Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1904-12-15

tury hence. Highway construction will
be as much of an evolution as was rail
road building, as out Of the early
crooked road, laid with an iron strap
on wooden stringers, that few Of the
older among you may remember, has
been evolved the Strengthened tracks
of the Pennsylvania or New York Cen
tral of today, laid with steel rails 80
or 100 pounds to the yard, capable of
bearing the monstrous locomotives that
draw two to three thousand tons at a
speed of thirty or forty miles per hour.
instead of 100 tons ten miles per hour
of the earlier freight trains. AS the
wooden trestle has given place to the
steel girders, and the wood and iron
truss to the steel structure, as even the
wonderful suspension bridge with
which the genius of Roebling spanned
the mighty gorge Of Niagara, has been
substituted by the splendid steel arch
of today without hindering traffic for
single day, as the railroad ferry has
given way to the lofty structure, capa-
BILE OF carrying the swiftly moving
trains of dozen railroads, and beneath
it the commerce of the world may pass
without hinderance, so will our pres
ent apologies for highways, crooked and
hilly, be changed for the future road
way, which will follow the lines Of
least resistance as to distance and
grade, instead of making them the
boundaries of each mans property.
Over this road, which will be paved
with road materials capable of standing
it, will be borne the traffic of the flu
ture. What that may be, no man
knows; but if the freight wagon of the
present does not give way to the auto
mobile, capable of drawing 100 tons
of freight, and if the passenger We
hicle operated under vigorously en-
forced rules of the road, does not whirl
its burden along at the rate of 25 or
30 per hour, then am 1 grievously mis-
taken.
"This condition of things, however,
can only be brought about when skilled
engineers shall have the supervision of
the road construction and maintenance,
who will be thoroughly grounded in the
principles of road engineering; who
shall be capable of locating a road
between given points in such manner
as to serve the greatest number of peO-
pie with the shortest length of road
and the easiest grades; who will know
how to use the various local materials
so as to secure the best results; who,
finding lumber in the mountains plen-
tiful, and iron or steel expensive, can
build the best bridge with the least
expenditure, or who can. If he finds
good stone cheap and convenient, span
a stream with a stone arch that will
last for ages; who has for the judgment
arising from educated common sense to
plan his roads to meet the varying
conditions of volume, traffic and financial
ability. Who will know that the traf-
fc, gathered from perhaps score of
roads, setting towards a large city,
warrants the expenditure of an amount
to secure permanently paved road,
adequate to its demands, that it would
be gross extravaganza if used to pave
a less used highway.
"It is unfortunately, "A fact, that
many so-called practical men, have no
just appreciation of. the value of civil
engineers. This may be partly due to
the fact that not all men that call
themselves engineers are such. These
skilled engineers are the men we need
in our road building, and for whom we
should seek diligently. There is not
a county in Oregon, nor in any other
state, where such a man be not in
charge, that enough money is not
wasted, to pay for his services over and
over again. AS | have before remarked
road engineers are not plentiful, prin-
cipally because road making, until very
recently has not been deemed a matter
where the use of their ability and skill
would Justify their employment, but
now they are beginning to be wanted
everywhere. have heretofore urged
those who are in charge of our higher
educational institutions to consider this
new need, and the advisability of their
to supply it, and l am more
than glad to say that they are begin
ming to recognize and respond to such