, 1922-01-26

Safeguarding her varied interests.
there is. perhaps. no u Department
OF so great Importance to the State,
II to IN" people as a whole. as the
Stale Highway Department. Clothed,
as j, has been, with great financial
powe.. far III excess o: all other in
StitntiuIs. bat established underline
char"e OF furnishing and construct
ing for tn" State. q great Highway
System, this Department has labored
with problems of a magnitude far be-
yond the measure of the usually ac-
ceptcl routine and well understood
problems of other Institutions. and
but little understood by the public
in reHtral.
IL attempting to show how we'll
this Department has functioned.
how wisely it has COPIED with its
many problems and what beneficial
Tesuljs have been secured for the
peC0,r II The State, it is necessary to
go back Had cover a brief history Of
Road Construction in general up to
the point of the initiation of this
work in Wyoming.
Modern Highway Construction in
the United States dates back Il mat
ter of but little over ten years, and
was given a big impetus by the %
yiction on the part of the public that
the motor vehicle had come to
stay. Paving in cities had. of course.
been done for years before this, but
prac ically in all cases for the pur-
pose Of having clean and neat streets
which could be kept clean. and nat
urally as a matter of civic pride.
Some work had been done on i'm
nroyipu rnois in TIM LSoctorn CtotoS
in the '90s and added impetus was
given this work in the early COS
when automobiles became popular, at
which time practically all improve
ments in Highways we're limited to
the territory Immediately surround
ing large cities. About this time or
slightly later the first steps were
taken by Highway Departments rep
r~esenting the States to improve roads
to facilitate the hauling of merchan-
disc and produce. But very few of
the States had Highway Departments
and such as were in existence CO.
operated with the counties in i'm
proving short stretches Of road.
where funds could be obtained.
The importance of this work. and
good results obtained by handling the
work through State Departments,
made itself felt more and more as
time passed, until. with the Great
War on. the Government took the
highly important step of passing the
we'll known Federal Aid Act of 1916
which offered the $3.50 cooperation
with the States in the construction
OF high class roads and pavements.
The most important requirement of
the Act was that all work so par
t. b. 500
should be handled by the State.
through q State Highway Depart.
ment, and all aid was at first limited
to so called Post Roads. that is
roads over which rural mail was car
rcd daily. This last requirement
was, however, subsequently modified,
rs it became apparent Thai the great
est volume Of traffic did not always
fall to the roads owe which mail
was carried.
There wore a number of important
causes which led to the result of the
passage of q Federal Act in the mat
ter of road construction, primary
among them being the advent and
successful trial period of the motor
truck, together with the fact that
a more rapid form OF transportation
both for goods and persons had been
brought about and it's mea proven
entirely practicable. provided the
highway be furnished. A great means
then, OF bringing the communities of
p moderately large territory into far
closer contact, and thus moving
rural districts practically into the
city was at hand. and the Importance
of completing the necessary link in
the chain could not be overlooked.
With War looming as a grave prob
ability, and the necessity of bringing
producer closer to consumer, and
also that OF relieving the railroads.
good road construction was doubly
necessary, and finally the work of
Good Roads Associations m auto
motive interests who realized that
their product could increase only as
good roads did, all these things col
tributed to the result.
Immediately upon the passage OF
the Highway Act which eventually
made available the sum OF $275 ,0O0,-
10000 during five years. each State
which already had no Highway De.
partment. set about to establish such
a Department which could function
in compliance with the Federal Act
and thus take advantage Of the of.
fer of the Government to pay half OF
the cost of building their roads.
While the requirements of the
Government we're rigid as to quality
of road construction. no State coulc
possibly overlook the fact that. with
Federal Aid. for each dollar thu
State expended. something over q dol
lar and q half was put into circula
ton to stay in the State. SO whatever
results might be had from a program
OF Highway Construction the Stat
would be the winner.
Early in 1917 the Session OF thu
Legislature OF Wyoming Of that yea
created a State Highway Department
and the then Governor John B
Kendrick appointed the following
Commission: Robert D. Carey o
cheyenne; F. C. Williams OF Sheri