Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-01-30
WAhHAh1.A. soUTH oARolIs a. AN as,. 1901.
yrutoplkes ,or Two Hundred Dollars.

Iurnp'kes s'or TWO Hundred Dollars,
The Columbia State tells a story.
Of road Improvement in Richland,
county which is Of very general In
terest, and whichserves, among other
things, to show that no county or
othes community in the State is az
all dependent on road laws for good
roads. We give only tho salient
points Of it's very instructive edito-
rial article in review of the official
report of Mr.. s. Fl. Ovens, the very
efficient Supervisor of Riohland, who
appears to have literally lifted the
county out Of the mud and the sand
that ologged its traffic forgenerations
and senttit rejoicing on the highway
of comfort and progress. And that
ct very small cost for it's redemp-
tion.
Less than three years ago, we are
told, the roads of Richland sswere as
poor as those of any county in the
middle country" and The State,
which is peculiarly gifted in the use
of strong language, could not we'll
put their case any stronger than that.
The old system had been tried for
generations, failure had attended
every effort to keep them in good
condition, and their last state was no
better.than their first. In 1898 Mr..
Ovens was elected County Supervi-
sor and began to rebuild the roads
with composite Cor layers) Of sand
and clay, employing the county con-
victs for the purpose, and, to mako a
long story short, he has thus con-
verted leagues and leagues of them
from the condition>of necklaces of
mud holes linked by strands of mire,
r.sand beds resembling sections of
ploughed fields, into turnpikes.
Since 1893, or about thirty months
only, 200 miles of the 600 miles in
the county have been rebuilt Gin
first-class Manner" and the good
work is still going steadily and rap
idly forward. In 1900 alone the
chain gangs "built" 81 miles of road,
repaired" 80 miles, and built 68
bridges, including four large ones
over as many creeks, besides effective
drainage work. Hired labor was
also employed on other like good
work, including the constructions
of fifteen miles of new road, repair
and bridge building. The force OF
convicts employed averaged sixty
five during the year, and its. equip
ment was seventeen mules, three
wagons, eighteen carts, three ploughs,
two road machines, one forge and
outfit, and six. hundred picks, axes,
shovels and mattocks. The total
expenses of this chain gang, includ-
ing feeding, clothing and medical at
tendance-and they were "well fed
and cared for"-was $14,610, an
average of 194 cents day, in addi-
tion to which $12,412 was expended
for the hired labor, ordinary road
and bridge work, lumber, tools, etc.
The net result was that on roads and
bridges the county spent last year
$27, 1892, for which it has to show LOG
miles of roads "built" and 80 miles
"repaired," 41a bridges, large and
small, seven of them being of "im-
portant" character, and other good
work.
Charging the whole expense to
the "construction" of thoroughly
good roads alone, and so taking no
account of the 30 miles of repairs,
the 400 bridges, etc., it appears that
106 miles of permanent, good, hard
and level roads, which supplanted
the same length of mire or sand in
1900, cost $27,O92, or at the rate OF
1926 mile. Making proper deduc-
tions, however, for the. cost of the
side work, it is probable that the new
turnpikes have cost the county less
than 5000 a mile. And as to that, it
is sufficient to say that every county
or community in the State can easily
afford to pay as much--or as little