Arizona republican., 1911-07-29
Long Tour of MessPs Morris
 and Ling INSPECTION OF PROGRESS
Made On the Territorial
 Highway Found Work At More Advanced Stage
 Than Expected -5OO-Mile Through Road. .

Thomas G. Norris and Reese NJ. Ling. of Prescott. two of ArizOna's leading apostles of good roads. were in Phoenix yesterday on their way home after an eight-hundred mile motor trip through the territory.
 Mir. Norris wrote the public high ways act which was passed by the leg islature of 19O9-the act creating the office of territorial engineer and pro viding for special taxes to create g territorial highways fund, and very paturaIly he has been keenly interested to know in detail the manner m which this law has been carried out by the territorial administration. In order to acauaint himself with the progress made under the various sections of roadway which have been undertaken by the board of control. MT. Norris de- cided some weeks ago that it would be best to visit each piece of work. and the trip just finished was the result. MT. Ling, being equally interested, was with MT Norris on the very strenuous tour. Incidentally on their trip. the two Prescott tourists made it point to talk with citizens, county supervls- Ors and newspaper men in the various counties. in order to ascertain the ten dencv of public sentiment in regard to the general scheme of territorial high ways.
 Speaking of their observations yes terdav. both Norris and Ling were en- lthusiastic. They were more than I-r ynvhf nn has been done by Territorial Engineer Grand They also warmly commended the policy which has been pursued. T confess that I started out with some prejudice against the policy that has been followed" said Mir. Norris For example. the northern section of the Territory is extremely anxious that the highway project to run through Yava- pai and CoconinO counties, to connect | the Grand Canyon with the southern Ipart of the territory shall be speedily completed. Several miles of splendid road from Prescott south were con structed. and then the work stopped while other sections in various parts
 of the territory were taken up. Before looking into it I was disposed to criti- else the board of control for the cessa- ton of this work in Yavapai county; but after finding that the people of other counties were just as anxious as the people of the north to get the ben fits of the road law. and after learning
 something of the tremendous pressure
 brought to bear upon the board by
 many communities interested. and af- ter seeing the excellent character of the work that has been done on sundry IsectiOns, I was more than willing to withdraw all criticisms. I think the ad-
 ministration has done splendidly in
 view of the limited funds at its dis
 posal. and in view of the apparent ne
 cessity of pushing construction at diff
 ferent points in order to satisfy the
 public. It was really astonishing tC
 note the amount of work that has
 been done, and the high quality of it Between the Roosevelt dam and Globe for instance. there is fOrty-milC
 stretch of road which is superior. 1T
 my judgment. to the famous Mesa Roosevelt road. and it cost less pro
 portionately. And down in Pima coun tv they are building through the Sant; IRita cOuntainS a magnificent roaC
 which will connect Tucson with Bisbe' , and Douglas The road between Phoe mix and Tucson is already in fair shap : and the expense necessary to make it> : perfect highway will not be great Tn . bridge across the Gila at Florence is
 ,superb structure A similar bridg
 spans the Verde river, on the projecte
 broad from Prescott to Flagstaff, g
 that the five hundred mile road fror
 the Grand Canyon to Bisbee and Doug lass is already considerably advance ' toward completion. The difficu :. tstretch through the Bradshaw noun z ttains southerly from Prescott vii |, when completed, enable one to driy
 in comfort from Prescott to Tucsol
 And. as I have already stated, 1t wi
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