The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1912-12-25
ROAD BUILDING is POSSIBLE
Communication From An Ex-
merit Who Propounds Excel
lent Advice.

The road problem confronting
Churchill county IS after all, the
nrobiem confronting every COM
munity going in for good roads.
II Is question of finance principal
ly-what return can be expected on
the inYestment-or, In other words.
what will II cost and what will It
pay?
II Is not a question that can be
settled offhand but one that requires
care and study; some are conyine-
ed that this" or that" is the only
possible solution and that money is
simply being thrown away as long
Is this" or that" Is not gone after.
Hasty conclusion leads nowhere.
careful study and estimates based
on practical experience here in the
Lahontan Valley together with
study of what has been done hereto
fore is the only right way to go
about the matter.
The first question Is: what will
the roads cost" This depends upon
the type of road selected. The next
question is what will be the re-
turn on the investment" This de-
pends upon the tonnage raised upoa
the ranches, which again depends
upon the crops grown and the dense
ness of the acreage. that is the pro
portion Of irrigated land actually
IN crop 70 the waste land lying idle.
Grain viii produce at best about one
ton per acre, alfalfa three to six tons
per acre. potatoes five 10 10 tons.
beets 10 10 20 ions. IN other words
II Is easily seen that intensive cul- |
tiyation means large tonnage and
heavy duty for the roads Il Is
clear that this goes hand in hand /
with more work. more people. more /
circulation of money and the amount |
of such Is really the measure Of the |
ability of a community to bear the |
expense of building good roads"
Any figures given here are not |
intended 10 be exact as this Is writ
ten entirely upon the spur OF the /
moment. However. rough esti-
mate might be made on the saving |
possible IN one line of work freight
ing might be placed roughly at .
cents per ton mile; If this we're re-
dueed to 20 cents per ton mile b. n
better class of roads then the saving
would be cents per ton mile.
Therefore the saving on 1000
acres of beets yielding 20 tons per
acre and hauled an average of two
miles would be $4,000 or for 5000
acres. which Is more nearly what
this valley should be planting.
would be $4,000 per season or per f
year. Capitalized at six per cent it .
would indicate an authorized expen-
dltnre of 100000 or If only the
1000 acres were considered then the
expenditure of $4,000. The acre
yield for beets might be considered 1
high yet no estimate IS given on /
NAAti AAUpH 70 AA4N Hh ahAH hdAHhA A@s= /
lly be considered reasonable.
To return 70 the read problem IT.
self; the mileage and the cost per
mile Is the main question now.
Roughly II might be said that some
go miles OF main road call for I'M
pfoyement or 100 miles II the road
to Fairyiew and Wonder Is included.
Our cost here may be said to lie be-
tween $1,000 per mile for the simp-
lest form of shaped up dirt road to
$4,000 per mile for a much talked
of macadam road II built in any sort
of form to last and not. to cost sey-
eral hundred dollars per year per
mile for maintenance.
Hence our initial cost for roads
here IN the valley might be placed
at between 100000 and 100000.
Which or VIII can be afforded? We
want the most for our money SC
now we are up to the point of tignr-
ing out what we can get for It. De-
tailed estimates viii not be gone in
TO here now, but one thing looks
clear to me and that is that this
county must hew close to the line
and that an expenditure OF in e2-
cess OF $1,000 per mile is out of the
question; that $1,000 per mile IS
more nearly our limit; that heavy
expenditures at this stage of the
county's growth call for careful con
sideration and that our first move
should be practically what the coun-
ty commissioners have been putting
Into effect the past season-that Is
grading and shaping up our roads
to an adobe-sand road as far as