Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 297, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1916 — LINCOLN HIGHWAY MODEL ROADWAY [ARTICLE]

LINCOLN HIGHWAY MODEL ROADWAY

ESTIMATED $4,000,000 HAS BEEN SPENT ON, TRANSCONTINENTAL roadwaV OF GREAT MILITARY IMPORTANCE $20,000,000 More Said to Be Needed for the New York to .» San Francisco Omaha, Neb.—lt is calculated by authorities in the Lincoln Highway As social ion that $4,000,0Qi) have been expended upon that transcontinental roadway extending from San Francis £o_to New York. The same authorities estimate that fully $20,000,000 more aie required to bring it up to the proper standard its entire distance The association officials say they have assprances that this money yyil) be provided in good ’.ime, with as much more as may be found to be necessary, as people in every sjate through which the highway' parses are showing steadily increasing enthusiasm for the great enterprise in which there is such vast advantage for themselves and for the country as a w .ole. The importance of military preparedness has not been without effect upon sentiment of yie public living adjacent to the Lincoln Highway, it has been made apparent as never before that an essential elejgaent in this preparedness is a modeyn -highway system, over which troops,' guns and munitions can be moved with ease and facility. Behind the growing favor for the improvement also is found, of course, the large and constantly swelling numbers of automobile tourists. Four years ago, it is estimated, there had been less than a dozen through transcontinental trips by motor car actually completed under the machine’s own power.

It is well known from figures compiled with some cars that last year the number of motorists who made the drive over the Lincoln Highway was between 15,000 and 20,000, mainly from the Mississippi river to»the Pacific coast. Transcontinental motorists, selecting the season when weather is most favorable can make the run in 25 to 30 days, as compared with sixty or more prior to the creation of a fairly good roads system the entire distance. It has become a pleasure rather than a serious undertaking. The Lincoln Highway across New Jersey and Pennsylvania is practically .100 per cent macadam, maintained in good condition and well marked. In Ohio, few miles of natural dirt road will be found. The state and counties have to date expended sl,256,780 in ‘constructive work on the highway, brick being the predominant material. Indiana is rapidly concreting the route, and it is not until one \gets west of Chicago that any unusual difficulties are encountered. Macadam, interspersed with gravel and natural dirt road, make up the highway across Illinois. In lowa the situation is peculiar, due to lack of a law that will enable counties to vote bonds for road construction. The funds available for this work from taxation do not allow for anything more than extensive grading, dragging and maintenance, but the Lincoln Highway from the Mississippi River at Clinton to the Missouri River at Omaha has been graded and dragged until in dry weather it is a pertect dirt boulevard for nearly 400 miles. The situation in Nebraska is much the same as in lowa, except that the drawback to permanent construction in this state is not legislative but is due entirely to lack of finances, as is also the case in Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. From Salt Lake City west, the tourist crosses plain of alkali dust and traverses beds of almost pure salt miles in extent, hard packed, and offering a speedway unrivaled by the work of man. Water is found at frequent intervals, the route being so laid out as to afford an oasis of some kind at intervals never greater than 50 or 60 miles. Gasoline can be obtained at any of the ranches which dot the route, and where hospitality is assumed. This is the trail, of the old pony express, the old overland stage coach, and the path of these fearless advance guards of civilization, Fremont, the Donner party, Stansbury, Lander and - . The Lincoln Highway in California is practically 100 degrees boulevard, following, as. portions of that State highway system which has been constructed under an $18,000,000 bond Issue’. | —• Every year, as thousands of eagfern motorists view the grandeurs and study" the of the west, converts to soil are created. Homes spring up along the rodte, ranches ap pear where once was barren desert., inns are erected, hotels are modernized, and yearly the Lincoln Highway becomes niore and more the mgln street of the Nation. |

Every time the sun Shines the pessimist consoles himself with tne belief that it’s raining somewhere.