The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1874-07-29
BEANS STATION TURNPIKE
AGAIN.

ANOTHER EFFORT TO OBTAIN INFOff-
NATION AS TO THAT BALANCE OF
$13-AND CONTINUATION OF THE
INTERESTING STORY ABOUT A NOUN
TAIN TURNPIKE.
THORN HILL, Tenn. July IL, 1874.
To the Editor Of the Morristown Gazette:
/ have waited for reply to an ar
ticle published in the GAZETTE of
the 8th inst, and waited vainly.
Sac my auld stumpio pen gat 1t,
WI muckle mark:
And took my jocteleg and what it
Like ony clark"
It was only asked what became Of
$13 90. and the tolls accruing from
a few special toll paying vehicles,
&c. Yet no reply is made, and grad
ually the road grows worse. Have
the Commissioners no reply? or do
they think it beneath the dignity of
their positions to reply to a simple.
yet plain, and perhaps too pointed,
question? A question, too, asked
in the name and for the benefit of
the people, to whom these Commits
sioners owe a good, or at least,
passable road, if nothing else. In q
previous communication | alluded
only to the South face Of Clineh
Mountain but there is another two
mile stretch Of this same TURNPIKE,
equally deserving of notice, viz (:
from Thorn Hill to the mouth of
Indian creek the latter point being
385 feet lower than the former. This
part of the road has neither pine
bT1tSb nor cORtOTted bldcb jacks, but is
Macadamized, it is ! with simon pure
blue limestone, so situated as to
make one think it had (since the
road-workers were there) rained. q
shower of broken limestones of va
rious ages, Gf rocks grow. This
part of the road is narrow too, but
is wider than that on the mountain:
but it is exceedingly rough, almost
beggaring description. There are
five fords in the distance Of one mile
of this road, and all but one Of them
are very rough; that one was SO
slick it was dangerous; but thanks
to our enterprising roadmaster.
few days since he took four militia
men to this ford, placed huge piece
of timber, (well l would guess fully
.fUe inches ia diameter; amt that
heavy for so few men to handle? p
across the creek below the ford, Gf
anyone can tell by looking where
that is), and piled up against the
aforesaid timber, some loose stone.
Now you perceive this dam viii stop
the water so that the large, fat slick
rock in the bottom can't be seen, so
if your horse is liable to fall, you
would not know it thus he hes
saved every traveller at least "half
q skeer.'
This part Of the road, too, is the
lowest in the centre, and every time
the small creek that meanders along
it gets good supply of water, it
quits its channel, and just rs water
on the rampage will do, runs into
and along the lowest place, which is,
Of course, the Turnpike, and washes
away the last lingering fragments of
earth that had been carried to and
deposited on the rocks by wheeled
vehicles, for the road at this point
gets no dirt otherwise. Many, very
many, If not most of the stone ON
this two miles would weigh from five
to twenty-five pounds, and some
much more. They are square, hex
agonal, octagonal, and various other
g agonals" in form, so that it is very
difficult for horse to stand on them,
and they are about three layers deep,
SO that he can't get Off of them.
ask again, candidly, eohy is this thus?
The ferry, ION the Beams Station
Turnpike). across Clinch River, takes
In over 5000 annually. The same
persons who pay this ferryage, or
nearly all of them, pay toll to this
road, and during some months i'm
each year, the river is so shallow
that it is readily fordable then the
large majority of those who travel
the road and pay toll, ford the river
and pay no ferryage. showed be-
fore that all the absolutely neces-
sary expenses of the road did not
exceed $500. Whence this dis
crepancy.
A RETRENCTINENT 8
wish TO correct an error / MAIDS
In a previous statement, viz: 500
per annum as tire wages of the gate
keeper, but at the last quarterly set
Element with the Commissioners, the
road finds itself too poor to pay all
CLAIMANTS satisfactorily, hence, they
" "dock'' the wages of the gate keep
er 334 cents per month, making his
wages 500 90 per annum. A few
more retrenchments prop0Ttjondtely
hedvy might enable this TURNPIKE to
place itself in good condition
Again, / ask in the name OF every
mothers son and daughter who liz
compelled to travel this road, that
our Legislature try its hand" if
the Commissioners will not, and give
to the people who live north Of Clinch
Mountain, in the few counties Of
Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky,
that use this Turnpike, q passable
road TO and from market with their
" struck" " Where there is O will,
there is a way" So let's havo 8 will
on the part OF the Commissioners.
and q way can and sCil be found torid
Granger county Of this constant
reason for cussing."
w.