The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-02-14

lCduAoL duOru u MAKE HaTu SuTIdCeC
roads; that it requires all Of oul
| $4,000 year road tax to MAINTAIN
the roads we have; that five Dor.
row half million it will take two.
thirds of our annual tax levy for
interest and we shall have only one
third left for maintenance.
If we build our roads as they
ought to be there will be little need
for expending money for mainten-
ance That will be wiped out in
proper construction at the outset.
Washington County Did it
Down in Washington county they
have been expending $500 a mile to
make their earth roads into hard
faced gravel roads, and they stay
made. They could have made cement
roads for 100000 a mile, but
they preferred to make gravel roads
at one-fortieth of the cost and they
have made forty miles of hard
gravel roads for the cost of one mile
| of cement road.
Cassia County is Doing
In Cassia county the, country is
underlaid with pea gravel and a
number of years ago they began
stripping off the surface and hauling
the fine gravel to surface the roads
leading into the town Of Burley. AZ
1t made such good roads that the
districts lying farther out over the
county adopted the, plan and made
some road that way. 1t pleased
people so we'll that the farmers Of
fered to work for half price to keep
the road work going on that plan.
They do two days work for the price
of one, and put in all their spare
time hauling gravel on the roads. AS
soon as their fall work is done they
clamor for road orders. This year
they have been hauling all winter,
and have done an immense amount
money than they would have had
if they had been idle as our farmers
have been in Bingham, and the
county has net gain Of great
stretches of good roads. All the
money which the county. has ex-
pended in road work is still in the
county. the private property of the
farmers and the people they have
dealt with. When there was pros
pect Of losing the Albion Normal
school, one effective reason assigned
for moving It was the difficulty of
getting to it. 1t was a long drive
from Burley over to Albion. The
people removed that objection by
graveling the road from Burley to
Albion, twenty miles, and made it
such a fine boulevard that it is Joy
to drive from Burley to Albion and
the school still remains, and farms
along the boulevard have nearly
doubled in value in two years.
Forty Miles to One
1T has been said that half mil
lion dollars Of borrowed money used
in Bingham county would only make
one trunk line thru the county,
some forty miles. II we handle. 1t on
the forty to one plan with gravel 1t
would make 1900 miles of boulevard
like they have in Washington county
and in Cassia county between Burley
and Albion.
Nature Showed Us How
The only place in the county
where we have any such road Is in
the Moreland country and a little
stretch near Wapello, where nature
mixed some gravel to give US q |
pointer as to how we could build |
roads. In those places the roads
never need any repairs unless It Is
to grade up In the hollows to cause
the water to drain Of, or at the dinky |
.culverts that are not built right. |
When we build our 1900 miles OF
gravel roads we shall have boule- |
wards everywhere, and scarcely any
maintenance cost.
Came and Went Back
Al man in Cassia county heard that |
the Bingham county officials had |
been saying In conventions at Boise |
that they were doing 80 much road |
work and that they had improved the
work so greatly, he became inter- !
ested and came up and looked over
our rights-of-way and went back and |
tOLu IAC ,lSAhc IA O0obA6 COuAty thut
we didn't have any roads in Bing-
ham county-that we merely had a
chance to make roads and were not
making them. He came up expect
ing to settle here. He went back,
and said If he settled in Bingham he
might as well sell his auto, as he
could have no pleasure in using 1t
after riding on the gravel roads Of
Cassia county.
Government VIII Help
Bingham county doesn't have to
pay all the expense of road building.
The federal government has set
aside $525, 100000 to share up with
any road organization that will spend
money on its own roads on the fifty
fifty plan, and we can get roads now
at half of their<cost.