The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-07-17
Roads and Road Making.

The old-time road makers seemed
to think that straight line was the
shortest route between two points.
This is true only on a perfectly level
country, so far as roads are con.
cerned. l have seen many instances
in the hill country of North Caro-
lima where the road goes straight up
steep hill and then straight down
another side of the same hill, while
level road could have been made
around the hill, and not only no
longer. but far easier on team and
wagon. 1t takes some men a long
time to learn that road around a
hill may be as short as one over il.
In the Western Piedmont | once
drove over road where at one point
it had been taken originally right
down the crest of long ridge. But
the torrents of generations had
washed it into deep gully, and in
trying to keep up road in this gully
the roadmakers had started a deep
er gully alongside of it, that risked
the life of every one driving down if
the vehicle swerved little from the
narrow track. And there are many
such. Right on the sides of this
ridge there were valleys up which a
road could have been made of easy
grade alongside the ridge, that could
have been kept in good repair and
drained easily down one side by
proper breaks, and never a gully
formed.
Out in the mountain country,
driving from Boone to Linville. the
road runs on ridge and suddenly
drops. by the steepest of hills | ever
saw on travelled road, into the Wa.
tauga Valley, while right alongside
was a valley up which a gradual
grade could have been made. and
the steep hill avoided
Wherever practicable. in the i'm.
provement of roads attention should
be paid to improving the line of the
roadbed. In hilly country a road
in a directly straight line is never
the best, and if some attention is
paid to the proper engineering OF
the roads th:re would be far better
roads. Then there is not a section
in North Carolina where good road.
making material cannot be had. In
the Coastal Plain the oyster shells
are in many places cheap and conve.
nient, and nothing makes a better
road than shells. Then in other
parts of the East the shell rock is
handy and makes the finest of road
material. In the Piedmont country
the granite rocks are abundant and
convenient. l once drove from Ra.
leigh to Durham, tumbling down into
the Crabtree Valley over one of the
quilted excuses for road, and Their
into trench of red mud, where the
road repairers had been at work
throwing mud and sods into the mid.
die of the road till the mud was SC
deep that our team pulled the don.
bletree in two, and We would have
been in a bad plight but that we
found some bale wire in the carriage
with which we dashed a pole Cd
from the woods. And right along.
side of this trench called a road, the
fields were fairly macadamized over
with little broken rocks, and in some
places the rocks had been gathered
from the fields and placed in ridges
alongside the road. And yet the
road workers had repaired the road
with mud when they could have Gov
cred it with these rocks with the
same shovels.
There is no part of the community
more interested in good roads than
the farmers who have to haul over
them. l am glad to see the spirit Of
improvement in this respect in the
South, and note that some cities are
making beautiful roads out from the
town through the township. With
little cooperation among the far
ners, these roads could be extended
all through the State, and the Legis.
lature should aid in the construc.
ton of the main lines of travel. II
man has a farm for sale and it at.
tracts the attention of a would-be
purchaser, it would sell more read.
lily and for a better price if on
well-built road, for no one would
want to buy farm where he would
be tied up all winter. Big loads of
cotton can be hauled over the roads
around the cities, but the man living
off these roads can haul only what he
can start with over his own country
roads, so that the improved roads
are of little use to him, and in many
cases he has to pull up steep hill
only to go down the other side, when
a level road would take him around
easier and quicker Think of this
too, in improving your roads.-Pro-
fessor w. F. Massey, in the Progress
scive Farmer.