Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-09-07
THE PUBLIC ROADS.

THE PUBLIC ROADS.
They Are Also Made to Serve as Public
Drains-Some Sensible Suggestions to
Those Who Know How to Think.
Editor of The Yorkville Enquirer:
In recent years the question of good
roads has been extensively agitated
and discussed all over the country,
not only by the newspapers and by
the candidates for Office; but by think
ing people everywhere. 1t is not my
intention to write an elaborate article
setting forth the paramount import
ance of good roads. 1t is my purpose,
however, to confine myself to brief
discussion of one particular phase of
the road question, By way of illus
tration, I will take for example the
public roads of York county. Just
start from Yorkville and travel over
either or all of the public roads and
follow them to the extreme limits of
the county, and you will observe,
first that nearly all Of the lands lying
adjacent to the roads are cleared
and in state Of cultivation second,
that, as rule, the rows are run off in
such way as to run the water from
the fields into the roads. In other
words, the public highway is made a
public waterway. This is not a mat
of chance or accident on the part of
the farmers; but it is deliberate and
intentional.
What is the result of this reckless
practice on the part of the farmers ?
After every big rain, the accumulated
water from hundreds of farms is empt-
led into the bitches or cutters of the
public road. If these bitches were
paved with stone and were large
enough to carry off the water, it
wouldn't matter. But such is not the
case. The consequence is that these
bitches wash out deeper and deeper
and wider and wider, and in process
of time they become ugly, full-grown
gullies, and sometimes develop into
young canons, and are standing me-
mace to travellers, especially women
and children.
Have we not all seen these yawning,
frownipg chasms that could easily
swallow a modern-sized house, with
its occupants, at single gulp? All
the natural result of farmers running
the water from their fields into the
public road |!
In some sections the public roads
have recently been improved at con-
siderable expense to the taxpayers of
the county. The roads have been
widened and graded and macadamized.
So far, so good. But what will all
this amount to in the end if the road
is made to serve as canal as well as
a highway?
"Oh," says some one, "let the road
hands repair the damage" Well, san
ounce of preventive is worth pound
of cure" Don't build up and then
tear down. Don't build breastworks
and then train your own guns upon
them. It's not wise nor economical.
What is the remedy? We need
some special legislation on the SUBJECT.
Let our representatives in the legisla-
ture introduce a bill making it unlaw-
full for any one to run his rows or
terraces il such a manner as to empty
the water into the public roads, and
provide an adequate penalty for the
violation of the statute.
Then the road bitches will have to
carry only the water that falls into the
roads directly from the clouds with
such as may run in from the woods.
AS result, woodworking, with all the
expenditure of time, labor and money,
will be reduced to a minimum. Such
a law would not work an injury to
any one. The topography of the
country is such that every farmer can
provide waterway independent of
the public roads. Let the aim, the
tendency be to conduct the water
away from, rather than into the roads,
and the good results will at once
become apparent to all.
w. S. GORDON.
Fodder, September 5, 1898.