d would be
necessary in building the railroad, we might as well undertake that
first, and so be able to go to Baguio in wheeled vehicles before the
railroad was completed. He asked for $75,000 United States currency,
with which to build this road, stating that he expected to be able
to do it for $65,000, but would like $10,000 as a margin of safety.

On December 21, 1901, the commission passed an act authorizing the
construction of a highway from Pozorubio, in Pangasinan, to Baguio,
"the same to be built under the general supervision of the military
governor and the immediate direction of Captain Charles W. Meade,
Thirty-sixth Infantry, United States Volunteers, who has been detailed
by the military governor for that purpose, along the general line
of survey recently made by Captain Meade for a railway between said
towns." The $75,000 asked for were appropriated by this act.

Work began promptly at both ends of the line. In June, 1901,
I set out on my first trip through the wild man's territory in
northern Luzon. Incidentally, and for my personal satisfaction only,
I inspected the work on the road. We had been rather disappointed by
Captain Meade's failure to make more rapid progress. At the lower end
I found that delay was being caused by a huge cliff necessitating a
very heavy rock cut. I was assured by Captain Meade that from this
point on the line ran through dirt most of the way, so that the road
could be completed very rapidly. This statement proved to be grossly
in error. It took years of hard work to open up the road.

Its cost when finally ready for traffic was $1,961,847.05. Its length
was forty-five kilometers eight hundred ninety-one meters, [507] of
which thirty-four kilometers were in non-Christian territory. Some
ten kilometers of the remainder have since been incorporated in the
first-class road system of the province of Pangasinan, as this part
is chiefly used by the people of that province in shipping their
agricultural products to Benguet, and in maintaining communication
between their towns.

The additional cost of the road to date [508] since it was first
opened is $792,434, making its total cost to date $2,754,281.05. This
includes not only the actual cost of maintenance, but very extensive
improvements, such as the metalling of the road from the so-called
zigzag to Baguio, the construction of five steel bridges, and the
replacing of all the original bridges on the road and of all the
original