The Washington herald., 1913-07-06
MICHIGAN ROAD
QUICKLY BUILT.
Five thousand Men and
Women Construct Model
Auto Highway.
MILLIONAIRES LEND AID
Wealthiest Men Of the State Work
Side BY Side with Day
Laborers.

rive thousand hlcniBdn ineH, hohi
nearly every walk OF life, recently have
set an example which may well be fol-
lowed by building 80 miles. Of excellent
automobile road in a single day. And
the women of the northeastern part OF
the State, through which the new high
way runs, are entitled to much credit,
too. for while their husbands. fathers.
brothers, and sweethearts labored At
digging and blowing and grading. these
women cooked meals that put new heart
In the muscle-weary workers and made
this most notable accomplishment pos
sible.
As a result of the labors of these
Michigan people, on Monday. May 9, there
now is an unbroken line of graveled
highway for over 80 miles from Bay
City. to -Mackinaw City, where two days
before there was mile after mile of cordu-
10Y road, sand holes, and swamp lands.
Mayors of cities and towns. State Of
fcials,I millionaire lumbermen and mill
men shaved in the hot sun, hewing with
picks and axes at corduroy road slabs.
throwing stones, shoveling sand and
gravel, leading pillow horses or perform
ing other of the innumerable tasks which
form part of the work Of bodybuilding.
In this picture you have an idea Of the
spirit which animates Northeastern
Michigan.
Early Arrivals Noted.
T G. Dafoe, Mayor of Alpena, went
without his breakfast that he might
board the car to which as leader of his
gang" he had been assigned for the
day William A. Comstock. regent Of
the University Of Michigan, left his home
at o'clock in the morning. The Fletch-
ers, Gilchrists, Richardson's, Johnsons,
Churchills-all names which stand for
millions in wealth and vastly more in
prominence and prestige in Northeastern
Michigan-had family representation of
at least one and in most cases more on
the bee. They sweated side by side with
the lowliest farmers and laborers Of the
district.
They did what seemed well-nigh i'm
possible in the big swamp in Pulaski
township, Presque Isle County. just over
the Alpena line. Corduroy which was
laid a generation or more ago, and had
long been the terror of motorists. has
been removed or so completely covered
with a foundation of stones and earth.
graveled on top, that it will never again
lar the backbone of the good roads en-
thusiast.
1t is difficult to tell the story of the
Huron highway bee day in a single
breath It's too big. Nothing has yet
been said of the women who walked
over country roads, all the family horses
being at work on the bee, to prepare
meals for their men at noon time and
serve them on large tables or carry the
food to them as they worked.
All Took Part.
Old men who could hardly have lifted
shovelful doddered at piles of gravel
or led horses pulling plows. They had
to take part in the enthusiasm of the
day in some way. Little boys and little
girls who couldn't talk plainly, some
couldn't speak English at all, followed
their daddies and big brothers with pals
of water. The water carriers were as
numerous as the workers in some cases.
Men of Northeastern Michigan that
and sank to contented repose on hunks
isfied with the accomplishment of what
they had been dreaming of for months.
The importance of this Michigan spirit
to the automobile world cannot be mag
nified 1t is the individual demonstration
of the age of progress which has prompt
ed scores of the biggest motor car man
ufacturers in the country to donate a
share OF their earnings to the fund for
building a cross-continent highway that
will be unequaled even in Europe. the
home of good roads,
With a display of even a part of this
spiri: in other States, our country would
soon be criss-crossed with a network of
highways that would bring unbounded
joy to those fortunate enough to pos