Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-05-19
GOOD ROADS.
Disinteerated Granite Plenty in the
County and it is the Material for
Cheap and Good Roads-A Few Hon.
ents With Robert Freeman.

Cheap and Good Roads-A Few HON.
ents With Robert Freeman.
1t was our pleasure to take an auto
trip in various parts of the county
west of the Wisconsin river last Sun
day, by the kindness of Karl Mathie
We will say nothing about the ideal
weather, the fine condition of the
roads, etc, and get down to the meat
in the cocoanut and that is the ex-
ceedingly fine roads found wherever
disintegrated granite has been used.
Marathon county has innumers.ble
beds of this material and we doubt
not but WHAT a bed can be found
within the reach of every road.
There is no use of going to the ex-
pense Of building macadam roads in
this county at a cost of about $4,000 a
mile when road much better for all
purposes can be built for few hun
dred dollars u mile. For instance,
the road frora Marathon City to
Mosinee. by the Halder route, is
much of it constructed of disinte-
grated granite and It is as hard as our
macadam-streets. only it is free from
sharp rocks and therefore much bet
ter for country travel. While these
roads are raised in the center and
have fairly good drainage, still no
especial pains has been taken to
more than put on enough granite TO
make the travelled way suitable for
sustaining heavy loads, and the re-
suit is astonishing. The farmers
down in that part of the county have
demonstrated that we have the
material to make roads which
will be everlasting, if properly
taken care of and kept in repair,
and that, too, at q nominal cost.
Some of the very sandy places
between Marathon and Mosinee
which, heretofore, would drive per-
son many miles out of the way to
avoid, since being improved by this
disintegrated granite are now as easy
over which to ride as are the paved
streets of Wausau. There could
of course be vast Improvement
made in these roads by the use of a
drag whenever necessary. With our
soil, even the natural rounded road,
properly dragged will be fairly good
at all times, but with the granite
roads there can be no question of
their worth and durability. There
are several miles of granite roads
built out from Mosinee and they are
a JOY to the farmer, to the horseman
and to the automobilist. 1t seems as
if this material might be shoveied out
in the summer time and arranged SO
it can be drawn along the roads in
the winter time on sleighs. The
granite roads are even preferable, we
think, to the macadam roads if they
are properly built, and they can be
constructed at a cost greatly below
the latter, in any part of the county.
Present earth roads can be greatly
improved by being dragged. The
road should not have less than To-
inch crown The rain that falls on
road properly crowned will run off
quickly and not soak into the surface
or form pools. The bitches at the
size should be open at every low
point SO THAT the water can run into
neighboring streams. The granite
roads can be kept in splendid condi-
ton by filling up the holes occasion
ally.
The PILOT would suggest that be-
fore macadam-roads are built in the
county that the dislntegrated granite
supply be looked into.
In the drive last Sunday, visit
was made to the home of Robert
Freeman just outside of the town of
Halder. Mr.. Freeman was found at
home and as cheerful and ohospita.ble
as ever. He has resided on this farm
since 1S61--ffty-three years. With
his large lumber and timber business
he has also found time to always
work and improve his farm, and it
is one of the very finest in
the county, with hundreds of acres on
which there is not stump, and
house that is thoroughly convenient
and very inviting, and grounds which
are skirted by forest that is seem
ingly as wild as when he first COM
menced his work in that wilderness.
Nature has done more to make Mr..
Freeman's grounds beautiful than
can ever he accomplished by the
hand Of man, Forming back ground
on the edge OF the forest, are hun
dreds of cone shaped balsams, hand
somer and more symmetrical than
those found Oh the best kept city
lawns. Mr.. Freeman has horses and
cattle Of the best and fine stables in
which to house them; he also has a
trout stream which runs through his
farm which is filled with this game
fish. One does not wonder that Mr..
Freeman, who has been so successful
in life, has steadily refused to go TO
the larger towns or cities to live
when one sees his beautiful surround
ings in the town of Emmett Long
may he live.