The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1916-05-12
DISCUSS COUNTY
ROAD MATTERS
Members of State Highway Com
mission Here Monday.
PRAISE WORK DONE HERE
Valley County One Of Few Counties
Which Buys Material Cheaply.
Road Work Boosted. &sln.

For the purpose Of investigating
conditions here and also to give assist
ance to the County Commissioners on
road and bridge matters, the State
Highway Commission were here Mon.
lay. .., A.
A. w. Mahon, Chairman, G. r. Mol
ton, Secretary and L. D. Conkling,
were the members of the commission
who were here to meet with the Coun-
ty Commissioners. In the forenoon
road and bridge matters were dis
'ssed and the members Of the COM
mission were taken into the country
to view the work that was being done
on roads and bridges in the county.
In the afternoon a general meeting
was held in the court room, and al
though the attendance was small,
those who were present derived much
valuable information from the talks
of the speakers.
Monday evening a smoker was held
in the Commercial Club rooms, at
which the County Commissioners and
members of the Highway Commits
sion were guests of the club. While
there were not many members pre-
sent, those in attendance spent 4 very
enjoyable evening and listened to
some very interesting talks from all
three members of the commission. /.
Mr.. A. w. Mahon, the chairman Of
the Highway Board, outlined the OBJ
ject and aim of the commission and
stated what the commission was try
ing to do and what it had already
done for the benefit of the. taxpayers
of the state and cited the good that
can be done by the commission with
the cooperation of the various boards
county commissioners Of the state.
Mr.. G. R. Metlen, secretary of the
commission gave very concise state
ment of the work accomplished dur
ing the short time the commission has
been in existence and cited instances
wherein the commission had been of
very great value to various boards
of commissioners in assisting them
to secure material at very large
saving over the prices which had pre-
vailed previous to the existence of the
Highway Commission, and compli-
mented Valley county upon the fact
that in one instance alone of steel
culverts, this county was paying a
considerable lower price than most
of the other counties of the state and
a good deal less than the average
price paid by all the counties. He
cited cases where they found prices
for culverts ranged from 6a cents in
some counties to 13 cents in other
counties. Valley county was placed
nearly at the bottom of the list of
counties, in the prices for material,
which shows that our commissioners
are exercising true economy in this
regard.
Mr.. Metlen spoke of the enormous
amount of roads which had been laid
out by Valley county during the past
year, which amounts TO 800 miles, and
also complimented the commissioners
on the saving to the county from, the
fact that in all Of that 900 miles, they
had not paid for any right of way. =
Prof. Leon D. Conkling in a hort
talk spoke If the great benefits de-
rived from having trunk lin roads
running north and south and - l AMI
west throu.h the ",unty AMI across
the state, and that one of the objects
of the commission is to assist in lay
ing out these roads in such way as
to give the greatest possible conven-
ienceience with the least amount of
cost. He spoke of the bill now in
congress providing for $100,000,0 900 to
be set aside for use in road building
in all of the states. 1t provides for
graduated amount to be spent an
nually beginning with $4,000, 900 the
first year and gradually increasing to
$25, 100000 the fifth year, whereby
state highways will he created. Mon
tana will be in position to receive a
good portion of this fund if the bill
passes and the highway commission
ers can help each county in the dis
tribution of this portion of the fund.
Short talks were made also by men,
hove of <ho rountv hoard of cnmnia-