Baxter Springs news., 1919-05-30
P|PE DREAM|NBAT
"A GALENA BANQUET
County Commissioners and Ga
lena Commissioners Talk
About Passing Up Bax-
ter with Hard Road

Springs yesterday, and their little con-
troversy over the bridge matter. the
three county commissioners, Wester-
felt, Mobely and Perkins, were enter
tained last night by the Galena COM
mercial club. The repast appears to
have been Of a nature. calculated to
stimulate the imaginative processes
in the minds Of the guests and the
hosts.
Anyway they indulged in q great
pipe dream about Galena, with the as
sistance of the county commissioners,
putting through concrete road by
way of Riverton out Of Galena and on
west to the Blake road running south
from Columbus; thereby cutting Bax-
ter out altogether from the traffic of
the Tri-State mining territory.
The idea is probably intended to
scare Baxter and make her be good
if possible, even to the extent Of CIV
ing up the idea of having q county
commissioner from Baxter after the
next election.
The pipe dreamers appear to have
lost sight of the enormous cost Of
bridging and filling necessary to cross
Spring river at the Ryan bridge site,
also of the greater distance over that
route between Galena and the Okla
homa field. But Baxter Springs is not
worrying over Galena's dream, nor is
she contending Tor anything to which
she is not entitled.
The following news item appeared
in the Joplin Globe this morning:
Galena, Kan, May 2S.-The county
commissioners and County Engineer
Calvin Cooper as the guests of the
Galena Business Mems Association at
a luncheon today, entered into
the discussion of concrete roads con-
struction in Cherokee county with the
business men. Thirty business men Of
the city were present and evidenced
their feelings regarding the con-
struction of a concrete road west
from Galena across Spring river at
Riverton to intersect the Hoover road
eleven miles west of this city, by ap-
plauding the remarks of Frank Lam
Ter, William Ricksecker, Attorney
Edward Sapp, Calvin Cooper and
Commissioner Ira Perkins, who spoke
in its interest.
The road which was discussed TO-
day, is contemplated as a substitute
for the concrete road recently sur
veyed west on Seventh street through
Lowell and to Baxter and thence to
Picher, Okla. The speakers and locei
men at the meeting today expressed
the opinion that the Riverton route
is best for Galena and the vicinity
nearby, and every effort will be made
to bring its construction about. A
committee will be formed and the
solicitation of the property owners
along the proposed route to secure
their signatures to q petition asking
for the road, will probably be started
ut once.
In view of the fact that the new
road will pass through very rich
farming section where truck farms
and dairies are located, and will lead
to the billion dollar mining district
of Kansas and Oklahoma, this road is
thought to be very important to the
future development of the city. If this
road is built, large concrete bridge
will be constructed across Spring
river at Riverton and another will be
put across BRUSH creek. 1t is esti-
mated the road with the. bridges Gao
be constructed at cost Of $4,000 per
mile. The government will pay half
of the expense of the construction
of the road, if the petition is secured
and approved by June 30.
If this concrete road is constructed
it will help to form a connected con-
crete road system in the country, with
the roads already approved by the
commissioners. One of these roads is
the Hoover road, with which the Ga
lena road will connect just north of
Treece, Kans. The Hoover road leads
south from Columbus to the county
line near Treece, and road leading
from Picher will pro- 4bly be con-
nected with it. Other concrete roads
of the county are the 0swego road.
from Columbus, the Crestline road
from Columbus, the Pittsburg road
leading from Crestline on Military
and the Neosho road to the county
line. Therefore, with the concrete
road leading from this city to Joplin,
Galena will be in the midst of a con-
tinuous route of excellent highways,
which will mean much to the future
of the city and its vicinity,
t is said.
M Vor,r naef u