The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1891-03-25

IN tho churchyard there ar6 t0mbStones
concentrating vorthies who passed
over to the great majority ten, twenty and
thirty years earlier. Until after the war
this, an exclusively agricultural section,
was prosperous in moderate and quiet
way, though there has probably from the
beginning never dwelt within the town
ship man who could really be called
rich. During all this time and up TO the
present there has never been n mile OF
railroad in the township. and the farmers
have been absolutely obliged to depend
on the highways and country roads to
get their surplus products to market. 1t
is seven miles from here to the county
town, though only about four miles OF
this distance is within tho township.
This Is the chief highway, and every man
in the neighborhooi is Obliged TO use this
highway more or less.
Upon inquiry found that the total
mileage of the township roads is thirty
Eve. IL this total Were divided into
three classes we should have five miles
in the first class, ten in the second and
twenty in the third. These three classes
1 should define about in this way:
LIST Class-The main highway over
some part OF which all the people of the
township mist drive in order to transact
business at the township village and
postofficc and the county seat
I'll Class-Roads over which, to reach
the main highway, the jewellers in GER
tain sections must go.
81 Glass The ro;sls subsidiary to
those of the second class and necessary
to very few persons.
How any of these roads came to be
located as they are 1 do not know Ger
tainly they We're not Land ont with ref
erence to the topography of the coun-
try. During the century and Il half
in which many of these roads have been
opened there has been first and last a
good deal of stone put in the center Of
the roads, but it is true also that there
never has been u mile of road constructed
in n method any engineer or skilled road
builder would commend. The worst
feature, however, is the method of MAIN
tanning these highways. For many
years past the tax levy for roads has been
81 600 per year. Such a sum could not
be expected to go very far with thirty
five miles of road.
But. then, tho one principal highway
across the township is only five miles
long, and upon it, think. fully onc-half
of this sum should TO expended, while
one-half of the other half should be ex.
pended on each of the other classes There
seems to be no system, however, reguiat-
ing the expenditure of this money, which,
by the way, Is not money. But as to that
directly: The township committee appor-
lions the levy among the various dis
tricts, each il charge of u road overseer.
In this. kissing gees very much by fa-
vor, Notwithstanding the fact that every
man on the committee, and indeed every
man In the township, has u direct personal
interest in lettering the condition of the
roads. But IS they lack the knowledge
without which roads can neither be
built nor maintaiued-it does not make
much difference how they divide MP the
spoil.
) When the spring planting is over the
overseers summon the farmers to come
and help work the roads. They know
that all of them mean to work out their
tax, and thcir labor is accounted for ut
S1.50 per day. when tho regular rate of
hiring is only $1.25. No one pays his
road tax in money except those who are
nonresident owners, and one or two
others, perhaps. The overseers get their
traveller. They don't work very hard,
fortunately, and the levy is soon ex-
hausted. Were it not for these two
merciful facts the roads would be i'm
passable neatly all the time. Their
method is simplicity itself. They pillow
up all the sod along the sides of the road
and throw it into the center, together
with what mud they can find in the
bitches. All stones arc carefully thrown
against the fences ON either side. This
method of working the roads is in u sec
ton where nearly every field has on its
surface an abundance of loose stones.
which only need to be broken slightly to
make the best kind of road material.
Besides this there is an abundance of
limestone easy of access and gravel as
well.
Who can compute the amount of loss
the various generations who have dwelt
here in the last century and a half have
sustained by reason of these ill con-
structed and wretchedly maintained
highways. It would sicken me to go
into the computation.
Now as to what it would cost to thor
oughly equip this township with excel
lent roads. I estimate that SIC. 900 per
mile would build the roads of the first
class; 5000 per mile those of the second
class and 5000 per mile those of the
third This would make total of $780,
600. That seems an enormous sum when
1t IS taken into consideration that the
assessor only found $3.50, 600 in the town
ship last year. But look Mt it in an
other way. This particular section is
admirably adapted for country homes
for city people. The lovely hills rise
gracefully and green one over the other
in groups and stretches, until one can
easily imagine while here that it is an
italian sky above him and that he is
sojournirg in picturesque Tuscany. If
tho experience of Mr.. Ncvin, of Summit.
DO of value, the assessor would find at
least Ss.o0o.o00 worth of property as
soon as the roads had been built and
5000, coo. or may be more, as soon as
the world had learned that driving in
the roads hereabout was pleasure in
stead of pain.
This is, fancy, n picture of the con-
ditloa of thousands OF neighborhoods in
the United States, and have only drawn
it because While local it is also typical.
JSo. GILaIER SPEED.
The new raspberry Gladstone or;ei-
mattel xI-iff,