Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 16, 1910, Page 19

Q L. TYPICAL STRETCH OF ROAD IN JACKSON TOWNSHIP, HARDIN LDORA, la, Jan. A Dittle north of the geographical center of Iowa lles Hardin county. El- dora is its county seat. Aside from being a rich farming com- munity and the site of the State School for Boys, Hardin county makes no further clalm to pre-eminence compared with the other ninety-eight coun tles of the Hawkeye state. Near the center of the county is Jaokson township, Its largest town is Owash. Jack son township Is similar in all ways{ except- Ing one, to the rest of the county. Its long. level stretehes and ity low, rolling hills typlcal prairie land—make the topography of its thirty-six square miles like the vther townships which surround it. The stnglo exqeption, which Is at the same time a dif- ference and a distinction, when compared With 1ts sister townsliips, and for that mat- ter others of the state, are its good roads. They are of such general excellence and such a source of pride to the inhabitants of the township that they are called high- way boulevards, and they well deserve the name. The traveler may Keokuk to Sloux City Council Blutts, and he Ity highways and Cross the from may state from Dubuque to waverse all o byways, but not in an uther section will he find roads to compare with them, Because of tematlc work Its good roads and the which has wunsrerved them from Impassable quagmires (nto highways, which are not only most places durln smooth son township's lowa. The township the first one in the of systematic road passable, but the wnich in vear are payed has g most of average tame a8 (he street spread atl stand ne as world to adopt a plan dragging King drag. With no other materials the cluy and loam, which aye that section, and with no but the grader and the King drag of this townshi with a but the top sther implements the men under the leauersalp of FPrentiss Ransom, road superintendent have bullt up aad & higl wuys the like of which, when material used in consldered, in the entire west, demonstrated be- yond the successtul argument that the Bood mud- ridden crushied Owa. ainta cannot They possibility making lows be surpassed have of of without roads of n the srave), expensive, and nou had in Jackson complished stcne, macadam, all of whicl which are u can easily sand of wwnship Sixty-Five Miles Bixty-five of To these Sixty-five i the people of J pride when the wayfarer i Stretehing back and fortk ship, dividing it into hugh gigantic ehecker board boulevards of which boasts, Some of stralght through shall undulating hiils foot of it smooth and hard shed water, dragged &'most unbelieveable mre & delight to the farmers, the vesidents general, and especially and riginator of f Boulevards boulevards. s of excellent roads son township point with within 1 ac way the town es lke a Ighw Justly them run ¢ miles the [ valleys and » Nppix and kno \nd Graded to the 1§ like every oth to a for dirt auto of t to their the township in maintainery the Idoa, Prentiss Ransom of townsh tansom, the ‘“sys road iginator tematic 8&Ing" by bard headed farmer, whose traits are ood common toltiveness. For touching on und the 5 a predominating and entertalned estion of making &ood 1o possibility of turning G\y apd loam highways into smooth hard ‘.‘1. He argued his ideas presistently when ever he could get a hearing. He was ap enthi.msst on the subject, Evens tually his clamor for systematic road mak- ing geined attentive cars and he was ap- sen he sticks oars ideas the qu pointed road superintendent of Jackson township. That was six years ago. For years he had talked and argued harangued at farmers meetings, institutes and like gatherings that by grading the roads in the spring of the year, and then dragging them with a King drag after each heavy rain, that the resuit would be not only pussable, but excellent roads. Now that he was road superintendent the chance to put his ideas into operation was opened to nim, and he was not slow to take advan- tae of it. —— Ortgin of Systematic Road Dragging, No sooner had Ransom been piaced in charge of the roads of townsmp than he began to put his ideas into operation, At first it was slow work, and It was an equaily tedious and hard task to get the farmers (o Join hands in this radicai move ment for good roads. It required education and a practical demonstrauon Lo eonvince many. Farmers accustomed to roads which were impassable during certain moaths of the year were skeptical. They doubted the teasiblity of Ransow's pla Who was con- sidered by sort of a ran on the suoject of road making. uctanc the many to be a They wer tield 0 Ieave drag and WOrK 0 thy grade o out and had, however, uE they were Wnen Kunsom demonstrated that his theo- ies were practical by graaing and drag&ing cotions Of the Ignways wonaeriul change accompisned Legan 0 souk (e not 1ong unul s one and U ana bean then 4n enthusiasuc In the road bunding a sound with his persistency, toroughly deveiop it But it re- qu.red thrce years' me beiore the develo went ¥ 100t puolic hign Sinee then the maw w get ‘L ney teature, tne redocin open to eonviction, certain ana ey SUW e the ldea o n w o and and It wa avotner nd owner enter tahe & ana first an accv WOrKIng inierst laving gained 100160 TuF s ldea, Hansom, usual vegan o acned every ot way in t " wownsup. tuin A par It the the roads has becuuie a¥ inucn ot farm Work of tnose who 4o an 18 the v Is Hani PIAN 0 & nuisaen 1 grade the Here om his own woras spring with u regularly rouds in tne uid Lnen urag tem and arer every vad storm,” But 1t requiiva the co-opera ot had to be Kepe up o and there W Ko on ih Wi rocaned. x ace SD L0IS MAnSOm Wiviaed 018 LWL WP uaus ino AL LIS et suibered twenty-fiye ber wa horteneft eased and cach n lengtn, farmer & AoU 10 G o he « Larly to [ Who Lud teley 1 \ne 1§ the fore grade the i with grade when the highwaye need diaggng Ran ind within three the =i and mad Siduun arag the delep! Seis them 10 work st 16 L i raln every oot uf y-tive the tloor was e, origin and the method ot rodd dragging whien Iy ving of Droved successtul during the hat it has been fully developed? answer Jacks people ) development this winws i mmor detali plan of systemati las miade these roads ustly deser Has it ald. The be o these townsnip The made 1 pleces of the questions | and a talk L the & photographs of of this township. with next m average T ety ldea Further Developed, Rausom, In developing his scheme temetic road dragging, found that at times and In oertain places the clay and loam highways became flat, falled to draln watcr THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE JANUARY 16, 1910. <At R M'T-J(-&p. ._«-u:k e and were cut up with wagon tracks and developed mud holes and mires. Such places require special treatment. In his own wards, this is how he cares for them: “When the roads become flat and sodded and do not drain properly there should be & couple of furrows plowed along each side of the road as soon as the frost goes out in the spring. When the sod becomes sub- dued s0 it will pulverize, commence in the furrows to drag, dragging the dirt to the center, and In a few times of dratging there will be n well-crowned road. In tho average Iowa road the furrows should be plowed about a rod from the fence. By following these directions and applying the road drag in systematlq dragging any town- ship can have highway boulevards.” For three years now his plan sy tematic road dragging has been carried out on every rod of highway In the township. In the spring road Is graded, and where the road has become sodded the fur- of each wivseny ddridtiveha UNTY, IOWA. rows are plowed. Then after each heavy rainstorm the drags are sent over the roads. Because most of the heavy rains fall dur- ing the months of April, May and June the roads are dragged oftenest during that quarter of the year. During the drier sea- scns, weeks and sometimes months elapse without It being necessary to go over the roads with the drag. ° kept up as late in the winter weather will permit e work is as the What One of the questio; in the farmer's mind is, What has it cost? The cost has been small and so insignifi- cant {n comparison with the results accom- plished as to be hardly comparable to what has been attained. The cost an average of about $5 per mile It has not always cost that much, the exact amount depe the season. Years when abnormal rainfall the Hax firse en the Cost? that v beer per year although of course. the has has on s, upon has been cost excecded Bven (he th Failed. IR giving nine applicants for hand in marrisge, & nine month's trial to prove their worih as housslkeepers, and having rejected them all for the tenth, Frank Bowman, 47, of Clty has been able to keep the one he chose as his belde only months. Having tried the nine women just long enouih to find out thelr virtues. Bow- man was “spolled as a hugband,” Ing to his wife, and because he was too consclous of the fuults of the woman he chose aldn't stand the domestic sclence E his sued him for divorce. place to to' marry month T had three youngest cach accord- tinally of eriticlsm, She stra his oday bride of last “I told morely that I did not by the end of a attached the that 1 He than In threatened marry perimenting appointment tor it all But celebrated constant August him, him become and but desire to children consented aid th aia be liked to kil He but everything better nine housekeepers. at he it 1 aia not months of ex~ him much dis- hid compensated me o well 1 himself 1 that sed that 1 him no had Mr malke th Bowma age been troubles She didn't good coffee as White did couldn't “f the two little girls as well as Mr did, ard Miss Murphy managed Krocery buying better hegan Mixs X up Flotcher had the ol Chest. New London, leaving a Miss Mrs. Emma flve Balley months ag com- Alice far as irs old spending the little home, by sewing neighbors and fortable Ba anybody and rest she keeping for her triends looked her life in the wolf fro more s door pro One day Miss Balley through an old cedar chest thet her father Captatn William Balle with him when he ships many years clothing, which took a notion to go had carried to weu was master of whaling wk out all the had been kept there away from the moths, and e bottom of the chest found three bank books, which that $3.500 Leen deposited. A hurried caleulation was made by Sam- uel M. Hinckley, president of the Whaling bank, where the money was deposited, and it was fourd thai compound interest for Ago. SI she showed had twenty is now vears had ac worth |cor ind the amount 1de over $10,000. The Doctor's certain bell supposing. Mistake, natured rang late on Christmas evening that the summons from some one who needed his services from the bed, put on his d and went to the door. A m holding a huge paper pack: buds and leaves were protudin 1s Miss Caroline Wa.d in ‘Bhe hLas rvetired,” returned Miss Caroline Ward was Lis “I'm sorry to call 50 late went with the leave her. sir A door Zoud doctor, whose was rose wi, »od there from which he asied th ook Something i, Tl kindly tor sir, wrong this for it glve is to her in the morning Certulnly,” said the the the kitchen a sink, drew a few arefully pressed the bas into the water and went thinking pleased car 1 was you will He and took flowers shpan in of water In of the p back to would next morning a dripping had the pusson 1I'd empty the if they young I would! left into th placed it, ¢ kage bed how The holding It 1 sald she, em my pan be he f bundle und the She v a: dia on wot Kettle could put brought this,” rd hat me man in a doctor the kitchen somewhat Virgl Virginian the betwe A Courag Let the atter” be scratched trance to the Hall of Fame; and Snake Eater and Akeny of Chicago,” who ¢ death with his bare crushed a leopard's lungs The W neglected to but ¢ name of “a named S| over main en u th triend, ked @ hands and bare lion to with his knees. hington correspondents 'd out the give sarding his ve He variety o8 Or hav of Mr are copiously eloquent hero of the garden suer of runaway hor rockers at Sunday sehool pienies or senile hippopotami Olypian, heaven-kissing, unrivaled To come to the point at once, M has offered to marry « Natlon The true quality of this remarkable Baltimore Sun, will 1 parent at once. On its face pears Lo be nothing more than un of reckless bravado—a symptom of a brag gadocia spirit, more pleturesque than brave But & careful examination of the nature of human marriage and particularly of mar- riuge to an elderly widow armed to the teeth, invests It with colossal daring. Even 1 name Slatter or they I8 no common no cheap pur of boat slayer ritable untque but a arvie ter ap ap observes the be indeed, it VIEW \ 1. H. 8ti 8. H, Fouts; 9. Shanner; 16. J Shanner; 23. P. ow; 2. Frank Fuller; 3 Dell Cross; 10. O. Simpson; Ransom. 17. G drler years, each 00 for cost The average Is about & months, but in 1908 the was $100 less than that amount twelve How Is thils expense for The poll taxes of those who do the work takes care of part of it. Instead of paving thelr tax in money the farmers go upon the roads ard work it out with the grader or drag. The rest of the cost is pald for at the rate of 50 cents for each mile dragged each time. This money is raised by general tax on the land of the township. It amounts to but a small fractional part of one mill of the annual assessmont for taxes, the amount pald by each individual Leing very small inedeed. During the month of April of last vear there came a number of hard rains, more than usually fall in that wet month. The result was that it was necessary to drag the roads many tim Ransom says of that month's work: “We dragged the roads of township six times in seventesn days, the result being that ihrce days after the last storm we.had the roads of the township free from ruts, mud holes and smooth as a board walk. The cost of drag- ging was about $25 for each t about $150 in all. Whilo that may large amount to expend for dragging In scventcen know from oxperience that our be graded and maintained enough cheaper during the rest of the vear to offset thé cost of dragging during the seventeen days. We can grade and repair with the grader quicker and three miles of road that has been dragged regu- larly and systematically than one mile that haw not dragged at ali. 1 not mezn to nfer that our township can afford to expend $150 a month the wround roads met? our em a days, yet w roads can easler a year urder the circumstances most ordinary wan turns pale at the altar prate precautions taken to divert mind from the future, but with all thet still trembles. 1t It wers not for the that his facuitles are benumoed by loud musie, the rattling of bankies and artificlal palms, and the ecstatic . bursing the unmarried in thé audlence the further his dlstrust b, of the bride, carefu schooled In shrinking gentleness, the win- dow But benetit by anodynes will be snare the tavorable Lia hi he fuct are ladies fact that appearance aliayed the who | ly e would jump out the man no it the who Carrie deceits music marries benign will and at all it cacaphony of fifes herselt will taloum, Upon stern frown silent watches head will be that which hag long breathed threats, in her hand ancient symbol and instrument grim calling—her glittering hatehet it liguorish stains. Fancy agitation of the bridggroom when her glance fixes him! Fancy it—and tall on face before that Virginian named He belongs to the old race of Of such the men who brave the demons beyond Jebelal-Tarik and rid the carth of goblins, tyrants and necro- mancy such there Is any alarming drums. And Carrle no mask of tulle and will that which bartenders see in the night; upon her black bonnel eloguent will be the and wear her face be same uch and of with her sinister the then Slatter glant were December and May. It is getting (o be the fashion nowadays, this mating of December and May. Re cently a wealthy woman of Hartford made plans for marrying a olboy at New Haven. She wWas about 70 and he about ¥, and her children and grandchildreg, when they heard about i, went courts and craz Judges knew otherwise, and free and let her continue mistress of her own fortune Then there was the lady of A noted American family who lived in her mansion on the Hudson. For sixty-elght years she had lived alone, and then she married he hostler, aged 24 What of that? Shall & woman who has lived nearly three score years and ten and stll s an old mald, continue until her death? Mme. Francolse Munts and Arthur Springer, ¥ taken out a license to marry New City. Speaking for the lady and himself, Master Springer makes this statemvent “It Is no one's business except our's if we marry.” The boy is right; he can marry his stepgrandmother if he wishes, and not even the law can say him nay. to the sald she was But the set her lo. 57 years old, have York George Lynk, Jr.; 4 Huffman; corge Cross; OF THE UNDRAGGED ROAD AF L. H. Granzow; 12 H. 1. Doud; Wolfe; 19. A 11. Guy Baker; 13, 18 B. W. MEN WHO DRAG THE ROAD. PRENTISS Owassa, for road but drag o systematical age of from lleve every saving of grading dragging township we can afford to regularly and ach raln on an 0 a year, and we roads ver- be- the cent: Is returned to Has Been the Result. The result of this systematic grading and drags! f the roads is that the townehip has roads unsurpassed by any of its kind in the entire Mississippl valley and cqualled by few if any. The township scnds an open el 40 the world that by Its sysiem it ean put its roads in the best of condition in less time than by any other method. It in in three It has been done on a wager in an hour, and that means that every foot of the sixty-five miles has been gone over, some of it twice in that time. Other results are that it has increased farm values. The amount s estimated at from §1 to ‘I0~Hr| acre. It has lessened the cost of transportation, by reducing the wear and tear on horses, vehicles and harness. It has brought town closer to the farmer, moved the farm closer tq town, because of the lessened time it takes to reach town the good roads pared with the 0ld muddy roads, It makes the rural malls pgular and earller, and it makes the township a better place to live in, and the pride which its people take in the roads are reflected constantly in the additional Improvements of the homes and the beautifying of the grounds, Here is the terse way one farmer enumerates the compensation he wets for each time he drags the roads. “Driving aver my own dragging. Driving over the dragging of others. It Increases the value of my farm. It beautifies my home. 1 get my mall from one to three hours earlier, The distance to town Is shorter. The pleasure of being one to help carry along this grand work. Fifty cents a mile for dragging.” W hat regularly done hours aver com the. Farmers of the township, who st first August Jass; 6, Fred Trickey; Bear; 20. Earl August Stielow; 7. Frank Hiserote; 4. H, Hickembottom; 16 W. Bick; 2. T. E. @rippen; R. 8. RANSOM, In were openly ir the sceptical or luke warm in thelr interest in this systematic dragging of roads, arc now, with scarcely an exception, warmly enthusiastic In the work, They their bottomless roads transformed smooth, hard highways and they are not willing to return to the days of impassable, rut-furrowed rosds, With one voice those who are enguged ip this work of keeping up the roads say; We deem it just as important to drag the roads when they need it us to till the soil ar farms it needs it husiastic are they, that it matters Wwhat they are doing, when the word comes over the wire from Ransom to get the roads, the plow Ix stopped in the furrow, the harrow is left in the fisld, and, quitting all else for the time, they hitch to the drag and go skating and slid= ing back on forth over the highways ‘The eontention Is not made that Jackson township roads are muddy, Ran- som, the oracle on the subject, says re- garding this point. “In rainy weather dirt roads are muddy, they always were, they always will be, but get after them with the roud drag at the first opportunity and they will never be bad very long at time A point in controversary between vocates of the yoad dragging system when 18 the proper time to drag? Ransom agrees with D, Ward King, the originator of the Klug road drag, that the time to drag Is when the road Is plastie but net sticky, In summing up his plan Ransom encompasses it in the following paragraph, “The road drag is a road bullder, & road smoother, & meney saver and all it needs I3 for people to put it inta complete operation. I have given my plan ® thorough test for three years and 1 have studied its consistency from almost every point and I have become fully convinced it is the best and the cheapest way to maintain earth roads. If all the town- ships would adopt the systematic method the roads of the state could be dragged like clock work have seen into on o when not onto never ad- in