The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1874-06-03
TENNESSEE HIGHWAYS.
BY A YANKEE IkEALID.


TO MATTERS PRACTICAL AND AP-
PARENT.
TATE SPRINGS, May so, 1874. &
To the Editor OF the 1lorristown Gazette:
In the hope that the climate of the
South might prove beneficial to my
health, impaired by a bronchial az
lection. 1 spent winter before last
in South Carolina, and the past win
ter in the southeastern part OF Geor-
gia. Until this trip, my routes of
travel had been over the coast roads.
Having been brought up among the
Green Mountains of Vermont. / tired
of the comparatively fiat, grassless,
sterile looking Gotten country. and
determined to see something of the
billy portion of the. Sunny South.
and accordingly chose the route
homeward by way of East Tennes-
see. e t...- r.os.s
After several months residence
whe7e nearly every cultivated field
was marked by the interminable rows
of the dead cotton stalks, and the
uncultivated. by pines, broom sedge.
and CHASTITY gullies in the red clay of
the slight decliyities, came to East
Tennessee early in April. Her green
hills, fruitful Yallies. and distant
mountains not only reminded me of
home, but ! felt that it was home
~ -
to warmer climate. The rocks of
the hills here were duplicates of
those of the hills of Vermont-lime-
stones, marbles. slates,-while to the
minerals of the Green Mountains,
Tennessee adds coal, &C., and to
forage plants, the blue grass of Ken.
lucky. The lawns of Knoxville
thrilled me to my fingers ends. In
one word, was delighted with East
Tennessee. / wondered that every
acre was not cultivated. l thought
it strange that the stream of emf
grafton that bad SO long flowed from
New England to the West had not,
ere this, sent q current into these
va.lies, to improve not only the soil
but the waste water-power OF the
rapid and clear streams which tum-
BILE over slate and limestone lodges
on their way to the Mississippi.
A ride of ten or eleven miles, over
a much travelled county road, from.
Morristown TO Tate Springs solved
the riddle to my entire satisfaction
II had passed through East Ten
nessee entirely by railroad, 1 might
have gone home and told my friends
that had seen q section with all
the advantages OF New England, and
without the very serious disadvan-
tage of its cold and long winters.
But this little hack-ride revealed
ample reasons for the slow growth
of East Tennessee, for the low price
OF its lands and Of the produce there
Of. and in one short afternoon effect
ed radical change in my opinion as
to the disturbances of this section
for settlement by Northern men.
will mention but one or two of
the discoveries made during my
stage-ride of eleven miles. And first.
the shameful condition of the high
ways-r0udS you have none-and
bridgeless streams-on only one bridge
in the whole distance.
In the GAZETTE of May p, is a
letter in which the writer complains
of certain unjust features of your
railroad tariffs. Ny passage ticket
from Atlanta to New York cost at
the rate of a faction over three cents
a mile; my fare in the hack from.
Morristown to Tate Springs was
about thirty cents a mile, and / am
sure the owner of the carriage and
horses corned the last. farthing of
his money. in consequence of the al
most impossible condition of the
countTy-l cannot say roads-over
which the vehicle was dragged.
The letter of complaints about
railroads, to which l have alluded,
elected nearly a column Of editorial
generally commendatory = not a
fault-inding yourself, but Of the po-
sitions of the writer. There was
one suggestion in the letter of Mr.
Cox, a native Of East Tennessee,
which was not noticed at all by the
editor in his review, but which
think ought to be adopted as a stand
ing motto by every paper in East
Tennessee, and kept at the head of
some conspicuous column till the inn
portance of good roads is acknowl-
edged by Tennesseeans.- Mr.. Cox
says: .-5re.etl u
Permit me, my dear friends, to also suggest
that your county roads (dirt) need prompt atten-
ton they are as general thing in a wretehed
condition-aInost impossible, especially in winter.
L have been in many States of the Union, and I
mnst say, although with regret, that THE PUBLIC
ROADS IN EAST TENNESSEE ARE IN WORSE CoSDI-
TIoN THAN l EVER SAW gEE
/ too, have been in several States,
and my observations confirm the
statement of Mr.. Cox that the high
ways here are in a more wretched
condition than those of any other
section l was ever in. aet
The editor of the GAZETTE COM