The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-04-19

ing the road through Galena, to Bax-
ter Springs, and from Baxter to Pich-
er, as the next links in the proposed
highway, This is brief history of
what is known as Jasper county's
first concrete highway and means, in
our judgment, revolution of road
building for the future. 1t might be
we'll to say we adopted concrete as the
| type of road because of the abundance
of material we have at hand for the
aggregate, knowing it to be as good,
if not the best, material available in
the United States, and for the further
reason that we believe concrete road
properly constructed out of this ma
terial, will give longer and better SER
and built for less money per yard than
vice than any type Of pavement known
most other paved roads. AS an in
vestment from an economic point of
view, outside of the pleasure and con-.
venience it will give, we feel that the
road will save sufficient amount to the
users the first two years to pay for
the construction and building of same.
As an illustration, an automobile or
truck using this road can be main
tanned for one-half the cost that it re-
quires now. The life of the machine
will be double--the end of your des-
tination assured, irrespective of wea-
ther conditions, and will make Ford
ride like a Packard. We say that it
will pay for itself in two years, be-
cause if 1000 vehicles use this thor
oughfare now costing an average of
from five to eight cents per mile to
operate, the cost will be reduced to
| from two and one-half to four cents
per mile and the value of their ma
chine doubled. 1t is simply little
sum in mathematics to figure the net
result of such an investment.
The promotion and building Of that
part of this project through Kansas
and Oklahoma, is a great task and
will require the absolute cooperation
of all. 1t will require the help not
only of the citizens of Joplin, but of
the people along the route from Ga
lena to Miami.
AS already stated in this article, the
enterprise will cost about $450,000 to
S50O,0O0, an average cost of about
$4,000 per mile, which is no mean
sum of money to raise. We feel equal
to the task and, with the cooperation
of the citizens of Kansas and Okla
homa, we feel sure that the road will
be built. We are not going into the
States of Kansas and Oklahoma say
ing to those people, build the road b.
cause you need it, but we are going
to say to them "let's build road"
and we will help you. Not only will
we help them in selecting the best
| type of road and the best material to
be used, but we will help them finance
Il. and we expect to contribute To the
building of that road twenty to twen-
y-five per cent of its cost, or, in other
words, we expect to spend in Kansas
and Oklahoma $4,000 of Joplin's
money.
When this road is completed it will
link together by paved road the prin-
cipal producing fields of the lead and
zinc properties of this district, exclu-
tive of Neck City, Alba, Oronogo, Wa
co and other mining camps of lesser
importance, but it will tie together all
of the principal points of production
and base of supplies and it will put
the zinc and lead industry in the best
possible shape for transportation IA
cilities When this line is once built 1t
means there will he laterals built out
in every direction to tap the other
producing fields of this great district.
We also feel that it is the forerun-
ner of miles and miles Of like road,
not only in the territory through
which it traverses, but in general all
over our Southwestern Missouri,
Southeastern Kansas, Northeastern
Oklahoma and Northwestern A'I:an-
sas. | do not want to be understood
as saying that concrete is the only
type of pavement that should be built,
but | do want to be understood that,
in my judgment, concrete is the best
type of pavement, considering the
cost, durability and life if the right
sort of an aggregate can be secured
and see to it that the road is proper
ly constructed"
As fitting close to the above fore
ible presentment of the inestimable
value and urgent necessity of i'm
proved roads in every live section OF
the State, as we'll as the positive econ
omy of such improvement, it affords
The Times pleasure to state that the
fCounty Court Judges of st. Francois
county departed Wednesday morning
for East St. Louis to inspect some
hard surface roads between that point
and Belleville, Ill. All the Judges, c.
|. Garrett, w. A. Mitchell and F. M.
Matkin, went on this trip of inspection
and investigation, and this paper feels
| certain that they will return thorough
ly impressed with the merit of con-
crete road surfacing, which is guaran-
teed to withstand for an indefinite
period of time the hardest possible
usage. e.,
iharfy Rnnd-