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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY
paving—nearly one-third of all concrete roads in Utah. The new highway was a two-lane road measuring eighteen feet wide. Work moved ahead slowly during the next two years, extending the road north through Bountiful. The pioneering project served as a test of the appropriateness of concrete highways in Utah. 75 During this time, the shift from horse-drawn to motorized vehicles was well underway, as evidenced by a survey of traffic at North Salt Lake. On 23 April 1915, the census station counted 276 wagons, 43 carriages, and 87 saddle horses traversing the all-weather highway, compared with 287 automobiles, 74 motorcycles, and 11 trucks. 76 After Governor Simon Bamberger took office in January 1917, the legislature authorized bonding for state roads. This shifted some of the tax burden from counties, which were still required to buy the rights-of-way The road commission ended sprinkling of state roads and authorized more paving. Commissioners in Davis County agreed in 1918 to levy heavy taxes to pave the remaining fifteen miles of dirt road through Layton, Kaysville, Farmington, and Centerville and a short section from Clearfield to the Weber County line. Reinforced concrete was installed along all of this central section except through Centerville, where a hard oil surface failed within three years and was eventually replaced with concrete. 77 In August 1920 the mayors and many residents of the seven cities along the route joined in a automobile parade that converged on Lagoon to celebrate completion of the "Million Dollar Highway" Governor Bamberger and former Governor Spry addressed the celeb r a n t s from the t r i - c o u n t y area at a gathering sponsored by the Kaysville Commercial Club. The paved road was applauded for its usefulness for commercial traffic. "It is the longest stretch of hard surfaced c o u n t r y road in the vast region which lies between the Missouri River and California," the Weekly Reflex reported. 7 8 The newspaper lauded the accomplishment as a step toward realizing the day "when Davis County would be a continuous city from Salt Lake City to Ogden." "It no doubt means the most to the interior portions of the county," the Davis County Clipper said, "as it has practically brought them as near to the big cities on either end as the nearby settlements were."79 A road previously impassable during wet weather now served farmers throughout the county sending produce to mar-
