The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1917-01-18
THE. NORTH AND
SOUTH HIGHWAY
Scurrilous Resolutions of Caldwell Commercial
Club Rouse Ire of Emmett Club-False and
Misleading Statements Exposed and True
Facts Set Forth.

of the same class of road, than the
Weiser route. The soil is granite
sand, a composition that makes hard
smooth roads at all seasons of the
year, and reduces the cost of main.
tenance, as well as construction, tc
the minimum. The soil of the Wei
ser, Price and Meadows valleys is g
dobie and is almost impossible dur
ing the wet season; a condition that
is expensive during contraction and
costly to maintain. The best road
is the one that is easiest Travelled
wet or dry, winter or summer.
The weather records show that
neither route has any advantage as
regards snow; that the fall is prac-
tically the same and remains as long
on one route as on the other. There
is very little, if any, difference in the
altitude.
One of the uses Of these highways
is for post roads. That part of the
Payette valley route between Boise
and Emmett is used daily for mail
service between the two points.
The Caldwell Commercial Clubs
resolutions contain false and mislead-
ing assertions in that
The Payette valley route does not
have "steep and difficult grades"
1t is not "closed for traffic a con-
siderable portion of the year."
Will not cost any more, and quite
probably less, than the Weiser valley
route.
1t is true that the Payette valley
route is not so thickly populated as
the Weiser valley route; but is it
not also true that the sparsely set
tied and undeveloped sections should
be favored over those more thickly
settled and in full development, es-
pecially when, as in this case, the
country traversed is so rich in resour-
ces that it needs only the means of
transportation which this highway
will give to unlock the gates that will
pour forth a flood of riches that
will rival the dreams of a Croesus and
be of benefit to the entire state of
Idaho? That, we take it, is, or should
be, the object of both state and ma
tional highways. Sections that al
ready possess good roads and
the means to build others-whose re-
sources are already developed-will
acquire not a fraction of the benefit
to either the individual or the state
that those undeveloped and sparsely
settled sections will reap when pro-
vided with means of transportation
state and government aid.
He who is rich needs no financial as
sistance. He who is well fed needs
not the friendly proffer of food.
The insinuation in the Caldwell ar
ticle that the route is being advocated
for the benefit of certain lumber in
terests is an appeal to raise the scum
Of popular prejudice that could only
be conceived in the miasma-clouded
ntellects of such swamp bred COM
munity. The states development has
ong been retarded by such infamous
tactics. When the truth is known, the
public will probably give the same
to this statement as the
Caldwell Commercial Club has in the
past given to its agreements with
communities.
The proposition to consider the
Boise-Payette Lakes route for the
North and South Highway was laid
before the first highway commission
appointed, by the citizens of Emmett
md Long valley before any route had
,een officially decided upon. This
vas four years before numbering
operations began on the Payette
iver on a large scale, and one year
,efore the consolidation of the large
umber interests in southern Idaho.
he matter was brought before the
commission through the efforts of the
,mmett Commercial Club. AT that
ime there was not one timber opera
or on the membership roll of the
lub. There never has been rep
esentative of any timber interest to
ppear before this organization to ad-
ocate the project. For every acre !
f private timber land that will be
enefitted by the Payette River route
he State of Idaho owns one and the
Jational Government one hundred;
or every prospect hole contiguous to
he Weiser route there are ten well
eveloped properties that will be given
by the Payette route