The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1916-07-08

Il. w. Dabbs Tells OF Trip by Ford to
and From Rock Hill-Says Lee
County Has Best Roads and Crops
In Nine Counties He Has Visited.

Women and House Keepers courses
OF the summer school. We went by
Ford and there We're five Of us and
three SLUT cases. We left home at
6:45 and reached Winthrop college
at 2:15, distance Of about lis miles.
Ii all the road had been as good as
the ~ miles in Lee county the trip
could easily be made in four hours. or
II the road in Lancaster had been as
good as the Kershaw road the trip
would not require over hours. From
kershaw nearly to Lancaster the
road, was being worked and it was a
constant thing to low gear to pull
through the mud, while the danger of
skidding was SO great that a speed of
over 10 miles per hour was not safe.
Beyond Lancaster the road was hard
but very rough.
We were told at Lancaster that
there was fearful hill going down to
Catawba river, half a mile long with
60 per cent. grade and a bad turn at
the bottom to the bridge. If We had
not lost SO much time by the mud be-
tween kershaw and Lancaster, or if
the main highway to Charlotte had
been what we expected. we. would
have gone SO miles out Of our way to
miss this terrible hill. What was our
relief when we reached the hill to
find it not over 200 yards long and not
too steep to stop the car at any point
!, on it by the use of the hand and
foot brakes. OF course if a car were
oget away from the driver it would
be miracle if car and occupants were
not hurled across the log railing at
the bend fifty feet over into the river.
The scene was worth all the trouble
and anxiety. From the bridge to
Rock Hill the road was hard and
reasonably smooth, but too curved for
speed of more than 15 or 20 miles
per hour.
The next morning two of us left
ROCK Hill at 8 o'clock coming by way
Of Chester, Winnsboro and Ridgeway.
crossing the Southern railway twenty
times in a distance of about so miles.
AT Ridgeway We turned eastward. for
the 29 miles to Camden, coming
through Longtown six or eight miles
or sand road along a ridge pretty
thickly settled. On the left we could
see the red rocky hills Of Fairfield and
across the river Liberty Hill and the
hills of Lancaster and Kershaw. On
the right the sand hills Of Kershaw
and Richland.
| About a hundred yards from the
line between Fairfield and Kershaw
we stopped for water, and the hos
pitable owner, Mr.. Sanders, gave us
some of the finest peaches we ever
saw. We were surprised to find him
and neighbor so enthusiastic for the
shoe string" county that is proposed
to be set up from the Kershaw line
to the North Carolina line and from
the Catawba river westward to within
miles of WinnsbOro, Chester and
YORK court house. why man it is
60 miles from here to Rock Hill, what
will you gain by such change? ?"
Everything to gain and nothing to
lose. Several roads have been aban-
doned because the county wilN not
keep up the bridges on big creeks
that empty into the river. The chain
gang has not worked the roads
through here in 16 years. A court
house ring at Winnsboro takes all the
offices and all the road work is done
nearby" ''Well, Rock Hill will do
You the same way mo she wont.
Rock Hill does things There will be
several times the wealth in the ne
| county per square mile than there is
now in Fairfield. We can not be any
worse off and we expect to be much
better off," They gave us the figures,
but l have forgotten. They also said
you will find the roads good in Ker-
SHAW SouHIy. SHOrI time aICer
leaving Mr.. Sanders we ran into the
rains that we had been seeing off to
our right and left for an hour, and
from there to three miles above
Mayesville we came for five hours in
the rain. Some places the water was
running down the road or across it
like a creek. We stopped an hour in
Camden during one Of the hardest Of
the showers, a half hour in Bishop
vile during another downpour, a half
hour in Mayesville and a half hour be-
fore the rain talking with Mr.. San
ders. Reached home at 1880, eleven
and a-half hours from the time we
left Rock Hill, actual running time of