The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-01-19
FOR BETTER ROAnS.
The Plan Adopted in Mccklcnbnrg
County.

LOuuty
The Charlotte Observer. Of the 18th.
has a timely editorial on the road
question ana it gives the history of.
and method Of improvement OF. the
Mecklenburg roads. The following are
extracts:
The real stable improvement i'll
the roads of Mecklenburg began in the
sprin. of 1887, when the County Com
missioners resolved that the convicts
should, by their labor on the pu bic
roads. reimburse the county for the ex-
pense it had been put to on their be-
half. The way having been smoothed,
a commencement was made by setting
some fifteen convicts to work grading,
ditching. preparing road beds. quarry
ing and hauling stone and breaking 1t
with hammers into suitable sizes tor
matchmaking. 1t was primitive
method: still it was a commencement
and the result was encouraging. This
continued for about two and a halt
wears. when a 7x10 Blake crusher aud
9 horse-power-steam engine to run
it were bought. These were used
until the fall of 1891 when a l0xl5
crusher with II foot screen. separat-
lug the product into three sizes, was
bought at the expense of $685., and
subsequently Is horsepower engine
was purchased to work it. With these
appliances material for one mile per
| ~, lo o,,1 Laid
the road at total cost, including SUI
ficient hands for average grading. Of
about 81 500. This includes purchase
of stone. hauling, laying down, guards,
for convicts and all expense. When
the grading is heavy the cost is more,
and where light it is less, but 81, 800
is a fair average. The highest fill yet
made is twenty-five feet and the deepest
cut fifteen feet. Stone culyerts are
built at all small water-courses and
| bridges with stone abutment are built
across creeks and large streams. All
this work is done by convicts. All
the rock required is readily obtained
by paying fifteen cents per cubic yard
for it delivered where wanted. The
rock is piled up or 'corded,'' measured
and paid for when on the ground where
it is to be used. Some rock is not
suitable for matchmaking. Flint or
spar and sandstone or not durable;
stone of granite nature is good and
so is limestone. The number OF hands
engaged in the work is now about
eighty. Fifteen mules with wagons
and carts i'll proportion are also en-
gagged in the road work of the county.
Convicts with but short time to serve
and who are trusty, drive the teams.
The roads are &c feet wide, i of which
are bitches; the macad;,m is laid down
for width of II feet, and is 9 inches
deep. Since the purchase of the large
crusher and the screen dividing the
material into three sizes. the top dress
ing is of fine stone, making a surface
as hard and smooth as floor.
1.-The work has all. or nearly all,
been done in Charlotte township on
eleven roads outside Of the city limits,
and covers about twenty-six miles.
The fills being green will Of course
settle in places. TO meet this, sspiles
of crushed stone are deposited at proper
intervals for filling up depressions.
1.-The hands engaged in this work,
as has been already stated, are all
convicts, mostly from this county,
though some are from neighboring
counties. and for the latter the county
pays s25. each, the expense attending
the bringing of them here and return
ing them to county from which they
came. Each convict costs the county
about thirty-fiye cents per day, for this
they do a good days work, laboring
from sunrise to sunset with reasonable
intermission for meals. They are
worked under penitentiary rules,
clothed warmly and fully fed.
The money to pay for this improve
ment in the public highways of the
county is raised by road tax Of four
teen cents on the hundred dollars of
valuation, which produced in 1892
thirteen thosand seven hundred and
ninety-three dollars. Besides this,
small amount was derived from per-
sons who failed to list their taxables.
OF this sum Charlotte township paid
ClSul UOlldIS. L NC
improvements being all in Charlotte
township and the expenses being more
than the tax amounted to in that town.
ship, the deficiency is made good, by
the County Commissioners and magis-
trates, out Of the general fund.
''When this work began considerable
opposition was shown towards it, but
as time has gone on and the benefits
become so plain as to glimmer through
a blind mans eye, the opposition has
died out. until now there is practically
none. The justice of spreading the
expense over the community COM
mends itself to all. The cost, four
teen cents on q hundred dollars orth
of property, is hardly felt. and now
other townships are clamoring to have
the system put in force in their terri
tory"