The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-11-08

! NJ Improvement of the Yellow
w stone Trail are carried out
the only serious barrier tc
travel, so far as northern Idaho and
western Montana are concerned, will
be in Shoshone county. And the
money to carry out these plans just
as soon as practicable has been pro-
vided, and should weather prove fav-
Iorable it is probable that the work
will go forward during the winter
But in any event it will be taken up
early in the spring and pushed to COM
pletlon as rapidly as possible. The
plans referred to are the rebuilding of
the road through the Fourth of July
canyon, the elimination of the dan
gerous Niger Hill road near Alber-
ton, and the building of seven miles of
road by Mineral county, Montana,
from Taft to the Lookout summit.
When these are completed, and they
Will be next summer, the only obsta-
Gle in the way of making the Yellow
stone trail the most popular highway
will be the present road over the Ida
no Montana summit, and for this Sho-
shone county can not escape respon-
sibility. Lookout pass will permit a
road across the summit 300 feet low
er than the present one, which means
that it will be open for travel for from
two to three months longer each year.
The commissioners of Mineral county
recognize the importance of this
change and have announced that they
will build the necessary seven miles
from the Montana side. 1t will re-
quire only two miles of new road on
4 per cent grade and it will be up to
the commissioners of Shoshone coun- =
ty to build it, or accept the blame for
blocking travel on this great trans
continental highway.
Fourth Of July Road.
The deep interest felt by tire people
of Shoshone county in the matter of
improving the Yellowstone trail has
been shown by their liberal contribu-
tons to improving the road through
Fourth of July canyon, and finally by
waving their right to $4,000 of the
state road fund and turning it over to
be used in building the Fourth of
July canyon road. In addition to this
contribution, Kootenai county has
given the same amount, while the
state of Idaho and the federal gov
ernment have each contributed $780,
900. AS a matter of fact the present
road across the summit is a more SER
ious obstacle to transcontinental
travel than the Fourth of July canyon
road, and it is not at all likely that
these large appropriations would have
been made for the latter if it had been
known that the former was to remain
unchanged.
Nigger Hill Road.
While Shoshone county balks at
building two miles of road that would
probably not cost more than $4,000,
county has appropriated $780,
900 for changing the Niger Hill road
and the federal government has con-
tributed an equal sum. The money is
now available and the work will begin
at the earliest possible date, according
to the following from the Missoula
Sentinel:
"Nigger hill, the bane Of automobil-
lists who pass Alberton on the Wallace
road, will soon be a thing of the past.
The signed cooperative agreement be-
tween the secretary Of agriculture and
the commissioners of Mineral county,
providing for the construction of a
new road, which will completely elm
mate the dangerous stretch of terri
tory just west of Alberton, has been
received from Washington by the de-
rartment of engineering of the forest
service, and preparations for the be-
ginning of the actual construction OF
the road are now under way. The
new piece of highway, the building OF
which has been contemplated for
years. will cost about 0,000, half OF
this amount being paid by the gov
ernment and half by Mineral county
The road will be four and one e-half
miles long. The proposition was first
submitted last fall, the government
agreeing to furnish so per cent of the
cost. The people of Min
eral county then voted bonds in the
sum of 100000, but further progress on
the project has been delayed until
now. If weather conditions permit
the office of public roads, acting un-
der instructions from the department
of engineering, will begin work on the