Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1912-02-09
The Petition for MaCadam Roads
In the First District.


. trict of Noxubee County, MississipI
AZ have petitioned the Board Of Supe
visors that they be allowed to come u
der the provisions Of Senate bill 66, pap
l49, Of the laws Of 1910. That is thu
;. they be allowed to issue bonds for II
l. purpose Of building Macadam roads.
% drew this petition and have bee
active In trying to N the good roa
= for this District because I am intereste
. in this District. And as | have had oC
' casion to investigate the matter | wis
{ to give the people Of that District tn
S result OF my investigation. | will ssI
D that the entire act be published in tn.
Beacon In order that the people ma!
. read for themselves.
1t is the wish Of the petitioners tina
the Brooksville and Bigbee Valley roac
and the Macon and Memphis road be
made Macadamized for a distance of ten
miles east from the western boundry OF
the said district. However under the
law all the petitioners can ask is that
the District be allowed to come under
the provisions of the act On examin-
alton | find that the assessed value Of
the real property in this District is $77O-
OOGand personal property $3.50 900, I'm
der the law the maximum bond that can
be issued will be $102, 900. 1t is the pur-
pose to build the road out Of the hard
limestone that appears in the lodges
east Of C~lIftonvilIe and east of Prairie
Point. A question has been raised as
to the supply. This ledge can best be
studied where the convicts have graded
down the hills east Of Cliftonyille, and
it can be seer that the strata Of this
hard limestone on the brow of the bills
where it has probably been plowed and
rolled away is from 8 inches to Is in
ches thick and going back in the hill it
gets as deep as 3 feet. A strata of
rock n foot thick covering 40 acres of
land will build over twenty miles of Mac
adam road. It is my opinion that 20
acres of this rock will build twenty
miles of road. | have. today, talked
with a road man from Birmingham on
this subject.
The next question that arises is the
Of this rock for a McAdam
No one in the district woald de-
sire for a moment to go into the matter
If the rock would not build a high class
Macadam road. A little overa year ago
:. c. Clay and G. w. Cunningham in
iuced the man who represented the
in building the Pike from
Starksville to the College to come down
1ere and look over the situation. That
was at the time the agitation was first
He came down and Mr. Clay
him out in his car, but the car ;
broke down in the Cliftonville neigh:
)orhood and he did not complete his oh
'ervations. But he did get a chance
% see the hard limestone, and he came
back to Macon and in a conversation in
ny office he said that this hard lime
tone crushed and the rocks graded as
$ usual by screens that it would make {
first class Macadam road, and hal the
iner particles would make a much bet
,er top dressing than Tombigbee gravel. :
The Board of Supervisors have writ :
,en a letter asking that Mr.. Gambler
'end a man to us at once who can go =
'ver the route and make a preliminary .
'urvey and calculation. There was a ,
nan in this country some time in the
'ear 1905 or 1906 who was a Govern
nent nan who said thaC this limestone /
vas fine road meterial. and he estima- {
ed the cost at $500 a mile. !
The people of Clay county are having !
'ock shipped in from Illinois out of !
which they are making Macadam Roads '
It this time at a cost of $500 to S3700a j
nile. This Of course includes the grad !
ng. The people of the first district ,
the "ock situated about the mid ,
lie of the district in the upper and low j
r end and there is not much grading |
hat will have to be done in comparison \
With other places. | can see no reason !
the cost should be over $25O0 a {
nile.
There has been a misconception of the '
of the sale of the Bonds. This
law was tried out first in Lee {
of which Tupelo IS the County j
lite, and the people of Lee are building [
iacadam roads running out to the Dor
.er of the county from Tupelo four d.
%ectious.
In following.the instructions of this t
in Tupelo, the following procedure 5
vas had: 9
The petition was filed, the board al n