Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-07-30
STATE R0AD EXPERT
'lAUDS LA SALE co.
TRAILS AND SCENERY
Continued from Page H.

600. The contractor started in the
next spring, graded all summer and
fall and up into the winter, then suf-
fered financial reverses. and had to
suspend operations. The bonding
company was appealed 10. and joint
cOntract-state, bonding company and
work started anew last spring, The
cost to be $lG,0ii. 1t was tough
combination of circumstances all the
way thru. People kicked because The
road has been closed since 1918. But,
when mis- fortune comes in torrents
what are You going to do?
Minor difficulties have been con
fronted on a few of the other sections
but they haven't been unusual II is
noticeable that finished roads elicit
wonderful satisfaction: and | noted
also that many tourist parties wcr"
passing thru La Sale county. That's
one of The best keys to the reputation
of county road system outside yo.r
boundary lines.
County Highway Superintendent
George Farnsworth, when talked
TO him, declared that he was proud
OF the showing his county has made
and he ought 10 be | had 'ravclcd
several scores of miles over the roads
and knew whereof he spoke,
La Sale county has no bridges hailt
wholly by state aid money. Cities AMI
townships, with the county'e aid in
some instances, have built The nume'-
Gus spans And they have real
bridges in La Sale, too. The Illinois
river was inconsiderate enough to ru"
its course down thru the middle of the
county from east To west, and there
are so many towns and cities, and 8
many manufacturing industries all
along the way that many bridges, most
of them expensive, are needed to
maintain constant communication he
tween the two shores.
The state highway department in
past years has tried to be Of service to
La Sale county in the matter OF
bridge building, regardless Of jhe
source Of the cost. 1t furnished plans
and supervision free for the $l0o,000
Ottawa bridge across the Illinois
river; II is endeayoring, thr1 It's
maintenance department, to save The
floor of the old Shippingsport bridge
near La Sale by means Of an cnnisi
fled asphalt application, and plans and
specifications have been furnished foI
a dozen or more bridges costing ovcl
$4,000.
A drive thru some of La Sale coun
TVS most picturesque section cannot
help but inspire one. A good frient
of mine imposed upon Horace Hull
an Ottawa-and Starved Rock
thusast to the extent Of persuadina
him to chaperone me for an after
vealed to me. an uniformed outsider
in those -four hours of driving, more
of the possibilities of La Sale count!
at national drawing point than
ever had dreamed could exist,
Mr.. Huh makes no bones about II
He admits thai he's booster of tn,
most radical type for Starved Rock
SO am now. It's shame "Canyol
Drive" for instance, hasn't NOR
draining along the sides and fcwe
ruts and holes right down the middle
We circled a bit. entering the parl
from the west. Had we come over
Dimmck hill road, which will be p0-
sible shortly, we would have come Il.
on Salt Well. the Illinois. toe Counci
Cave, the Ottawa and the Kaskask;
canyons. However, entering Wher
we did we came first upon fIennepi
canyon, then the LA Sale and Tont
and a moment later, parkman's Plaii
which overlooks the sulphur sprinG
in the Illinois river valley where Iii,
coin used to stop and drink.
In the Rockies you see panorama
which are more vast in their eXt11
but no more beautiful than from an
one Of a score of positions in St1r'c
Rock park. Some day thercll b
spent hundreds of thousands of do
lars there, principally on the road
within The park, are marking OF iran
etc, and the place will attract hun
sdred visitors for every dollar spent.
II want to show you the 'dnishin
touches which Starved Rock PAL
needs" said Mr. Hull, so We drove c
to Deer Park after visiting the far
Gus rock, and driving on ont from Il
hotel to the Utica road over narro'
but well improved gravel highway.
A visit to Starved Rock means
visit to Deer Park. and vica vers
The two wonderfully beautiful resor
are within short driving distance
of each other.
Deer Park a privately owned |
serve of forests, lakes, gulches al
canyons, is the summer home of
w. Matthiessen of LA Sale lie spe
many thousands of dollars markil
the trails, and making it possible +
the uneuided traveller to walk tn
the rock lined chambers of beau3y
then he threw the park open to {
public. You pay a small admittan