The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-02-15

Il i
sity. We had a debating club, the Re.
publican club and the wide Awake
club. The latter was partly of a
military nature and we always bore
torches to light parades.
Il thought that Abraham Lincoln
was the most homely man that had
ever seen. when first laid eyes on
him. You know there is a story to the
effect that Lincoln was walking i'm the
woods and one day when he met
another man. who raised gun tC
shoot him. When asked why he was
going to shoot. the man replied that he
had determined that if ever he met a
homlier man than himself, he was
going to shoot him. For Gods sake
shoot. then, cried Lincoln, if / am
any homlier than you are. Lincoln
had extraordinarily long legs and was
ungainly above the waist. But he lost
his homeiness, when he began to talk.
have never heard a more magnetic
voice.
"lhe convention closed with a big
rally at the fair ground, but before
the people repaired there, all the crowd
had to pass tie State House and shake
tn, hand of "0ld Abe. 4" At the Fair
ground they unhitched the four white
horses that drew his carriage and men
grasping the pole of the vehicle, haul
ed him to platform. where they
lifted him, long legs and all, bodily
from the carriage and placed him on
the stage"
With Albert Croker playing an ac-
compartment. Murray Kay, Banks
Mortimer. Rev. Il. A. Harris and Geo.
r. Wilbur sung illinois" at the close
of Mr.. Smiths talk.
Secretary Horace G. Kaufman
followed M. Smith and related anec-
dotes dealing with MIR. Lirclon's great
height. lie was six feet and four
inches. Then on motion of Roy ID.
Slmth, a rising vote of thanks was
given him by the club.
The next speaker of the program
was Prof. +. j. Ayers. of o. A. c.,
who, displaying comprehensive
knowledge of his subject, addressed
the meeting on good roads. Mr..
Ayres, stated that it was not his pur-
pose to deal with legislation to secure
good roads. However, he stated that
he considered that the financial centers
should bear part of the expense of
building roads no matter IN how remote
corners they were located: for the
financial centers are beneficial Just as
much as the contiguous communities.
illustrating this he said; Suppose a
road is built in Malheur county. This
will mean more money for the farmers
- asarNa mi IN he. -
Malheur county will have greater
deposits. These banks have a portion
of their deposits at Portland banks,
they will thus have more money. The
Portland banks will thus have more
money and they will have to increase
their resources and central reserve
banks will thus have their depos Is
strengthened.
'The country is losing large sums OF
money each year because of its poor
roads, said Prof. Ayres "and as an
example of this | shall give you the
case Of Wisconsin man, who one
winter mad large crop of potatoes
for sale" He was unable to get to
market while the tubers were selling
for 80 cents a bushel. When the roads
did become passable, potatoes had
reached a price of 30 cents per bushe.
This incident converted this FARMER to-
ward good roads movements.
at is thought by some," said the
expert, that since the county bond
ing acts are killed by the Supreme
court, that we should let good roads
drop. This is mistake. We don I
want all of our roads to be macadam
Indeed, it will be many, many years
before over 10 per cent of Oregon s
highways are macadamized. What
should be done now is to make a study
of the roads YOU have in the different
communities. Make study of the
texture of the soil over which your
roads shall pass and then you can
decide on what kind of roads you will
need. Every state will have to pro
ceed on different lines of construction
for its roads.
MANY states have followed toe
closely to old customs to secure the
best locations for their roads. In the
Massachusetts Bay colony the roads
followed old Indian trails, and Instead
of going around the base of hills they
went over them. In Kansas and other
states, the section line, even though it
runs up a hill of 20 per cent grade. is
considered sacred for roads.
Securing the proper location and
securing the best drainage are the two
important things in building good
roads. The most ideal road can be
built in the rolling country. Thus
you get the best drainage. The road
bed should have grade of at least six
inches to every 100 feet. No matter
whether you are going to build mac
adam road or expect to finish with an
expensive paving, you must first make
as perfect as possible your earth read.
The road should not be too wide. The
roadbeds here should be about 30 feet.
After securing the location, grade
properly and make crown for the
road. making the fall from the center
to the sides of the road about one inch
to the foot
Except for sand roads, the water
should be kept away from the roadbed
and from under it. Hood River by
proper construction will not need mac
adam road to any great extent for a
long time. Your soil seems excellent
for the building of earth roads. The
sand-clay road, if the sand aud clay
are properly mixed, after a season or
two of use, makes an excellent high
way. In laying out the sand clay road.
the center should be left fiat, in order
to hold the water, until the surface is
cemented. A macadam road should
have, if any base at all is used, a
gravel base. Never use more than
six inches Of macadam. Often the
mistake is made of making the mac
adam much thicker in the center than
on the side. This is a mistake and a
useless expense. OF course your road
will wear first in the center, but you
must be careful to maintain it. Re
pair it there is it wears.
There was never permanent road.
The more expensive the construction
the more expensive your maintenance.
Your macadam roads in this valley