The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1910-03-28
Good Roads are Important
In Developing the Country

Fifty thousand miles, or more thar
in the United States, is the aggregate
length of the county roads in the
state of Washington, according to
c. Lawrence. president Of the Coco
Roads Association of Washington, and
member Of the state railway commits
sion, who was in Walla Walla last
week. He said also that the total
mileage Of state-aid roads is ga sur
veyed and 1862 miles constructed and
in operation. adding:
Probably 95 per cent of the team
will be over wagon roads now in ex-
istence, county roads. About five
sixths of all the money for road and
bridge purposes is being spent on
county roads. This includes main
tenance and repairs on roads and
bridges and new bridges, leaving one
sixth of the total expenditure under
the highway commissioner.
-Four commodities constitute 80 per
cent of the rail haul of secondary
transportation in Washington, as fol-
In the number Of tons hauled one
mile, the products of the field, gar
den, orchard and dairy constitute more
than one-half. This haul is first made
over wagon roads by team haul and
constitute primary transportation.
Logs, lumber and coal constituting the
remaining 80 per cent of the tonnage
hauled over the railroads in the state
have a very limited haul over estab-
lished highway roads.
Cost of Mile Haul.
The average cost Of hauling a ton
one mile over the railroads in the state
Of Washington is Slightly less than
five mills. The average cost of haul
ing ton one mile by team over the
existing wagon roads is conservatively
estimated at % cents. The Northern
Pacific and Great Northern railroads
united to build the Spokane, Portland
& Seattle railroad on which more
than $50000,000 has been expended
for the purpose of cheapening the rail
haul one, or possibly two mills per
ton per mile, and this money was un-
doubtedly wisely spent
"On the good roads of Europe the
cost of hauling a ton one mile, by
team, is estimated at seven or eight
cents. With good roads in Washing
ton the cost ought to be reduced to
10 cents per ton per mile. If the rail-
roads can proftably spend $50,000,O 900
on about 325 miles of line to save
mill or two a ton per mile how much
can the people Of the state Of Wash
ington afford to spend on all the
wagon roads in the state to save Is
cents in hauling ton one mile? This
is one of the problems the Good
Roads association of Washington is
trying to present to the public To
bring about this result is the primary
purpose in the organization Of the as
ISOLATION.
Freight constitutes about 80 per
cent of the transportation business Of
the railroads, the remainder being
passenger traffic. There are no sta
tistics showing the percentage of
freight and passenger travel over the
public roads, but it is probably of
relatively the same Importance as on
the railroads.
RAILROADS for Otfitty.
There is no exclusively passenger
railroad in the United States, nor the
world, for that matter. Railroads are
constructed for utility. Some Of the
railroads with the most expensive and
substantial roadbeds, and luxuriously
equipped passenger trains, carry the
heaviest volume Of freight traffic.
This should be borne in mind in
building good wagon roads, utility is
the first consideration. A substanti-
ally built wagon road, over which
team haul can be made at lowest cost.
affords equal facilities for passenger
travel The conditions of travel by
wagon roads differs essentially, how
ever from travel by rail. The wagon
haul is short. an average Of perhaps
five miles or less double that, of
course, to include the return empty
haul. But much passenger travel by
wagon road greatly exceeds this dis
lance. The team haul is usually con-
fined to one community, largely to-
ward the railroad station, while the
passenger travel is often from COM
munity to community. The distance
of such travel is constantly increas-
ing in the progress of modern means
of conveyance.
THE ideal system of good roads for
team haul is each town, city or rail-
road station, the hub, the roads con-
stituting the spokes radiating out in
every direction For passenger travel
it is necessary to have such roads to
the various centers connected up so
as to constitute through lines of
travel. In a we'll developed country
this is done by a natural tendency in
making roads accessible. Where COM
munities are separated by a sparsely
settled country or a mountainous re-