Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1905-03-10
DALLAS CAN LEAD

Dallas has more substantial public
improvements than any town OF like
size on the Pacific Coast The town
has Al plentiful supply of pure
mountafn water it has excellent cleo
trio street lights, good sewerage
system, ample fire apparatus. and
good sidewalks and crosswalks on
every street, extending far into the
suburbs. The only important feature
now lacking is well-improved streets.
The streets of Dallas, while far from
impossible, are in many respects a
disgrace to the town, and are far from
what the people of the town could de-
sire them to be. No particular blame
can be attached either to the council
or to the people for the existing con-
dition of the streets, for the very good
reason that the town has no material
with which to build better thorough
fares. Thousands Of dollars Of the
public money have been spent in the
last fifteen or twenty years in an effort
to build permanent streets with the
gravel taken from the bed Of the
LaCreole river, but the money has
been practically thrown away. The
gravel is not hard enough to with
stand the heavy traffic, and soon
crumbles into dust or mud. Then
follows the additional expense to the
property Of scraping up this
layer of dirt and hauling it away.
Every former council has wrestled
with this problem Of trying to make
permanent streets with gravel, and in
every instance the effort has proved
futile. The present council has met
with the experience Of its predecessors,
and, at last firing Of forcing the
property-owners to waste their money
in temporary gravel improvements,
has decided to submit the question of
purchasing rock-crusher to the
voters at the coming city election.
The committee on streets is now in
vestigating the cost of a crusher
suitable to the needs of a town of this
size, and is also looking into the
matter Of securing sufficient supply
Of rock adapted to road purposes.
Every feature of the work of building
rock streets will be thoroughly and
conscientiously investigated, and |
should the project be found practicable
and within the reach of the town, it is
highly probable that the whole matter
will be submitted to the voters for
their approval or disapproval at the
election to be held three weeks from
next Monday.
Tho importance to Dallas Of clean,
well-improved streets, and Of good
permanent roads leading into the
country in every direction cannot be
over estimated. Such improvements, if
wisely planned and carried out, would
establish Dallas commercial suprem-
acy for all time to come. With the
lead that would be gained by such
movement, trade would be brought to
the town that could never be diverted
to other centers. II any citizen of
Dallas thinks that the farmers would
not welcome such a move by the town,
let him ask the first farmer he meets
for his opinion as to whether or not
Dallas would gain trade by putting in
a rock-crusher and assisting the
country people in getting a first class
road over which to haul their produce
to market, winter or summer. We be-
lieve he will find the answer so en-
phatic as to leave no room for doubt
as to its earnestness. The writer has
talked with hundreds of farmers on
this subject in the last thirty days,
and he has yet to find one who does
not agree that Dallas could take no
more important step than to in
augurate a genuine good-roads move
ment in Polk county by purchasing a
crusher and beginning the work Of
building permanent roads.
We would not have it understood
that the OBSERVER is in favor of