New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-25
Into the Blue Ridge
On the Southern
Main Auto Route

In earlier reports 0. ". Wells, chief
roadman for the Automobile Club OF
America. covered the roads from New
York TO Stuunton. Va, by way Of Phila-
delphia. Lancaster, Chsmbersburg.
Hagerstoxn and Winchester. In the
following he tells Of roads as far south
as Asheville, n. c.
Continuing from Stanton. an excel
lent macadam road runs east through
Basic City and Rock Fish Gap TO
within five miles of Charlottesville;
the remainder is dirt road. in fair con
dition. This route provided much in
teresting scenery, an especially fine
view being obtained from the top Of
the mountain overlooking the Piedmont
section, just beyond Rock Fish Gap.
From Charlottesville to a point about
ten miles west of Richmond there is
a graded clay road, which is very
slippery in wet weather. The road be-
tween Charlottesville and Lyncnburg is
very rough and in some places almost
impossible. From Lynchburg through
Danvillc and Recdsville to Greensboro,
". c., the road is If graded clay. about
half of which has been improved; there
are some rough stretches, which re-
quire cautious driving in wet weather.
From Greensboro through kerners-
vile to Winston-Salem the road is
hard surfaced and in good condition,
with the exception of one or two short
rough stretches, which need dragging.
The road between Winston-Salem and
Lexington is also good. The new
macadam road between Greensboro and
High Point, y. c., is credit to that
section; it deserves careful study by
all the road commissioners in that part
of the country. as it is one of the best
pieces of highway construction in the
Southern States.
From High Point there is fair sand
clay road through Lexington and Yad-
kin to Spencer, succeeded by fairly
good macadam to Salisbury, and new
concrete and macadam seven miles
beyond Salisbury. followed by a short.
rough stretch of stone road into China
Grove. The next six miles is fair sand
clay 10 Kannapolis. then good macadam
20 Concord, and the remainder Of the
road 10 Charlotte is hard surface in
fairly good condition. From that point
south to Belmont the road is twenty
feet wide, half Of which is stone and
somewhat rough.
At Belmont new concrete bridge is
under construction across the Catawba
River. This will doubtless be finished
by next spring. and in the meantime a
temporary bridge is provided. From
Belmont through NcAdenyille. Lowell
and Gastonia 70 Bessemer City a fair
sand clay road leads to Kings Mount.
The next fifteen miles TO Blacksburg is
graded clay with some rough stretches.
and the same condition is found
through Gafney, Cowpens and Con-
verse to Spartanburg. 5. {.
There are one or two rough stretches
between Spartanburg and Greenvile.
also some construction in progress for
five miles leading into Greenyille; q
short detour is necessary.
The best way to reach Asheville,
n. c., at the present time is to follow
the trunk line through to Greenville,
then take the Saluda- Hendersonviile
road TO Asheville, as the Hickorynut
Gap route from Salisbury has a num-
Der of very bad stretches and i'm wet
weather would DC impossible.
The Chimney Rock route. through
Kings Mount and Rutherford 10 Chin.
ney Rock, also has some bad stretches
great many motorists run from
nings Mount to Hendersonville and
then north to Asheville. The Spartan
burg -Hendersonville road is in fair
shape to Tryon, but from there on
through Saluda is a very narrow noun.
tain road, with a number of Tong
stretches where the road winds around
the mountain, and is very precipitous
and dangerous, overlooking ravines A
feet in depth. The Saluda
grade between Greenville and Hender-
sonvile. which is now practically fin.
ished, was built by convicts. The engi-
neer and contractor deserve much
credit for this road one of the finest
mountain roads IN the country. IL i
wide enough in all places for two cars
to pass, and the worst grade il less
than Z per cent.
Between Hendersonville and Ashe-
vile ten miles of twenty-foot road is
under construction. which should be
by December I. At the
present time a fair detour has been
provided by turning right Immediately
after crossing the railroad at Fletcher
and joining the Chimney Rock road
about ten miles beyond
All trunk lines radiating from Ashe.
Vile are hard surfaced and in excel
lent condition for distance OF ten or
fifteen miles. There are many fine
dives for the motorist stoppn; at
Ashcville, among which are the trips
TO Mount Pisgah and to Sunset Noun
tain. The latter utilities a road which |
was especially constructed for auto /
mobiles. The new concrete road which 1
skirts the shores OF the Swannanoa /
River for distance Of twenty miles
is twenty feet wide. with solid con-
crete shoulder on each side Of two |
feet. making the total width of twenty |
four feet This Is one OF the finest /
drives for scenery in the Blue Ridge |
Mountains !