Arizona republican., 1911-11-22
Addresses Road Congress
At Richmond, Va.
TALKS OF ARIZONA
Deliver an Interesting Ad-
dress in Which he Tells
of the Great Road Build
ing Work Under Way in
the West.

Following is the address of ]. Is.
Grand. territorial engineer, delivered
yesterday at the first annual Road
congress of the American association
for highway Improvement. held at
Richmond Virginia:
Arizona is duly thankful in being
permitted To participate in a aonven-
ton composed of such a representative
body of road builders, and our people
to express their appreciation Of the
opportunity of telling you something
of what is being done in our territory
to further the wide spread interest i'm
this great movement. We have come
imOre than three thousand miles to he
with YOU. fully alive to the fact. thai
it is going To- be well worth the time
and trip.
Just outside the threshold of our
beautiful country lies land which Is
soon destined to play an important
| part in the construction Of roads II
il that portion of the United States
which will some day be the playground
of the nation. ] refer to the Rocky
Mountain region and especially To Ari-
IONA. Prior to the year 1909 when
ever a road was built in Arizona. il
was with the view of reaching some
mine or mining camp. and was built
on the line of least resistance, both as
/ To location and cost. The West. never
a laggard heard the Good Roads call.
and true To her characteristics aban-
doned the old method and has plunged
would ordinarily require a century. and
that is. to gridiron herself with a sys-
TEN of roads that are not only models
of construction but of a permanen.
character.
Not until 1909 did the people of Ari-
IONA realize that in order To keep
abreast with the progressive states of
the union. was il necessary to begin
the construction Of system of high
ways. This feeling was augmented b.
the large number of motor tourists,
and also from the fact that tie Eas:
was looking for some feasible route
across the country upon which To build
a trans continental highway. These
facts. coupled with local conditions.
were responsible for the .egislature
passing the highway bill. under which
We are operating, in which provision
was made for the levYing of an annual
tax of 25c on the 100 dollars valuation
OF taxable property This may seem
like an abnormal tax but we have to
do things in an abnormal way in Ari-
Zon to obtain results. because we have
a territory comprising an area of 49,
600 square miles. a population of but
200. 900. and total taxable wealth of
less than 100000 900. from which it
will be seen that 25c on the 800 would
raise an amount we do not deem ex-
Cessive, although it is more than 81 90
per capita.
In order that the best results might
be obtained in our sparsely populated
country. the law not having provided
for a highway commission. all work is
done under the direction of the terri
torial board of control. of which the
governor is chairman. the auditor. ex-
officio member and the citizen MEM
Der secretary. Our first work was to
outline the most advantageous system
Of highways. The board authorized
survey across the entire territory from
the East to West. which il is expected
will be a link in a trans continental
highway. and a North and South road
which is to be used in connecting the
populated districts with the scenic
wonders
Then the arduOus task Of locating
more than 1000 miles of road began,
and we have today about completed
this work. We locate our roads on a
maximum grade of six per cent and
you can appreciate that il is an ardu-
Gus task when YOU know that we have
to overcome mountain ranges from
three To nine thousand feet high. The
beginning of our North and South road
at the Grand Canyon is at an elevation
Of $500 feet above sea level. and ira
verses the Colorado plateau. which
ipractically maintains this elevation for
nearly 100 miles. whereupon an abrupt
descent of about 8. 0OO feet is made
This is known as the Mogollon hill
and we have constructed our road over
this HILL and quoting Mr.. Thos. w
Wildly. who is at present logging a
ns-continental highway, and who
recently passed over this section Of
our highway, in a letter says; II think
of that as a piece of good engineering.
with it's easy grades. its Overhea |
ditching and its fine system of catch
basins and culverts. this highway is as
good as any work | have seen in the
Alps" This is quoted. not seeking
special commentator. but to show that
we are doing proper work. This road
then successfully ascends and de-
cends mountain ranges for distance
of 400 miles. until the south boundary
of the territory is reached. at an ele-
walton above sea level Of 1000 feet.
The East and West is equally noun
famous. and Mr.. \. l.. WestSard. whom
! had the pleasure of meeting the day
before I left home informed me. when
he first logged this route. that the
scenery from the East boundary of the
territory to Phoenix could not be eN-