The Hattiesburg news., 1915-10-18
HIGHWAY MUST BE- BUILT
ON THE JACKSON ROUTE
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tContinred from Page One.)
not materially changed its location
1t has been much travelled highway,
and, before the coming of railroads.
was the chief line of travel from Nash
vile into Mississippi 1t was all that
t. time, and is now, known as the Jack
son Military Road. So well known is
the road that Senator Underwood in
his speech at Nashville said "If. it
were the question of locating Jack
son Military Highway, no other road
would have any right to the name as
compared with yours" In trying to
minimize a historical fact, he claimed
that the convention should locate
Jackson Memorial Highway, and that
1t would be no infringement on the
name of the Jackson Military High.
way to employ the name Jackson Me
mortal Highway to an entirely new
route, The substitution of Memorial
for Military would be an argumen,
in favor of building a memorial road
along the original route, for the loca
tion of the Jackson Highway along
the route selected by Jackson himself
would not only make it all the more
memorial but also commemorate one
of Jackson's greatest achievements.
Comparative Topography of the Two
Routes.
For the most part, the route along
the Jackson Military Road is through
a comparatively level country. It was
this fact that caused Jackson and his
engineers to select this route in pref
erence to any other, when all this sec.
tion of the country was a wilderness
and any route might have been chos
en-. From Columbus, Mississippi.
south, the hills are few and far be
tween and those that must be climbed
are of small consequence. Between
Nashville and Columbus, Mississippi.
while the country is more broken,
still the difficulties of travel are small.
SO far as hills and mountains are con
cerned, because Of the fact that the
government engineers who laid out
the route chose the lines of least re.
sistance. On this part of the old
Jackson Military Road, the ridges are
followed as much as possible, so that
there is the fewest number of climbc
even in this, the most broken part of
the route.
On the central Alabama route, there
are mountains to be crossed or cir
cumvented. All the country north and
south of Birmingham is more broken
and mountainous than any part of the
old route. From Montgomery west |
the proposed route follows length-wise
the prairie formation and the same
thing is true west of Selma, while the
old route by Florence and Columbus,
Mississippi, crosses the prairie at right |
angles and at practically its narrowest
point. It is a well known fact that ii |
Is very difficult to maintain road |
across this prairie section, because
1f the character OF the soil and the |
lifficulty Of securing adequate drain
aGe. Even rock-surfaced roads are
not sure, because in the long winter
Amy seasons the core of the road is
fable to become soft and give way
'eneath the surface finish.
Rivers and Crossings.
On the Jackson Military Road, there
re but four rivers Of any magnitude. Il
rhere are good steel bridges over
be Tennessee at Florence, Alabama;
Nor the Tombigbee at Columbus,
(Ississippi; and over the Leaf at Hat
|eeburg, Mississippi. Thus. only the
'e1r1. in the extreme southern part Of
IIasissippi, is to be bridged, and a
ridge across the Pearl in that sec
"a would not be a difficult or expen-
We undertaking.
on the central Alabama route. there
10 bridge over the Tennessee and
|, brfdke over tho Tombigbee at
81 & s. 4 "A 81 11IV Vo11 NobiIe