Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1921-01-28
MANY HERE AT
ROAD MEETING
Very Large Crowd Comes to
Town to Hear Discussion as to
Best Route For New High
way Through County.

Several hundred enthusiastic citi
zens interested in the welfare of the
county were here Tuesday attend
ing the meeting of the Virgins
State Highway Commission which
came to Tazewell to hear the appeal
from State Highway. Commissioner
Coleman who had located the state
road on the old Fincastle and Cum
berland Gap turnpike. The citizens
appealing contended that the best in
terests of the State and the people
at large would be served by chang
ing the location of the road to what
is now called the River Route. This
: new proposed route would take the
State road down the river to Max
well, and to Cedar Bluff, and from
there to the Russell county line. The
commission, composed of w. H. Mas
sic, of Rappahannock county, chair
man; Henry P. Beck, of Richmond;
H. Hardaway, of st. Paul, Jas. A.
Mundy, of Natural Bridge and Frank
w. Davie, Of Laurencville, reached
Tazewell Monday and were taken
over the routes for the road now in
dispute. They were provided with
automobiles by the interested parties
and spent the day and part the day
Tuesday in going over the different
locations. Mr.. Geo. P. Coleman, of
Richmond, Joined the commission
here Tuesday morning and was an
Interested spectator in the court
house meeting.
Chairman Massie called the meet
ing to order shortly after two o'clock,
and announced that the commission
was ready to hear argument from
each side of the road question.
The argument was opened by Mr..
j. N. Harman, of counsel for the ap-
pellees, who stated that the best in
terests of the county and the Safe
would be served by constructing he
road on the river route, and asserted
that, taking the school population as
an example, there We're 160 pupils
served by the old Fincastle road,
whereas there were 1,718 that would
be served by the river route, and
that it was his positive opinion that
the new route would serve ten times
as many people as the old one. Mr..
Harman noted the fact that all the
counties industries were on the river
route, and that larger per cent of
the population of that Magisterial
district lived on this proposed site
for the new road. The speaker en-
phasized the fact that Tazewell
county people had voted and spent
one million dollars in road work
within the past few years, and that
those who are bearing the burden
of taxation in paying back this bor-
rowed money should be given great
consideration ut the hands of the
commission when the welfare of so
great n number of them is at stake
at is certainly 'up to- the commits
sion to consider the mineral deposits
and the possible future development
of territory adjacent to the river
road, and at the same time weigh the
industries and possible future de-
velopment on the old route, which is
less populous now tina ntwenty years
ago. "Our friends in the Cove don't
need macadam road to drive cattle
: over. 1t is best that they walk to
market on soft ground. And, in ad-
dition to this, seventy-five per cent
of the taxation of Maiden Spring
District is borne by the citizens liv-
ing on the north side of the river
route" said Mr.. Harman. In closing
he said that he had been reminded
that all this section of the country
had been under water in the flood of
June, 1901, and that this would be
used as argument against changing
the route. The Senator, using his
Biblical knowledge as lever to, re-
fute such absurd conclusions, said
that we read in the Book that this
whole country was flooded some few
thousand years ago, and this argu
ment had as we'll be used as that o1
the June food of 1901.
The bond issue og $625,O0O, votet
in 1912, was used as argument
against changing the route by at
torney T. C. Bowen, who spoke il
behalf of the Fincastle and Cumber
land Gap route. He cited the orde!
calling for the election, in which wa,
specifically Incorporated, the Fin
castle route for improvement as tn
main thoroughfare of the county
and he said that the river route wa
not mentioned or thought of at tina
time. He asked if it was at tha
time thought that the river rout
was then the main artery and con
Meeting link of the county's roa
system? Mr.. Bowen said that ther
was only few miles Of unimprove
road in Baptist Valley that woul
connect up the citizens of Ceda
Bluff, Richlands and Pounding Mi
with the rest of the county, and tha
this could be easily built with roa