The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1908-02-06
GOOD ROADS MEETING
The Meeting Last Thursday Was
Well Attended by Represent
alive Road Men.

The good roads convention which was
held at the opera house in this city last
Thursday afternoon under the auspices
of the Leon Commercial Club, was
decided success, there being over two
hundred representative farmers and
good roads advocates present from all
parts of the county, and the enthusiasm
manifested and interest taken in the
meeting was certainly encouraging.
The meeting was called to order by
Harry j. Vogt, president of the Leon
Commercial Club. The first speaker on
tho program was Hon. G. G. Dye, of
Woodland, who spoke for half an hour or
more on his system of working tho
roads, changing bitches and the
approaches of small bridges. Mr.. Dye
has given considerable study to the
question of good roads and has done
commendable work in working the roads
in his neighborhood. He used numerous
models of sheet iron to explain his
system. showing the appearance of the
road before it was worked and how it
looked after the proper work was done
and explained how the public roads
could be put in good condition at the
least expense. He strongly advocated
the making of a good narrow road in
preference to trying to work a road
considerable wider but which was never
put in good condition. He said that
good road twenty to twenty-five feet
wide would answer all the requirements
of country road, and we believe he is
right in his position. He also explained
how to work weedy road, and to keep
the approaches of the smaller bridges
cuo, IT, IL Il
that his ideas had been gained from
actual and practical experiences and
was quite instructive and interesting.
Mr.. Dye was followed by Prof. T. q.
Macdonald, Of Ames, president of the
Iowa State Highway Commission, who
spoke under difficulties as he was
suffering frow q severe cold. He
described at considerable length the
possibilities of concrete or cement work
in building culverts and small bridges
and gave practical illustration of the
great strength of reinforced concrete
work for this purpose. He had two
small bars of concrete which he used in
his demonstration. The first one was
straight concrete about an inch and a
half square, and it broke under slight
pressure from his foot. Next he took a
similar sized bar which was reinforced
with small steel or iron bar running
through it on the under side, and he
stood on it and exerted all his weight
on the small bar but it stood the test.
Then he simply turned the bar of con-
crete over 80 that the steel reinforce-
ment was near the top instead of the
bottom and it would not hold his weight
but the rod bent easily and the con-
m 10 N1,1 =
OF culverts were properly reinforced by
having the steel bars placed near the
bottom of the slabs they would hold
any weight which could be driven over
them, while if not properly placed they
would break almost as easily as straight
concrete. The state highway COM
mission has prepared plans and specifi-
cations for building concrete culverts
and bridges which they will furnish
without charge to township trustees
and others who are interested. Prof.
Macdonald said the time was already
here when some substitute must be
used for lumber in building culverts
and bridges and strongly recommended
| each township to commence now and
build one or two in each township the
coming year as an experiment. In
counties where they have been tried
they have proven entirely successful.
At the close of his address there
were short talks on good roads by
Ralph Baker, Of Center, j. E. Leeper, of
Pleasanton, M. F. Springer, of Decatur
townshsp, and John f. CARRIER, of Frank
lin, The latter gentleman struck a
popular chord with his audience when
ne confessed that when the question of
| n 1rocrr tt1 a.
few years ago he was one of the
farmers who said he would never drag
until he was paid for it, but said that
now he dragged not only for the bene-
fit of his neighbors but for his personal
benefit, and said that the time he saved
IN coming to town was good deal more
than the time he expended in dragging
the road. Mr.. Springer, who was
probably the first man to drag the roads
in Decatur county, told of his ex-
perience and anyone who has ever
driven over the two miles of road which
he keeps up will testify that his road
used to be almost impossible, but now
it is one of the best in the county.
Mr.. Leeper heartily endorsed Prof.
Macdonald in his cement theory and
also urged all to drag the roads, telling
"nbo Ano OOOu dCC jill pllSucu IN Cl1S
manner in Hamilton township. Mr..
Baker made hit with his hearers, and
urged them to drag and drag, and
Ralph does drag and the roads around
his farm speak for themselves.
The Leon Commercial Club then an
nounced that they would give $50 divid-
ed into three prizes for the best stretch
of five miles of road leading to Leon, and
also agreed that in case any of the con-
testants who lived beyond the five mile
limit desired to enter the contest the
club would increase the distance to
seven and one-half miles and increase
the prize to $75.
The attendance at this meeting plain
~ showed that the farmers are becom-
ing more and more interested in good
roads and are taking an active interest
in the matter.
License to Wed
VIM. P. Kaestner, Lamont 27
Martha Dillon, Lamont - =. ............. "a