Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-01-24

ed e great deal Of attention. Dean Mar.
stem outlined in a clear and concise
manner the subject as it is being
handled now by the highway commits.
sion and outlined to some extent the
plans for the coming season. His talk
follows
81 come to represent the state high
way commission which under the state
law has supervision Of all the road,
culvert and bridge work OF the state.
Speaking for the commission we were
! greatly pleased to receive delegation
from Ottumwa couple OF weeks ago,
and to learn of the plans for actual
road construction and Improvement IN
this vicinity. The commission Is
strongly in favor Of carrying out the
plans for improving the roads leading
into Ottumwa. We give entire ap'
prevail to the use of county funds to
| meet part OF the expense, if the prop
erty owners will pay their share by
private subscription. This is the right
time to make the plans for the work to
be carried out in 1914. The highway
commission is getting ready for the
road work and the bridge work OF the
! entire state. The road taxes and other
funds for roads, bridges and culverts
! amount to $10,000,O00 in Iowa in 1914.
| During the past year. statewide en-
! cheering and construction organiza-
ton has been worked up in accordance
| with the new road law stronger
attempt will be made to secure more
efficient work than ever before.
1.-The entire road and bridge Work or
the state is now required to be done,
according to engineers plans, under
careful supervision with every bill GER
tilted to and with careful cost records
kept.
Good Roads Necessary.
The Importance of good roads to
community. like Ottumwa and sur
rounding country is almost impossible
to exaggerate. The farmers are de-
prived of social and educational PRIV
ileges to which they have right.
They are obliged to conduct their BUS
ness under Instantaneous conditions
in travel on public roads.
THE city of Ottumwa would beneht
greatly by good roads leading into 1t;
not only in a business way but as the
best advertisement that could De de-
vised. AS illustrating the extent of the
advertising: a lantern slide showing a
buggy stuck in the mud near OttumWa
has been shown all over the United
States. Lantern slide views of good
road work done by other communities
are shown in the same way. Other
communities are mplishing great
things along these lines. Cuyahoga
county. Ohio. of which Cleveland is the
capital, has built some hundred
miles of brick roads and they are talk
ed about everywhere. Clayton county,
Iowa, is building three miles OF mac
adam roads. The county has its own
complete outfit including steam roller,
stone crusher, dump wagons and trac-
tors.
Will Spend Large Sum.
dubuque county will spend 100000
in 1914 in improving the Hawkeye road
way. In Vinton, the county and city
have built concrete roads. Cerro
Gordo county has built a mile between
Mason City and Clear Lake. Most or
the money is to be subscribed by farm
ers living in each side of the newly
built road.
in Franklin county the farmers
signed their names to a written ohNga-
ton to meet half the costs Of road
costing $4,000 mile and extending six
miles. Fayette county has graded
twenty miles to engineers grade line
and will cover it with concrete during
the coming season.
1.-The people of Wapello county have
the right to expect that Wapello coun-
ty should do similar work. The high
way commission believes that the
cities of Iowa will soon find highways
better than the city streets. The
commission is now engaged in taking
the final steps in locating the county
roads of the state This will be net
work of 10000 miles connecting the
principal market places. Definite plans
will be made for the improvement of
each mile of county road filed with the
highway commission.
This work will be pushed in every
county of the state during the coming
years. The county engineers position
is an important one. The engineers
who have made a success of it have
worked day and night. 1t is absolute
ly necessary that every county should
have thoroughly competent men for
this work.
Require Hard Surface.
Ill our JuuSIlleul SdCH vi Ll1C pan
cipal roads leading into Ottumwa will
require some kind OF. hard surface for
some distance out into the country to
stand the heavy traffic.
Inside the city limits. The streets con-
tinuing the roadways should be paved.
I'VE have made Ottumwa our head
quarters for this work in this part of
the state. We are here to help In
every way we can in@securing good
roads for Wapello county and the VI (
cinity of Ottumwa in particular. Ac-
cording to our ideals the time has
come in Iowa to quit talking good
roads and go to building them. We
believe that in 1914 it is perfectly feas-
IDLE to complete the grading OF at
least 1000 miles of county roads &C
cording to engineers plans and our
standards and that all but fraction
Of the $4000,OG0 which the state will
spend for culverts and bridges must
go for the construction Of permanent
Encourages Education.