Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1888 — CORRESPONDENCE. [ARTICLE]

CORRESPONDENCE.

(travel Ronds. In Benton county a system of free turnpikes ere being constructed under the act of March 3d, 1877. Rensselaer and neighborhood need good macadamized or gravel roads extending toward eaJi cardinal point o£ the compass at least five miles. Will not five land owners on each of these direct lines sign the proper petitions and obligations to start these projects at the September term of the Board of Commissioners. Senator 8 P. Thompson or Jndge Hammond v ill no doubt draft the proper petitions and bonds for the asking. All should favor local improvements with a liberal spirit. Lot the work 1 egin at once. It takes time to select viewers, secure their report, and let contracts. The preliminary work on those much needed projects cannot oomvnauco too soon. The crying want of our town is good roads. X.

Thin is the lawyers’ vacation season, Rnd the necessary documents to start gravel roads and ditches so much needed in our county will be gladly and cheaply drafted by them. Mr. 8. P. Thompson was out two days last week in company with Mr. Knott, proprietor of a steam dredge, examining and estimating the cost oI straightening and deepening the channel of the Iroquois river from Jacob Bierly’s to Bebssrdaer. Mr. Knott proposes to cut a channel from 18 to 35 f )fit wided And from 5 to 14*feei deep, depositing the e*rth 40 feet from the thread of tho ditch for less than ten cents a yard. Mr. T. says he would be Assessed at least one tenth of tho cost on the proposed Iroquois ditch, but favors the project. The mill-dams are all removed. The railroads are built. Good roads and drained lands are a present need. The soil tributary to the Iroquois is fat, and would, if relieved of stagnant water, yield bountiful harvests of grain and grass. Lot this matter be considered in all its phases, and if regarded proper and feasible by those most directly interested, take steps at once to open a deep, wide, and dire ct channel for the Iroquois, Pinkamink, and Big Slough. And let grav d roads be built from the outlet points from Rensselaer. The ma - terial, I understand, can be had for the asking from the Iroquois Draining Company. Who will move in these mutters? Z.