ECONOMIC SURVEYS OP COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. H 



with few buyers even at those figures. Most of the agricultui'al 

 products which the farms in the county were capable of producing 

 were brought in by rail from the outside, and thus steadily the bal- 

 ance of trade was rising against the county. Its greatest source of 

 wealth — ^namely, timber and crossties — could not be utihzed to the 

 best advantage because the roads for many months in the year were 

 almost impassable. The ecoiiomic studies to ascertain the relative 

 benefits and burdens of the road improvement in the county were 

 begun in 1910 and continued annually thereafter up through 1915. 

 A significant incident on the first inspection trip, March, 1910, occurred 

 within a half mile of Fredericksburg, when the horses broke a sin- 

 gletree in their attempt to pull the fight surrey, with its two passen- 

 gers and driver through the deep, heavy, clay mud. (See PI. Ill, 

 fig. 1.) 



While it seemed apparent at the outset that the building of a sys- 

 tem of improved roads would be highly beneficial to the county, it 

 remained to be seen whether the financial outlay involved would be 

 heavier than the corresponding benefits received and whether good 

 management and sound economy would be practiced, so as to get 

 the greatest possible results for the outlay of funds. Only by deter- 

 mination of these questions could the example of Spotsylvania 

 County be made usefid to other communities which should find it 

 necessary to deal with the subject of road improvement. As the 

 investigations were begun before any initial steps were taken in the 

 matter of management or construction, it was practicable to record 

 year by year the story of Spotsylvania's good-roads progress and 

 the economic results of the project. 



It might be weU to mention that Spotsylvania County is located 

 about 45 miles north of Richmond and has an area of 401 square 

 miles. The principal products are timber and crossties, although 

 the farms produce some bright tobacco, hay, potatoes, truck, small 

 fruits, etc., and since the roads have been improved there has been 

 some development of the dairy and poultry industries. There are 

 no large manufactming industries and no cities except Fredericks- 

 burg, which had a population in 1910 of 5,874 out of a total popula- 

 tion for the county of 15,809. Primarily the problem was to provide 

 a system of roads which, while used for hauKng the forest products, 

 gradually would develop the* agricultural resources of the county. 



HOW THE IMPEOVEMENT WAS FINANCED. 



Owing to the fact that imder the Virginia law cities are not taxable 

 for county purposes, Fredericksburg, the only city in Spotsylvania 

 County, could not be reached for a proportionate share of the pro- 

 posed outlay. There were four districts in the coimty, but only 

 two, namely, Courtland and Chancellor, actively took up the move- 



