The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1909-02-25
Mecklenburg's Roads.
Two Hundred Miles Of Macad-
amized Roads nave Given
Charlotte and Country Great
Advantages--History ofRoad
Making and its Fine Results.

The following article which was
contributed to the Richmond News
Leader on the occasion of the recent
Good Roads convention in that city,
is self explanatory, and is reprinted
in the hope that it may stimulate
our people to greater effort in the
direction of public road improve
ment. Conditions are as favorable
for road building in Vance as they
are in Melklenburg, If not more 80.
The article which il commended to
the careful reading of our people as
an object lesson, follows:
Charlotte, n. e., Feb. 10 Asked
what has been the greatest factor in
the development OF Mecklenburg
county, with it's modern schools, un-
surpassed rural mail delivery service,
progre-siveness and intelligence of its
citizenship, and its large wealth, any
we'll informed citizrn of the county
will answer without hesitation MA
cadamizpd roads" Twenty-Five years
ago not foot of macHdam had been
laid in the county, the straggllng
roads over it's hills were deep in red
mud, its school districts were small
and the school terms short, and
there was little communication with
Charlotte, the capital of the county,
during the winter months, when the
roads were at their worst. To-day
the county has approximately 200
miles OF macadamized road; school
districts have been consolidated and
the school terms extended to from
six to nine months, practically every
rural resident of the county has his
mail delivered to him daily, the
country churches are fourishing,
travel is as easy during the wet win
ter months as during the dry sum
mer and the social life of the county
has taken on life and activity.
THE BEGINNING OF ROADBUILD-
ING.
The beginning of road building in
MecklanburT was modest. Half a
dozen or so cOnvicts with rock ham,
mers and 'tampers" did the macad-
4mizing. Large rocks were thrown
down in the road, beat into smaller
pieces and tamped down into the soft
earth or mud. About the year 1885
the county commissioners took a
plunge. They purchased q modest
road-building outfit, utilized a larger
number of convicts and began in a
somewhat crude manner road-build-
ing as it goes on at present. At first
little attention was paid to grading
There were nOexperts and every thing
had to be learned by experience. The
rock used was not graded, or grad
uated; only one or two layers of ma
cadam were used. With knowledge
gained by experience and observa-
ton, however, better equipment was
purchased, more grading done. three
layers of macadam of different sizes
used and the quality of the road
vastly improved.
MODERN ROAD CONSTRUCTION.
The system of road construction in
Mecklenburg county at the present
time and during the past few years
has been declared model by experts
OF the department of agriculture at
Washington and has been taken as a
model by other counties in North
Carolina and other Southern States.
The county has three gangs of con-
victs, each consisting of about forty
prisoners with superintendent
guards, etc, and with full and com
plete outfit OF road-building machin-
cry. This equipment consists of a
road roller, rock crusher, six to ten
double mule teams and wagons,
wheelbarrows, tools, etc, and is
valued at something like $S,5OO
With each force is superintendent,
who directs the work under specifica.
tions and Instructions of the county
engineer. and the necessary guards
Each gang can build about a mile
of road in two months, or six miles a
year so that the 200 miles of road in
the county is being added to at the
rate of fifteen to eighteen miles a year
In working the gang is divided into