The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-07-23
PATTERSON ROAD
CONTROVERSY
DIR. FlIZ-M ATfIEW REPLIES 10
THt COMMISSIONERS
says County surveyor Protested
Agninst Route Selected ana ~ug-
Gested TWO alternative Routes
Much Less Expensive"

CThe action of the board of couptyc)m-
misSoners in the matter Of The "patter-
son Road and the direc, reference in The
official proceedings to "thc Author OF The
petition" against it. has called forth the
following communication from the gem
tleman retorred to. IL viii doubtless be
read with interest not only hy signers of
the petition, hut by many who have no
personal concern in the CONTROVERSY
Ed
Editor lSLANDER--
see by the published proceedings
of the board of county commissioners
that-I am accused Of having needless
ly troubled the board by sending our
petition to them, instead of consult
ING Mr.. Bostan therefore beg to
state that it was . suggestion made
by one of the board of commissioners.
at Friday Hafbor, to one or more Of
our petitioners in the words: "Scnd
in your petition then witness to
this-which first induced me to act
in this matter Before doing so ]
investigated and found that the inc
selected by Mr.. Vaughn, the county
surveyor, and the site for the bridge
w2s at the dictation of Mr.. Bostian,
Notwithstanding Mr. NaugbnS pro
test on the ground Of the great eX-
pense thereof, and the suggestion Of
two alternative routes much less eX-
pensivc, one Of Which would not have
required q bridge and Effected what
was ostensbly arrived at, viz, the
linking OF the two county ROADS.
Both these propositions were en-
phatically rejected by Mr.. Bostian.
He had also expressed the desire Of
having this road made. 1t was there
fore unnecessary and useless to ap
ply to Mr.. BOstian and ! acted upon
the suggestion before mentioned. If
the honorable gentlemen OF the board
of commissioners had proceeded to
take the testimony of the county sur
veyor and his witnesses and G.yen
due respect to the county map these
facts would have been manifested, as
well Us the Justice OF our contention
The board has cavalierly set aside"
our petition and given an unqualified
verdict in favor of an influential mi
nority 1t would seem "they did not
want an investigation, but an eXecu-
ton, and | am the victim; but the
ghost is not laid 1t is alleged that
the Patterson faction" j" put in plea
of "spite' on the part Of the peti-
TONERS. know Of none and ! may
say that two of Mr.. Bostian's neigh
bors. with whom he has had trouble
refrained from signing the petition
on this account If there IS any
foundation for spite the prcsUmp-
tive evidence fastens it on Mr.. ljos-
tian, who has, in a great measure,
''held up" our road fund. Sundry
mud-holes in the roads in Oreas dis
trict and others have not been re
paired for two or three. years anG
again this winter will the taxpayers
have to drag half or less loads
through these abominabla places.
Meantime the balance Of the road
fund is being held in trust for the
Bostian-Patterson syndicate. Ia con
clusiou | wish to express the opinion
that there is not one Of the petition
ers against this road who would OBJ
iect to any reasonable expenditure
for the convenience Of the persons
interested 1t is certain, however
that if it be constructed upon the
line selected by Mr. Bostian the ex-
penditure cannot be far short Of Mr.
Vaughn's estimate, and he is wei
onalified to make an estimate.
JAS. FTz-MATHsw, NJ D
Wast SOlmd. JULY 81