Weekly journal-miner., 1921-09-07
Roy Gardner Free One of T,uo Sensational Jail Delver;es
ROAD TROUBLES REPORTED FROM
 VERDE PROJECT

A report of bad conditions in con- nection with the Cottonwood -Sedona road construction has been made by the Verde Copper News of Jerome, received here yesterday and inquiries are being made into the nature of the case. H. L. Fishel, engineer for the county highway commission, could not be located for an interview yesterday, but had said the state ments were "hollers." He did not say to what extent the charges might be true.
 Reports reaching Prescott have been that there was trouble for the contractors, the Prescott Engineering Construction company, due to the unruly washes during recent rains.
 The statement of the Jerome paper follows:
 With culverts washed out, specifi- cations being changed from day to day, no surfacing material in sight, and no possible way to estimate what the completed contract is to cost, an appalling waste of public funds is going forward in connec- ton with the construction of the Bridgeport-Sedona highway.
 In its very first attempt, the or ganization built up to direct the technical end of the Expenditure of the proceeds of Yavapai county's Sl ,500,000 road bond issue has fallen down miserably, completely and dis astrously.
 An appropriation of $120O0O was made for the 19-mine section extend- ing from the Cottonwood-C Camp Verde road, opposite Bridgeport, to the county line a mile and a half this side of Sedona. That any sort of a road can be secured for this amount now seems impossible, in view of the ghastly failures and mis- takes that have been made from the start.
 The Initial Error
 The mistakes extend clear back to the locating of the road. Little was done by the original locators except to follow the old unsurfaced Sedona highway as closely as possible Here and there a curve was strengthened, q grade eliminted, but nothing more
 The old road was pretty well placed for the kind of a road it was. It's locators did not have to worry lbout surfacing material for it was not to be surfaced. There was no money for permanent, or even highway. To find the shortest feasible route to the county line was the object
 But the locators of the new road, he road that was to cost Yavapai county $120000, did not worry about materials either. Apparent y they squinted through bottle | It the surrounding hills of malpai | md sandstone, and pronounced con- .idently: There's our surface. Let's yop
 How Cost Estimated |
 On that basis the probable cost of he Bridgeport-Sedona section was fixed at $l20,000 when the proposed l bond issue was submitted to the ! voters. After the bonds were sold. ! specifications were prepared and bids were called for. A contract was let 10 the Prescott Engineering Con- struction company on a yardage basis. {, So much yard was to be paid for moving dirst, so much for rock work, 2 50 much for culverts, according to ength and diameter. Eighty cents 2 cubic yard was to be paid for moving and spreading "plowed" sur lace material-gravel or loose cin- iers-provided it did not have to be transported more than 500 feet. For each mile or fraction of a mile oyer 800 feet that such material had to be . moved the contractors were to re- ,ei i-e 45 cents a yard additional.
 The price for crushing rock, trans porting it not over 500 feet and . spreading it over the road was fixed It $3.55 yard. For each mile or raction Of a mile over 500 feet that he contractors had to move crushed ock they were allowed 45 cents ad- litional.
 No Surfacing Material
 Now, with much of the first seven seven miles nearest the -oconino line-graded and ready to ,e surfaced, Highway Engineer H. L. Fishel admits that he is utterly