The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1904-02-05
TEMPEST IN
A TEAPOT
The Morris County Board Of
Agriculture Tackles Mt.
Freedom Road.
COSTLY STRETCH OF MACADAM

AGraculCufiStS AFlh5U VIII NAoOdpHOA
zeal scythes, subsoil Plows and Flails
investigate the Pasture Ground
whereon the Board of Freeholders
eirazes Apparently with Little sue
cess and they ssResoloot."
There was lively time at the con-
vention of the Morris County Board
of Agriculture, held in the County
hall last Saturday afternoon. 1t was
trifie more exciting than had been
anticipated and was remarkable in
the fact that it did not end in a tistic
encounter. Insiuaations were made
and resented and stressful terms such
as thigh taxes" ~stone ring and
s.bridge ring- were used without
regard. There were present at the
convention a minister of the gospel,
bank president, several city poll
ticians, and more than fifty farmers.
Every man came prepared to defend
his conviction and when the balgle
sounded the charge, the carnage was
awful.
The trouble arose over a discussion
of the Mt, Freedom road, which is
being constructed by the Morris
County Beard of Freeholders, and
which was told of in last weeks
Chronicle. FreehOlder Shonenberger,
of Passaic township, had consented
to come before the meeting and
explain howIit was the road came to
be approved by the FreeholderS and
the State commissioner of public
roads, and ito compare the cost OF its
construction with other luxuries the
county now enjoys; also to show how
useful it would be to posterity.
Taking everything into e0nsidera-
tiOn, MI. ShOnenberger was unable to
successfully convince the aggregation
of agriculturists that this road is a
modern necessity. In his remarks the
FFeeholder said he had come tomake
no apologies forithe present Board OF
FreeheldeFs OF it's predecessors.
s'It had sbeen rumored,'' said Mr..
SchOnenberger, THAT you gentlemen
would ask me questions, and that |
don't want. If the road is worth
building atsAll." continued the Free
holder, ait tis worth being done good.
If any of you have driven over the
Mt. Freedom road you know how
hard it was t0travel. In consequence
the travel went by Troy Hills, Par
sippany, DenMille and Dover
III find that this road was approved
early in the year 1901 and work was
started on same in the spring fthat
year. So far the county has paid on
the work S58 223I60. not large sum
for the amount of work done, asiany
one can see day driving over the work,
especially one who was acquainted
with the road before improv ement.
''The numbering of the stakes or
stations, each 100 feet apart, started
at the MOfris and Randolph township
line at O. The work was started west
of Mt. Freedom at station 100, Oh
$4,000 feet from the Morris and
Randolph lime. At this township
line we had eli on the old road OF
about % feet, SO on that account it
was necessary to continue the same
grade on into Morris township for,
nearly 1,OO0 feet, and as the road from
BrOOkSide 80 the County House
crossed the Mt. Freedom road near
the township line these roads had to
be filled to fit to the grade as pro-
posed over the mountain about 800
feet and thus portion of the work in
Morris township was done at less
cost than could have been done in any
other way.
"The heaviest grading on the line
of the work was i'm the Till Hill and
Arnold Hill' cuts and fills, all fills
being made from the eats with no
waste of materials. In Till Hill the
maximum cut and ill was about p
feet (the material from this cut being
used in a fill west of the cut, thus
easing tbe grade and helping out in
the matter of depth of said cut), this
cut being about 800 feet long and
nearly all in rock.
In the Arnold Hill the maximum
cut was 25 feet and 900 feet long
(nearly all rock), with fill of about
the same depth, all the material from
this cut being nsed in the fill east of
the cut to Morris and Randolph
township line and ON into Morris
township, as befor stated.
1.-THE above will cover about 81
miles 1t will cost about $4,000 to
finish up the work under construc-
tiOn.
No sooner had Freeholder Schonen4i
berger concluded his remarks than
three men arose at the same time to
address the chairman of the conven-
tion w. b. Lindsey, of Green Village.
Among them was Lewis O. Stiles of
this city, and he was recognized by
the presiding officers. Then the fun
began.
II haven't seen any amount of
comfort in the matter" said Mr..
Stiles. The freeholder hasn't told
us anything, and would like to ask
him several questions. Failing to
keep his former declaration, Free
holder Schonenberger consented 10
be cr0ss-examined.
who are responsible for these
roads 2" asked Mr.. Stiles.
"The people are, said the Free
hn11or