The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-06-01
GOOD ROADS IN NORTH CARO-
LIMA,

In North Carolina twenty-three
counties are now working their roads
wholly or in part by taxation. In the
macadamizlng and general road i'm
provcment, Mecklenburg county, the
pioneer III that line in the State, still
leads, and has now nearly seventy
miles of excellent macadam road.
In Mccklenburg county the general
plan adopted, and which has been adj
hered to, was to start at the city limits
OF the county seat and to grade and
macadamize all Of the important public
roads from this point out toward the
township and the county limits. These
roa.!s have width of forty feet for the
| first two miles from the city limits,
and beyond this point a width of
thilty-six feet. They have a
maximum grade of four feet TO one
hundred. For cross drains, sewer
/ pipes are used in all cases where prac-
| ticable, and strong wooden bridges
/ with stone piers have been nut in
\ wherever needed. In attaining the
above grade III places where it was i'm
practicable to change the location Of
the road, cuts through the hills have
4
from ten to fifteen feet, and fills have
been made which, in places, have a
I height above the ordinary ground sur
face of from ten to twenty feet, for
distance Of few hundred yards to half
a mile. In macadamizing, the follow
ing general plan has been adopted
Upon the graded and settled earth sur
face macadam road, twelve feet wide
and about nine inches thick, is con-
structed, usually in the ceuter, though
! in places ON one side of the road. An
excavation from four to six inches deep
is made in the earth's surface, and the
bottom is then carefully rolled with
steam roller. Upon this eXcavatcd
surface is placed layer Of field stone
about four inches thick, and this IS
then thoroughly rolled. Upon this
surface is placed threc-inch layer Of
stonU crushed to from one to two
inches in size, and after this has been
thoroughly rolled there is placed third
4 layer, about two inches thick, of finely
crushed stone, including screenings,
and this latter in tuln is thoroughly
rolled.
!! The average cost of these roads, in
Guiding the macatlanizing and grading,
!; is about 50 900 per mile. Much the
larger part of the work for the perma-
nent improvement of the roads in this
county is done by convict labor. The
average number of convicts employed
is about so, AMI the average cost Of
this labor per convict, including their
4 food, clothes, medical attention and
guarding, is from 20 to % cents per
day. In charge of the work is one
superintendent and one engineer (dur-
ing part Of the time) and six guards.
Usually the convicts have worked in
one squad at the present time they
are divided into two squads. The rate
of taxation in the county at the present
tine ls 19 cents OH the 800 worth of
f,propcrty, and the entire amount raised
n this way for the support of the con-
'vict force in road-improvement work
during the past year was about S1S 900.
In addition to this, each township
levies u tax varying from to Is cents
on each 800 worth of property.
Mccklenbulg, as stated above, re-
q uil es all able bodied citizens along the
public roads to labor four days of each
year on the public roads or to pay the
sum of so cents rcr day in lieu thereof.
Tlris class Of labor is used upon the
roads independent of the convict force
or principally in the work of grading OF
in general repairs Of those roads or por.
tions Of them upon which the convict
/ force is not engaged.
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