Newspapers / The Sanford Express (Sanford, … / May 9, 1935, edition 1 / Page 3
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THE OLD PLANK ROAD. ' _ . >i This paper has received a copy o| the 60th anniversary edition of the ’ Twin-city Senfinefl, of Winston-Salem,1: published on the ,6th instant. It is a : credit to that progressive city, and i to its pulUshera, who, through its columns, have put ouPa lot of worth I while information not only about Win ! ston-Salem and that section, but the] entire state. It TF a valuable edi tion for the great amount of hlstori 1 cal facts it carries. We re-, produce from its columns a' story about “The Old Plank Road," from the pen pp CoT. W. A. Blair. It is the best and most complete story about : this old historic highway that we have read. The—“Old Plank Road” crosses the upper section of Lee county. The road can be traced by some of the old planks that are saat tered along its route, in fact, modern] highways have been bail*, on some sec tions of this old road, over which the farmers apd others from the western | part of. the state hauled their pro duce to Fayetteville Ibfore the War| Between the states and in exchange carried back goods of every desert ion that they needed in their homes and on Tie Earths The plank used in the construction of this road . were from the very best heart pine that could be found. Had this road been constructed of concrete it would prob. ably be in use today. Following is ] the story of C#. Blair: »y ine enure question oi wansperm tion has been one of absorbing in terest in North Carolina ’and else where for marv# years. It was mote easily solved'in the. easem section of the state,/where rivers, bays, sounds and ocean1, were hospitable to bloats, rafts and other water craft. But water didn’t exiBt everywhere end canals roads, and, fina.ly, rail reads, occupied much attention in the legis lative bodies. The railroad was a new, ambitious, costly and untried pro ■ position and the people didn’t know much about lsgpmotives or cars, and it was understood that theoe must be - cracks, made o|| iron and steel and that trains did. not seem to be able to wander] at large through fields and woods, nor could they be counted on to stop at everybod’s doe*> . „ , Our folks diji know abput horses and wagons, however, arid had even experimented with Corduroy roadB of logs placed crosswise through wet and swamp places. /These were rough, uneven, and jolty, but ^were / hailed M pew, helpftrt and indeed * a brilliant discovery*,,*. -lUn®"^^ was % plentiful everywhere, /**ere wa0 • litUe demand for P * c$d1& called a spiral had IL-en to*, rented'; jmpro^ Jr that around **>' *» ***. of many ^ peoplef./Iuste?v>d mighty ..end magic EQ^wflities. 4.-:/; As a result, the idea of a goad. ieop5r «-» pga^flities. ■:} ; ^ a result, the idea of a goad, level and smooth, innocent «Traudlir stones, had a direct and stroAg ap peal. We like to think' c(.i North Carolina as “first at Bethel” and first’ --«''*ntbtr-many other filings, but mustl shamefacedly .confess that" the first1 plank .road was built in Canada in 1836. It was a small affair, orly a mile in length but the idea spread rapid.)’ through the dominion >*nd through the United States. Thirteen years later ■' North Carolina had csttght the fever and several roads were constructed here. Her first at ' tempt was by far the imost amUti ous and successful one and resulting . in building the longest plank road eve fiuilt in the‘world,and, for years one of the most successful ones—the Appian way of North CaroLina—the very queen of all roads. 11 ran from Fayetteville through Asheboro, where High Point was »to be, Salem, and on to Bethania, a distance of 12b miles. But for the Civil War. arid tho railroad it would haverllaen crossed over into Virginia as had been plan ned. The Legislature issued the charter in 1849 for a period of 25 years, giving exceedingly broad and liberal powers: and privileges. The capital was $200,000 with leave to increase to $300,000, shares were $50 each which might be paid in install meats and the name was given as “Fayetteville and Western Plank Road Company.” The corporation was especially em powered by its charter to acquire lands, condemn what was needed Unr right otf way,to levy and collect tolls, pass its own rules Whd regulations j and do almost |as it pleased. „It was ’ specified, however, that the ibaid must • not Ue less than, ten nor moire that1 80 feet in width and the right of way .was 100 feet. Of course, many changes were made in the require ment and privileges as the years went by. The state agreed to subscribe fos and take three fifths of die en ftfe stock. Soon 8>(ter the passage of the act E. L. Winslow was elected president, a strong board of directors chosen and the enterprise was laun ched with great faith, enthusiasm and rejoicing in Fayetteville.. It, was planned originally, that the I road should go to Salisbury direct,' but as, the directors felt that there I was not sufficient encouagement and support offered there, it was decided to make Lexington the objective point instead. Through the influence largely of Francis Fries, a director, Salem was finally chosen instead. Timber for the road was abundant alt along the line, and stiw mills, with oM fashioned straight, long clumsy saws, that moved slowly up and down were placed as snd where needed. Pine wag selected for lower part o£ the road and oak for the upper. It rag a little surprising that the pine ioardf lasted more than twice as long s the oak ones. On October 1, 1849,the first plans rere laid, and on April 2, 1850 ti e 'irst section was opened for traffic Irom Fayetteville to Uttle River unid great rejoicing and greater ex >ectations. It was found that Uifteen men could lay a .mile, in about five days and that the best way to proceed seemed to lb as follows; First, the road bed was1 thrown up, Reveled and tacked then all travel possible was turned over, it, and nfter it had thor oughly settled, it was packed and leveled again bdlore any of the tipi bers were laid. Four hewn stringers" live by sir inches were placed,costing £.3000 per thousand. Across these were laid the plank nnnailed eight feet Ion g 'and eight inches wide and three nches thick In each mile .there prere .about thirty thousand stringers ind toe average cost for the entire instruction including material was afoul $f,400 per mile. In 1853 the road was completed as far as Salem and soon afterwards to Bethania. Travel over It was very extensive, tegular stage coach schedules were iScduiisned ana on one occasion a man rode horseback from Fayetteville to Salem in a single day. Stockhold ■CM ajUQ |RUU pcx tent uiviueiiuo ecxi-annually and as early as 1854 receipts and tolls were coming in ac the rate of $3,000 per month, not withstanding "^.e fact that the young men were in the habit of taking their Mast girl* to itde on it entering road just heyott^ one tcfl gate and turning back before the'next one Was reached, for years the road proved a great sue cess'In" every "may but the coming of the Civil War jhwl the advent oL' the railroads sealed it* doom. It is worthy to note that early in our history certain Indian tribes from the mountains made annual pilgrim ages to the sea and blazei out the trail from near Wilkesboro through wllere "SSHem and High Point vere to be located to Fayetteville, thencrilown the river to Southport. After th»Mo ravians made their "settlement it Was necessary to bring goods fom Fa^ettt yiHe to the ..settlements and in fact to a large portion of Western North Carolina in searching for the best and most- desirable poute they could find none better than the old Indian frail. When careful surveys were made by the best engineers in the state Bor the' plan road, they could find no superior way. When FranJj Page chairman of the North Carol)** Highway Commission attempted to select the l test location for his'ednerete thoroughfare he was able* to make Cut few and minor chaoses and wond ■red how it. happed*! .that Indians seemed to have some-natural and in nate engineering ability that enabled them here mb elsewhere,withoct pass or other instruments always to choose the “straight -and' narrow path;* ; The ipkd was allowed^ .* rHht of way of 100 feet and>to this High Point owes it« foie broad Main StLiSet. . 'Ms? ¥ ; me miiuaiCQ v* ww u^m uiu manners and customs of the people" was striking and interesting. They were able to send produce, their dried fruit Ifaeswax and other commodities to the markets and an old driver re marked the “people began to put on aits, dress better, move their pig pens back of t^eir houses fix up their homes, yards and harness, curry their horses and to quit using the old ac customed designation .meat sop' and to call it ‘gravy.’ The old plank road has gone for ever. 'Now concrete covers the very self-same ground. Gone are foot pass engers, saddle horses, wagons, bug stage coaches—all. Everywhere along the historic old stage coach way the hum of the motor is the only music and of it we cannot always says, “ur.h songs have power to quiet The restless pulse of care And Some like the benediction fcThat follows after prayer.” "Sh old mile post 1 Irom the road and some of the plank preserved in the Springfield Museum and the old stage coach which used to bring travelers to' old Salem and to Bethania, now preserved Ity Salem’s Wachovia Histor cal Society are now visited as sacred relics. One can’t help thinking of hat sturdy, strong rugged old stage Irivers of pioneer days. {POLICE COMMISSIONER^ j SOLVES CROP j | MYSTERY I ■ t The reason some crops are weak and1 poor when on the other aide of the ifence they are thick and luxuriant has, been solved to the satisfaction of Police Commissioner B. W. Walker of Barn well, S. C. He says good crops are always grown when American nitrate, of soda is used, because of its high' nitrogen content and purity. _ ! According to Police Commissioner! Walker, farmers who use American. nitrate of soda are helping themselves > by following Dr. Charles H. Herty’a ; recent advice of “Southern fertilisers. . for the Southern farmer." - r For these reasons use and re com-■, mend, . ARCADIAN, THE AMERICAN i • NITRATE OF SODA ! •_ purs and sun > Mr. Claude Rosser, studen at the University, spent the 'week end at home. Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Shields, of ftjretfeville, visited Mrs. R. R. Riley Sunday. John Matthews'William Reid, Miss es "Hortense and" Prances Wicker have returned from Boone, where they at tended Appalachain College. , John Phillips, who made his home In Sanford Bor a number of years, and who owns property in town, has re turned to Sanford arid'Js'With hlh daughter on Pearl street. Mrs. H. M. Williams and Mrs. Neal Harrington attended the commence ment at ECise Academy Sunday. Rev. A. V. Gibson pneached the baccalaureate sermon at Elise Acad emy Sunday morning and Rev. P. Cary Adams, President of the Pres byterian Junior College, Maxton, fill ed his pulpit. Rev. C. B. CuTAIreth, pastor of Steele Street Methodist church, will preach j on the gabject: “Mothers O’ Men, at 11 A. M., and the women of the | church will have charge Of the pro- j gram at 8 P. M. Sunday, Mother’s: Day. , If OB. AH On J* Kllendrr ipARMERS entering the $5,000 : > American Nitrate of Koda Crop ] ^Contest can be sure that their re- i . .ports win receive impartial Judg - ~ ;ment. The most widely known of , ‘the three eminent judges is Sena- ’ tor Ellison D. Smith of South Caro •lina. Chairman of the Senate Com- ' mittee on Agriculture. The Honor- 1 Able Alien.J. Ellendor, Speaker of 1 . 'the Louisiana House, is also promi- i 'nent as a farmer and is himself a 1 'user of American nitrate of soda, j Sen. tSIIlMOn D. Smith )r. B. W Kilgore of Raleigh,: J C., former* director of the North . Carolina Experiment Station and * * Extension Service is one of the', J South’s outstanding agricultural eaders. The contest manager has' ►ointed out that farmers entering; his great contest, with a first i irizeof $1,000, should mail their' :ntry cards when they buy their 'soda,” as the closing date is ap iroachlng. _ ^ States Ask Federal Government To Cease Taxing Motor Fuel islatures of 21 states, as indicated by shading on the map, have adopted memorials demanding tnat the federal government end the dupMcatin(}‘federal tax on gasoline June 30th, 1935. ' *-JUIT U J. W1T» XJ. governments are asking the Fed eral government to get oat of the gasoline ta* field and to stay out! * Memorials , adopted- * by legisla tures of 21 state* call for elimina tion of the duplicating federal tax ; upon gasoline at the legal expira tion date June ft next: Elimi»—^°““a ' has been rftcocwwig”^1^1^ " 1 >i w p iuniMiMi ^u-j^lin by caaiuu CU1U1U1 ttcco. State objection ed largely upon vades a state caps state effo ways. Revenu levy never has roads. field the tax is bas fact that it ln and handi finance hlgb l the Federal ^earmarked for costl in 1934 alone. Sib® 1917 highway! users have paid In thia, and otheri otal of $1,723,780,555. The Federal; jovernment’s regular road expendi-J ures have been only $1,259,222,497. j Efforts of stale governments :o eliminate the Federal tax have oeen aided by nearly 250 organisa-^ Lions* representing millions of tax-: payers. They have adopted resolu-j turns and appealed to- individual Centressmen to $pd this tax June AN APPRECIATION To our friends in lee County we wish to express our most sincere appreciation‘for the increased'local fertili zeiJb>uslnesskthat(has been given us this year. This was forcefully brought to our attention by one of V.ie' most substantial and honored men of the county who drove up to our plant recently and said; “Last year I was perscaded to use some other fertilizer than yours af ter having used yours several years. This year my tenant demanded your fertilizer because he said, and I know, we did not make the crop last year that we had been mak ing with OVERSIZE.” OVERSIZE FERTILIZERS follow the latest develop ments in fertilizing the crop for which they are intended and it is a real pleasure for us to have our own home neo ple recognize it FOR QUICK DELIVERIES FOR TOBACCO, CORN, COTTON, GRAIN, AND TRUCK FERTILIZERS SEE USX)R OUR AGENTS Sapona Mills, Inc., SANFORD, North Carolina. Mourn Noted Tobacco Magnate f: ; ■’V !.i LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Wood F. Ax ton, noted tobacco manuCacturer, whose death is mourned in Ken tucky as the loss of the state’s first citizen, and one of the great leaders of the day. was famous for many things, f Two years ago he declined a raise in salary tendered him by the stockholders of the Axt on-Fisher Tobacco Company, said to be the largest independent tobacco firm In the country. His salary was around $10,000 a year and he re fused to accept an increase saying that **if there is to be any raising jit will start at the bottom." | Colonel Axton began his career' s as a grocery salesman and entered i the tobacco business with a capi tal of $60. His rise was meteoric I and he was the first to see the wide : possibilities in making cigarettes cooled with menthol, and probably the largest maker of 10 cent cigar ettes. A strong friend of labor, he be lieved that the worker should have enough to buy back the products or his labor if our economic situations is to improve. He was the only manufacturer asked to address the Federation of Labor convention at San Francisco last fall. This Kentuckian provided his employees with free lunches, sick benefits, recreation facilities and milk for the workers came from his 1,000 acre farm and' one of the finest Guernsey herds in this coun try. He was a noted horseman and a great friend of the farmer and •tobacco grower. Col. Axton’s deatn brings to the front his views on large salaries at a time when cor poration salaries are a matter ot public interest. I WHEN IN NEED of Journals, Ledgers, Day Books, Salesbooks; ReceipfeBooks; Manu script Covers, Marking Tags, Pencils, Stamp Pad Ink; Show Card Ink; Daters, Muci£agc; Memograph Supplies. Come to see us. We carry a complete line of office supplies and legal blanks. PRINTERS, RULERS, BINDERS. Cole Printing Co., Telephone 70-----Sanford, N. C. This is the New Mower the Crowds Admired at A Century of Progress Last Year Come in and go over the entire mower. You’ll agree that you have necer seen anything life it. Deering No. 7 Encloscd-Gcar Mower WE are anxious to have all of our friends see the New McCormick'Deering No. 7 Enclosed-Gear Mower. We think it is one of the finest pieces of farm equipment we have ever sold! Everybody who has seen it says they never had any idea that a mower could be built as this one is. For example: The entire operating mechanism, including drive gears, differential, and countershafts, is assembled compactly in an oil-tight gear housing and runs in a bath of oil. There are four high-grade roller bearings. Operation is so smooth and noiseless that you can scarcely hear the light hum of the sickle! Special oil seals at the ends of the main axle and fly wheel shaft, and the oil-tight gear box prevent leakage and protect all working parts against the entrance of dirt and other abrasive materials: Floating action of cutter bar provides ample play without disturbing knife registration. " McCormick *gs&l j^M'CORMICK-OEERING 1 vFARM machines. JMPUHEMTS. ^ Holt Supply Co,,, “Good Equipment Makes A Good Farmer Better.” Phone 450 Chatham Street
The Sanford Express (Sanford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 9, 1935, edition 1
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