The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1898-03-03
Good Combination Roads. -

Good Combination Roads. y
At dinner given to General Stone,
in st. Louis, at the time of the recent
Good Roads Convention, the general
! spoke, as follows, concerning what is a
good road for general purposes:
''The science of roadbuilding is
steadily developing and, SO far, expert
ence has shown that the very best road
in the world, in good weather, is the
dirt road. When it is either dry or
frozen it makes the best road known.
For this reason it is the rule on the
most modern roadways to have dirt
road running alongside of the paved
roadway, and m some instances the
paved roadway has dirt road on each
side of it. to be used in good weather.
It is remarkable, on roads built in this
fashion, how many days in the year
the dirt roads do the best possible SER
vice, and the wear and tear on the
paved portion of the road is thus
saved. Besides this. wet weather is
the time when travel over the paved
road does it the least harm, for the
vehicles then press down the rock and
stone into place, instead of scattering
them, and by being used only in bad
weather, it lasts much longer.
'sThere is another argument in favor
of building roads in this way, and that
is that instead of paved or grareled
roadway, sixteen or more feet in width,
it is only necessary to build it eight
feet wide. This reduces the original
cost of building the roads just one
half, and it has been found to answer
the purpose just as well, if not better
than q road twice its width. How
about wagons passing each other?
That is natural question and simply
answered. One wagon turns out on
the dirt road where two wagons meet;
but, as two wagons seldom or never
meet in exactly the same place, there
is no danger of wearing deep hole or
rut in the dirt road.
"The cost of building q frst-class
road of this kind recently. in Phila-
delphia, with inexperienced hands,
and other unfavorsble conditions, was
$1,000 a mile. The same kind of road
has been built for 5000, and even as
low as $500 a mile. The railroads
everywhere appreciate the direct ben
eft that good roads are to the freight
traffic on their lines, and have, in
nearly every instance, when called
upon, given the movement their
hearty aid and cooperation. The
Southern Railroad Company assured
me that it would be glad to haul the
rock needed for constructing the road
ways, to stations along its lines, at
the bare cost of hauling the cars.
"In collecting data on the $780,
900, 900 annually, which bad roads
cost this country, I sent out ten thou
sand letters, both in this country and
abroad, and the figures are given
only after very careful estimate. In
the State of Iowa the farmer hauls
thirty bushels in load when, if the
roads we're good, he ought to haul 100
in one load. That single instance
tells the story in a greater or less de-
gree of the bad roads throughout the
country. That $500, 900, 900 loss every
year, through bad roads, is a tax, not
only on the farmer, but on everybody.
I find, in my experience, that one OF
the most difficult things which the
; promoters of good roads have to do,
and especially those who live in the
cities, is to prove to the farmers that
their interest in good roads in the
country is a real and personal one:
The farmer has paid the tax OF bad
roads, and has suffered from it SO long
that he finds it difficult to believe that
he is to receive aid from people whom
he has formerly believed had very lit
tie real interest in them"