The Seward gateway and the Alaska evening post., 1917-02-15

Road Commissioners for Alaska for 1916 is an exhaustive one covering in detail all of the work in the north The introductory statement says that the Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska is engaged in the construction of wagon roads, bridges, and trails, and of military and post" roads, bridges, trails, and trails in the Ter ritory. under the direction of the Sec retary of War, and in conformity with an act of Congress approved January 2, 1905, and subsequent acts amendatory thereto. The board was formally organized in May l5, 1905, and has been in continuous existence since that date.
 The road and trail mileage con structed and maintained to date IS in round numbers as follows: Wagon roads, 92O miles; winter sled road, 629 miles; trail, 2,21O miles. AS stat ed in a former report, the wagon roads may be classified as good coun- try highways, intended to meet an all year-round traffic of considerable ton mage. The winter sled road Is an in- expensive form of construction, in- tended to meet the requirements of winter travel only in certain portions of the winter. The trail differs from the winter sled road only in being narrower and with less attention given to grade and surface ineQuali- ties.
 There has been expended upon the work up to the close of the fiscal year 1916, a total of $S,S9O,122.72, of which Sl,75OOOO has been apprOpriat- ed by Congress in varying amounts beginning with the fiscal year of l9OI and $1 1925, ,l22.72 derived from the Al aska fund. The average total cost of the wagon road has been $3,l44 per mile; of winter sled road, $345 per mile; of trail, $lO6 per mile. The above figures embrace location, con struction, and maintenance and all ex- penditures by the board.
 The task of building roads through out this vast wilderness of Alaska to meet the rapidly growing demands and aid in q systematic development of its resources can not be adequately described by any less comprehensive term than colossal, and our board can not hope to make more than begin ming during the official lifetime of it's present members.
 AS far back as 1908, in the annual report of the board for that year, the suggestion was made that the time was approaching, it was thought, when some local or territorial ma chinery should be organized to take charge of the local roads, such as, for instance, an elective board of three supervisors for each district or com missioner's precinct; and although in the annual report of the following year it was stated that the develop ments of the year had not given fur ther encouragement to the adoption of that idea, it is believed that the subject might now be taken up with advantage by the legislature.
 There exists already an elective commissioner provided for by the leg islature for each judicial divisions, empowered to expend certain money derived from sales of timber in the forest reserves, but it would be ex- pecting far too much of those com missioners to properly supervise local road work throughout their divisions Such an organization as first men toned, of supervisors, elective, for each percinct, who would receive and account for the moneys allotted to their precincts and supervise the ex- pendtiures therein would aid very greatly in working out the problem as it now exists.
 In last years report it was stated that while the board did not, class any of the roads constructed as "automo'