The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-06-16

route for the Richmond Washington
| Highway association and charter
member of that organization. Mr..
| Belvin recently recapituiated history
! of that movement, which Is of suffi-
/ cient interest TO be appended. lie
says,
Forming the Organization.
~In November, 1911, the Quebec
Miami International highway held
convention In the city of Richmond.
| The route had been selected from
| Quebec to Philadelphia. There were
many present who were anxious to
! have this route go westward to Ha-
gerstown. Md. and southwark to At
lanta, Ga. This route 10 the western
borders of Georgia would have been
$50 miles longer than direct route
VIA Richmond. others were eouteu1--
ing that 1t should go from Phiiadel-
phia through Delaware. Either of
these routes would have cut out Bal
/ tinore, Washington. Manassas. Fred
ericksburg, Richmond, Petersburg.
Columt ia, &. G., and Savannah, Ga.
( The delegates from these cities form
"a an alliance and proved that the
Ian1s-thFauGh- their cities ttd-4t..t
only he shorter. but would pass
through the richest and largest cities
J VI tue sNpulH- irH Wt1i bItb tiF
3u.o Of the higiwtr atlrptrlt is
| from Quebec TO Montreal. Albany, n.
y, Philadelphia, Baltimore. Washing
| ton, Richmond. Petersburg, Durham,
Columbia, Savannah, Jacksonville to
Miami.
The work has peen practically
! completed In every State except Vir-
ginia In Virginia bonds have been
sold in Meekienburg county. and the
Z
this county. Brunswick county has
just voted a $4,000 bond issue for
highways and the road from Rfrr1--
mond to Petersburg Is in 1air shape
This brings as Sto the highway be-
tween Richmond and Washington.
( New you can lead a horse IL water
but you cannor make him drink. You
can bring people from Canada. Bos-
ton. New York, Philadelphia Balti-
more, Pittsburg, Buffalo and Chicago
/ to Washington, but YOU cannot make
4 them go over the impossible roads
/ to Richmond. They win take tire
route to Hagerstown, Md, via staun-
ton and Roanoke, which is the logical
route to Atlanta. Ga, over practically
g perfect highway.
Bad Roads Drawback.
Bad roads constitute our greatest
! draw for internal development
and material progress. Good roads
mean prosperous farmers. and citizens
generally. On the good roads of the
I North and Middle " est It orty rusr
the farmer s cents per ton TO haul
/ his produce to market, on the Lad
roads OF Virginia 1t cost IS CENTS per
ton mile. In some sections the loss
I by jostling IL as high as per cert.
The valley of Virginia is known as
! the most prosperous section Of our
/ state. What has made IL So We
/ have other sections in Virginia lust
| as beautiful and Just as rich in natu-
raj resources and soil? 1t is the great
macadamized highwty that runs 100
miles through this entire ~ it4f-t=- tat
was constructed more than a hundred
years ago. Their teams pull on an
average four times as much as teams
/ do on the bad roads in other SECTIONS
! This decreases the. cost q FARMING
| II counts in other directions
( Property on good roads that have
recently been built between Richmond
and Petersburg has increased IN value
four and in some instances as
much as ten fold. This is the history
Of conditions wherever good roads
| have been constructed.
Transcont4nental Highway.
| There ss one other fact tina. de-
| sire TO call attention tc-a highway
IS being erected from Los Angeles,
Cal. to Memphis, Tenn This south
ern route has been chosen because
they do not have 10 cross the Sierra
Nevada mountains, the great western
desert and the Rocky mountains At
Memphis they meet the great high
| way across the State Of Tennessee
THAT has practically been finished to
| Bristol. where II meets the divisions
Of the Bristol TO Roanoke highway
i The route has been completed
from Newport News to Richmond 10
| Midlothian. where II Will extend tc
: t-uHTnsrtand, farnviIle, Appomattox
Iynchhurg and the Pacific ocean.
Richmond Will he on this great high
way and on the highway from Cana ia
! 10 the Gulf OF Mexico. Richmond VIII
be the pivotal point when tourists
| come from California and other west
ern states. Here they will meet the
highway running from North to South
! the logical way for them 10 go TO
| Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia
/ New York. Boston. and Canada, to all
paints in the south.