, 1922-10-11
GOVT ROAD TO Be
STRAIGHT SHOOT
THROUGH CANYON
Will Get Five Per Cent Grade
From Iron Springs To Top
Of Dam HiII--"F0oI Kill
ers" Eliminated

The magnitude of the plans for this
locality as proposed by the govern
agination and make the eyes of ma
tives to whom the digging of a cistern
is an achievement pop out in astonish-
ment.
II the old timers who came to the
country when a trip through the can-
yon over the horseback trail was an
adventure and a tree or a green field
a novelty, live to see the day when
the road through the canyon is a bou-
levard and the food waters of the
%Shoshone river are flowing through
the nighttime ditch into the Oregon
Basin reservoir, they will have to
pinch themselves occasionally to be
sure that they are not dreaming.
Yet both of these thfrgs will come
about ultimately and the fulillment
of the plans will once more demon
strate the wonders which trained in
t~elligence and money may accom-
plish.
The present survey being made by
the party headed by S. A. Wallace at
tached to the u. S. Bureau of Public
Roads, is showing that a straight
shoot may be made from the Cody
end of the canyon with but one urn
of the kind known too road-makers as
fool killers" Also that a five per
cent grade may be obtained from
iron Springs to the top of the dam
hill-a grade which even a Saxon
may climb without trouble. All Ian
gerous curves and the present. diff
cult grades will be eliminated as well
as being wide enough to prevent col
lisions.
1t will be an expensive undertake
ing, running as high as $4,000 a mile.
and over, in places where the cutting
away of 5utting cliffs and tunnels are
necessary. The cost of cutting thru
granite is 500 a linear foot.
When completed, however, it will
be one OF the most splendid highways
and scenic drives in America.
The surveyors have started work
on survey east Of the dam, running a
line along the present road. This line
is to be used as a base from which
to make complete contour map to get
sufficient information from which
to make plans for the future improve
ments in the anyon There will prob
ably be four of these lines run thru
the greater portion of the canyon, two
on each side of the river from a
point between he two tunnels below
the dam. To date about one INT one
half miles of base line has been com-
pleted.
One of the roads will be surveyed
at the foot of the cliffs and the other
below the present road.
When the maps are completed they
will be submitted to the Bureau OF U.
S. Public roads, the State Highway
Commission and Forest Service and
the decision as to where the road will
go will rest with them.
1t is learned that there is a posi-
BILE chance for Cody's hope of a south
road although the Department OF the
Interiors right-of-way for the ditch
carrying water to the Oregon Basin
reservoir is a serious obstacle. Water
takes precedence over roads, always,
so the ditch line will secure first con
sideration.
To put the road below the ditch is
regarded as impractical as there US
ually is moisture and seepage from a
canal and some such condition would
prevail as now exists on the road to
the station where the hill is constant
ly sliding from the sewerage. TIC
place it above would make it very
high and an expensive undertaking.
Those with whom the final decision
rests are men of experience with a
broad outlook and will do what they
consider best for the greatest number.