Smyrna times., 1910-06-08
AWAKENING DELAWARE TO
A GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT
MILFORD CITIZENS HEAR AN EX-
PERT ROAD BUILDER TALK
Who Claims Delaware Can Have Good
Roads at the Small Expenditure
of $1,000 Per Mile.

" OiO'OO ! Ct "i'C-
Out of the automobile show held |
in Milford three weeks ago has come
a movement which may revolutionize
the method of building and improving
public roads in middle Delaware.
At the last days session of the auto
mobile show the subject of "good |
roads" was discussed by several |
speakers, and among the number was
Mr.. Penneypacker of the Bureau of |
Roads in the Agricultural Depart
ment at Washington, D. C. who came
here and was shown over the country |
about Milford in automobiles, and |
who carefully inspected the soils as
he found them in both Kent and |
Sussex counties. After taking photo
graphs of the various shell roads,
the clay roads and the stone roads,
which have been built in recent years
in those districts. he made the as
sertion that this part of Delaware
needs nothing more or better to build
good roads than is already at hand
along almost every road for ten miles
around Milford, and that the road
can be made hard and smooth by
system of grading and working under
the "split log device properly used"
Mr.. Penneypacker advised those in
tetested in betterment of the roads
that the government will assist in
this work by sending an engineer
here to supervise the work free of
cost in demonstrating the correctness
of this statement; provided that an
association wSs formed and request
made for an engineer for this pur-
pose. Of course the costly COM
mitteeman in charge of the public
road to be experimental upon would
have to give proper authority for
the work to be done. but il is as
sumed that no member of either Of
the Levy Courts of Kent or Sussex
County would be so short-sighted as
to refuse this request to improve
piece of their public roads without
charge to the county or cost to them
selves.
DR.. Frank L. Grier President
With this as a starting point a
meeting was called for last Tuesday
evening, to be held at the offices of
the Caulk Laboratory, and in re-
sponse to that twenty or more men
attended. Such men as John B.
Smith, George H.. Hall. William
Webb, Harry Deputy, Captain Will
son M. Vinyard, Benjamin B. Vim
yard, DR.. Frank L. Grier, DR.. G.
Layton Grier, Charles Postles. Will
liam V. Sipple, Luther F. Cubbage,
Col. Theo. Townsend, George B.
Hynson, DR.. William Marshall and
others of equal prominence locally
took part and organized the Milford
Good Roads Association. DR.. G.
Layton Grier was elected president;
George H. Hall. .vire-president; Will
son NJ. Vinyard. secretary and John
B. Smith, treasurer. Several com
mittees were appointed and another
meeting is to be held on Monday
evening next. Each member paid in
one dollar as a membership fee
which is to go towards paying for
building eight split-logs to work out
the experiment with. 1t is the pur-
pose of the association to get permis-
sion to take the road leading from
Milford to Frederick as the point to
begin operations upon, under the
following plan: E ght farmers will
be assigned one mile of road each,
and Immediately after a rain they
will be gathered together at one
place, and the engineer will then
instruct them all in the method to
properly operate the split-log drag.
AS soon as he is instructed the others
will be taken in automobiles to their
assigned mile and begin operations,
while the engineer will go from one
to another and supervise the work
Build Good Roads at $1,000 Per Mile
1t is stated by Mr.. Penneypacker
that the present road can be shaped
splendidly and cemented over with
the proper materials at an expense
not to exceed ten dollars per mile
and that the cost of keeping the road
for the balance of the year will not
exceed six dollars per mile. Mr..
Penneypacker says that in western
States, where they have been making
roads as an object lesson, they have
not had so good materials as we have
here in central Delaware, and thai