Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1915-03-04
roads that Mr. Hudgins advocates.
How Long it Would Take.

roads that Mr.. Hudgins advocates.
How Long Il Would Take.
Henderson county's appropriation
for road purposes for a year are less
kthan SIC, 600. co.. This amount would
not be sufficient to build n mile OF
| Mr.. Hudgin's road. At this rate il
1 would take us twelve years to build .
road to the Buncombe county hne;;
, twelve years to the South Carolina
| line and fifteen years to Bat Cave
I1This would require thirty-nine years
tn build only three of the important
roads in Henderson county. / wonder
ii our citizens would be willing to wait
for this length of time in order to be
| able to drive over one OF Mr.. Hud-
gins roads. And / also wonder II the
first mile that was put down would
J not have long ceased to be a good road
before Mr.. Hudgins was able to ex-
tend even one of his roads to the coun-
ty line.
Is Mr.. Hudgins Professionals
Since Mr.. Hudgins seems to be such
good authority and seems to be so well
versed in the construction of roads ]
hove been wondering where he obtain
CD his experience and how many miles
OF cement road he had con-
structed. / believe I will ask If he
has ever even seen a mile of cement
road except the cement that was laid
last summer between the street a
track on Fifth %avenue?. am OF n
opinion that the people of Henderson
Vile have had their last experience
with the kind of road that Mr.. Hudgins
advocates. =
Concerning Mr.. NeaI's Work.
Mr. Hudgins goes SO far in his en-
thusiasm to say in n Of his articles
that the majority OF the experts are
opposed to sand-clay roads and when
asked by Mr.. Ewbank to name some of
these authorities he comes back with
the single name of the road supervisor
OF Buncombe county and asks the peo-
pie If they have read Mr.. Meals article.
/ would also like to ask Mr.. Hudgins
il he has read the report Of the Bun
combe County Good Roads association
recently published in the Asheville
Citizen and the many articles recently
published in the Citizen asking the
Buncom6e county commissioners to
adopt the sand-clay method? MI.
Hudgins' majority of expert opinion
seems to eon1ne itself to his W
opinion and that of Mr.. Neal of Bun
combe county.
/ wonder If Mr.. Hudgins realizes
that more miles Of sand-clay roads
are being built in the United States to-
day then every other kind Of road
Are all of the people
wasting their money, and do not know
what they are doing? Or does Mr.:
Hudgfns believe that he is wiser than
all the combined intelligence of the
country. Mr.. Hudgins asks what sort
Of specifications were sent by Mr..
Joseph Hyde Pratt as to the method
is constructing the sand-clay roads in
county. The letter or Mr..
w. L. Spoon referred to. above VIII
answer this question without further
comment. MI. Hudgins -then gives US
an extract from a personal letter
written him by Mr.. Neal in which MI.
Neal advises him to keep the peopteA
Of our county from spending mucA1
money on sand-clay roads. / am or
the opinion that Mr.. Neal has all that
ne can attend to to look after the roads
Of his own county. From the mere
fact that Mr.. Neal has made a COM
Dlete failure in the sand-clay road
That Le has constructed under his
does not signify that every
one else will make such a poor show
ing.
Road Building Material
Mr.. Neal has the same idea as MI.
Hudgins so far as l am able to Judge
that it is necessary to have red clay
10 build a sand-clay road. This q
originated because the first sand-clay
roads were built in the Piedmont sec
ion where red clay predominates.
This idea that sand-clay roads cannot
be built without red clay is as far
rom rue as most of Mr.. Hudg1ns
other ideas in regard to sand-claS
roads. Any clay will make a satisfac-
.ory sand-clay road if enough OF the
right kind of coarse sharp gravel is
added to the clay to make a hard
smooth surface of sufficient depth to
hold up the traffic that the road is to
carry.
am willing to admit that Buncombe
in which Mr.. Neal has been
operating, has not got this kind OF