River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-06-14
More Good Roads.

Roads Society was held at |. Q o. F.
Hall on Thursday evening of last
week. A goodly number of citizens
and friends from neighboring towns
were present and the meeting prov
ed to be an interesting one.
The first paper was by Mr.. c. E.
Hanson upon Ideas From Abroad
on Road Making and Repairing"
In this paper he gave statement
showing the conditions prevailing
in some parts of Norway and the
methods of constant work upon the
roads.
Mayor F. M. White followed, his
topic being 1.-THE Legal Phase of the
Present System of Road Making"
and he treated the subject of the
legal aspects in clear manner.
F. D. Ensign had the next
paper upon "The Necessity for Cul.
tivation of Liberal Public spirit in
Making Possible Good Roads" Mr..
Ensign showed, that in every pub
lie improvement a public spirit
willing to make sacrifices for the
public good is a necessity; that
public utilities cost money and eff
fort, and that no good work can be
done without expense and in gener-
al the better the work the more it
costs.
A. w. Stiles followed with brief
but we'll considered talk upon
The Best Time to Repair Roads"
He argued that the present system
of condensing the work into a few
days in the early summer is wrong:
that it is the constant care which
makes good roads; that few min
utes work in a time of storm may
save days of labor at later date.
He also argued that the taxes
should be collected in money, as
under the present system there is
too much wastefulness.
THE Benefit to the Farmer from
good Roads" was briefly discussed
by Mr.. Allard. To the farmer es-
pecially is a good road from his
home a saving. All of his surplus
crops must be taken to market and
if he can have road which adds to
the ease of transportation he is just
SO much the gamer. Mr.. Allard
stated that he was so much in earn
est that he desired to have start
made and suggested that the So
ciety raise money and aid in build
ing road leading into the city.
The result of this was that it was
voted to have subscription paper
circulated among the business men
asking contribution to be. expend-
ed under the supervision of the So
c;ety in conjunction with the town
officials for the purpose of improv-
ing the highway leading north from
the city. toward Hudson, and the
secretary, Mr.. Wiger, was request
ed to circulate the same.
The closing paper was by DIR.
Gendron upon his famous road top
ic, the king Drag" The doctor
had a model of such drag and ex-
planned it quite fully to the audi
ence. The drag is simply two
halves of log about IL inches in
diameter, fastened together by
simple braces. No iron need be
used in it's construction. The two
pieces are parallel to each other
and a short distance apart. The
drag being drawn diagonally work
ing from the outside of the road to
the inside breaks up the clogs, fills
the ruts and gradually rounds up
the road. The contriv ance has
proved to be very popular in many
places where 1t has been tried. 1t
seems that perhaps the chief virtue
it possesses is in inducing the users
to go over the road just after every
storm when the ground is soft and
ruts have commenced to form, thus
in a measure carrying out the idea
of constant supervision and repair.
ing.
The meeting was a useful one
and it is hoped that some good re-
suit will follow. Such gatherings
are moves in the right direction.
The interest in good roads should
be reciprocal between the farmer
and the business man. The one
can bring his products to market
more cheaply, the other can reap
fruits from the incoming of more
people.