St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-04-11
BETTER WORK ON
ROADS THIS YEAR

Practically all road commiSSi oners
and a large number of selectn1en from
Caledonia county towns were present
at the good roads meeting held in Ply
THAN hall Thursday. State Road
Com. Stoddard B. Bates addressed
the meeting and instructed the road
commissioners in the laying out of
state roads, and also explained the
! outlined plan of work for the coming
year. Commissioner Bates at the
morning session spoke on "Road
Maintenance"
Marshall M. Stocker, county road
supervisor, presided at the meeting.
At noon dinner was served in the
| dining hall and the menu was ar
| ranged by Mrs. S. j. Somerville. After
cigars had been enjoyed, the meeting
was again called to order by Mr.: Bates
who touched on many lines and phases
Of road building. He took up the Ques-
ton of gravel and crushed stone in re-
surfacing, spoke of payments of wages
to. road help, touched on the advisa-
biiity of keeping reports up to date
and many other questions.
The towns of the county will receive
$3.50 from the state for road work
this year against $84S4 appropriated
last year. The outlook for the next
year in all counties in the state on
the road question is much better than
a year ago. In the afternoon queS-
ton box was held and among those
called on to speak from the commits
sionerS and Selectmen present were:
County Comm sSiOner Marshall NJ
Stocker, A. l.. Lawrence, George Reed
Of Barton and w. P. Russell of Kirby
In opening Commissioner Bates en-
phasiZed the fact that I'VE should not
get so impressed over the building of
new roads that we do not keep in re-
pair those we do have" Road main
tenance he showed was as important
as building new roads. He said, many
have asked the question what would
become of the money if we did not
spend it,? In answer to that the
| commissioner told the selectmen to
use the money, that it was their mon
| ey and they had q right to it. But
| in spending it, he advised the use of
good judgment saying pay a rea-
sonable amount for labor and teams
| and if you do not see what is right
! take up the matter with the road COM
missioner or the county commissioner
and they will meet you half way"
| He then spoke Of the laying out of
state money, and commended that the
road commissioner should on no ac-
| count neglect his other roads for state
| work. 1t was the aim of the depart
ment he pointed out, to do even bet
| ter road building this year than q year
ago. and impressed upon commission
| ers that dangerous curves must be eli
| minated.
! On the use of gravel for resurfacing
| he showed that it would not stand
heavy traffic, that crushed stone was
hard to get and that the latter could
not be laid cheaply unless there WAS
| a ledge near by. Where a crusher
| was to be used he said an elevator for
grading and loading could be used
profitably. The drainage proposition
is one feature of road building that
must be kept up, said Commissioners
Bates. but all these problems must be
settled more or less, by local cond;-
TONS
He advocated the banking of the
road on curves except on & steep pitch,
on the ground that it made a better
| drainage. ana among other things
would tend to make automobile driV-
ers keep to the outside of the road.
Said, Mr.. Bates, II don't think it too
much to say that the outside Of the
road on curve should be two feet
higher than the inside.
The regular monthly sewing
meeting of the Brightiook Hospital
i Aid Association was held at the
Nurses Home Monday afternoon.
About 20 members were present and
after the business meeting all spent a
very pleasant and social afternoon al
though much work was accomplish
ed.