, 1919-11-20

to the east of the present road, making
Il curve later oward Londer. and hav-
ing II brunch toward Casper. This
would serve the oil fields in the Lost
Soldier district. and there have been so
many millions invested in this field
already. and with the prospect that in
the next yea it will possibly be the
greatest in the state. they seemed ELL
titled TO at least some help toward a
good road into their district. 1t was
decided TO leave the final determination
of this route to the State Highway Com
mission.
I'm our district it was considered
that Il road from Encnmpment to Bat
tie and Slater was most important. as
il may well be the means of bringing
enough freight to the Saratoga K En-
campment railroad to keep it in opera
tion. The Forest Service had appro-
priated $1,000 from its road fund for
this highway, on conditinon that the
state or county would raise $4,000
more, making in all $4,000. for the
building of a good road across the top
of the divide. where it is impossible at
the present time. After much discus
sion ii WINS decided to set aside $4,000
from tn state road fund for this pur-
pose. Ill county commissioners agree
ing TO $1,000 in 1921 IN $4,000
in 1922 5or it.
"WheE asked what further rOadwork
we waIised with he money available,
your de egate replied that in view of
the fact that the s. Il. railroad might
he at a;ly time closed by snow in win
ter, as we know has happened several
times III The past, he thought that for
h next year, at least, the rest of the
fund available for the valley should
he spent in IN effort to give Saratoga
and ~Encampment a reasonably snow
free road to Walcott. 1t was agreed
that by far the worst part of the road
now. with respect To snow ana hills. is
between ~Encampment and Cow Creek.
and on the principle used on the Lin
coin Highway and other state roads.
of doing the most work on the worst
places at first, he recommended that
this stretch of rOad he relocated where
necessary to avoi the snow Tin most
places moving it only IA short distance
to one side would accomplish this) and
then be made ii permanent Good Road.
From Saratoga to Walcott he rec
commended y light grade construction
that would raise the road Il few inches
at least above the surrounding level of
tthe country. with a ditch at each side
to carry off water. This would put il
D. up lpI ItNl winter where ine SHOW
would have a chance to blow across il
and away from it, instead of filling i
To 6 inches deeper i'll the road tracks
than anywhere else.
During the meeting there was II gen,
ersl disc ussien of the whole road stu
afit.ns ;Hid IT vas brdught out that The
county IA fund for next year is $50,
uO0. which is he same as for the two ol
three years past. and almost the SAINT
as ten years ago, when the cost of labor
machinery. team hire. lumber, etc. was
only one-half to one-third what it is
now. 1t did not seem possible to dc
the amount of work needed now in this
county with the same money which suf
feed to keep up the little work that
was needed ten years ago. Then. in
the course of the discussion. il was also
brought out that at the present time
the next years o fund is pledged to
the extent of about 1000 to pay for
Il bridge across nak river. two car.
loads of iron ~culverts, a tractor. lumber,
etc, leaving only $1,000 or $4,000
with which to put in bridges which
MAJ be washed out next spring. cul-
verts. repair reads and build new ones.
1t was thes sense of the meeting. after
thorough discussion, that it was inn
possible for the best men in the world
as county commissioners to do this with
$4,000. Everyone present noticed that
when il was said that not eve the best
commissioners possible could do the
work required during the coming
Continued on Page Four)