Highway 6 history: 3.6 mile route built in late 1920s, landowners stand in the gap

Before taking a little side trip back to 1926, it should be noted that the Blake community would be reached today by going to V Highway and taking the gravel road, 280th Street, north, or left, for a little less than a mile and turning right at the curve. The Blake community was an area within a mile or two of the school. Along with the school, it once supported a stockyards and a few stores.
Standing in the Gap
It was to be the new route from Blake community to Jamesport. The 3.654 mile gap of Hwy. 6 is the only section in the Trenton-St. Joseph-Kansas City hard road system that has not been surfaced, contracted or now under construction.
The new route leaves the Perry Macy corner, and follows northeasterly the ridge to the Rock Island railroad track and crosses the tracks into Jamesport just a little west of the present crossing.
The new line does not pass through Jamesport but swings west of the north city limits and goes southwest around the town and passes over the Rock Island about a quarter mile west of the present grade crossing.
Completion of this gap has been held up because the farmers east of Gallatin were “standing pat” for the old route as they did not want their farms cut up by the new road, and reasoned the present route would serve just as well.
But the highway commission took the position that the new “air-line” route between Blake and Jamesport would shorten the present route 1.4 miles and save the state approximately $20,000 in the cost of surfacing the project.
Condemnation proceedings were to be brought at once, and the matter of obtaining the right-of-way  started. (June 17, 1926)
Suit was filed in the Daviess County circuit court which starts the proceedings to condemn the land for the necessary right-of-way for the new route. Notice is given to the land owners that a hearing will be held, at which time commissioners will be appointed to assess the benefits and damages. One commissioner is selected to represent the land owners, another for the highway commission.
If the land owners are not satisfied they may take their case before a jury in circuit court.
There has been decided objection to any change of route. (Sept 23, 1926)
Right-of-way on Route 6 will cost $29,885 under the assessment handed in through the Daviess County circuit court. Commissioners were appointed by Judge Schmitz. They were Dell Alleman, Winston; Grant McCrary, Gallatin; and Mark Tolen, Gallatin.
The awards on right-of-way were considerably higher than authorities anticipated. However, the saving in paving along on the new line will amount to approximately $40,000 for the shortened distance.
If contested, the highway officials will endeavor to have awards reduced as some believe they are too high in consideration of the benefits derived by the land owners from the pavement. Substantial reduction, they say, would enable them to proceed with the road without further consideration.
The landowners and the amount of damages awarded follow:
Perry Macy $1,750
Moren Knight $600
Martha and Howard Caldwell $4,300
T.E. Hamilton $4,100
James E. Johnson $60
Samuel Leonard $3,000
Ira G. Hedrick $1,500
Fonda Critten and G.W. Hill $800
W.L. Hill and Ida Hill $1,500
Joe Tate, Winnie Tate,
Beatrice McVay, Don McVay $400
Marone E. Noll, Maggie Noll $1,000
Harry E. Noll and Jessie Noll $2,600
Grant McPheerson $2,500
Paul Comstock $25
F.B. Boyd and Edna F. Boyd $200
Lola Cook and C.E. Cook $100
O. Wimber and Minnie Wimber $75
Chas. Griffith $25
Cordia and Eliza Malone $500
E.O. Wilkerson, Lena Wilkerson $600
Geo. A Spivey, Imogene Spivy $50
Essie M. Houston, Wm. Houston $300
James E. Smith, Polly Smith $200
Palmer Godman $350
I.E. Clem and Eva Clem $75
Geo. Thompson $350
Lucy Hainsworth $25
Henry Jackson, Nellie Jackson $500
Simon Arnold, Nora Arnold $1,000
James W. Ward, Amanda Ward $1,500
                 (Oct. 28, 1926)
Speed & Speed Bumps
Work on the new route is not to be delayed. The state highway commission mailed a certified check in the sum of $29,985 to cover the damages allowed by commissioners for land condemned for right of way.
The new connecting link is to be a concrete slab probably nine feet. With favorable weather the route should be completed in about six weeks. However, the commission has filed nine exemptions to the amounts allowed by the commissioners, and the question of damages will be heard in circuit court.
Exceptions were filed against the following land owners: Perry Macy, Martha and Howard Caldwell, T.E. Hamilton, Samuel Leonard, Ira. G. Hedrick, W.L. Hill, Harry E. Noll, Cordia and Eliza Malone and E.O. Wilkerson.
Just the same as the commission is permitted to file exceptions, individual owners have the right to file exceptions that the amount allowed to them is not sufficient. (Nov. 4, 1926)
The state has filed nine exceptions. In turn a majority of the landowners have filed suits asking more damages than allowed by the commissioners. (Nov. 18, 1926)
Due to erroneous land descriptions in some instances in the right-of-way condemnation proceedings, the commissioners went over these lands again and allowed three land owners $5,100 more in damages.
Errors were made by the state engineers in the case of four of the land owners. Ezra Hamilton was added $3,400, making damages stand at $7,500. Howard Caldwell was allowed $1,700 more, settling his total at $6,000. Wm. Hill was given a $75 increase, or total of $1,575. No change was made in the amount of damages allowed Fonda Critten.
The increased damages now puts it up to the highway commission to either put up the additional $5,100 and proceed along the lines already laid down, or it can abandon the road through the Hamilton and Caldwell farms, and follow the present route from the Perry Macy farm to the point where it runs into the new survey. (Dec. 23, 1926)
A Bridge Too Far
Travelers say the dirt road along this section becomes almost impassable in bad weather. They say it takes almost as long to go from Blake to Jamesport as it does to travel all the remaining distance between Trenton and St Joseph or Kansas City. (Feb. 17, 1927)
Failure to reach an agreement with the Rock Island railroad for erection of an overhead bridge along the line of the proposed new highway is responsible for indefinite delay in completion of paving there.
The department decided to go ahead with its plans for the road work to the point for the proposed bridge two miles southwest of Jamesport.
Contract for paving between the bridge site and Jamesport will be let after the bridge agreement is reached. That two mile strip will remain in the mud until the railroad agrees to the new bridge location. (April 1, 1927)
Back in High Gear
After a delay of nine months, the gap of the Gallatin- Jamesport state road is to be completed. Today a copy of “Notice to Contractors” for publication was received at this office from the state highway commission at Jefferson City, and the contract is to be let April 29.
The gap will be a nine-foot concrete slab.  The Missourian assumes the route will be the one the highway department has insisted upon, a shortcut through from Blake to the road at a point north of Jamesport. (April 14, 1927)
On April 29 the contract was let for the grading and paving of No. 6 from the present gravel road to the railroad crossing in Jamesport. (May 26, 1927)
Action has been instituted before the Public Service commission by the Missouri State Highway Commission to force the Rock Island railroad company, a corporation, to participate in the construction of a bridge on the new highway between Blake and Jamesport.
The chief obstacle to agreement for construction of the bridge was the proposed 50-50 division of costs, the railroad holding out for a more favorable proposition. (June 9, 1927)
The Ebbe Construction Company has the contract for the project. Motorists will not be inconvenienced. The contract calls for a new routing of the road and the route now being used by tourists will not be interfered with by highway workers, no detouring being necessitated. There are 19 culverts to be installed in the 3.6 mile gap. (June 23, 1927)
T. E. Hamilton and Howard Caldwell accepted the damages awarded them by the commissioners in Daviess County. (June 30, 1927)
Mudding Through
Only two miles of mud are left for completion of 3.6 miles of paving from Blake to two miles out of Jamesport, over a new line of route.
After curing 28 days the pavement, a 9-foot slab, on a new 30-foot road bed, will be opened to traffic. The remaining two miles into Jamesport, linking up the hard surface system all the way, will be constructed next year. (Nov. 3, 1927)
The case of T.E. (Ezra) Hamilton was settled and compromised at Maysville. Mr. Hamilton was originally allowed $7,500 by the commissioners for his land use. The case was tried in the DeKalb County Circuit Court where a jury awarded Mr. Hamilton $4,000, reducing his damages by $3,500.
In the compromise Mr. Hamilton accepted the jury’s award of $4,000 and each side is to pay a part of the costs.
Mr. Hamilton’s splendid farm was damaged to a marked degree by the road cutting through it and he is the loser by the compromise effected. However, rather than continue in court with the suit, Mr. Hamilton consented to the compromise and settlement.
Perry Macy and Moren Knight also settled their suits, accepting the damage awards as they stand.
The only suit now pending at Maysville is that of Howard Caldwell, who was allowed $6,000 damages.
Nineteen right-of-way damage suits were taken to the Linn County circuit court at Linneus. Only one of these has been tried, that of Sam Leonard, and a jury reduced his damages allowed by the commissioners in the sum of $1,200. (April 26, 1928)
A Joy Forever
The citizens of Gallatin and this section of the country are celebrating the granting of the 18-feet of paving in the city limits of Gallatin this week by the State Highway Commission. This paving on State Highway No. 6, east and west through Gallatin, was to commence at the southwest corner of the Gallatin public square and was to have been just a nine-foot slab of concrete from that point to Cameron.
For the past several weeks Gallatin citizens, headed by Mayor Don. R. King, have been making urgent requests of the highway commission to grant an additional 9-foot slab, making the total width of the paving 18 feet, within the city limits of Gallatin, or from the point on the square, where the pavement starts to the city limits, to the corner of the west end ball park, six blocks distant.
This west road out of Gallatin will be a “thing of beauty and a joy forever.” (July 29, 1928)

Linked at Last
The new pavement on Highway No. 6, east of Gallatin, was opened Sunday morning. The opening of this link, running through the northwest corner of Jamesport, now gives a complete surfaced road from here to Trenton, and makes a surfaced road available from Trenton to either St. Joseph or Kansas City.
It also eliminates a very hazardous railroad crossing as you enter Jamesport. A new overhead concrete bridge now spans the Rock Island main line track, and is a very attractive piece of engineering.
The road no longer goes directly through Jamesport, but cuts in a northeasterly direction through the north and west limits of the town. An 18-foot slab runs the entire distance through the town from the bridge. (Aug. 2, 1928)