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Show DAVID WARD Kll AND HIS SPLIT-LOG DRAG ARE HERE A meeting of much importance was held this afternoon in Judge Harris' court room in the court house, under the auspices of the city and county commissioners and the Weber club. The meeting was called for tiie purpose pur-pose of giving the people of the city and county the opportunity o.f hearing hear-ing an address by David Ward .King, the inventor of the split-log drag. Mr. King arrived. In Ogden last night and early this morning went with a committee of club and civic officials to the shop of the George A. Lowe company to superintend the making of a split-log drag, with which to give a demonstration in practical road building later In tbe day. After the workmen had the Job well under way, be was taken in Albert Scow-croft's Scow-croft's automobile on a trip of Inspection Inspec-tion of the county roads, both north I and south of the city. With him In the auto were Dr. H. M. Rowe of the Weber club and County Commissioners Commission-ers Hunter and Skeen. The party returned to the Weber club at noon and, after a brief rest. Mr. King was entertained at lunch, with Mayor A. G, Fell, City Commissioner Commis-sioner Chris Flygare, County Commis sioner Moroni Skeen, President Joseph Jo-seph Scowcroft of the Weber club, A. P. Bigelow, I. L. Reynolds, Dr. H. M, Rowe, A. T. Wright, Fred J, Kiesel, M. S. Browning and other prominent citizens at the table. After lunch, tbe party engaged In conversation before going to the court house for tbe meeting which be-gan be-gan at 2 p. m. There was a large crowd of Ogden men and fanners of Weber county, together with the road supervisors of Davis county and some state road officials, at the court house. Among the latter was Assistant State Engr neer E. R. Morgan. After being introduced to the assembly, as-sembly, Mr. King first expressed himself him-self as having deeply appreciated his trip through the Rocky Mountain re-gion, re-gion, saying that he was beginning to understand the fascination of the mountains and why It was so difficult diffi-cult to get men from the west to be satisfied with life in any other part of the country. He said that he had been much impressed with the signs of progress in Ogden, one of the most noticeable being the absence of empty store rooms, an upusual condition In cities of this size. v The condition of the city streets;, however, were in a large measure not so pleasing to him, he continued, and mud holes in water-bounded macadam or gravel roads were absolutely inexcusable. in-excusable. Nearly all the towns In the middle west, he said, were taking tak-ing care of their roads with the split-log split-log drag, and mud holes are fast becoming be-coming almost unknown, owing to the action of the drag, in keeping the roads smooth and level. "A big difference dif-ference is noted in city and county roads almost all over the country," he remarked somewhat facetiously, "by automobilists, on the county roads you travel right along but in the city or town youtravel 'up' and 'down.' " In his talk, he stated that he wanted want-ed his hearers to know that he had "nothing to sell," that the split-log drag, which he had invented, was not patented, but could be made by anyone any-one who had little mechanical skill and a desire to use it for that purpose. pur-pose. Regarding its value as a road builder and repairer, he said that the city road commissioners of ,Des Moines, la., have said that it not only kept the roads in much better condition at much le3s expense tharf any other method, but it added ten years to the life of the gravel. In Missouri, a system of 70000 miles of road from county seat to county seat has been made and is bjeing maintained maintain-ed by use of the split-log drag. It has lifted Iowa from the position of what was said to be the worst mud roads In the world, to where automobilists automo-bilists will go hundreds of miles out of their way to use the road which crosses tbe state from Davenport on the Mississippi to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri. His object, he said, in making his lectures, was to get the individuals to do their share of the work by the simple means. He said the manipulation manipula-tion of the split-log drag could be learned by a little intelligent effort. Following the meeting. Mr. King gave a demonstration of the working of tbe drag on the Twentieth street hill. |