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To County Engineer (or County
Roadmaster) Harmon i What
Are Bridge Specifications
fo r if Not to Be follow ed ?
To the Honorable County Court:
Are Laws, in Your Opinion,
Made to Be Kept or Broken ?
The People Want to Know.
V O L 14
GOLD H IL L JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1912
NO. 38
The gravel for the concrete that went into the Gold Hill bridge was not screened according to specifications.
Not sharp crushed rock, but round, smooth boulders, many of which would not pass a six-inch screen - whereas
a two and a half-inch screen should have been used —were thrown in with smooth river wash-gravel,
unwashed and unscreened. W H Y ?
The people want to know!
Can “ County Engineer” Hannon tell W H Y that was done, or W H Y he approved th e bridge when he
KNEW i t had n o t been built according t o specifications ?
77te people want to know!
W H Y were retaining walls at the ends o f both approaches le ft o u t o f the specifications?
The people want to know!
W H Y , outside o f this probable blunder in drawing the specifications, was A N Y extra concrete work
necessary, IF th e specifications were followed ?
The people want to know!
W H Y did the people o f Jackson county pay $14 a yard for this extra concrete ?
77»e people want to know!
W H Y was the old Centennial bridge a t Gold Hill wrecked w ith o u t bids being aiked for th e w o rk or
w ith o u t knowledge, even, of the county court? H O W , under these conditions, could the c o u n ty co urt
a llo w a bill for th e w o rk o f wrecking th e bridge, w h a te v e r its amount?
The people want to know!
Braden Mine to Be
Developed By
Col. Ray
it
Who Killed Cock Robin ? ”
That Col. Frank H Ray, the Ne*
York-Medford capitalist. Is about to
turn his attention seriously to the de
velopment of bis extensive southern
Oregon mining Interests Is Indicated
ly the fact that he will shortly begin
the sinking of a 200-foot shaft on the
Braden mine on Kanes creek. The
shaft will be 4 1-2 by 8 feet In the
clear and will be sunk on the lode
at an angle of 35 degrees. The Bra
den has a more consistent record of
production than any mine In the Cold
HUI district. It has suffered at the
hands of short-term lessees who have
worked It on a get-rlch-qulck basis,
with the result that the mine has been
bndly gouged and the' development
work, while extensive. Is not calcu
lated to be of permanent value. Lo-
cal mining men believe that the sinn
ing of the 200-foot shaft means that
Col. Kay has at Inst decided to give
the Rraden a square deal and develop
the great mine, which It has every
Indication of being.
Tlie Medford Mail-Tribune has the fol
lowing to say ii I miiu what may lie lenneil
the proposed emancipation of the Braden:
For 50 years the Braden mine, near
Gold Hill, has been a gold producing
mine. It has produced het ween $000.-
000 and $700,000 in gold and it is
still u mine, not a worked out propo
sition but a real mine possessed of
probably more gold values than have
ever been taken from it.
The surface croppings have been
worked oat, hut the real value lies
lower down, mid Colonel Ray, who is
its present owner, is going alter
those values, not on the surface, hut
deep down on the ledges.
Mr. Ray has set aside $20,000 to
he expended in sinking a 200-foot1
shaft on one of the several ledges
in the mine. When he shall have gone
down 200 feet he will drift for 100
feet in several directions, and hv do
ing this he hopes to have opened up
one of the best gold quartz mines in
southern Oregon. Dr. Hay is now nt
the mine with snn engineer ranking
surveys preparatory to a commence
ment of this work.
What has ever become of the >10,000
"paid In by public subscription" to
help build the Flounce rock grade,
note of which Is made in the report for
1911 of Wilbert W. Harmon, county
roadmaster?
N eff Says Decision
Makes Bonds
Possible
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fy v A W fV
According to Porter J. Neff,
attorney for the plaintiff in
the Jackson county bond case,
the decision handed down by
the supreme court makes it
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The county to be absolutely
* self-governed in all local mat-
* ters.
The county to proceed un-
* der'the initiative and referen-
* dum at a general election to
* issue bonds in any amount.
The county to work out a
* plnn of operation abolishing
* the antiquated road super-
* vision system, paying ade-
* quate salaries and proriding
* for doing the work on a mod-
* em basis.
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Jackson county to work out
* its own system as completely
* as Medford can frame its own
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W H A ^ \R ^ J A C K S O N COUNTY WARRANTS REALLY WOR T H — LF.tZA L I.Y ?
SALEM, Jan. 23.—In a decision
1 written by Justice Burnett, the ju -
! preme court today reversed the de-
j eision of the circuit court of Jackson
I county and held that the bond issue
of $1,500,000, voted by the people of
j Jackson county in September was in-
j valid. The court held that the county
■ had no power to coll a special elections
for the purpose of voting road bonds.
In hl« opinion, Justice Burnett
heid th .t as a negative restraining
power against Incurring Indebted
ness the amended section of the con
stitution Is self-executing; that the
! powers of the county court are the
j same as they were before the amend
ment only the form of the restriction
upon indebtedness being changed,
and that although
the legislative
j power of the state had provided the
■ method of voting on the election of
officers and upon direct legislative
measures, it had never established
any plan for voting on county Indebt
edness In the absence of which there
was no authority for bolding the
election in question and It would not
validate the proposed t debtednees,
the amendment being In that respect
not self executing. The cou n fur
ther held that the county orders or
warrants are the only form in which
county Indebtedness may be evi
denced under the present state of
(Continued on Last Page)