Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-01-14

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teen people were gathered in the
little stone express station. six
cars stood outside. One was from
Oklahoma, one bore an Indiana
license, a third was from Salt Lake
City, two came from California,
ours from Detroit. All but our
party stayed for the night in the
building which increasing business
has forced Thomas to add to the
rear. We all took supper, we all
bought gas and oil, every crumb
of that dinner, every plank in
those buildings were brought by
those same ten mules from the
nearest railway-S0 miles.
This is but one angle of what
the Lincoln Highway means to the
w est. 1nnumerable examples
could be given. The answer to
this one is clear. Thomas is max
ing more money than he ever saw
before, and he and Others in the
same position, whether on the de-
sert or in the city, are good enough
business men to realize what has
caused this tremendous increase
in revenue, and are spending part
of it in the further improvement
of the road and in bettering the
accommodations which must be
offered to tourist. This is going
ON all along the line in varying de-
gree from New York to San Fran
cisco.
The eastern end of the Lincoln
Highway, like eastern loads in
general, does not present much of
problem. You can drive today
from 42nd st. and Broadway to
Chicago in 35 hours of driving
time if you want to push your car.
1t is in the middle and far West
that the question of road improve
ment is a serious one. The Lin
coin Highway in New Jersey may
be considered perfect; the Pennsyl-
vania section is in the main good,
hard-surfaced road, well kept; but
a few miles Of the Lincoln High
way in Ohio remains TO be Lard-
! have driven this Sec
tion of the Lincoln Highway many
times, and so this year my trip
over the route started at Elkhart,
From that city west to
Oakland, on the Golden Gate, I
did not drive so consecutive miles
without encountering either actual
road work in progress or sections
of road which gave certain indica-
tion of having recently been work.
ed. l know positively that must
have passed 5000 men at work on
the Lincoln Highway during the
% days of my trip. | was i'm,
pressed wi t h the tremendous
amount of improvement which has
been achieved with the expendi-
ture of the two and one half mil
lion dollars which have, according
to careful estimates, been used for
Lincoln Highway improvement
during the two years since the an
and dedication of the
route. The last time | drove this
route I headed west by the com
pass, and the Lincoln Highway !
was only an idea in the minds of
a few of us. This year | followed
a line of red, white and blue mark
ers straight through to the coast.
I encountered gangs laying con-
crete roads on the Lincoln High
way in Indiana at midnight under
the light of arc lamps; and across
this state, as in Iowa and Nebras
ka, the driver is almost given the
impression that he is traversing
what will be a railroad grade. For
steam shovel work is noticed mile
after mile across all of these states.
The hills are being cut off and
dumped into the valleys. Often
times the cuts are 80 feet deep, as
near Marshalltown, Iowa, and the
fills nearly as deep. All this work
is preliminary as deep. All this
work is preliminary to permanent
hard -surfacing. But for all the
improvement, the Lincoln High
way is as yet nearly all natural
road from the Mississippi River to
the California line. Yet the eff.
fort which is expended upon keep
ing the highway in perfect shape
is so great that it can be said now
that the Lincoln Highway trip in
dry weather would present almost
mo difficulties.
If the report be true that the
American people are drinking
less spirits and more beer and
wine than they drank year ago
it is a distinct gain for temper
ance which everybody will ac-
knowledge except the prohibi-