The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1916-12-16
HIGHWAY SCORER GREETED.
Cordial Reception rendered Manager
Clarkson and Party Here.

+;on who was chosen TO deciue 'iiI
oaafos+ hetween the east and west
honLe of the river for selection as
+ha official route of the highway from
Port Allen to New Orleans, arrived
here Tuesday afternoon on MS III
cnac+ion tour Of the west bank roaQs.
Recommending Mr. Clarkson were T.
p Guevmard, representing the Je1-
ferson Highway West Bank Assocla-
ton; S. Wolstencroft, publicity man
of the Jefferson Highway Assoclatloh'
D. G. Rugcles, Wilson S. Calendar
and Albertus Koch, staff representa-
tives respectively of the New Orle-
ans Times icayune, States and ltem'
f. J. Nagel, of St. John, in whose car
Mr.. Clarkson made the trip from Ed
gard; J. B. F. Baudry, of st. Patrlck'
Mr.. Murray, of Chicago, and A. b.
Singletary, of Baton Rouge, repre-
santinp the east bank contestants.
The party were met at the st.
James parish line by the automobiles
of Messrs. George B. Reuss, Emile
LeBoeuf, Frank K. Sims, Henry Du-
gas, C. H. Landry, John D. Hanson
R, N. Sims and others, containing
representative delegation of citizens
and ladies. Some minor trouble haV-
ing developed with the Nagel car,
carving Mr.. Clarkson, the highway
manager completed the trip into DON
jacksonville in the Reuss machine, drlV-
en- by Miss Ethelyn Reuss. Ire
tourists were first escorted to the
Hotel Donaldson, and then were taken
=: yoorrnIfIannt New
man model dairy farm on Bayou La
fourche, and the grounds OF the South
Louisiana Fair Association.
At night dinner and smoker was
rendered the highway party at Mon
tero G. Brande's Opera Cafe, the fol-
lowing delicious menu beipvg e. served:
Oysters on half shell; celels lives;
turtle soup la Ch(D eff Dill; poisson
frit (sacalait) haut sauternes; roast
Mallard duck a la Fernandez, mush-
room and olive dressing; St. Julien; ;
baked Creole turkey la Brande,
stuffed with oysters; cold roast NUT
ton; caulifower; potato salad; fruit;
Roquefort cheese; cafe noir. The
dining-room was tastefully decorated
with palms, MOSES and Chinese Ian
terms, and presented most attractive
and inviting appearance. The pretty
menu cards designed as souvenirs of
the occasion contained the following
appropriate sentiment in verse:
From far northern pine to southern palm,
a. Including the west banks compelling
" charm,
#A Would mean the realization just and grand
~ OF nations highway full nobly planned
d After the array of good things had
been disposed of, Mayor Walter Lem
ann made short talk, in the course
of which he announced that con-
tract had that day been signed for
the crawling of the river road be-
low Donaldsonville to the St. James
line, which will give a continuous
hard-surfaced highway on the west
bank of the river in Ascension from
Iberville to st. James.
Mr.. Lemann then introduced Mr..
Clarkson, who delivered compre-
hensive address. outlining the Jetfer-
son highway plan, it's objects and the
benefits to be derived therefrom. In
cidentally Mr.. Clarkson took occasion
to congratulate the west bank asso-
citation upon it's enterprise and orig
inality in presenting to him a con-
else summary of its arguments in the
form of a printed brief. He stated
that this was the only such document
which had been submitted to him by
any contesting territory along the en-
tire route of the highway, and that
the facts and figures therein present
ed would be given due weight in his
consideration of the rival routes.
Brief talks were also made by
Messrs. Wolstencroft, Ruggles, Cal
lendar, Koch, Murray and Gueymard,
all of which were enthusiastically re-
ceived At the conclusion of the
speechmaking the assemblage wit
messed the moving picture per-
Torrance at the Grand Theatre as
the guests of the management,
The highway party left Donaldson
vile cary Wednesday morning, the
car of Lewis Murrell, of Bayou Gou-
la, carrying Mr.. Clarkson, being the
official car of the day. TheaJAs-was
escorted to the Iberville parish line
by Mayor Walter Lemann, Evan Nc
Call, George B. Reuss and others. A
brief stop was made at the home Of
Mr.. Reuss and the party then pro-
ceeded to the IbervilIe line, where
they were welcomed by a large dele
cation of citizens in automobiles.
The official score of distance COW
cred from st. Charles and Common
streets, New Orleans, to the Hotel
Donaldson in this city was 1872 miles.
The distance from New Orleans to
Port Allen on the west bank, as an
nounced by Mr.. Clarkson, is 12545
miles. Between Donaldsonville and
Port Allen he found a good gravel
road in which occurred six turns that
he considered dangerous, making
total of twenty-seven dangerous turns
between New Orleans and Port Allen.
Two houses between Donaldsonville
and Port Allen will have to be moved
further for the road to conform to the
Jefferson Highway provisions, Mr..
Clarkson announced.
Mr.. Clarkson said that coming out
of Donaldsonville the roads showed
lack of maintenance, but that this
situation improved as he advanced
toward Plaquemine. The best main
tenance along the entire west bank
route he founG at Port Allen, in West
Baton Rouge, but he pronounced the
maintenance system now being put in
effect by Mr.. Reuss in Ascension par
ish as the most thoroughly effective
he had seen in the state. The entire
west bank route, he declared, was
much better than he had anticipated.