The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1917-02-22
Shall the Rich Hill Road be
Changed?

Changed!
Editor Times -
Just now while there exists a
difference of opinion in the
minds of some of us as to the JUS
tice of abandoning an old and es-
tatbfished road ffregardfess of the
rights of property owners) and
building a new road at a great
cost over a strip of unsightly
country along which there are no
homes it seems to me there is a
question that should have the at
tention and thoughtful considera-
ton of all the citizens of this
community. The reason. land
only reason) for the proposed
change is the elimination Of two
railroad crossings that are in no
way dangerous crossings and
that have been used for more than
so years on one of the most ex-
tensivcly travelled roads in the
county without an accident in all
that time. Ism t it a little strange
that the jefferson Highway in its
course from Winnipeg to New Or
leans, crossing as it does thous-
ands of railroad crossings, should
have just two land both Of those
near Butler, Mo- that absolutely
should not and must not be
crossed by that great highway?
The river to river auto road run
ming across Iowa from Davcn-
port to Council Bluffs follows the
main line of the Rock Island rail-
road all the way and crosses and
recrosses it dozens Of times yet l
do not know of a single instance
where the course of an estab-
lished highway has been changed
to eliminate a crossing but l do
know of some extremely danger
GUS crossings, two Of them being
near our former home and on
which several autos were wrecked
and their occupants either killed
or badly injured. The course OF
the highway has never been
changed although both Of the
railroad companies and the coun-
ty spent many hundreds OF dol
lars to make these crossings more
safe.
In changing main travelled
there are some things
that ought to be considered SER
iously. Lifetime plans and good
homes have been built because OF
their location along a permanent
lv laid ont highway and in my
opinion it is neither right nor JUS
tice to follow n few joy riders
who have nothing invested along
the road to say, we just cant at
ford to slow up our big six OIL ac-
count of those measly rail road
crossings. No sir, we just must
have a new road built for us, no
matter if it does discommode or
spoil the plans of lot Of others.
And now you who belong to the
Commercial Club an organization
whose purpose is to promote the
general welfare of the county, to
knit closer together the mutual
good will of all, are you doing it
when you go into court with your
petition and ask that an estab-
lished highway with good homes
built thereon and good locations
for other homes, be changed from
where it is and ought to be to an
unsightly back highway where
there are no homes or good loca-
lions to build homes? No wonder
old Missouri still keeps her
Hound Dog and plods along 80
years behind some Of her younger
sister states when so many of her
people just won't do the things
they ought to do. One of the
men who offered to donate
ground for the proposed new
road admitted to me that it was
not the proper place for the road
and that it ought to be built OH
the old road where it belonged.
The proper thing for us to do is
to get together (not in the court
house but on the road), work to-
gether, stay together and pull to-
gether with mutual. good will.
like our brothers over on the east
road are doing. They have done
lot of good work this winter,
and We could have done as much,
but instead have done practically
nothing. Shame ON us.
!. w. Pritchard.