Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1910-10-22
LONG DISTANCE
ROAD BUILDING
Highway $50 Miles Long Fin
iShed In 0.e Hour.
ALL The WAY ACROSS IOWA.
Ten Thousand Farmers Turned Out
With Teams, PIows, Scrapers and
Road Draes For Great Sixty Minute
Job Between Council Bluffs and
Davenport.

Job Between Council Bluffs and
Davenport.
The greatest piece Of road building
the world ever witnessed was pulled
off In Iowa few days ago when. in
the short space of one single hour.
line of road $50 miles In length and
stretching entirely across the state Of
Iowa was put In the most perfect con
ditiOn of any road west of the Missis-
sippi river. Weeks and months were
spent in preparation for the work. but
not pick or shovel was used until
the designated second was licked Off.
Then, as IL by magic, 10000 workmen
swarmed out on to the roadway, and
when they ceased work sixty minutes
later Iowa had one of the finest long
distance roads In the entire west.
And not the least interesting thing
in connection with the tremendous
piece of work is the fact that not a
man of the entire 10000 engaged on
the work received one cent of wages.
Good will and patriotism alone are re-
sponsible for the splendid showing.
Last winter the Iowa roads became
SO fearfully bad that traffic was prac-
tically killed and farmers were com
PEELED simply to remain in their homes.
Finally the matter became political
question, and both parties got behind
the movement. Governor Carroll call
ed good roads" meeting at Des
Moines early last March, and out of
this meeting was evolved the plan of a
"river to river" road. stretching from
Council Bluffs, Ia, on the Missouri
river to Davenport on the Mississippi,
a distance of $50 miles straight across
the state from east to west
Make the river to river road as near
perfect as is possible to make just
common dirt" was the sense Of the
good roads convention
Instead of appointing new commit
tees to handle the work the regular
Republican and Democratic commit
tees in each county through which the
road would pass were appealed to.
The chairmen of the committees OF
each party were asked to get in the
game ana WOTk lot lue lodu ENciS-
body was agreed to do so, and soon
rivalry was created between Repub-
licans and Democrats, each to see
which party would have the most
workmen ION the job" when the time
for work arrived.
A Saturday was selected as the day
and from o'clock to 10 o'clock the
hour Of work.
Every farmer along the way was
personally seen by the committees, and
practically every man agreed to give
the one hour that was asked for
Farmers we're asked to bring their
plows, scrapers and road drags, and an
organization equal to those employed
In professional railroad building was
worked out
In the weeks preceding the work all
bridges and culverts along the road
were repaired and put in first class
order, that no delay might come to the
road builders when once the latter
started working.
The result of the organization was
shown on the Saturday the road was
built. Shortly before . O'Clock in the
morning farmers began getting out in
the road Hundreds and thousands Of
plows, picks, shovels, scrapers, road
drags, grading machines and other i'm
plements were brought along. Every
farmer brought his team with him.
Superintendents and overseers had
been appointed in readiness when,
promptly at 0 o'clock. the order was
issued to fall to-"
And 10000 determined men "fell to-
For an hour they continued working
with might and main. At 10 O'Clock
the job was finished and the farmers
went back to their fields, leaving Iowa
the possessor of the finest piece OF long
distance roadway in the west.-Pitts-
burg Gazette-Times.