The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1910-03-03
THE ROAD QUESTION
It Occupies Almost Full Time of
County Meeting.

noon. Inc meeting was held in the
Farmers ClrD room, at 1880. X. w.
Moore, OF the Board of Supervisors,
acted as chairman OF the meeting. The
purpose of the meeting was to dis
cuSs various matters OF township and
county interest. The topic upon which
mucn discussion was had was the
good roads question. Every speaker
hat. had anything to say emphasized
The necessity Of good roads. The first
article on the road question was pa
per by A. ]. Lyle of Lincoln township
| It was interesting and instructive con
corning the roads and whereby they
could be bettered. Mr.. Lyle spoke
on one topic that all the other speak.
elrs failed to mention and emphasize,
and that was the necessity OF remoy.
ing shade trees and brush from the
roadside. He spoke on the various
ways harm could come by not remov-
| ing these things.
Wilford HUH of Garfield township
followed Mr.. Lytle with short talk
that the good road question is a seri-
GUS proposition and will be pretty
| hard TO overcome. Mr.. Hull contends
that culverts ard grading do not make
| good permanent roads. One OF the
disadvantages pointed out by the
| speaker was that the county officials
change and with these changes come
other men with different ideas from
their predecessors and the work Of
the former is destroyed by the latter.
! Thus Mr. Hull thinks that there should
be some system to the road work OF
the county He gave several plans
whereby uniform system could be
maintained. All the speakers who
followed Mr.. Hull emphasized the one
point,-the necessity of uniform sys-
tenn of road work
Secretary Colburn of the Retail
Merchants Association was present
and in behalf of the association an
nounced that the merchants of Oska-
loosa were willing to do anything in
their power to help in the good roads
movement. The merchants aided last
year by means of various prizes to
promote interest in the movement,
and Mr.. Colburn stated that the asso-
citation was ready during the coming
season to extend aid in any way that
they could.
All the trustees entered into a gen.
eral discussion OF the question and
many good thoughts and ideas we're
brought out. Trustees told of the
kind OF roads they had in their part
of the county and what they Thought
was necessary to make them better.
J. c. Heitsman, who has been chos-
convention to be held in Des Moines
March s and ., was present and gave
some OF his views. He spoke OF the
construction Of roads and gave Illus
trations of where the finest roads in
The country were to be found. He
also gave Illustration of good roads in
other nations and countries and fur
Their told CT how the movement was
being taken up over the United States.
Mr., HeitEman says that the move
ment is being taken up in New York,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,, Ohio,
and other states and OF the vast
amount of money each is spending to
put in permanent roads. He told of
a certain experiment that had been
tried in Hardin county, Iowa, which
was the cause of the compulsory drag
law and he thinks that law Should be
enforced.
Mr.. Hcitsman's talk stirred up
quite a bit of sentiment and lively
discussion of the provisions of this law
was had. The question OF when the
roads should be dragged was discussed
and the question of culvcrts was
brought UP. Mr.. McVay. of the Board
OF Supervisors, was called on and gave
some of his ideas and experiences
Mr.. McVay favors the road drag and
thinks it should be used more and
more every year. Mr.. Wood, of Mon.
mouth, ILL.,. spoke, telling of the kind
of roads they had in Illinois and the
SCSk Va SdSh vi d IUdu. lie
claims that the best roaus they have
and probably the cheapest is the gray.
Ell and cement mixed road which costs
about 100000 per mile.
John Cleveland, of the Board of Su-
pervisors, was called upon ard gave a
short talk. Mr.. Cleveland told of the
efforts the Standard Oil Company were
making to find something that would
make a good road. MIR. Cleveland al.
so spoke on the thing of the roads.
On the question of ti1ing the roads
large number OF the trustees got in
to a lively discussion OF the proper
way to tile a road. A variety OF ideas
opinions and experiences were had
Some advocated the thing of a road
wrth one string Of tile down the cen.
ter of the road, but many claim that
this method is no good and will moi
bring good results. illustrations of
how farmer tiles wet slough were
given, showing that he does not tile
down the middle OF the slough. but
on each side.
w. r. Lacey was present and gave
some OF his experiences and ideas con.
corning the thing OF roads and on the