the land values along the improved highways in this section of the State will be increased not less than 100 per cent by the improvement. Every National Forest county now expends money on roads in the National Forests, and by coöperating with the Department of Agriculture in the expenditure of the funds available, the resources will be so increased that the same amount can be raised at a lower rate of taxation, or larger amounts will be available if the tax rate is maintained the same as at present. USE TO FOREST SERVICE The Forest Service is interested in these roads because they will make the work of administering the work of the National Forests easier and more economical. They will also increase the receipts from such sources as special use permits for summer home sites, and bring more people to know what a playground we have in the National Forests. This view of the use of roads from a recreation standpoint must not be lost sight of. The roads of Southern California are a legitimate investment, for they return their value many times over in the use they get, and also in the revenue which they bring to the State from the tourist travel. It is estimated that this tourist travel in California brings at least one hundred million dollars annually to the southern part of the State from this source. In the State of Colorado it is estimated that the tourists leave at least forty million dollars annually in the State. If the State of Oregon should expend ten million dollars in the construction of roads and thereby attract to the State one million dollars per year of tourist money, it would be thought a very good investment, and yet that is not one per cent of the amount spent by American tourists in Europe before the war. These tourists would be interested most in the magnificent mountain scenery. They must be able to see these mountains, however, without too much hardship, and this means good roads through the mountains, and consequently through the National Forests. In addition to these roads across the Cascades, there are many other sections of the State in which there is urgent need for the construction of National Forest roads. In Wallowa County there are several roads by the improvement of which the development of the country would be materially hastened. One of the main roads for a proposed highway system is the road from the John Day Valley to Ontario and Vale in Eastern Oregon, thus making a connection from the Idaho road system to the central part of Oregon to be later continued to the western part toward the Deschutes and Willamette Valleys. In the southern part of the State we have the National Monument, known as the Oregon Caves, one of the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest. There is no ready means of transportation to this National Monument, and the improvement of a road would increase the number who are able to visit this section by many hundred per cent. The country along the Pacific Coast of Oregon is one of the most fertile fields for development of any section of the State, and a road along this coast with numerous laterals to connect with the Pacific Highway would be of immense importance, both from an economic and a military standpoint. This road would pass through the Siuslaw National Forest at many points, and the Forest Service would be interested in its development from all the standpoints of administration, protection, development of the resources and the development of the State at large. Another road in which the Forest Service is interested is what is known as the Tiller Trail cut-off to Crater Lake National Park, whereby the distance from Portland and all points in the State as far south as Roseburg to Crater Lake would be shortened about fifty-five miles. At present the main highway connecting Oregon and California is south from Ashland over the Pacific Highway over the Siskiyou Mountains. This road is closed to traffic during a great part of the winter on account of the heavy snow. From Grants Pass southwest toward Crescent City in California lies a country through which a road may be located in such a way as to avoid practically all the difficulty from snow, and thus make an all-the-year-round highway between Oregon and California. MILEAGE OF ROADS In making up a comprehensive system of roads for the National Forests, it has been found that there are about 800 miles of road which could properly be classed as main trunk highway. In the development of the National Forests there would also be constructed about 1,200 miles of lateral roads, making a total of approximately 2,000 miles of roads which may be classed as National Forest roads. If an expenditure of $5,000.00 per mile were to be made on this system, it would represent an outlay of ten million dollars, and it would seem that such an expenditure would be entirely justified, inasmuch as every one of these roads would open new territory to the homeseeker, new country to the tourist, and increase the value of the resources of the country through which they pass far more than the amount expended in the construction of these roads. - Marketing Center Systematic Highway Plan ning-Civil Service in Administration Summary of Address of R. H. Thomson, formerly City Engineer Mr. Thomson prefaced his remarks by saying that if each of the papers already read this morning were to be adequately discussed it would take several hours, for the convention had been favored with a regular cloudburst of material. He stated that his purpose in speaking was to cover in a general way what had already been said. Continuing he added: "It has been said that I care no more for the expenditure of a million dollars than I do for a dime. But I am always careful in the expenditure of a dime to see that it is going to produce a revenue. Suppose we take this attitude toward the problem before us. "About $4.00 per acre for every acre in the State could be invested in good roads according to the estimate presented here. In the matter of road building we should 'hasten slowly.' The first thing to do is to secure an organization of men to lay out and carry on the planning of these roads. consecutively from certain centers." Mr. Thomson did not concur with the judgment of the former speakers that good roads would increase the value of the land through which they run. Land, he says, increases in value insomuch as it is connected with the railroad's and markets. Ten years ago in New England there was an active and important committee called, "Abandoned Farm Commission." In looking over these farms, many of which were not a great distance from the city the question was asked, "Why are they abandoned?" The reply was that they had been abandoned because the soil there was worn out. In revisiting New England three years ago it was found that the Abandoned Farm Commission was being closed up. The farms, it was said, were being made to produce again by being fertilized. Mr. Thomson said that when the farms were prosperous in the early times it was before quick transportation had come into vogue. Home and village life were seen instead of great cities, and when the big cities came into existence through the development of railroad transportation into the rich prairie country of the West it was no longer possible for the men to exist on these farms. The cry of "back to the farm" was raised when one could not drive the men back. Later, Mr. Thomson, in making a visit to Oregon, took a trip through Biggs, Shaniko and the country to the east and was impressed by the same fact of dependence of rural development upon proximity to city market. One farm on Hay Creek containing 26,000 to 28,000 acres was mentioned in particular. In this district were many abandoned farms, but not because the soil had been worn out, for it had scarcely been used. Old orchards were found standing neglected. When these men were asked what kind of farming they carried on they said: "We are farming on horseback. It does us no good to raise orchards, for we cannot get our produce to market, so we farm on horseback, by which means we can drive our produce to market." Thus, without cities in which to sell goods, fine roads are of no avail, for the farmer cannot make a living. Passing to another factor essential to the combination to build roads and a community's prosperity, Mr. Thomson stated that he had been called the meanest man in Seattle. After he was elected City Engineer, which position he held for ten years, he instituted a new system into the Seattle offices. All men should pass the civil service examination, then, no matter what their religion or politics, they should hold their office continuously as long as good behavior lasted. Mr. Thomson claims that the reason his plans have finally been worked out is because he was able to keep at them for a period of years. When the present system of Seattle's beautiful boulevards was proposed the people seemed to think the work would all be done in a year or so and an immense expense laid upon the city. The plans were laid aside. A short time later, bicycling came to be a popular pastime. A tax was laid upon each man running a bicycle and this tax was used to build bicycle paths along the routes proposed in the boulevard |