The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1898-01-11
HISTORY OF ROAD BUILDING.

The following brief historical view
of road building has been prepared by
Secretary Wilson, of the South Caro-
Ina Good Roads Association. 1t con
tainS some facts worth reading
1t is a tritc remark that the roads of
a country are an index of its civilian
ton that they are the physical symbol
by which to measure the progress Of
any age or people. eff the community
is staSnant the condition of the roads
will Indicate the fact if they have
no roads they are savngcs." Roads are
not only the first product of civilization,
but reacting they become the chief
factor in its advancement. Look where
VIC will in history we find that road
building and prosperity go together,
that every great people have made this
one of the foremost industrial Qucs-
tons.
"Iu Peru the Incas built great roads,
the remains of which attest their mag
niliccnCe." Humboldt in his aspect
of Nature speaks of the mountain road
from Quito to Cusco, as GA marvel
lous work, ot'infcrior to the most i'm
posing Roman roadways.n 1t was flom
1900 to 1000 miles in length, 20 feet
wide, paved with stones 10 feet square
and had q running stream and road of
shade trees on each side. Prescott
says "lt was conducted over sicrras
covered with snow galleries were ut
through living rock rivers were cross
ed by means of bridges swung sl,s-
pended In the air prccipicus were
scaled by s~tairways hcwn out of The
native bed, and ravincS OF hidcouS
depth were filled up with solid ma
sonry."
The streets of Babylon were paved,
it is said, 1000 years Is. c., ard the
highway leading from Babylon to Mem
phis was paved at an early date, and
along it arose the cities of Ninevch.
Palmyra, Damascus, Tyre, Antioch
and other great commercial towns.
The Importance of the roads to the
welfare OF nations was-hpt unknown
to the GrGGk2~fhc senate of Athens,
governments of Luccdomcn,
Thebcs and other States of Greece be-
slowed much care upon them.
The C~arihaglnians also were system
attic and scientific road makers and
not a little OF their commercial and
military Importance is due TO that fact.
The Romans learned the art of road
building from Carthage, and in their
hands it reached its highest develop.
mcnt. The earliest and greatest of
Roman roads, the Appian way, was
commenced IN 3l2 b. G.. The city of
Rome was afterwards connected with
all the chief towns by paved roadwavs.
Later these lines of communication
we've extended through Savoy, Dau-
phinc and Provence through Ger.
many, every part of Spain, through
Gaul, and even to Constantinoplc .
through Hungary, Macedonia and to
the mouth OF the Danube. Neither
did the ~interposition of seas obstruct
the labor or daunt the enterprise of
this great people. The lines of com
m%nication thus constructed to the
shores OF the continent of Europc
were continued at corresponding points
OF the n~cl%hboring islands and cont.
~ncnts-Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Eng.
land, Africa and Asia were ACCORDINGLY
penetrated and intcrscctcd by roads
forming the continuation of the grc.It
European lines. These gigantic works
were the most solid structures of thci,
kind which have been formed in an,
age, and many of them still remain
often forming the foundation of mod
crn 70 IDS, and in some instances con
shutting the road surface now used
n trench was cXcavated the entir,
length and width of the roadway 4: auC
in this the road materials were place,
in four layers, having Il total thickness.
OF about three feet (l) The stra,u
mon rnnkIStinT of l,,,- d..
lald IN m'rtlT (2) the rodus, com
posed OF broken stone and mortar vel
consolidated by ramming (3) the
nucleus, Il mixture of broken brick
tile, gravel and lime (4) the summa
crusta, a pavement of stone, closcl,
Jointed, and fitted with the utmost
nicely. Although these roads were
emir entity durable, they were dcfcicn,
III the other qualities requisite fo. 8
good road, and llO-Icc states that the>
were "lcss fatiguing to people who
travel slowly" They were remarkable
chiefly for their lavish disregard of
every obstacle, and are monuments
rather of military despotism than OF
engineering skill.
During the reign of lawlessncss fol
lowing The breaking up of the empire
these roads were infested with robbers
ana cut-throats, and were avoided and
neglected by the people, and soon be-
came impossible such intercourse rs
was maintained was conducted over
rude paths. With the reconstruction
OF society the roads gradually became
passablc for pack animals and the rude
vehicles of the time but no serious
attempt was made anywhere to replace
the public highways until the middle
of the 17th century.
load building was taken up in
France about 1860 by Louis XIV.
who had severa fine roads made in the
vicinity of Paris. They were very
wide, but we've paved only in the
center. The people vefy soon began
TO appreciate the advantages of GOOD
roads, but 1t was not until the advent
of Napoleon that the modern svstcm
OF magnificent highways was inaueu-
rated. "Ihe material and financial
prosperity, thriftincss and contcntmcnt
OF the French people has long excited
the admiration of the wtrld. neither
revolution nor defeat from abroad an
pears to have cntailed upd them bur.
dens too heavy for them toIbear. SIN
dents OF economic problems ascribe
this marvellous condition 10 the far
reaching and s~plcndidly Maintained
system of highways, on which tbe
Ioo'Iios . economical transportation