ALL FOR THE WANT OF A SHOVEL

                                  ALL FOR THE WANT OF A SHOVEL

                                                        BY

                                              JACK GOUDSWARD

      Today many of us use it without a second thought. It takes us from Route 4 to route 287. Today it is known as Route 208. But in its early days it was known as S4B. First designed in 1929 as a spur from route 4 that was to run from Fair Lawn through Ringwood and West Milford and then ending near Greenwood Lake near the New York border. The concept behind was to replace a portion of Route 3 between Paterson NJ and the New York border.

       As the Great Depression hit the S4B project became part of the Works progress Administration. This would help employ a number of local men to clear and construct the highway. The day came when the tools and the personal arrived. It was soon found out that there were not enough tools for the number of men slated to work the highway job. A foreman made an off handed comment that if you did not have a tool you will not work. This soon touched off a number of fights over the tools and the right to work. As the number of fights grew the foremen placed a call to the local police to report a riot. When they arrived they soon found out that the situation was out of their control. The police placed a call to the State Police.

        They arrived in force and put an end to the problem. After a brief discussion was held to find out what the problem was and find a solution. When this was done a course of action was taken. All the local hardware stores were visited. A number of extra tools were obtained and distributed to the workers.  Work then started back on the highway. Construction stopped for World War II. The road was completed through town on 1960.