Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937, January 01, 1920, New Year's Edition, Section 4, Page 14, Image 38

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    THE MORXIXG OltEGOXIAN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1920.
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f AGGRESSIVE ORGANIZATION SPEEDS WORK
SEVEN-YEAR TASK CROWDED INTO THREE I
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I Herbert Nunn, State Highway Engineer, and Staff, Backed by Commission, Make Wonderful Record in Con- 1
struction of Oregon's Great System of Good Roads. i
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By S. Benton, Chairman State Highway
Coramlsitlon.
THE Oreffon state highway system
totals 4317 miles. Contracts have
been awarded and work is under
way for the construction and im
provement of 1531.3 miles, over one
third of the total mileage. The work
under contract, including engineering
and contingencies and all post and
forest road projects, totals $21,46S,
613.44. The energies of the state highway
department have been directed to the
improvement of roads of primary im
portance, Buch as the Pacific, Colum
bia and The Dalles-California high
ways. The Pacific highway, totaling 352
miles. Is completed or under contract
for either grading or surfacing for its
entire distance, and by the end of the
summer of 1920 travelers will be en
abled to journey from the Washington
boundary to the California ljne over
a road of approved construction.
The Columbia river highway is
completed or under construction from
Pendleton to 'Astoria, a distance of
360 miles, with the exception of a gap
of 14 miles between Seuferts and the
Deschutes. Contracts have been
awarded for hard-surfacing the high
way from Hood River to Astoria, a
distance of 175 miles, and it will be
completed early in the summer of
1920.
Of the 342 miles of The DalleS-Cal-Ifornia
highway, 119.9 miles are un
der contract for improvement. In ad
dition to the work on these main ar
teries, construction and improvement
of highways is going on in every sec
tion of the state.
When the law creating the present
highway commission was passed in
1917, Oregon was far behind the other
Pacific coast states in road improve
ment and the commission concluded
to push this form of development
with all the power and energy at its
command.
A constructive organization, with
Herbert Nunn as engineer, was estab
lished and the work was pushed so
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SUMMARY OF" HIGHWAY WORK TO NOVEMBER 15, 1819. IX
CLVDI.MG PARK AD FOREST, READS t
Pacific highway. 118.9
Columbia River highway 105.9
West Side Pacific highway 49.5
Salem - Dallas highway 13.1
Yamhill - N'estucca highway S.O
John Day River highway
La Grande - Enterprise highway
Portland-Forest Grove-McMinnvllle. 31.4
Ashland - Klamath Falls highway
Coos Bay-Roseburg highway ....
l.a. fine - L.akeview nignway
Oregon - Washington highway.
Old Oregon trail
Baker - Cornucopia highway ...... .
Crooked River highway
McKenzie River highway
C rater Lake highway
Flora - Enterprise high way.. ...... .
Coast highway
Corvallis - Newport highway
Mount Hood ioop nignway
Grants Pass - Crescent City highway
Central Oregon highway.
The Dalles - California highway .
Klamath Falls - Lakeview highway.
Paving. Macadam.
27.0
6.0
19.0
2.0
Total
Ten per cent engineering....
Ten per cent contingencies..
.380.8
48.4
69.5
14.6
" j 9.1
20.1
" ' 6.7
12.9
'21.1
12.6
4.6
16.7
55.8
13.9
316.0
Grading.
107.8
159.1
- 46.4
13.1
17.1
77.2
9.6
18.0
19.0
14.2
12.9
35.0
50.0
27.1
47.0
19.8 -22.0
13.0
8.8
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3
16.7
62.3
13.9
824.5
Grand total.
Price Bid.
4.587,969.96
4.471.S76.41
1,397,258.30
320.74Z.bU
426.682.11
956.7S5.83
42.171.80
811,464.47
177.957.50
350.092.72
11.649.20
682.569.75
576.567.97
214.261.75
273,005.34
304.685.16
246.000.00
94.500.00
601.054.00
3.545.00
227.567.60
67.500.00
197,967.00
667,295.35
146.008.16
J17.887.177.88
1,78S,717.78
1,788,717.78
21,464.613.44
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energetically that seven years' pro
gramme has been crowded into three.
Approximately 40 per cent of the
work under contract, owing to lim
ited season when this work can be
done, has been completed, but as con
tractors have their camps established
and their equipment installed, the
work will proceed very rapidly dur
ing the coming season.
The projects now under contract
cover, if not in entirety, some part
of every important road in the Btate.
Elimination of railroad crossings, re
duction of excessive grades, widening
of dangerous curves, reconstruction
of impassable stretches is part of the
programme mapped out by the high
way department, and the results ob
tained in the short period of the de
partment's existence is gratifying and
extremely satisfactory.
The passage of what is known as
the market roads bill will provide
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funds for the counties to improve
local roads. The bill provides for a
mill tax and will yield approximately
$1,000,000, as the counties are com
pelled to match the sum that may be
applied for. it will mean an annual
expenditure of $2,000,000 for the im
provement of county roads.
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acres of fertile land in the west end
of the county, will cost in the neigh
borhood of 11,300.000.
This project is, in substance, a plan
to divert water from Camas creek
through the Blue mountains by means
of an 18-mile canal and a 12,341-foot
tunnel, emptying It Into Butter creek,
from whence It will be piped to a
storage reservoir to irrigate more
than 16,000 acres of the best land in
Umatilla county, south and west of
the town of Echo. Nine hundred and
thirty thousand dollars" worth of
bonds have been certified by the state
and Issued, the money to be drawn as
needed. On the completion of the first
unit of the work, further financing
is to be taken up.
Diversion Dam Completed.
The diversion dam on Camas creek
was completed October 22. The im
mense tunnel, a about four feet in
diameter, which is being bored
through solid rock, is being worked
from both ends and the crews are
now making about 20 feet each day
"at each end. November IS, 1050 feet
had been completed.
The main canal" is to be 2E feet
wide on the bottom, 40 feet deep on
the top and will carry five feet of
water. Construction of this part of
the job was started September IS
and Is progressing at a rate of about
4100 lineal feet per month. One steam
shovel is working one shift a day at
present, but in spring work 'will be
rushed day and night. The 18-mile
canal will carry four miles of flume.
To provide the timber necessary for
the project a sawmill was erected
convenient to the operations.'
OREGON HAS MANY MILLIONS OF ACRES
I OF RAW SCENIC MATERIAL FOR TOURISTS
1 Federal Forest Service Takes Hand in Development of Vast Resources So Beautiful as to Need No Embel-
lishment Transportation and Accommodation Are Declared Sole Needs.
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THE forests and the mountains
are so intricately woven with
the scenic resources of the west
that the forest service has been
forced to take a hand in their de
velopment along with other organi
zations' which are building up the
great west.
Oregon alone has millions of acres
of raw scenic material to sell to the
tourist. No embellishment Is neces
sary except in the way of transporta
tion and accommodation. What more
could we ask in a scenic way than
her Cascades, its Pacific ocean, her
ramified system of beautiful lakes
and streams.
Among a host of wonderful moun
tain lakes, there is the unparalleled
Crater lake, prominent in the memory
of everyone who has visited there
and looked into its deepest blue
waters.
But Oregon's crown of glory is in
her magnificent forest of towering
fir trees, a heritage of one-sixth part
of all the growing timber in the
United States, a proportion that
grows daily as other states cut and
slash.
Thin Immense body of ' timber Is
here to enrich the etate and the larg
est part of it will be cut over prob
ably when forest products will be
bringing the highest market values.
The federal service has taken up
the problem of scenic highways and
trails as a study and bends every ef
fort toward the leaving of sufficient
timber and natural growth along
those traveled by the outdoor lover.
Large bodies of timber are sold and
cut over, but never without a con
structive study of the effects of such
cutting in scenic places; and reserv
ing patches or strips of virgin timber
where necessary to hold the scenic
value.
It is the aim of the government to
accommodate the traveling public and
to select places for special improve
ment In every national forest. Camp
grounds are being developed and
planned, but the demand seems to be
ever ahead of the supply. If it were
not for the fact that the cash outlay
is relatively small for sufficient im
provement to make room for large
numbers of campers, the forest aer?
Ice would be swamped.
Every camper, whatever his experi
ence, is something of a fire hazard
and It Is perhaps the Idea of self-
preservation which first prompted the
plan of collecting campers together
as a safety factor In fire control.
Every camper carries more or less
debris which he does not take back.
The large public camp ground takes
care of this, which makes for sightli
ness and sanitation. Everything has
not been said about the tin can on
the public highway.
Another phase of the forest recrea
tion business Is the survey and leas
ing of summer, homeslles. The "home
In the mountains" Idea has become
so popular during the past few years
that it has been necessary to lay Out
many hundreds of lots close to the
many lakes and streams of the na
tional forests. Every survey is now
planned with reference to the scenic
beauties of the landscape. HomeSite
lots are fitted to the surroundings in
stead of attempting to fill an allotted
space with as many lots as possible.
In the earlier days of this work,
the small city plan predominated, pro
ducing a sort of checkerboard effect
that was soon found to be undesir
able for the reason that it is Just
that city effect which the summer
home people are desirous of ridding
themselves.
Now-a-days. when the forest service
gets applications or foresees a seed
of a summer home survey In a cer
tain location, a layout map showing
topography and landscape features is
the first requisite. Lots are then
fitted to suit the conditions, each be
ing roomy enough to Include a good
building site and sufficient space to
avoid crowding. A larger area la
fitted with road surveys to best ac
commodate it before any lots are ur
veyed. In these cases, adequate
wafer systems are also planned for
the area as a whole, so that the com
munity may co-operate If desired on
a public water supply.
Sanitary regulations are strict, but
not burdensome in the way of ex
pense or labor. In order to give each
party what he really wants, tt 1
planned to make each lot approxi
mate a landscape unit so that the
user may use his own Judgment la
the making of an attractive neighbor
hood. The types are sufficiently different
that it is not difficult to suit the in
dividual tastes of the customer. Term
leases are allowable if the Improve
ments contemplated are sufficient to
Justify it. One pleasant feature in
these days of high prices is that con
gress has placed the maximum ren
tal at $25 per lot for the year. The
average charge runs about $7.50 per
year.
Hotel sites, sanitarium, garage and
store sites are among the many dif
ferent kinds of sites to be leased.
Public schools and churches are al
lowed special use permits on nation
al forest lands without charge. Semi
educational or aeml-religious organisations.
I Teel Project Gets I
1 Fine Start in 1919 1
1 1
Umatilla Irrigation Work Will
Benefit 16.500 Acres of Fertile
Oregon Land.
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IN IRRIGATION, the year Just end
ed has seen a great project,
planned back in 1912, get off to a fly-,
ing start in Umatilla, county. The
Teel project, which will water 16,600
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tts . . . futtary cord Sfmippod
Newest Type of Closed Car
LEXINGTON introduces the car which
J solves the closed car problem by
building the body for the top.
The results are extraordinary, for a.
closed car, both in performance and ap
pearance. The Lex-Sedan has the finished one
piece appearance of the built-up type of
closed car, yet
It is much lighter in weight, effecting
marked economy of gas, oil and tires with
reduced load for the motor.
Also, the less cumbersome construction
gives the Lex-Sedan a wide touring range
without destructive body twists and
strains.
The Lexington chassis has many exclu
sive features, including self-oiling spring
bushings; non-rattle frame; one-finger
emergency brake; cable foot brake, and
Moore Multiple Exhaust System in
conjunction with the Lexi-gasifier
which uses Jow grade fuel and increases
the force of every power impulse.
The Lex-Sedan is upholstered in Spanish
leather and velour in harmonizing shades.
Tounmg Car, SiStst Thiol td (Spori Modtl), ti$S$; Stdanetf, USjo; Ctupe, ttSSo
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