The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1920-08-21
NEVADA'S BIG NEED
!. IS BETTER HIGHWAYS
Especial Correspondence,

A
RENO, Nevada.-Lct us assume that
large part of the citizens of the
| United States want, at some time or
other, to drive across the country BY
way of Nevada. There are other ways,
but this is one of the main routes. 1t
is most direct in majority of cases.
This premise should at least indicate
the conclusion that the nation is In
terested in the matter of Nevada
roads. The biggest thing the nation
knows about these embryo highways
is that they are long and bad.
Stretch a straight line across the
| map of Nevada, and one finds the dis
tance to be trifie over 800 miles.
Let a careful driver pilot an auto
| mobile across any route. and he will
discover he has covered something
| more than 500 miles. What are COM
monty called roads might generally
be more properly designated trails.
Without going into the matter of
difficulties of road building in Ne
| vada, it may be said that the sparse
| population of the state is utterly inn
potent in a financial way to better
onditions for such distances at a
| rate of speed even to keep up with the
apidly increasing deterioration
aused by transcontinental traffic.
Two trails across Nevada aggregate
900 miles of required roadwork
side from all this, it is fact that
here are some hundreds OF miles of
Dads which are really of greater inn
ortance to citizens of the state than
are the transcontinental highways.
government interest and information
the matter of Nevada roads must
je stimulated A man like Sam
lrentz in Congress would help.
One institution which has done
much in a year 10 fa!niliarize people
If the state and nation with road
problems as they exist here is the
Nevada Highway Association. This
organization was perfected by a few
public-spirited men in February, 1919.
is object in the first place was to
influence state legislation in CO.
In June, Of last year when the as.
sociation had nine members and S72
n its treasury tpitifully small figures
N connection with the monumental
ask before it), Miss Carmen Jewett
was employed as secretary. Carmen
Jewett has become Mrs Wilkie dur
ing the year-but that is another
story. Offices were obtained rent
free in the Reno Chamber of Com
merce, because one part of the secre-
ary's duties was TO furnish road and
route information to tourists-a valu-
able function of the civic organiza-
ton.
During her one year in office this
| secretary has informed herself bril-
liantly regarding actual road condi-
tons as they varied from week to
week. She has assisted in directing
upward of 1900 tourists on their way
across the Sagebrush State, consider
ing with them their needs, wishes, and
the constantly-arising emergencies of
the trail.
During the time of more or less
heated controversy between boosters
| for the Overland Trail (the northerly
route) and the Lincoln Highway fur
ther south. Miss Jewett felt herself in
a delicate position regarding the in
| fuencing travellers in choice of
routes. Nevertheless, at times when
one way was decidedly better than the
other she feariessiy gave out the in
| formation she had received, for the
| sake of the reputation of the state at
| large Many citizens of Nevada have
met travellers far from here who
| warmly commended the work of the
secretary of the Nevada Highway AS
| sociation.
During the one year. also. the Sec
retary has increased the membership
of the association from nine to 545.
She says this membership is almost
equally distributed over the entire
state. Membership dues are 50 the
year Additional members are con-
stantly being sought. Moneys are for
he secretary's salary and expenses of
her office, not a small item of the lat
ter being cost of maps which are dis
| tributed free to tourists