Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-11-19
FOR ROAD IMPROVEMENT.

FOR ROAD IMPROVEMENT,
Good roads, passable at all seasons of the year, within a radius
of fifty miles in all directions, would be worth more to WATERFOWL
and surrounding country than any other single enterprise that could
be undertaken.
which, = : t he nn nbin' has CEN "a IS con in the way Of bonuses
we have not been overlooking a more important source OF future
greatness.
It is not meant to imply that we would sell our interests in the
railroads and in other ventures in which we have invested, some
times too lavishly, perhaps, for what they cost us, in the aggregate,
but rather to point out the need of turning some of our surplus en-
crgy to improving what we already have instead of reaching out
for more, in order that we may be prepared for further enlargement
The state of Colorado has recently adopted a constitutional
amendment whereby the state highway commission will have at its
disposal annually a sum approximatng SIX hundred thousand dol,
lars in adihon to other sources of revenue. which swell the grand
total to about eight hundred thousand dollars a year; rms vast
sum is set aside for the Improvement OF the roads-not the railroads.
Colorado, it is true, lis a mountainous region. Many of its road
ways must be cut through walls Of rock or must be carved out OF the
mountain side. In the mountainous sections roadways are passa-
not pass through or over a slough or lake, we may go around it, but
in the mountain ranges if one cant go over or around a mountain :
For generations the railroad managers have been working out
theories for cheapening transportaton-that is, to cheaper the haul
ing ~. Of L. 2 ton q gwen ! distance gsaa. They h&y m have m solved the E problem nuying II, n
power Of the locomotives.
4 single engine today can haul fifty to sixty cars Of freight over over
haul but a dozen or 50. Improved roads and better equipment have
reduced the cost Of transportation
There is no reason why the roadways OF Codmgton county
should not be put into such condition, and SO maintained, as to JUS,
tfy the farmer in hauling with a single team three tons at a load
instead of a ton and a half or two tons
There ought = be some means Of improving our highways other
than the present system of local work, or through donations. Local
work may be alIxisht- q far rs it 1gRpssah a hh it is esNsbbalN inadequate
In some sections of the west there is a county road overseer, or
superintendent, whose duty, among other things, is to- see that each
main travelled highway is thoroughly dragged and properly leveled
following each spell of unfayorable weather.
The people OF South Dakota seem never to have grasped the
Importance Of the old spitlog drag, or notifications thereof, in
helping to maintain good roads. In certain regions OF the west
the highways would become impossible in a single season for heavy
loads, Or Tor vehicles Of any sort excepting at a snaH's pace, were.
the dragging neglected.
~ Watertown had ten or a dozen main thoroughfares leading
st = sb g m saaIg d different trsas. directions as : n;ta for 81, thirty + 4 to fifty n nj ! ess.
~. 1T would accomplish more for the town than half a dozen add
tlonaI railroads, since we already have not a few.
People ~ not travelling on the railroads for short distances as
they formerly did. They are using their automobiles, and a fifty
mIie trip to- neigihborlng town today causes less inconvenience than
z ten or twelve mile trip a score of years ago.
a common DIRT road, properly constructed and properly cared
for will serve all purposes fairly well almost anywhere in South
Dakota. Is 1t can be graveled, so much the better-and eventually
NJ can be throughout 9 considerable portion Of the state.