Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1913-09-12

mn
oon pola'ed with large amounts .,
aspnaltic oils to withstand the nro.o =.
'n'Neu team and auto traffic Trs
rooa.. ,..'''e certainly will hesitate to
recommend any type of road tbat n.i W
Involve the expenditure of vas,
-. oun' OF money that will cost heav
ny IN annual up-keep. or that will %
" rum In few years if uncarad for
mere seems to be no Information
at hand showing what road bniId,nn
material we have in Whitman Count,
worm and west of Rosalia for ten or
WE'VE miles along Pine Creek there
Is SUFFICIENT gravel to construct nov
nianeh' roads in that locality. With.
out ooubt, gravel is the hest rood
nlateriaL taking its cheapness into
consideration, and if there is more Of
" j." other parts Of the County. it
should be utilized. Sand applind 70
natural clay roads makes an excellent
surface and all sand deposits sbouId
pe taken stock of. This committee
recommends that a survey of all road
material i'll the County be made. to
De utilized in future road improve.
meht, and will endeavor to report fur.
ther on this at later date.
Inc chairman of this committee re.
Gently witnessed the construction OF
gravel macadam roads in southern
wisconsin, under the State Aid Law
OF that State, in which the total cost
OF construction was less than $4,000 90
per mile with maximum grades of less
than per cent. The cost of reducing
our average roads to a maximum
grade of per cent is about $4,000 90
Tor grading only, while the total con.
tract price for the new asphalt ma
cadam road south of Rosalia is about
SSOOO.OO per mile. These figures in
comparison, show the magnitude of
the task we have in building roads in
Whitman County.
Fifth. Conforming plans to present
road laws.
1t Is better if possible to adapt ma
chinery in hand, than to construct
new machinery, involving possible de
lays, and costly experiment. The com.
mittee is attempting to adapt the
present Permanent Highway Law to
work out the problem assigned to it.
1t seeks to augment the Permanent
Highway Fund of the County by a
bond issue, to adapt its provision of
selection by petition, to indicate the
particular roads to be improved and
pay part of the cost of construction
to insure a fair distribution by incor
porating in the order for the bond
election that certain roads shall be
improved, these roads having been
previously apportioned according to
assessed valuations, under the trade
unit principle, and to provide for the
facilitate economical construction.
Sixth. Political adaptation of plan.
1t is obvious that it is useless to
present a plan that manifestly can
not receive the support of 50 per cent
of the electorate in a bond election.
But little attention has yet been given
to this aspect by the committee. Rec
ognition is given to the fact that farm
property comprises little more than
one-half of the assessed valuation Of
the entire County, railway property
about one-third, and town property
about one-eighth, and that a little
more than one-half of the population
of the County resides on the farm.
II is apparent that the farmer must
become favorably interested in the
project, if it is to succeed The COM
pletion of the Panama Canal will pro-
badly change the present sack system
of handling grain to a bulk system,
making hard surfaced roads a neces-
sity to the farmer, instead of a con-
venience, and may prove a determin-
ing factor in the solution Of this ques-
ton If it can be shown convinclngly
that roads can be built that will be
durable, and that rs per cent OF the
cost can be saved by construction I'M
der a bonding plan, rather than by
building roads in piecemeal, as is now
the practice, it is probable that bond
issue could be voted.
The committee ask to be continued
in it's work until the next quarterly
meeting of the Federated Clubs, for
a further report at that time.
Your committee will say in conclu-
sion. that their Investigations have
brought them in contact with many
problems that require serious consld-
Grafton. and that the completion OF
the task set for them by your honor
able body. will require much personal
sacrifice and great personal effort on
the part of its members.
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