Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1852-1852, 1852-03-26
For the Camden Journal.

The roads of country are tests OF civilza-
tion, the veins and arteries through which nutrl-
ment is received. Without them the richest
productions of nature would be valuless, and So
ciety relapse into barbarism. Frequent inter-
course and constant interchange Of commodities,
constitute Us essential elements Of prosperity to
communities, as the circulation of life's purple
current to the body Hence, lese veins and ar
terics are essential to u prosperous country, and
they always co-exist as cause and effect, perpet-
ualiv acting. Roads are furnished according to
the demand for them, to every producing section
of country The struggle always is between
trading communities or market towns, to open
new avenues and more favorable ducts, to drain
the producing reservoir of its rich contents. To
superior enterprise the palm is awarded always
" Palmun, gui naeruit .terat TO that town or
market place rendered most accessible the pro-
duccr will ever drive his team. Therefore every
town has an immediate and tangible interest, in
the improvement of the roads connecting it with
the region of country with which it trades.
But there are other considerations rendering
good roads important objects to the entire com
munity. Suppose road ascends 100 feet in
2OOO one twentieth part Of every load carried up
that ascent is lifted up 1000 feet. On such
slope horse can draw only half what he could
on a level; hence, if the road is leveled one half
the cost of carriage is dispensed with; but on
a hard surface horse can draw three times as
much as on an ordinary level road. Hence by
laying down q hard surface, two thirds Of the
horses necessary at first to transport agven guam
tity of produce, would be saved. If such an i'm
provement can be made for sum of money, the
interest of which will be less than the total
amount of the annual saving in labor, the com
munty oaght to make the improvement. Plank
roads are the best ever yet discovered they are
farmers Railroads Their locomotives and cars
are ever at hand, under their own management
and control, easy, safe and expeditions. A horse
can draw on a Plank Road two or three times
as much as on n McAdamizcd road. Two horses
can draw six tons, or from four to five tons 80
miles per diem continuously, and fatten on it.
The friction is two and three -fourths to one in ia
vorof Plank over McAdamized roads. How much
more over sands beds and clay hills, Imagination
cannot compass Plank Roads are in good Or
der at all seasons of the year. Lands are en-
hanccd in value to an extravagant degree, be-
cause, those who are contiguous to it, can 60 to
a more distant market, can sell cheaper and gain
more. The consumer Of all marketable produce,
lumber, fre-wood &C., gets better supply and
at lower price, and store keepers carry on an
active trade all the while. In the language of
another, "a Plank Road is one of those few bus
mess arrangements by which all parts gan and
which, in the words of Clinton, augment the
public wealth." A few items upon the cost,
mode of construction and value of Plank Roads
are subjoined, taken from work of high author
ity, to which particular reference shall be made
hereafter. There should be a ditch on each side,
deep enough to drain the road bed. The width
should be 20 feet between the bitches. The
whole of this space is graded; but one side is
planked, the other is used as a turn out. One
foot in sixteen and half is the greatest rise in
an important road in New York which penetrates