Bisbee daily review., 1911-11-22


 This highway nasses by the R0ose- yclt dam. the birth place of national
 reclamation work Where one of the ! largest masonry dams in the world ! forms the beautiful Roosevelt Lake. 8 project which has cost our people more than ten million dollars. and hieh will reclaim q quarter Of mil lion acres of land and where the giant cacti were the lonely watehmen on vast desert, today magnificent
 orange groves and fields of alfalfa and
 grain now stand. a bOunteOts testi- mony to the wisdEm of men at the 1 he'd Of our government.
 And so Is the link Of the transcontinental highway. which will
 lie within the state ol Arizona, and { HilG furnish you with varying scenes
 as each mile Is reeled on. Our east and west highway will be about 800 miles in length. therefore you can see which We have actually begun the con struction Of thousand miles Of high Way
 Now as to what has been done. It was optional with tue board as to the amount of taxes leY1id. and they did not deem it wise 10 levy the maxi mum amount, and s- gs,ars IsIV s;>i 1911 yielded only s3o2.O GOO. not a sum commensurate with the amount oi work 10 be done. but a sum with
 which a beginning cOnld be made. and i tue good roads germ WAS established and thIs was SSSaa. Arizona is for good roads We are making UUT Js,-'ss'- dates fer office pledge themselves for a good roads plank in their platform, and 1 do not know but that we Will
 use the words on our new seal when We come into the union. We have ] now completed l2G miles of good ! reads Tn different parts oi the ter ! ritory. trying to bridge over the 'm- possible sections. and also in sections | where it would act as an object les ' sion for the people.
 Bridge Building
 In addition to the roads. we have l built several bridges, one a reinfOrc'
 ed concrete bridge. zoo feet long. 1 across the Gila river. and We have in ] course Of erection. beautiful con { crete steel bridge, 1500 feet long of ' arch ribs of l25 span and open span 1 drel construction lf this seems like [ too much work for the money. just ! remember that nature has been most | kind to us. and that We have at hand | m excellent road building material. ! and rare Is the instance where we can { not finish with the material adjacent. ' The great expense attached Is grad ing. which is minimum with you.
 In some O. our heavy mountS work 1 our road grading has run mp to as high 7 IS five to seven thousand dollars ger { aIile, but the average cost 10 date Of our roads is about S2.00O per mile. ! Also the construction of our brid- ges with convict labor has lessened 1 the cost We built the TOO foot con crete bridge across the Gila river 1 largely with convict labor, and We are building the 1900 foot Tempe bridge exclusively with convict labor, save ! for three engineers and one general foreman. l find II most excellent lab ! or. We give them one day of for each
 day worked. and we have taken the stripes o6 of them. and while as yet we have not reached the same human itarian standpoint that Colorado has
 We are striving in that direction. The convict appreciates Il, and not long since l met one who has become q skilled carpenter on concrete form
 work. who had learned the trade uTE der our department and was getting
 s6.00 per day. q good faithful mar and worker. This viii be the solution Of the road problem in our state We can take 500 of these men and build on an average Of one mile of road per
 day, which in ten years would mean nearly 1000 miles Of road, which
 would mean more to the territory than the present Income of our wealth Of mines.
 Indian Lshor
 A great deal Of the labor, and it is of the best character. is tho Indian. We have hundreds Of them working on our roads today. On one of my recent inspection tours, the engineer ing party had in It's makeup two
 Indians. Passing over the grades and having occasion to speak to the foreman of the gang, found him to be an Indian, Carlisle boy On inquiry
 found he was a proud painstaking
 worker and with ambition to do good
 york. And 1t Is also the Indian who
 will help up with our road building. Proper drainage is our most neces.i sary requirement. On account of the torrential character of our rains, the
 waterways must necessarily be large and numerous. Our roads, when pro- periy constructed will last indefinitely with but small outlay for upkeep.
 Now, after having told you what has
 teen done h our actual constr action, perhaps, 1t would not be emiss to explain why we are building highways in Arizona
 When De Naryrez in 1920 with his little band of followers made that
 memorable march through what is
 now Arizona, he little dreamed that his footsteps would mark q portion
 Of future transcontinential high
 way. and although beset with diff culties which seem insurmountable in our present age and time, the in. comparable beauty and grandeur of the strange world be met ou every side was so great that he could not turn back. And so It is today, the beauty to be found in every side Is such that the tourist IS held in spell bound admiration. The asset of this territory today does not lie in his mines, agriculture nor stock indus try, but in the God-given climatic conditions and scenic wonders, which