The Ordway new era., 1906-11-02
NEW WSPhPERS HIT| 3f50oD ROADS
raonAs wALsn SHOWS rhGiR
VALUE TO COLORADO.
THEY WOULD BRING WEALTH


w.sts for Lack Of Them-Advo'
Gates State Department Of Roads-
Leaders Wanted to start the Move
men.
At the meeting OF the Denver Real
Estate Exchange In tho Savoy hotsi
/ recently which was exceptionally well
attended Thomas Walsh was given the
place of honor on the program and ad-
! creased the meeting for over an hour
| ON the subject of good roads In Colo
rado. Mr.. Walsh said In part;
| The civilization OF country -. Az
surcdly, measured. In part. at least, by
| the conditions OF Its roads. In tho con
structiye work OF the great Roman
empire. none have stood the ravages
| of time. nor have given so many piess'
| jngs or pleasures to every country
| they invaded, as we'll ns their own. M
haye those magnificent roads they
| built semc 1000 years ago. and II liz
perfect pleasure to-day to ride over
one of these old Roman roads. say
from Paris to Troville. smooth nS Ia
BILE, with vistas OF perfectly straight
stretches OF thirty miles. lined on
either side with shady trees and
grassy swards.
THE roads of Europe are all good
II Won ride outside OF Carlsbad. for In
stance, you will see women. and some
times men. sweeping the pebbles and
dust on the road over which you are
passing. In mountains and plains all
over Europe the roads receive con
stant attention and care. not alone IN
the maintenance, but also In their
identifying. There are no mountain
passes, no gorges SO steep that are
not traversed by splendid roads. In
the Tyrolese Alps, In the Pyrenees be-
tween France and Spain, and espc-
cIally the Swiss Alps, splendid roads
of cas-, grades carry you through can
ons and passes and through the most
enchanting scenery. There is no as
set more valued by the Europeans
than their roads. Thousands OF our
citizens 30 TO Europe every summer
to tour over these well kept roads
You meet them everywhere.
Many OF the eastern states have
realized the benefits and blessings
that are to be conferred upon the
masses OF the people, by the building
Identifying and maintenance of good
reads. Take Massachusetts,. for in
stance: some years ago the roads
there were like ours. almost impass
able. There was road association
established. This association tried TO
get an appropriation from the Legisla
ture nj first. but was utterly unable to
DO II. They then, at their own expense
built every alternate mile of road. The
lesson TO the farmers was so great that
after one year of trial they who op
posed the appropriation petitioncd the
Legislature to make an immediate ap
preparation to build the Intervening
miles. andt to-day Massachusetts, has
well maintained roads that, with the
exception OF their narrowness and
winding features. VIII compare favor
Sbly with the roads OF the old country
Glance over the map of our state
for n moment. See what n grand. un
broken chain OF mountain range we
have reaching from the northern 10 the
southern boundary of the state. Travel
over all the earth and you will not
find such n magnificent panorama of
mountain scenery: yet we have not, In
fact. one piece OF good road that n Wis
i;or can travel over from Denver. mp
into the scenic places OF these noun
,ains. Now can you imagine anything
more worthy than the construction. or
rather the perfecting of road leading
from one extremity of our state to the
other. along the base of those beauti
irl mountains. through picturesque
cities. towns and villages. with
branch roads running up from them
into the most picturesque canons and
PARKS
In these 1ountain resorts, to begin
with, modest but well kept hotels could
be established. II we flood our state
with visitors and tourists. fine hotels
viii soon spring up. Mountain resorts
with funicular railroads running up
10 the most attractive mountains will
be established. Look at Switzerland
and see the millions of dollars tha.
fow into her little territory every year
See what prosperity she is enjoying
from the tourist travel of the world
and yet, beyond flying passage
through our state OF some few thous
aims, we receive no benefit from tour.
lists. and our state with decent roads
can De made more attractive than
Switzerland.
The officials In every county in the
state should give their joint coopera.
tion In laying out a system of roads to
be worked UP to. and all improvements
hereafter made on roads should be
done under this system and with the
definite end In view that when the
plan at first decided upon was finally
hnished, the state would have n per.
rect system Of roads. Instead of peri
odical repairing. the money spent
should be used in keeping n force con
tinually on the road, or II better re.
suits could be obtained, contract their
maintenance. At first 1t may not be
necessary to macadamize them. ex.
cept In deep, muddy places. but wher.
ever macadamized roads were built. or
wherever 1t was possible to do SO. they
should be built for all time. Cement
bridges and culverts should be built
instead OF wooden ones. Some ar.
rangements shoulj be made to have
unlimited quantities of disintegrated