Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-01-15
OPEN UP IHE ROADS
Desirability of Having Snow
Blockade Lifted Quickly in
the Country
WILSON MAKES SUGGESTION
snowplow Worked on the Plan of the
King Road Drag and Under Super
vision of the Proper officer-Much
Damage Done to Fences by Cutting
of Wires.
Special to Republican.

Special to TlmeS-Republlcan.
Iowa Falls, Jan. 15.-The blockaded
condition of the public highways which
prevailed for several days recently, has
started a good many rural residents to
thinking about a possible remedy for
such a state of affairs. 1t is especially
desirable to almost every farmer thai
the roads be kept open during the win
school often a mile or more distant
from their home, they want their mail
delivered to them daily, and this is the
time Of year when most of the hauling
of hay, grain and stock is done.
Those living along the roads do not
take kindly to the idea that they should
get out after each storm and break the
roads for the travelling public without
some compensation and the tendency
is to travel as little as possible until
the road is broken by those who are
compelled to use them. l passed a
SCnOOluOuSe lue Quiet w ISIC I've
about forty rods snow filled the road
to the depth of several feet. The fuel
supply of the school was exhausted,
and three loads of coal were hauled
from the nearest town, the shovels of
the haulers being required more for use
on the drifts than in handling the coal;
the next day the road past the place
was good.
Up to the present time when snow
drifts rendered the road impossible it
has been the custom to travel thru an
adjacent field, removing a few staples
and letting down the wire of fence,
or by cutting the wires which We're
easily spliced when spring came and
the snowbanks had melted. But to thus
treat a first class fence, one of woven
wire for instance, is to damage it be-
yond repair, and if the construction of
such fences is to continue at the rate
it has been during the last few years,
it will not be long until the fences OF
two or three barbed wires with posts
two rods apart will be thing of the
past and resort to the fields will be out
of the question.
The putting up of snow fences such
as are used by railway companies
would be impracticable because of the
expense involved in their extensive use
and the suggestion of a township trus-
tee that here was one of the chief rea-
sons for cutting out all roadside hedges
and keeping grass and weeds down was
met by another man with the state
10 wire fpnca
the cause of huge drift where no
weeds or trees were allowed to grow.
Those approached on the subject gener-
ally agree that a systematic plan OF
clearing the roads will be necessary in
the near future. One man suggested
that the situation offers an opportuni-
ty for the inventor of road machinery,
that some sort of machine or pillow to
be run by horsepower after each storm,
as the advocates of the King drag
would have that implement in opera
ton after each summer shower, the
work to be in charge of a public Of
tlcer, is the solution of the problem.
Noticing a neatly cleared passage
from farm house to the road thru
deep snow / asked the owner of the
place how he did it. He showed me a
triangular plank frame weighted by
heavy block of wood, to which he had
hitched a team and driven from his
barn to each building and to the road.
When within a few rods OF the cor
ner of a mans farm one evening l
came to a gap i'm the fence thru which
several teams had evidently passed.
Surprising the road blockaded followed
the way the others had taken, soon
coming to a closed gate. A little far
Their on was another one The farmer
stood by the second gate and with
rather malicious expression on his face
inquired, why did you come thru
here? After giving him what l con-
sidered good reason for taking that
course he remarked you're just as
crazy as the rest of them. You have
missed the best broken stretch of road
in this part OF the country by coming
thru my field. I've fastened UP that
gap a dozen times but somebody has
opened it every time. You have had to
open two gates TO get this far and