Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-12-10
O.
Looker-On In Io1va

New sharon. Dec. ,a.-oae % The In
teresting letters received in the~T.-R
office is printed below. Incidentally i,
offers a strong argument for graveled
roads. which Will be especially appre-
ciated by those favoring that kind OF
a good road:
4 note that you are still hitting up
the good roads proposition. Los An
g; geles county turned down by decisive
vote yesterday a bond proposal for
Ss.S5oooo for roads. Not that folks
here are not in favor OF roads. but that
+. the plan as proposed seemed inadvisa-
bic at this time.
| But what / wanted to say Is this:
. There is a mile or more Of the oldest
good roads in Iowa. running between
/ New Providence and Lawn Hill, orig
! inally one mile, but now extending
! nearly a half mile more. 1t was built
NOR than thirty years ago, perhaps al
most thirty -five-when the now So
called Tama branch Of The g g n w
was built, The New Providence people
were about TO see their good little
Quaker town slip over to Lawn HILL
so they built the road and made it
moved back, and New Providence Is
there yet Well. this mile Of road was
graded and eraveled by volunteer la
Dor. under the direction of ". F. An
drews. and a good job it was. Since
then the road has required only min
imum of repair and work. Some time
when you are spinning around in that
vicinity you may ride over it Then
this brief history may interest you.
If you ever see this road and write
a story about il this viii interest you:
After the road was built and business
houses and residences were actually
moved back to New Providence 10
Newly. a well known blacksmith and
q character in his way. was asked II he
was going 10 move back to New Provi-
dence with the rest. of 'em. 10 said he
would move back when he'll froze over
so he could skid his shop over on the
ice. So far as known to date 10 has
never moved back to1New Providence.
Your truly. Milo Hunt"
sgT g4E
Unauestionabiy many of the read
ers of the T.-R- will DE surprised TO
know that this year of 1s1s has pro-
daced a good crop Of corn, and also
croy Of good corn In and around New
Sharon, Nahaska county. There are
thousands of bushels Of sound corn
here, corn that will be cribbed. corn
that will be sold and used for seed.
The banks and elevator offices have
samples which tells the Story One re-
tired farmer told the writer he had
1000 bushels of as good corn as ever
raised on his farm. Now this - not
saying every acre IN Mahaska has pro-
duced sound corn, but 1t Is to show
where in one county there are thou
sands Of acres Of sound corn.
In Grundy county last week the
writer was told of a letter from head
quarters in New York asking for list
of names of all worcestershire real
Simon pure kind-iiying In that vicin-
ity. It was evident from the contents
of the letter that the progressive party
is to keep up its organization. and that
the faithful are to be supplied with
printed matter to aid the movement.
The town OF Traer is going to ex-
pertinent on a good road. probably two
miles in length. Money 10 being sub.
scribed by enterprising citizens. AS
told the writer the plan involves dig
ging out the center Of the road say one
foot deep, then lessening the depth
gradually till the space IL sixteen feet
wide. On this is placed heavy coat
ing Of asphalt or crude oil, then comes
a coating OF gravel. more oil. more
gravel till this big widened out v Is
rounded as ordinarily done by the
road grader. A man from Missouri
! showed them how to do 1t. He says
in that state there are many miles OF
such roads. It will not get muddy,
will not freeze hard, will not get dusty.
and water runs off it like OF ducks
back Better than all. the cost Is 80
low, only $500 a mile. anybody car
| have a good road. The experiment, il
successful, means that Traer will have
many miles Of such good roads. For
this is the town voted for q big school
house and big playground, Tor hne
Carnegie library building on Main
street, for big churches and brick
paved streets. for any public improve
ments these Traerites reach way down
/ in their pockets.
Weather items have helped much for
COPY in this column this year. The
close Of November and frst week In
December have been ideal to gather
| the corn crop. Around here husking IL
| nearly finished. And farmers are be-
| ginning to mention the wonderful
weather for turning cattle into the
stalks. Getting every missed ear and
ss...:as ....ss..ss. Hundreds vi hoss anu
cattle in this vicinity are still getting
their own living in the fields.