The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-09-28
THE STATE ROAD REPAIRS

But few al those who travel Tho roads
or salt LIlSc county would believe that
between January / and August 81 of
the present year there had been cNpcnd-
ed from The county treasury no less
than S1a,072t2 OF which S5l.01i.5i WAS
paid out for labor exclusive OF th" poll
tax and S21 ,?91.SS for material in TN"
construction aud maintenance of the
roads and bridges. or perhaps. as Com
missioner John c. Maclay would put it.
roads and cuivcrts Of salt Lake county.
These tremendous expenditures would
hc paCdoncd II The work done bad been
properly aud honestly applied. and while
some good or fairly good work has been
done on the stat" r"Jd between Salt
Lake and Murray, beyond the latter
point the work is little short Of in
famous.
One year ago tho Utah Light & Rail-
way company tore up every foot of the
state road between this city ard the
town Of Murray aud when winter came.
on II found the road almost unpassablc
10 any kind of vehicle. SO that those
who desired Ia travel the road had per-
force Ia putronlIc the street cars. This
year the county has expended thuusI nds
Of dollars OF public funds towards re-
pairing The damage done by the street
car sYstcm-DctW"Cn Twelfth and Dhr-
iccnth South streets there vet remains
Il stretch OF road uuTcpuircd and uu-
usablc in it's present condition, await =
Ing the determination Of the railway
company as 60 whether II viii put in
another passing track there or Dut-a
condition that applies to other points
along the road.
South al Murray the railway company
has. done lust as II bas pleased 1T mas
whether with or without tho couscn. uf
the county--cslablishcd grades for its
own convenience in some places, chang
ing the grade much rs four or five
feet, filliuc IN only much Of the road
way as suited their own necessities. 1t
has established a transformer house that
has occupied the public highway for
months. Ihcy say they are going Ia
move il soon, but there Is no sign OF
such removal
There is apparently sinister con
ntrance between The railway company
and the county commissioners. With
the change OF grades along the state
road south OF Murray has arisen The
necessity OF meeting the new conditions
occupied by The tracks and about one
mile south of Murray where there was
Il change of grade between one and
three feet, the railway company having
filled their portion with gravel hauled
in freight cars over. their own roadbed
which has given them an excellent sup
porting grade. While the county Is now
engaged ia meeting the change of grade
by hauling In material absolutely un-
III for any portion Of u roadbcd. whcth-
or FOR subgrddc or surface. as to become
not only a disgraceful expenditure OF
public moneys, but Il menace To the
traffic which viii be compelled To go
through il. as In no condition viii any
thing at any time go over. This ma
teriall appears To bc a Srayish clay. in
termngicd with what may be termed Il
dry MISUNDERSTANDING no grit. no wear
ing quality whatever. and when thor
oughy wcttcd. no angle III rsposc. Al
the present moment this worthless ma
teriaI is being used as .,urfacing ma
terial 10 a depth Of at least foot. II
is hauled nearly mile. when another
quarter of "a mile would give them ac
cess 10 the mountain Of Stag at the
American Smelling and Refining com
punys smeltcT, Under such conditions
such road building. If It can bc so
termed. is such barcfaccJ misappro'
priution of the public funds that il
might almost he termed as criminal.
Apart from the state road, the drain
age system put in In the vicinity of
Commissioner John =, Mackay's homo
for Maciay's benefit and some trIflng
repairs on The roUdS leading to Mackays
home. II would he hard 10 specify what.
If anything. had been done towards
the maintenance. let alone the better
mcnt. Of the county's road system. Ton
thousand dollars a month judciously cx
pendid should build and maintain a very
excellent road system i'm salt Lake
but under the present 3dmiuis-
tration IL seems barely enough TO run
one end of the political machine in the
county-the Mackay family Of which no