The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-16
|0WA's GREAT ROADWAY
IT CROSSES THE STATE
BUILT IN A SINGLE Horn

A great piece of roa5 buidinr
completed IN Iowa last week. uEaa%
the short pac of one single - IN
line OF road $50 miles in leng+r .
stretching entirely across the Sc, d.
Iowa was PIT in the most perfar,
dltlon of any road west of tn NJ
Slsslppl river. Weeks and months
were spent IN preparation for The
work, but not a pick or show r-I
used until the designated second ."'
licked off. Then as if BY mag T6
OO0 orkm sWarmed out on ~ 49,.
roadway, and when they ceased VOL
60 minutes later Iowa had nrs 80
the finest long-distance roads in ~
entire West. ~
And not the least interesting thine
IN connection With the trpmar7..s
piece of work is the fact that r.t .
man of the entire 10000 engagad on
the work received one cent of vsros
Good will and patriotism alone ara
responsible for the splendid showing
Last winter the Iowa roads became
SO fearfully bad that traffic was nrsc-
tically killed and farmers were com
PEELED simply to remain i'm their
homes. Finally the matter became
a political question, and both parties
got behind the movement. Governor
Carroll called a good roads meeting
at Des Moines early last March. and
out of this meeting was evolved the
plan OF a river to river road stretch
ing from Council Bluffs on the Mis-
souri, river to Davenport, on the Mis-
sissippi. 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
s-A *
the good roads convention. Instead
of appointing new cornittees to handle
the work the regular Republican and
Democratic committees in each cOUn-
ty through which the road would pass
were appealed to. The chairman OK
the committees of a party was
asked to get in the game and work
for the road. Everybody agreed to
do SO. and o a rivalry was created
between Republicans and Democrats,
each to see which party would have
the most workmen on the job when
the time for work arrived.
Last Saturday was selected as the
day, and from 8 o'clock to 10 O'Clock
along the way a. personally seen
the hour of work. Every farmer
along the way was personally seen by
the committee, and practically every
man agreed to give the Il hour
that was asked for. Farmers were
asked to bring their plOws, scraprrs
and road drags, and an organization
equal to those employed in protes-
sional railroad building was worked
out.
In the weeks preceding the work
all bridges and culVerts aloHG Inc
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 VAS
shown last Saturday. SHORTY DE-
fore 8 o'clock in the morning iaIm-
ers began getting out in the f"du.
Hundreds and thousands OF Hlo"S'
picks, shoveis, scrapers, road dTa7S'
grading machines and other Imple-
were brought along. ENef4
farmer brought his team with nm.
superintendent and oVersefiS Ita
been appointed in readiness "hth
promptly at 9 o'clock the order VAS
issued to fall to-
And 10, 900 determined men tell 10.
For an hour they continued, "nTh'h-
with might and main. At 10 q 'I'1A
the Job was finished II the iaFnl.i9
went back to their fields, leaving Jo""
the possesSOr of the finest piece Oh
long-distance roadway in the West
ALTON DEF EGAT3L~.