The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1902-06-13
A GOOD ROAD COUNTY
RICHMOND, GA, is PROUD OF IT'S
HIGHWAYS.

Fine Roads ln That County Con-
structed and Maintained by Con-
vict LabOr-PIan Very Successful.
Road Work In south Carolina.
Richmond claims to be the banner
county of Georgia in the matter of
good roads, and it's claim is well found
ed. There are about 25O miles of grad
ed roads in the county, of which from
seventy-five to a hundred are gravel
roads and the rest sandy roads surfac-
ed with clay. The county annually
raises about $4,000 for the mainte-
nance of its chain gang and road i'm
proyement. The roads are entirely con
structed and maintained by convict la
Dor. Richmond county has a UNIQUE
system.
William f. Eve, who is now and has
been for nearly twenty years the com
missioner of taxes and revenue has
complete authority for making and ex
pending road appropriations He com
blnes I'D his office the power usually
given to the board Of county commits
sionerS. This system of one man
board Of commissioners brings more
certain action, and where the office is
held by man who is such a thorough
believer in road improvement as is
Judge Eve there will be constant i'm
provement in the highways, says the
Louisville Courier-J Journal.
Richmond had only one or two i'm
proved highways previous to Judge
Ewes election to the office of road com
missioner. About the time he took the
office the county organized and placed
in charge Of the road department a
road engineer and organized the mis-
demeanOr cOnvicts into a road force.
A report made by Judge Eve some time
since on the roads of Richmond county
Is as follows:
'The class of work done in the county
was, first, the effort to reduce the
grades and give the roads proper drain
age. The gravel roads of Richmond
county are made from gravel obtained
from South Carolina ut a point about
seventeen miles from Augusta This
material consists Of water worn quartz
pebbles, cemented together by iron OK
ide and sandy clays. 1t possesses all the
essentials of a first class road material,
and it's cheapness (85 cents per ton on
board the cars at Augusta insures its
general usage on the highways of Rich
mOnd county"
nj tpJIn nti NJ dc Of
this material has been estimated by
Judge Eve at $1,000 per mile. This
seems an unusually low estimate when
the exoelit<t quality and durability Of
these roads are taken into cOnsidera-
ton.
The chain gang of Richmond county
consists of about seventy-five cOnvicts,
each of whom is said to cost the coun-
ty 80 cents per day. This estimate
includes board and clothing Of the
cOnvicts and the salary of superin-
tendent, night watchman and eight or
ten guards.
The testimony as to the convict work
is that it is eminently successful and
that no better disposition Of the con-
victs could be made than to employ
them in this way. 1t is a pleasure to
drive over the improved roads of Rich
mOnd county. They have raised the
values of the. farm lands in the vicin-
tty of Augusta very much and have
undoubtedly contributed greatly to the
growth of the city, which is one of the
most beautiful and enterprising of the
south, having large commercial and
manufacturing interests.
South Carolina has moved in the
matter of improved roadways. Several
counties have inaugurated systematic
rOadWOrk, and the state transfers to
the counties from which they were
convicted all convicts that were sen
fenced to term of less than five years,
and these, with the misdemeanOr con-
victs, give to each county a good road
working force Most Of the counties
have purchased more or less improved
road machinery. Several road bills are
pending in the legislature now in ses-
sion. One of them is to levy a tax of
I mill in each county for rOadWOrk.
Another is to adopt a state aid system
with an annual appropriation of $780,
OOO