The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1912-05-16

not be successful.
When once the people become a
reused to the conditions under which
they are living something will be
done. There is no one that does
not know that a much larger load
mud hole. AS long as we have
only dirt roads we shall never see
much better times in the mountains.
AS long as we continue to pay four
prices for hauling, and have no mar
kets for our produce we shall con-
| tinue to be poor. The roads of our
mountain counties are mainly dirt,
they are not graded; they are not
drained, and are seldom ever mend
| ed.
| From statistics gathered from diff
ferent counties, 1t has been deter
mined that the average cost of trans
porting one ton over mud roads dur
ing the winter is about G7 cents per
mile, but over good pixies a ton of
merchandise may be transported at
cost of cents per mile. Let us
take for granted that a pike extends
from ldamay to Bonneville, a dis
lance OF about six miles (this is the
worst road in Kentucky. We can
safely say that there are on an aver
age twenty tons per day hauled over
this road 312 days each year. IL
VIII cost s25,OS4,S0 to transport this
freight from Idamay to Bonneville
at the average cost on dirt roads
given above. What would this same
amount of hauling cost over a pike?
only $2,995,20 or a saving Of 1922. Os9.-
60. Over $4,000 therefore is lost
each year.
But whose is this loss? The mer-
chants? No. The over worked farm
er and laborer must bear IL. Why?
Because they consume the goods. A
sack OF flour costs so cents. If
pike were there so goods could be
hauled at pike prices, this sack of
flour could be bought for 70 cents
and every thing else in proportion.
VINO gets the extra 10 cents? The
ldamay Road. The man who hauls
his ties to the station finds eight
ties a heavy load 1t will cost him
81 to have these hauled. Over a
pike 1t would be an easy matter to
haul twenty-four and then the tie
man would save 81 on each load.
Taking the road from Idamay to
Bonneville as an example, let us
lind what it will cost to pike il
and how long it will take to pay
for 1t.
Crushed rock car be obtained for
~ per Gu. I'd. consisting of 225 Gu.
IT, This. spread over the surface of
a fourteen foot road, will cover
yards. Dividing 1,76O yards by s yds.
we find it will take about 2l9 Gu.
rds. of stone to the mile. This at
~ per Gu I'd. will amount to sl,97S.
The next largest item of cost will
be the hauling of this stone TO its
proper place. Beginning at Idamay a
team will be able to average three
loads per day until the road is
finished. A team would be able 10
haul enough stone at one load to
cover one yard of the road. At 81
per yd. it will cost SLIGO per mile.
Another cost you'd be the grading.
This may be Appropriated at $500
per mile. Other expenditures, in
GLIDING the cost Of rolling with
steam roller. would be about $500
per mile. Summing up the total cost
per mile the result is as follows:
Cost OF crushed rock at
depot o. sl.97S.OO.
Cost of hauling rock 1,76O.OO.
Cost of grading 900.
Cost of miscellaneous work
etc. 10000.
Total cost for a mile $4,53S. 90
The total cost of the six miles of
road from ldamay to Bonneville Is
therefore s27.22S.
Would this be more than the peo-
pie could afford to payY think not.
We found at the beginning that
over $4,000 was annually paid out
and lost each year. II can be seen
from this that one years saving
over this road would almost pay
for II.
Surely we can start this good work
In our mountain counties. Let one
road be built and others will fol-
low and In short time a network
OF roads will cover our hills and
valleys riyaling the blue grass. Then