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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1912)
NEW YEAR'S EDITION 4i Medford Mail Tribune COUNTY SECTION COUNTY SECTION 4 tfOUTY-JTIKST YJSAJt. mtlWOltD OUKOON, .MONDAY, JAXTARY 1, 1912. No. 242. Jackson County to Spend $1,500,000 for Good Roads , . t :. . .?$ k v (My V. W. Ilnimnn, County Hnnd Muxtitr.) .lui'lmnn county, luw, liy mi over- whelming majority, voted to IHlio $1,0(1(1,01)11 hnmU fur tliu construe tloil lf It HnlMll lf H'IIIIIIIH)ll( high way. A WMIII KH (tut validity f tl' bond Ik imoHi'il upon, oniit.lruutiou will begin under Hiiponlhlim r the iMiiinly court anil n highway coiuiniM. mIoh iiiiiiii'iI hv it ' "cstst '" ",,! work. JiH'kHiJM county thu l'"H "" "I"1'' in tliu good roads iiinvj'iiH'iil. If tin' Mtipi-ciiiu nun I mn"'h favorably upon lint bonds, iti example will bu grncr ally followed li.V tli" tlicr counties, llixl tllll ll".Vt fW .V'r Will WitlU'flH triiiiirkiilnV IiIkIiwhv construction. Tin' IiihI luilf century has been ho noted for iU building niul develop, incut of railroad Hint wagon rond have been almost entirely neglected. TIio selcneo of building permanent highways iw mi oh! one. Tin- faunMii Applnii way, lending fiom tin city of Home to tlio Mediterranean sen, was Imilt 320 years before Christ ami U a good ami permanent roiul tmlav. John Macadam, a Scotchman, after whom the macadam road in tunned, hull! permanent highways vr Kug Intnl. lielund ami Scnitliiiul more than a century ago, which Maud today an a Mthxtnutinl monument to hi mem ry. In Hid early part of the Inst con tury onr own uuvvrtnuviit, with ntato aid. hullt some iumnrtiuit roads through Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio. Those highways were con structed to ai'i'oimnodalii the im incline western luovn of emigration, hut lliu rapid building of tlu railroad kept ill lldvillll'C f Wl'HllTII Hl'tlk- nient and iihnoM entirely monopolised all other iniuW of trnusportutiou. lit fact, thu M'opIc of thin country had coiiio to rely ho thoroughly tioii railway truiiHortntion that little thought wiih (ivuti to any other incth od of traffic 4 , Advent of Auto. Tint advent of the automobile linn changed all thin. The iwoplu now rouliro (hut tliev ean travel with com fort and safely over eoiintry roadw almost rivaling the passenger tram fUolf in speed; henoo thu long neg lected scieneo of highways has be come, we might say, tho vital and most important subject of everv populated district of tho I'mted Stnlex, Stnte aid in hoiiio earn a IukIi iih .f.'id.OOO.Otlll Iiiih Imeii appro printed for the foiiKtruetion of per maiiuut roadn. Thu eiihtem Htaten have, for the pant 10 yearn, heen niv ini; thin matter their undivided atten tion. While the nutnmohilo ha Hel iih to thinkiiiK, it in of minor hinifleaiee when uompared to the iraffie carried on by vcliiuleti drawn by niiiinnlH. When wo take into account that the niilroiulH of tins country mote about two billion toiiN of freight annually, the larger portion of which in first trauhportcd by wiioiih, wo bejiin to comprehend the magnitude of traffic nor our liiKlnvnyH. A careful CHti mate inude by novernmeut htatiH tieiaiiH niveK tliu cont of moviuK freight by wajjoiiH over our projienl 'Voud HyMtuin at 2f cuiiIm per ton mile. For thu Hitinu (Hint railroad haul a ton of freight ol) miles. Accordiii to Genera! Stono'H repoit to coiikickh, with i-oiiiIh oomitructed and maiii taiued on hcieutifie priuclplurt, freight can ho hauled with hornu power for an uverii(,'u of HJ.fi ccutH per ton mile. When we ootnu to connider tho dif- ferencn between l-f cunln and 'J'i oeiitH on two billion tons of freight, wu lie-in to comprehend the immeuHn Iohh to the people of thw country on account of had and imperfect hiu'i wayH, l'eople r.liicatcil. Tliu period of education Iiiih paHHod. Tho people urc. thoroughly awakened to the advaiitageH of good roudH and in nil NiiotioiiH of the United Status Ihey are lihuril with their eoutrihu lions. The people are ready to fur iiIhIi Iho money. They Hay, "(live uh Ihu roudH." In fact, demniid ban far outrun Hiipply. Thu road builder In confronted with two perplexing prohleniH; l'iirit, while the pimple want roadn, they uru Htill inclined to cling to their old and olmolutu inothodH of building them, and, hocoikI, thu kind of rood that John Mcudam gave to thr woild Iiiih proven inadeipiutu for wagon and automobile. Tho Meet til o and the cork of thu IioiWh hIioo will in time grind the himlcHt known rock1 to dust. lit the pant (IiIh dimt Iiiih formed a kind of commit or top dress ing whicli Iiiih improved thu road, but today the automobile h picking mi till diiHt by the miction of tliu nub- mobilu tiren and blowing it out into thu Holds; so tho problem of a binder I Jy m... I i if'iFBHIIwi MB i 1 liBi i iriilii'linMBHMirrifl M i n hMllyTMflMTITTiWMBiM n itiitffTTMiiiiiivl j'jBi Jti M JiTEnrMr ' tniTnEjMMBBBW JackNOiivllle piarry. that will bo (IiihIIckh, uud Ktaud the traffic of both wagon and automobile, ban becomu a nubject that is just now taxing thu iiivcutuu genius of tloj world. There nro many kinds yf binder tiiat will hotvo this purpose, but in most ovory case tliu cxpeime is prohibitive for country roads. Our government at Washington has made hundreds of experiments oil, tar, as phalt and concrete cement, all of which serve thu purpose if applied scientifically, but what is practical in cost for ouo community becomes prohibitive in anothur section of the country where fuiigbts have to be added, It is, after all, a local prob lem that every community must work out for itself. Jacloinu Koilunate. Jackson county is perhaps in this respect tho most fortunate county in tliu entire country, having as it has the best of basaltic rook, shown by government test to be the very high est in efficiency, and distributed so thoroughly over tho county that orushurri mny bo hot up at different points, making (lie maximum haul of material not to exceed five or six miles. DcsidcH this, we liavo tho ma terial right hero in tho lloguo river valley for the munufaeturo of tho highest grade. Portland cement, and with cement mauufactiiied at home, avoiding freight, wo can build a hard Hiirfaoo road of our rock, bound to gether with our high-grade cement, Hint will bu second to no road in the world, at a cohI that will bo well within the bounds of reason and economy, While this article in being written, there uru gentlemen from tho east consummating plans for the building of a largo cement factory right here in our midst, so that we may look forward with u coiisidorablo degreu of hope. Alt Want lloads. Tliu county court, however, in con fronted witli a more serious problem than that of material, namely, the Impatient desire of every district for roads to ho built at onco nud our faulty Hybtoiu'of road supervision, Hullding wagon roads iIouh not differ in principle from that of railroads. Thorn must bo a thorough organisa Quarry men at vvoik, tion and complete equipment in order to build roads with any kind of econ omy. A curtain amount of work must bu laid out and tluished before an other is taken up. Our trying to build roads in a dozen differont parts of tho county at the same time divides our effort, scatters our equipment and results in Hittisfying no one, Wo have ID road supervisors that have spent in tho year 11)11 more than f (10,000, and witli all due icpoet to tho honesty and sincerity of thc.-io gentlemen, (his money ban been wasted. They have attempted to patch up and build after tho old fashion pieces of roads hero and there that do not form, or never will form,, any portion of a permanent highway. Tho people must have con lldeuco in tho comity court whom they eluct ami let them formulate and carry out feasible plans, and not bo harassed by advoive criticism and fault-finding. The people have a right to know what their money is being Hpent for. There tdiould ho a report, made public at least once a month, nhowing how much money has been uxpended and how many yards, rods or miles of. road have been built for this money. It should not he a question of personality. . For in stance, when $20,000 has been ex pended, the people should say, "Show uh your road," and if the proper mile age of good and permanent road s loriucouiiug, nun simuui answer an inquiry anil cnticiwii. Instead of hu-j w !f. 1 (iilffln Creel; quarry. porvisors, we should havo men corre sponding to (lie railroad .suction man that will take care of, and keep in repair, Iho roads a last as they aro built. It i a well-known fact that tho llrst year is the trying period for a road that i.s uot llmlted witli a hard Mirfueo binder, and at least until the cement factory is built, hard sur facing the mad would bo very ex pensive. So as long as wo ijim com pelled to build the ordinary macadam road, wo must keep it in repair, fre quently sprinkling it with water until it has been thoroughly nettled and packed by a winter's rain. Itepalrs Xcccssary. Thoro is, of course, a cortniu amount of repair absolutely neces sary in places in order to mnko tho dirt roads passable until permanent roads ean be built. Theso places, however, should bo only repnirod where absolutely necessary and tho repair should bo a permanent piece of road that will not have to be rebuilt after tho first wiutei's rain, and will form a portion of tho permanent highway. Two main arteries running north and Houth and east and west through t.lio county will, in a measure, servo all the people. Oar efforts should be concentrated upon theso main trunk lines and tho people should be pa tient enough to wait tor tho side lines until thev can he built in (ho nronor manner. Our equipment, with a littlo addi - 1 mf& ,twrnfBtHOwKuMtnT wfM' ''Df JlrfBlffr3k' t 25 C aC jStSmfthtAifUtZ f, fowSmffy ."jljmk-' J A, . i . j.4oo4 'V. lV ,,,, Jfr7; TyiH of roller used. tiouul, will be fairly complete. In fact, it is now the best m the stato, and with a proper organization and concentration of effort, 1012 should make a great showing in tho roads of Jackson county. Xctvsslty of Itouris. There is no state in the Union so rich in undeveloped resources as Ore gon, and no county in tho stato with as large a tdiuro of rich resources as that of Jackson county. Wo have for the past few years been develop develep ing: our fruit industry, but it is only ouo of ninnv, and by no means the most important, resources of this. valley. As" wo have .stated before, we havo material for making the highest grade Portland cement tho building material of the future; wo have clays for the manufacturing of brick, tile, pottery and table waro of tho highest grade. We havo a day qui of which a ware can he made almost equal to the famous Havalin china. Wo havo tho best of building stone, billions of feet of lumber, and thousands of acres of uncleared and uncultivated land. Great minora! deposits coal, coypcr, gold and iron. Get Heady for J 013. With the completion of tho Panama canal there will be an influx of emi gration to tho Paoifio coast which should annually equal thu present population of Oregon. California and Washington aro awake to this im portant period which is almost at hand. California has made a state appropriation of $18,000,000 for tho building of highways, to say nothing of tho various county appropriations which exceed (his sum. Washington to the north of us ia iiinkiug rapid i HHr"'r M5l ) C'tfil&jrfAUirriKlMlkJ ' ..' r i'-i S . r'T Griffin Creek quarry, (ruction engine leaving with crushed rock. strides-, and if we wish to have our share of pro.sperity which is surely coming between this and 1913, vvc must lose no time in preparing for tho immense rush of emigration' that' is sure to come. Tho railroads are awake to this fact and are pushing lines a rapidly as possible through al! sections of California, Washing ton and California. The people at the October election signified their willingness to furnish tho money for road building by voting in favor of a $l,f00,000 bond issue! and there should bo no timo lost in completing a perfect road building organization. $207,861 WAS EXPENDED ON ROADS IN 1911 Following is the report of W. W. llnimou, county road master, to tho county court for the year 1011. The report covers the year to December 1, thoro being but littlo work during (ho tirst menth: Machinery bought by road depart ment during 1011; Two woodsaw outfits, $090: two small Fort Wayne rock crushers, $3250.90 1 two Buffalo-Pitts hauling engines and 14 seven-yard cars, $15, 015.95; two sprinkling outfits, com plete, $781.53; ono No. 5 Austin gy ratory crushor, complete, $3201.50; ono Buffalo stonm roller, $3450; sov en King gVndora, four drags, two rcolnnintiou ditchers, $4284. Total, $32,582.94. Roads built during 1011. Ashland road, 1.5 miles, rook 10 wide, 14 thick Total cost, plus 10 per oeut for machinery depreciation, $7442.03; total numbor of oubio yards crushed rook laid. 5832; cost por oubio yard of rock in placo, $1,278; cost per milo of completed road, $3005.30; nverago length haul of rook 1 milo. NoteAbout 30 ner ent of this work was dono on a G per cent grade. Ross Lnno road, two mllos. rook 12 feet wide, 10 iiichos thick Total cost, pluB 10 por cout uiftouiuory do- s.fc' Macadam roads constructed by coun ty, showing stages of construction. i precaution, $0447.32; total number of, cubic yards crushed rock Inid, 4132; cost per cubic yard of rock in place, $1,558; cost per mile of completed road, $3223.00; average lengtk of haul of rock, 5.1 miles. Desert road, 1.5 miles, rock 1? feet wide, 10 inches thick Total cost, plus 10 per cent machinery deprecia tion, $7839.64; totnl number of cubic yards crushed rock laid, 2635.5; ot. per cubic yard of rock in place, $2,974; cost per mile of completed road, $5226.42; averago length haul of rock, 1.5 miles. Note Large cost caused by poor quarry, the rock be ing in boulders. Prospect road, six miles, 40 feet wide Total cost, cleared, grubbed and graded, $8046.58; cost per mile, $1341.09. Nete: This clearing was done through heavy fir timber. Derby road, 9.01 miles, cleared 30 feet wide, graded 20 feet wide; con tract to Muney Bros. Co. Total cost, $23,904.54; bridges, $2023.40; cost per mile, not including bridge, $2, 267.90. Reese Creek road, throo miles, grad ed 20 feet wide; force account work, Muney Bros. Co. Total cost, $4, 289.85; cost per mile, $1429.95. Flounce rock grade, 2.5 miles, graded 20 feet wido; contract to C. II. Natwiok Co. Totnl cost, $19, 417.81; cost per mile, $7767.12. Note This is a new mountain road, with heavy rock cuts. Bridges built by road department during 1911: Uppor Rogue river bridge, 200 truss, ono span Contract price, $8000; survey work and inspection, $285. Total cost, $8285. Lower Rogue river bridge, 220 truss, one span Contract prico $12, 000; survey work and Inspection, $185.52. Totnl cost, $12,185.52. Big Butte creek bridgo, 80 span Contract price, $3182. Foots creek bridgo Contract prico $1215; survey work, $10. Total cost, $1225. Central Point bridgo, rebuilt, 120 span Total cost, $4408.00, Gold Hill bridge, 112 trus3 span Contract price, $8184; extra work, $2828; survey work and inspection, $220. Total cost, $11,232. Summary of road department ex penditures. New roads- Machinery $32,582.04 Ashland road $7,442.03 Ross Lnno road 0,4447,32 Insert road 7,839.0i Prospect road 8,040,68 Doiby road 23,004.54 Reeso Crock road 4,289.85 Flounoo rock grndu .... 19,417.81 Tt' ,..$77,388,07 New bridges Upper Roguo rivor bridgo. $ 8,285.00 Lower Roguo rivor bridgo., 12,185.53 Big Butto crook bridge., w 3,182.00 Foots crook bridgo . 1,225.00 Central Point bridco 4.4nn.O Gold Hill bridgo 11,232.011 Total iH4n.An7.Ri County supervisors $57,282.74 Grand total $207.801.0,1 $10,000 paid by public utibserip- "On. a -