The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1909-07-15
The Importance of Roads
E. M. Blake Contributes Article On This
Important Subject.--Of Vital
Interest to Settlers.

be counted in dollars and cents later
on. For an intervening settler may
come in and fence across the road he
is using at the very time when he is
busiest working on his bitches or
irrigating and it may be next to i'm
possible for him to drive around the
obstructing fence. He must drive
back and forth to turn some way, so
irrigating, planting and cultivating
must be stopped until the new and
right road is opened up and made
pasable. Surely he will not a second
time break in a temporary roadway.
Is it not, therefore, evident that the
course of wisdom for each and every
settler on the Richheld and South
Gooding tracts is to work for ultimate
results and consider the rights of his
neighbors from the very beginning by
cooperating to establish permanent
roads on section lines at the start.
Every week Of travel back and forth
will put them in better condition. A
little gratuitous work here and there
all the time, removing loose rock, fill
ling in, leveling little, will help and
by the time crops are to be moved TO
the distribution point or market the
farms viii be easily accessible and the
expenses Of hauling reduced to a min
imum. The county roads in Lincoln
County must be established on section
lines with width of fifty feet. Fences
on lands divided by section lines must
be placed twenty-five feet of the sec
tion lines on each side. When these
roads have been made passable and
have been accepted by the County
Commissioners they become regular
county roads and are placed under
the supervision of and maintained by
the County.
The settler should also remember
that roadway right of way must be
granted to the holder of what is cal
led an inside forty"-one whose
land is not bounded by the section
lines. The establishment of such an
outlet from an inside forty should be
arranged for by amicable adjustment
with the inside settler at the begin
ming so that its later establishment
will not interfere with the work al
ready done by the outside settler. In
short, the construction of county
roads on section lines and outlet
roads for inside forties" is as vital
to the financial interests of the agri-
culturalist a sthe means of transpor-
tation of the products of a mine is to
the mine owner.
Why are so many mines today in
the upper part of the Wood River Val
ley idle and yet held at sale prices
which are almost prohibitive-m mines
that are undoubtedly rich in ore?
There are many reasons, perhaps, but
one of the most vital is the lack
of ready and inexpensive means of
the ore to Ketchum.
HALEY and even Bellevue. Were
there means made available, there
would undoubtedly be large revival
Of mining industry in the Wood River.
Valley. So it will be on another
scale, with the agricultural lands.
around Rfchfield and South Gooding.
Make the roads into Richfield and
'ooding pasable-yes, more than pas
'ble-at the start, and the net pro-
its from crops will Increase year bv
ear. The easy and inexpensive ac-
essibility of the farm to the center
4 distribution is of vital interest to
he settler National cooperation at
he start will make this possible
In conclusion, the settler should
ever become discouraged on Carev
ct lands in Lincoln county. The re-
larkable claims for these lands ard
leir crop bearing capacity can be
disseminated by facts. The big prot
S can be made and have beer. made
ut they can't be made the first
ear, nor perhaps the second year
I'd they can never be made without
Tort and the expenditure Of time
Id some money at the start The
suits which every settler undoubt
lily hopes for can be attained by at
nt1on at the start to such matters
sthe proper drainage of his land
Id the breaking in of roads in the
ght location, in addition to all the
tails of irrigating and cultivation
e. M. BLAKE,