Askov American., 1933-11-23
Getting it Straight

Mr.. Christian will now have charge
of the construction of the new road
near Greenwald's corner. This work Is
expected to be continued during most Of
the winter as the dirt there Will De
moved with large steam shovels."
In the issue of Nov. 10th the
Courier gave further news and some
comment on the road-trunk highway
No. 1S6-being built between Askov
and the pavement, in the following
lines:
several bunk houses and much other
contractors equipment has passed
through here the past week and a camp
is being organized on the east side OF
The river on the road from Askov to
the pavement. Why the camp was To-
road lies on the west side of the river.
is hard for few people to under=
stand. Seven men started brushing on
the road Monday and it is expected that
quite "A force of men will be employed
there soon. A contractor secured the
job. but it seems that he hasn't any
thing to say about hiring most of the
men as government money Is peing
used to relieve unemployment. so the
men are selected from list or the un-
employed by district man who Is at
Hibbing. 1t would seem that under
this system it would be very hard for
the contractor to estimate how much
the job is going to cost him..
The name of the project engineer
from the State Highway Department
is George NJ. Christilaw. His name
has appeared in the AskOv American
a half dozen times since the survey
for the road was started sCme
months ago. Furthermore he is, as
above noted, employed by state de-
partment-a public employe-a
therefore it is an easy matter to get
his name and initials correct.
The road being constructed from
Askov, or more correctly from one mile
west of Askov to the pavement, is a
part of trunk highway No. 1856.
If there is any difference in the
length of mileage of road being con-
structed as between the east and west
side of Kettle river it is likely about
one-tenth of a mile. Haven't paced
il out, but will leave that for Brother
Colby to do near Greenwald's corner"
1t would not be 80 hard for few
people to understand if information
were gained before utterances were
made The camp is on the east side
Of the river because. it is located on
farm that is nearest to the river
has water supply and road
leading to it. The part of the new
road where the most rock is to be
blasted and mCved-the expensive
PORTIONS on the east side of the
river and the hill to be cut is just
across the water on the west side,
also close to the camp. A large part
of that hill is to be moved to the
east side.
The contractors, it would seem,
would be most apt to locate the camp
at central point or nearest to the
bulk of the work, where there is
water supply, road, and other require
ments. Though not having known the
contractors very long. we are ready
to give them credit for knowing that
much-that is to use their best judg-
ment and common sense in the lOca-
tiOn of the camp. They must know
what is most economical and so far as
we know they, themselves, decided
where to locate the camp on their own
job.
The name of the contracting firm
is Runquist & Campbell, which name
appeared in the Nov. 2 and Nov. 9 is
sues of the Askov American besides
in daily newspapers previous to the
news-comment report in the Courier
of Nov. 16. Minimum wages are set
10y the government and the price of
board and room, as well as other reg
ulatiOnS. The contractors knew all
this before, they bid on the job and it
is very possible that the set wages
Of SO cents per hour minimum for COM
mon labor and other wages and regu-
lations were taken into considera-
tion when they arrived at the price of
$48,333.S0 for the job. If they did
not they are different from most con-
tractors who bid on jobs that run into
little money. At any rate we have
not heard the contractors crying
we shall lose no sleep over their
dilemma"
Aside from the above enumerated
discrepancies the Sandstone newspa-
per account of the new road showed
earmarks. of painstaking research and
careful reporting, real effort and hard
work in getting at the facts.
The Sandstone newspaper and few
individuals in that village whom they
like to follow, can't seem to get CHEEKY
about that new road and bridge going
in west of Askov.
Here are a few facts about it.
In December of 1880 that much
lauded former Highway Commissioner
c. M. BabcOck promised before the
board Of county commissioners of Pine
county, the county highway engineer,
the local senator and representative
that the bridge and road connecting
Askov with the pavement would be
built in 1881 or in 1882.
The county commissioner from the
Fourth district was to contribute
$4,000 from his gas tax funds and the
township in which the road was to be
located -Finlayson-would pay 20 per
cent of the amount paid by the coun-
ty, or approximately $1,000. The bal
ance was to be paid out Of state gas
tax money.