Charlevoix county herald., 1917-06-15
ment and receive their rebate OF so per

ment ana receive tnelr reDate OF ou per
cent
This National highway to be built by
contract let to the lowest bidder and to
be built under State and Government
supervision. Commissioner Rogers al
so informed the audience that Antrim
county had already made provisions
for building the national highway from
Charlevoix county line south through
the two northern townships to connect
with the good road already constructed
in Antrim county so that when the
Charlevoix county national highway is
built there will be good road from the
city of Charlevoix to Traverse City.
Commissioners Rogers was also asked
in regard to the building of the Macki-
nav Trail and stated that the same
could be built and receive double State
aid which amounts to practically the
same thing as Federal aid. Or in other
words, the state of Michigan will pay
$500 mile for the Mackinaw Trail it
makes no difference whether the road
costs $40, 900 to build or $500 How
ever, the cost of the road the State OF
Michigan would pay $6SOO mile for the
same. This also applies to any road OF
the same specifications built in any
part of the county of Charlevoix
whether it is from Boyne Falls to East
Jordan or from Ironton to Boyne City
or a road around the lake.
The matter of maintenance of roads
already built was brought up. Mr..
Hammond. Chairman of the County
Road Commissioners, announced that
since the County of Charlevoix had
been under the present system, thirty
miles of road had been built at the cost
approximately $500 per mile. 1t was
also brought out that since the county
had been under the present system
approximately $4,000 had been ex-
pended in the building of good roads.
Of course, this s. ows discrepancy, as
according to the statement of Com'r
Hammond approximately $l05, 900 had
been expended in building the roads
which leaves balance of approximate
ly s35, 900; which perhaps was expend-
ed in the purchase of machinery and
supervision or was expended in main.
tenance.
AT this meeting it did not develope
just what the cost OF maintenance was
in regard to the roads already con.
structed, due perhaps to the fact, that
after the roads had been built very
little maintenance has been done, ex.
cept on the road leading from Charlie.
voix towards Ironton, which was the
first State reward road constructed and
Com'r Hammond informed the people
that it costs $500 per mile this year to
repair the road, which was not an eX-
cessive price to pay for maintenance
per year.
There was no information offered as
to the maintenance of any other state
roads in the County of Charlevoix. II
was, however, brought out in the
meeting that the roads of Charlevoix
County compared favorably with the
roads Of adjoining counties, and coun-
ties even as far south as Mason; and
that the good roads system has been a
success in Charlevoix County with the
trend of thought that any improvement
upon the building of state reward
roads that will make them more per-
manent and the cost OF maintenance
less would be a distinct improvement
and gain for the tax payers of Charlie
voix County. 1t seemed to be neces-
sary on through trunk lines of Charlie
voix County to build roads that will
carry pretty heavy traffic through
July and August as during those
months a great many touring cars
which are much heavier in weight
than those ordinarily used in northern
Michigan pass through the County on
their way to the various summer
resorts of northern Michigan and upon
which northern Michigan is becoming
to depend for large amount OF their
prosperity.