The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-06-24

IL.
would you like to have him come in
from Is to 80 minutes, anywhere with.
in reach of the city? 1t can be done
if the roads are right.
"The question of good roads i'm this
vicinity, is very largely question of
the kind of men who live along the
different roads. If all of you men on
any one road are Indifferent, careless
and satisfied with rough, muddy roads,
there is little that can be done to i'm
prove such conditions. A couple of
years ago the farmers in Belgrade town
ship revolted at longer using an ex-
ceedingly bad, steep and dangerous hill
leading into the city. They bonded the
town for $5,OO0.00 to make the new
road. We Clipped in $4,000 to help
them. One old farmer remarked to
me: 4 have travelled the old road for
forty years, and l guess it is good
enough still
What can be done to arouse and
enthuse men who are willing to go on
living as they did forty years ago?
The standard of living has been raised
immensely in that time No one to-
day should be satisfied to live exactly
as he did forty years ago. The old
man was dead wrong, and the younger
or more enterprsing men who bonded
| themselves to get a descent road were
right. A few leaders who appreciate
good roads can work up interest enough
to put any road in good condition.
Suppose you do have to do more than
your share any leader must do that.
There are few leaders in any line, but
plenty will follow. Don't be content
with present conditions, but determine
to have the best. If you do not have
some of the advantages, privileges and
comforts of life as you go along, when
will you ever get them? l would
rather take my chances on getting some
of thise good things now, than to think
that the future life is all that is
worth striving after.
1T will be long time before we
shall have our roads graveled / am
heartily in favor of doing all we can
every year to improve our roads by
graveling, but we need not wait for
gravel roads. well graded, well drain
ed, well dragged earth road is mighty
improvement over the most that we
have now, and this is easily obtained,
apd at little expense
Until the King drag was invented
there was some excuse for rough and
muddy roads. The old horse graders
were so expensive to operate that it
was not to be expected they would be
used continually, as it is necessary with
a drag in order to get the best results,
but now when a King drag can be OBJ
tanned for $500, or at an expense of
so cents of. $l.00, if one has a good log,
what excuse can be given for having
roads full of ruts and in such rough
condition as to make their use so ex-
pensive in time, wear and tear and
effect on the individual
Know How to Make Good Roads.
Every man present today knows
how to make good road There arc
three absolute essentials-proper drain
age, grading and dragging will make any
road a delight and a pleasure to all
who use it. OF course, there ought to
be some plan of the road, and / am
glad to see that several main Travelled
roads leading out from Mankato have
been carefully surveyed and all the
work that is being done on them is
being done according to this survey and
plan, so that when the work is all done
the road will be first class all the way
along.
Water is most destructive to earth
roads. The best road you have is only
as good as the worst mudhole you have
to go through. If a man can haul
eighty bushels of wheat over almost
all of the road, but can only get
through the bad place with thirty or
forty, that is the limit of his load on
that road.
Your road overseers and members of
town boards ought certainly to be chos-
Ell for your fitness for your position
road Overseer's business and aim
should be to make the best roads pos
sible with the means at his DISPOSE
ton If the road in your district is
bad, it is direct reflection upon your
intelligence and ability. If / travel
over bad piece of road, l know the
road overseer in charge, either has no
interest i'm good roads. does not know
how to make them, or has no means
at his disposal, for the improvement
of the roads. There can be no excuse
for not having sufficient means as a
rule, to produce very fair results
IL have been interested in knowing
the assessed valuation of the eight
towns represented in this meeting. The
tax rolls show that your assessed valu-
alton is $2,4330 900, if you are assessed
on 20 per cent valuation, which IS
probably not far from the case, these
eight towns representing over $4,000
600 worth of property. The question
of means should not be a very serious
one. There is no doubt but that a
great deal more money could be used
on the roads than any township votes,
but if the same amount of money were
used under intelligent effort and you
We're allowed to contract for your road
work and you got every dollar of road
tax used so as to bring 100 per cent
worth Of actual work. believe the
results would be very much greater
than they are at present.
"Give an intelligent, energetic and
enthusiastic man who knows what he
wants, and Knows how to obtain it in
good road work, that mans district
will show very great improvement. If
he is not interested, his work will be
a failure. Haven't you all seen pieces
of road put into good shape and then
allowed to go to ruin simply because
a little work was not done at the
right time? | have seen work in this
vicinity put in fine shape, and have
seen these roads 60 to pieces simply
because the road overseer did not do
his work and do it at the right time.
There is road leading out from this