The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1902-12-18
mr.. Yates Again Discusses the Matter
ofGood Roads.
NEpIr1R NV IGNraRPRIsE.-

&i5 my duty in defense of myself--a'
] believe am the first who mention
ed this matter Of improving the pub
Sic roads in this county--to call the
.-A!tention OF the public to the clay
-9ld which was built on Range street
- some time during September of the
present year. But before entering
s7nto detail | wish TO say that l do
not want to be understood to be any
more partial to a clay road than to
any other kind of improved road, but
in the beginning OF this agitation the
question arose from different quar-
tiers: "What will we build them Of"
The answer very naturally settled il
self on clay as the most accessible
material. The fact that most Of our
roads, at least BALI Of them, have
clay hills within a mile of each other,
and II can be found alongside Of the
Foals in from one to five feet OF the
surf ce on four.afths Of the public
roads, therefore consider il the
cheapest material that We can use be-
cause il will not be to haul so far os
rock or other material, and there
would be no freight to pay.
As above stated it is not so much
in defense Of this particular kind of
earth that | am taking this stand, hut
OF my own integrity and good inten.
lions, have listened patiently and
good naturedly at the fun that has
been made of me concerning the clay
road above referred to beginning ncar
the depot and extending up TO near
the second electric hight. am sor.
ry to say that | cannot claim any
credit for the building Of this road.
as it was planned and built by the
city fathers and under process Of
construction before knew anything
about it. While it was a mere mud
pud lie it was retired to as my clay
road, Of which l felt no injustice a.
knew that time would prove it to
be worth one hundred times ITS c,s
10 the town as well as to the county
Now few words descriptive OF
.hc manner in which this road was
quilt. In the first place the road bed
was previously plowed up and pulled
mp in the center IN very nice shape
for building Il good road, but before
il had time 20 pack the clay was haul
ed and dumped on it and lcveled oil
with hoe without the proper ma
chinery to roll it, which of course
caus ID it to be uneven on the surface
and after it settled left quite a mum
Der o holes. During the time hi
road was being constructed, situated
as it is between the depot aud the
business portion Of town--the most
public thorougbtare in the county
it was travelled over with at least halt
Of the loaded wagons of the county;
loads Of freight, loads Of wood, lOade
of seed aud haltd cotton were dash
Ing over it, through and across il
during the whole time it was being
built Experienced road builders
would not have perm tied travel ov
er " until it was completed, but ey-
cry fellow seemed 10 think it his du-
ty to cut that thing to pieces which
was destined to bring ruin 70 the
County, Some would get one wheel
in the middle of the clay and the 9th.
er in the sand 50 they could cut a
beautiful furrow right through tue
center Of it, aud to give it & worse
chance than all it began to rain the
very night it was finished aud raincd F..
a week almost necessarily and OF