Cheyenne record., 1916-09-07
To the Voters Of
chsyenas County
IAdvsstissmsnl1


The building OF the proposed bridge
at Kit Carson by the present board OF
County Commissioners was kept very
quiet from the start, in fact very few
people knew that there was any move
on foot to build = bridge OF any sort
at Kit Carson. At the time first learn
ed Of 1t, the sketch OF the bridge and
the specif cations were In the County
Clerks Office. 1t was to to he q steel
frame. with concrete piers and floors,
and the estimate cost OF this bridge by
the state engineer was oil, 900. The
approach and extra work on the bridge
would have made it cost about go, 600
AS soon as learned of this outrage
Gus scheme, put an article in the
Cheyenne County News, also went to
Wild Horse and talked it over with
Mr.. McNevin and the editor of the
Wild House Times, Mr.. McNevin' got
up a petition protesting against the
building of the bridge and got 15 peo
pie to sign it in Wild Horse. There
was also apetition circulated in Aroya
Thru the efforts of the Wild Horse
Times, Mr.. McNevin the Aroya and
Wild Horse petitions and the citizens
in tn, east end of the county, we sue
ceeded in getting it stopped. | am sure
that there was not u half dozen people
in this county who knew that such a
costly scheme was being pulled off.
After the commissioners gave up that
kind of a bridge, Mr.. Johnson, Mr..
Ramsay, myself and others viewed the
crossing at Kit Carson and the old /
bridge. 1t was agreed that if they
could not make satisfactory arrange
mcnts with the land owners just south
Of Kit Carson for road priviledges,
that they would re-pile the old bridge
and leave it where it stands. The cost
to do this would not cost to exceed 81,
900. All the timbers in the old bridge
at Kit Carson are as good as the day
they were put there, and will last %
years and the right kind of piles put
under il will last as long. For some
cause or other the commissioners
changed their minds about this arrung
ment and advertised for another kind
OF bridge. | went to Cheyenne Wells
the day the Gay the bids were opened
and talked to Mr.. Johnson and Mr..
May field about their new bridge prop
osition and they both said that they
were against it, Mr.. Johnson said that
II, nnn,,al hat ha
would move to reject all bids and Mr..
Mayticld was to second the'motion.
They were going to show Mr.. Ramsay
that he could not run anything over on
them. They claimed that the new
bridge deal was scheme of Mr.. Ram
says and that they were opposed to it
The bids were opened and ther was no
motion made by Mr.. johnson to reject
the bids. y few days days later the
commissioners went to Denver and
closed deal for the bridge. | have
Il letter dated July 20, 1916 from the
state highway commissioners in ans
wer to one 1 wrote them, protesting
against the building OF this bridge in
W lich he says: This matter has been
ider consideration by this department
a I'd your commissioners for more than
year. Your commissioners are uni
t,i so far as the proposed improve
ment is concerned. Tie total amount
t, be expended on this bridge is lit
tie less than $1,000" This letter was
w..itten July goth and this is Sept 4th.
So far as I can learn no steps has been
taken to start the construction, l pre-
sumo it is being held up until after the
primaries and perhaps until after elec-
ton. You will see by this letter that
this bridge deal has been going on for
over year, and the original plans if
carried out would have cost $40, 900. |
[ would like to ask how many people |
in this county knew about it. Now,
Mr.. taxpayer, don't you think that
when the county commissioners are
plannig on spending $50, 900 of your
money that they should tell you some
thing about it and not keep it secret
Mr.. johnson and Mr.. Mayfiield said
that they were opposed to the building
of the bridge, but you see by the letter
of the state highway commissioners that
our commissioners are united on it and
they must have been or they wOuld
have defeated it as ther are only three
commissioners, two OF them can defeat
any measure.
Another thing that our county COM
misSioners are doing that looks very
foolish to me is the way they handle
the county printing. We are giving
each one one the four papers in the
county $4OO Probably very few of
you know that. Last year the kitCar
son Herald had the contract for $3.50,
but for some cause or another last an
uary there was deal made whereby
they gave each of them 800, making
d cin =, . me-, in 81 &i0O tho yaor hefpre
This kind of deal is bad as it cost us
three times as much as it should, and
it has u tendency to mtzzle the county
nrnSs Won neyer see any of the na-