Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-05-24
serve for one year the commissioners to re-
ceive the funds from the trustee and disburse

ceiVe the funds from the trustee and dlSDurse
the same, and pay out same on order OF the
Overseer, receiving commission OF per
cent, this being all the compensation they
shall receive, except freedom from road and
| Jury service they shall file with the chair
man of the court an itemized statement of
receipts and expenses the tax for highways
not to be more than Is cents on each Sl00
worth of property, nor less than5 cents, and
on privileges not more than One-tourth the
assessment {; the tax to be collected in the
same manner as other taxes by county trus-
tees. The Commissioner and Justice of
peace of each road district are to appoint the
oyerseers. All llhighway tax not payable in
er taxes are due. All males between the
ages of eighteen and fifty are liable for la
Dor. Any road hand may be exempted
from labor by paying 81. The overseer is to
give three days notice of the time and place
to commence. Magistrates are not eligible
to the Office Of highway commissioner or
Overseer.
There is also another bill, by Senator Gal
loway; which provides for the purchase or
construction of turnpikes by counties, and
which has attracted great deal Of favorable
comment, and if enacted into law will do
much toward the acquisition Of good sys-
tenn of public roads. The bill, containing
nine sections, is quite lengthy, and presents
an elaborate and practical system of substan-
tial dirt roads. Although costly at first, dt-
ter the lapse of years they will be found the
cheapest roads the State ever made. The
best is always the cheapest so far as roads
are concerned, because the work is perma-
nent. What is done this spring is not wash
ed away by heavy rains and the work re-
quired to be done over again this fall, and
further repaired and improved next spring.
| Tr n
AUalanche says The great benefits to be
derived by all classes of people, especially
the taxpayers, by the building of goodroads
are unquestionable. The road improvement
history of Union county, Ohio, furnishes a
notable illustration of the general prosperity
caused by good roads. In the last dozen
years 81 100000 have been expended in the
construction of graveled roads in that coun-
ty. There are 10 roads aggregating 500
miles in length, all lwithin the county. The
work was done by contract after due adver-
tising, according to the following specifica-
tiOnS:
The road to be cleared of all distractions
to the width of forty feet. All trees and
stumps within the area requiredfOr the con-
struction of the road bed bitches shall be
grubbed and removed therefrom, except in
fills, where they may be cut off level with
natural surface of the ground. All material
belonging within 25 feet of the center line of
said road may be used for construction of the
same, unless otherwise reserved by the SUI
perintendent Contractors will be required
to preserve all monument and corner stones
to be found in the rOad-bed, and will be held
responsible if the same are destroyed.
The road-bed to be smooth and evenly
graded Gin roads of two tracks Oh the side to
be used for dirt track, leave no sinks or low
| o1o ~ tbo Of hn q
contain or hold water) to width of 12 feet
on each side of and croWning six inches to
the center line. The sides Of all cuts, fills,
or bitches over three feet in depth or height
to receive side slope of u feet horizontal
to perpendicular, with side bitches not less
than feet wide at the bottom, and to be
not less than one foot below the edge Of the
grade on the high grounds or water divides,
and not less than three feet below the edge
Of the grades at the culverts or outlets, un-
obstruted and continuous with bottom gra-
ded straight and smooth, leaving no ponds
or pools by the roadside. The banks Of all
ditches three feet deep and less to receive a
side slope of one foot horizontal to one foot
of perpendicular. All culverts, bitches or
small bridges must have outlets or side
bitches cut from the road sufficient to drain
them thoroughly, except those which are
marked on the profiles, which are not in
cluded in this contract. These bitches to be
one foot wide in the bottom and to have
their banks sloped one and one-half to one
foot to each one hundred feet until a good
and sufficient outlet is made. The whole
grading to be done in neat and workman
like manner.
Contractors will be required to remove
all the earth, rubbish or other matter liable
to obstruct the waterway between the
abutment of any bridges built by either
the county or contractors to a depth DEEM
ed by the engineer sufficient for the neces-
Sary waterway.
The gravel to be uniformly spread upon
the center of the rOad-bed as above prepar-
ed, twelve feet wide, fourteen inches deep
in the center and eight at the sides, when
completed.
Roads thus constructed cost 81, 200 to
81 300 per mile, exclusive of bridging. In
other counties destitute of gravel, crushed
stone is used at a cost little exceeding that
of gravel In those counties the taxpayers
are better pleased with the result than are
those where gravel is used, the crushed
stone being the more durable. The Union
county Auditor gives this estimate of cost:
will give you a closely figured estimate
of the cost of a road made from crushed
limestone, average quarry, No. rotary
crusher, tenhorse power engine, including
all costs for stone and labor, loaded on
wagon, 80 cents per cubic yard per day. On
the usual gravel road we put seven cubic
yard of gravel to the rod, but OF the crush
ed stone we use about four and One-half
cubic yards to the rod, which makes very
material difference in the expense OF haul
ing and spreading.
The results Of the large expenditure of
money have been highly satisfactory. The
Auditor says land that were $40 and $50
per acre on mud roads, now sells readily at
$50 and $40 and upwards and many citizens
of older and richer counties are coming IN
and purchasing farms in Union county,
their reason being that they wish to own
lands in county blessed with good roads.
1t makes good system of drainage for low
lands, and many farms are largely drained
by tiling into these side bitches, fences are
improved along the line of these roads,
new dwellings are built, barns are painted,
and the whole county is improved ana
beautifed wherever you see good pixies.
This plan of levying taxes to build roads
was however, at first violently opposed by
the largest tax payers, who are now Its
the Auditor, "yet found an opponent of
good roads that once he has had a good
bike past his farm, would part with it for
three times the amount Of tax he paid"
And he goes on to say: "The citizens or
this county are well satisfied with the
amount of money they have expended tor
road improvements. The farmers are well
paid by the increase in the value of their
lands, the merchants are well pleased that
they have at their counters, in the winter
season as well as in the summer, customers
who live fifteen and twenty miles from the
county seat, and the carriage makers are
l>,,4 coll