar work on other roads until all
| of the country roads shall be of a per-
/ manent character. asls.s.s. s..s,ss
i The nature of the work suggested
! can be done at a cost of about one
fourth what macadam road would
| cost, and it isa eontended that it would
last fully as long. if not longer, and
| would require nothing more in the way
! of repairs. sJ seFEn3ilo1 jaL
/ City Now Loses Much Trade.
At the present time the Hamline
/ road is not opened all the way through
to AAnola county, and st. Paul mer-
chants are losing a very profitable
class Of trade, which, now goes to Min
neapolis. A proposition was made by
one of the county commissioners some
time ago to repair the road and open
it UP to. Ano1a county, but on account
of the character of the work which it
was proposed to put on the road Com
missioner Powers yesterday opposed
the plan and had the consideration of
the petition postponed until December.
In the meantime a special committee,
made up of Commissioners Powers,
I Pottgieser and Gray, will look into the
/ advisability of making the road a per-
manent one.
cit is my desire to secure perma-
nent roads all over the county" ex-
planned Mr.. Powers to Z n e Gil o e.
For years the county has been ex-
pending thousands. of dollars on re-
T,], Ill
wasted. If theil county had started in
fifteen or twenty years ago to build
permanent roads, an annual appropria-
ton of SIS 900 or SIC 900 would be suffi-
Gent to care for our highways. Under
the present system we are eXpending
$4,000 a year. and have nothing to
show for it. From now on you will
find me in favor of building permanent
roads, even if we have to be satisfied
with five or ten, miles each year."
| The large amount of money required
| to carry out stha plans as outlined by
Mr.. Powers somewhat staggered the
| other members of the board, but after
| the matter had been thoroughly ex-
planned to them all voted to postpone
| any action as to temporary work on
Hamline until the Powers PLAN had
been fully looked into.
/ White Bear Asks Help.
Another road matter which pro-
| voked a spirited discussion was the
| proposition to pay half Of the expense
of repairing and improving the road
which skirts the bluff around the north
end of White Bear lake. The village
Of White Bear is willing to pay half
Of the cost if the county will pay the
other half. The road has been Travelled
for more than forty years and runs
in the rear of many of the cottages on
| the lake front. The White Bear city
councils favors the Improvement of the
road, and representatives of the coun-
| Gil were at the meeting of the county
board yesterday to urge the passage OF
| the resolution. The cost of the work
will be about $500.
Some objection to the work was
| made by Attorney Gilbert, who owns a
residence at White Bear. He thought
the road should be built on the fiat be-
| low, which is sand beach, formerly
the bed of the lake, before that body OF
water receded some forty or fifty feet
Mr.. Gilbert said he spoke not only
| for himself, but for other villagers, but
the advocates of the plan to improve
| the present road charged that the VII
layers were opposing the road for self
| ish motives. 1t was explained that i
| the road were built on the old lake bee