The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-12-31
TULSA LEADS IN
ROAD BUILDING
County Now Has Model
Highway System of
Entire State
ALL WITHIN 3 YEARS
Six Marked Highways Main
tanned by Associations
Enter the City

days OF battles ana tuEls That a ucW
road meant somebody had been
licked. Collecting formidable ar.
ray or tiuware in the way OF phlulds
and spears with enough buck pri-
Yates bohiud them 10 pr0pel them
nicely ID bpillgeroui Roman wItl
military ambition would sally forth
20 clean up on someonc'a. olso TIM
ware and buck puvatUH II hp wa
successful In his undertaking, his
fellow cuunirymou celebrated tho
victory by building road II he
fniled-but nobody ls Interested In
failures and history therefore fails
20 say anything about thcm.
So the vnl5r ana Industry OF tho
Roman soldier WAS mcmorializcd for
posterity A perfectly good Roman
with perfectly proper patriotism
could get quite patriotic thru by
merely suiginR along any ono OF
these roads, all Of which, 40 succeed-
ing generations have been repeatedly
informed, led 10 Rome.
But times have changed since tho
Via Appia and it Is no longer
necessary In order to have good
roads, to beat up onsomo one. Bullg-
ereucy probably enters into tho
process of road building 10 some
extent more or less, even In this
enlightened day. but It ia battle
OF words and wits aud ways aud
means for the raising OF the neces-
sary cash with which 10 construct
these highways, rather than a battle
OF gore and casualties And the nc.
tual construction OF road means
victory Htlll, the Victory Of the
good roads enthusiast who has IN
the long smooth stretches OF hard
surfaced highways that are rapidly
forming on intricate pattern OF net
work across the country from coast
TO coast realized his dreams for the
good OF his fellowman.
Continuing the smile, I'm north
eastern Oklahoma and indeed in
this part Of the southwest, Tulsh
takes the place OF Rome in that all
roads lead TO Tulsa. study your
road map, and Tulsa looks, with the
highways from all directions lead
ing into H. like tho hub OF a great
wheel Six marked highways, all
maintained by organizations. comu
into Tulsa from virtually all direc-
lions. There are now I'm north
eastern Oklahoma moro than three
hundred miles OF har-surfaced fed
erai aid roads. part gravel and part
concrete ana IN Tulsa county -0s'
miles OF hard-surfacod roads And
tho remarkable IN ng about road
achievement In this part Of the
state, as In others, Is that virtually
every foot OF hard surfaced high
ways has been built In the last two
years.
No Easy Victory.
This celebrating the educational
victory OF the good roads men. Three
years ago Tulsa county had vlr-
tually nothing but dirt roads. out
side of Tulsa There were a few
water. bound macadOm roads which
were found to be unsatlsth ctory and
were later tern up. Tho Oklaho-
ma state highway department was
established in 1915, During 1916,
1917 and 1913, good roads meetings
meant discussion OF the question
shall we have good roads," The
battle for education on tho part OF
the good roHds men was on. Good
roads meetings were method Of
education. Quite unsuspoCtlng, be-
lieving that it was party 10 de-
cision as 10 whether or not we
should hard surface or lot IL stay
dirt, the public was being Instructed
as 10 the wisdom of hard-surface
road building. And tho good roads
men won. The subsequent CON
structlon OF i0S miles OF road in
Tulsa county. following Roman
custom. is celebration OF that vic
tory. Now a good roads meeting
means what kind OF road, and how
shall wo pay for Il?
Before that time, distance time
was mile time, oklahoma City for
instance, was 60 miles from Tulsa,
shoul danybody iuqulre. Now dis
tance time IS clock time. Oklahoma
IN n L tzayF. a
quarter from Tulsa, should any
body inquire Construction OF
good roads has revolutionized trav-
cling 10 a greater extent and for a
greater number OF people than Is
generally realized. And the con-
structlon Itself has been upon n
greater scale than 70 generally re-
allied.
Il. Bee Guthrcy, who as a good
roads man, holds some five or six
titles with accompanying Jobs, dis
cussed this question the other day
Guthrey has facts and figures and
distances ana Information about
on kinds OF hard surfaces from the
discarded WRtcr-bound macadam
60 concrete AZ his finger tips. The
Roman general who educated the
buck private in the mJnpulatou
az tinware had nothing on Guthrey
when It comes 20 winning a victory
30 that there can be good road
constructed, Guthrey and his as
sociates have won a lot OF 'em and
with the string Of victories behind
them they are mapping out another
three-ye0r program that Is 10
eclipse anything that northeastern
Oklahoma has yet seen.
Greater Things Ahead
Northeastern Oklahoma, during
the last year or moro properly
speaking, the three-year period
Just passed. but whose actual con-
structiOn was done for the most
part IN 1929, has had the greatest
road development in ITS history. It
IS now planning and outlining
financed road program that win be
even greater than actual accom-
plishmcnts OF the past year Guth-
rey discussed these two facts and
gave proving figures
Estimating straight taNeh 70 be
approximately $4,000 900. north
eastern oklahoma has spent on
road improvements mp TO this time
about sl0,000.00O. In bond issues
aud federal aid II has spout s8.-
10000 Tulsa county has gpcnt
about S30O0.000, Muskogee county
$1,000 600, Okmuigee $l,iOO, 900.
Okfuskee s700 600, Creek county
s1,25O.0O0 Rogers $500 900. Usage
100000 and ottawa $220 zoe
In this brief space OF time Tulsa
county has built los miles Of hard