The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-11-12
Route of Continent Bi-sect-
lug Road to be Settled
In New Orleans.
MUST SEND DELEGATE
TO TALK FOR STATE
Automobile and Hotel Men to
Join in Backing
Movement.

A fight to have the Cape placed up
on the proposed jefferson Highway
from Winnepeg, Canada, and st. Paul,
Mimi, to New Orleans, will be started
today by Cape business men.
The route of the proposed continen-
tai bi-secting road will be established
next Monday and Tuesday at a meet
ing of the officers of the New Orleans
Association of Commerce, where rep
resentatives from cities in all parts of
the Mississippi Valley will be present,
bidding for the route.
An effort to have delegate sent
from the Cape will be made. 1t will
be necessary to raise funds with which
to pay the delegates expenses.
The jefferson Highway, should it be
established to run through the Cape,
will be one of the biggest commercial
assets the Cape has acquired in a long
time. 1t would mean that tourists
would pass through here by the hun
dreds, and the Cape is far enough from
st. Louis and Memphis, so that it
would become what is known as a
terminal pOipt on the road.
"Placing the Cape on that highway,
will mean more to US than a new rail-
road" President Mcpherson of the
Commercial Club declared last night
Mr.. Mcpherson has received letter
from State Highway Commissioner
Frank w. Buffum bearing on the Sc
lection of the route for this road, and
on receipt of that letter, Mr.. McPher-
son is organizing quick campaign for
funds with which to see that the Cape
is represented at New Orleans.
Mr.. Buffum's letter is as follows:
There will be held on November Is
and 16, meeting at the offices of the
New Orleans Association of Commerce
for the purpose of establishing high
way known as the Jefferson Highway
from New Orleans north to st. Paul
and Winnepeg.
"AS there may be several routes
through our State that could be select
ed, it is suggested by our department
that those routes that desire to COM
pete for this highway be represented
by delegates at said meeting, as this
department, should there be a COM
petition through the State, does not
care to take an active interest in any
one route to the exclusion of the
others, but trust when the time does
come that, should there be a liability
to lose the route by too many routes
fighting for the location, that they will
centralize on some one route that will
go through our good State.
"YourS truly,
Frank w. Buffum"
The route of which the Cape would
become a part, follows a course up the
eastern side of Missouri, following the
Mississippi River very closely. Much
of the roadway already has been made
along this route in Missouri as we'll
as other States adjacent, and the cir
cumstances for rOad-making along this
route are said to be the most advan-
tageous of any route under considera-
ton.
In Missouri, it has been urged by
men from the western half of the State
that the road could profitably follow
Il course through Kansas City.
One route even has been suggested
for the eastern border of Kansas. On
the other side of the river, Illinois is a
strong competitor for the highway
route.
The proposed jefferson Highway
would be similar in character to the
present Lincoln Highway, a road that
virtually goes from one coast to an
other, and when completed, in few
more months, will make one of the
greatest pieces of road making in the
world.
The jefferson Highway is to accom-
plish the same purpose as the Lincoln
Highway does in east and west traffic
The jefferson Highway would serve
north and south bound traffic, which
from observations made on the Lincoln
road, would be immense.
In the construction of the Lincoln
Highway, great sums Of money have