The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-04-24
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nxi@IdAM ROADWAY !,
IN This COUNTY

information regarding the &c,
tual cost OF constructing anu
hard-surfacing the roads III
this district, now under way.
A great many figures have
been quoted, as is natural. MOS,
of these were mere guesses, ana
none of them were the producer
of any serious thought or based
upon facts.
Before The Herald goes INTO
the actual story Of the cost, II
wishes to state that the future
cost OF the hard-surfacing Will
be somewhat less, owing to the
fact that MIR. c. {. Martin. OF the
Prairie Pebble Phosphate COM
pany, as general manager, one
of the foremost good roads
workers in the country, and Mr..
Burdett LOOMS, Jr.. OF the
Pierce Phosphate company as
managers OF these properties.
have placed at the disposal OF
County Commissioner Lancas-
ter and Superintendent Fletcher,
materials from the mines, that
will not only make OF these
roads the very best that can be
obtained. but the fact that the
hauling OF the materials is OF
short distance, will considerably
lessen the cost OF doing the
work. To these two gentlemen
The Herald wishes to pay this
slight tribute for their public
spiritedness.
Considerable criticism was ex-
pressed from a certain individu-
al who formerly resided IN
Pierce about the condition OF
the road from that center OF in
dustry to Mulberry, but who
now resides in other parts. 10
all such critics The Herald once
more wishes to call attention to
the old Biblical saying, "All
comes to him who. waits. The
oad from Lakeland to Christina
is now an actually, the rest OF
the road will i'll good time be
finished and hard-surfaced. We
must remember. first that the
crew OF twenty-five convicts
moved from its site at Christina
to Pierce, is now hard at work
and that this crew has been join
ed this week by that released by
the finishing of the work on the
Lakeland to Kathleen road,
along with machinery and teams
has just reach the first gang OF
sixteen, were all placed on the
road south of Lakeland on the
first day of October and have
finished their work to the Chris
tina bridge by the first OF April.
Many of us are curious to know
the amount of mileage built in
that time and at what cost per
mile. The distance was careful
ly measured Wednesday after
noon at the request of The Her
aid and showed an even five
miles by speedometer on Mr..
J. c. Whidden's car. Mr.. E. S.
Whidden accompanied the party
as a very muchly interested on
locker.
That part of the story is now
complete and through the kindly
action of other friends of The
Herald We are enabled, by the
examination of the books at Bar
tow to ascertain the costs of this
piece of roadwork and find that
the sum Of S,363.5I or $I.272. 70
per mile. The foad itself is in
most ereditable and satisfac
tory condition and little infor-
! nation, CLEANED from Mr.. Wild
den shows that during eight
years. the upkeep cost of this
road was not over ten dollars
and that with proper care and
attention the present road will
last tor a greater number of
years at very low cost of up-
keep. In this connection we be-
lieve that when this road was
kept up previously. it was was
not the worst road in the coun-
try by a jug full. AT the pres
ent time. with a crew planned to
keep up the present system OF
roads by a maintenance crew
Polk county viii have some OF
the best roads in Florida, and
that at a cost SO low that the
good roads advocates will no,
hesitate to help with both cash
and boosting and not have the
county in debt for future genera.
tons to pay off.-Mulberrv Her.
laid.
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