Imperial Valley press., 1922-02-09
REMARKABLE
DEVELOPMENT
Lee Highway Reports Indicate
Interest Seldom
Attained

A meeting of the board of directors
Of the Lee Highway association, OF
interest to Imperial valley residents
because the national route traverses
El Centric and neighboring cities, has
been called for February %, in Wash
ington, d. c., according to advice dis
patched the Press today.
The meeting has been called it was
explained, to appoint additional di-
rectors from California, Arizona, New
Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, made
necessary by the extension of the
highway through those states. EX-
isting vacancies on the board will also
be filled at the conference.
Figures submitted at the recent
convention of the association reveal
a growth unparalleled in the history
of road organizations" it was report
ed, with a present membership in ex-
cess of one thousand. The route OF
the highway of most interest to El
Centrans extends from Yuma to FL
Centre and thence to San Diego.
A year ago, the Lee Highway asso-
citation had membership of 4 few
hundred; it's present membership is in
excess of one thousand. During 1920,
there was paid into its treasury less
than $4,000 in 1921, almost $26,O00.
The close of the year 1921 saw all
bills paid, and small balance IN the
treasury. That year opened with the
association merely Virginia East
Tennessee enterprise; it closed with 1t
national enterprise, supported by e
| -, g c+o oxy+ayoIir1O, antlTplN V
across the continent.
among the associations substan'
| tlal accomplishments of 1921 were
arousing northern and wetsern Vr-
pinia, all Tennessee and northern Ala
bana and Mississippi to the 'need OF
road Improvement, raising the stand
ard of construction to more perma
nent type; securing a wider rlght-of
way; arranging for more systematic
maintenance, and particularly the en-
actment by congress of several meas
ures which are expediting construc
ton of the Lee Highway through th'
various states it will traverse, ant
which have been of material aid II
road construction all over the United
States. Due to this legislation more
than S50,000,000 worth of road ma
chinery and equipment left over from
the war has been transferred withou
charge from the federal to the state
governments for highway improve
ment.
Helped in Federal Aid
Cooperating with the American
! Automobile association, the Lee High
way association was influential in pre-
venting the reduction by congress o:
the appropriation for federal aid fo'
the current fiscal year, from seventy
five million to fifty million dollars
With the appropriation kept at tn
former figure, there of course will b
a larger amount for federal aid TO
road work in various states.
Originally the Lee Highway wa
routed from Chattanooga to the Ia
cific coast through New Orleans ant
south Texas. Investigation revealed
that this route had been pre-emptet
by the "Old Spanish Trails associa
ton" To have organized Lee High
way units in that territory woult
have resulted in dividing the supper
for two projects. The Lee Highway
association was therefore faced witt
the alternative of building only
New York to New Orleans highway
or seeking another route across the
continent.
When it was found impracticable tt
locate the highway through south
Texas, attention was invited to two
more northerly routes, both through
Memphis, and extending through Ar.
kansas, Oklahoma, the Texas Pan
handle, New Mexico, Arizona, ant
across southern California to San Di'
ego. Designation of this route was
urged by every commercial organiza-
ton in Memphis, the governors and the
roads departments of the several
states, and chambers Of commerce in
scores of towns and cities. At the
Chattanooga convention, it was de-
cded to route the Lee Highway
through Memphis, Little Rock, south
western Arkansas, southern Okla
homa, across the Texas Panhandle
through southeastern New Mexico to
Ell Paso, thence across southwestern
New Mexico. thence through Globe.
Phoenix and Yuma, Arizona, to San
Diego, California.
Up to this time, efforts have been
concentrated on the Washington Chat
tanooga section, a distance of GAO
miles, but the associations activities
will now be enlarged and extended to
cover a total of three thousand miles.
National interest has now been aWak-
ened, and the associations publicity
bureau is now planning a campaign
to make the Lee Highway as we'll
known as the Lincoln Highway. The
association'a program also includes
erecting guide-posts as rapidly as
possible. To do this enlarged work
the force both in the Washington Of
flee and in the field will have to bt
enlarged. At the Chattanooga con-
.o,,+;oo H.. G M Johpcon tho pen-