ECONOMIC SURVEYS OP COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 31 



sists of 5 members, 1 fromi each district and 1 from the county at large. 

 Previous to 1912 the members of this board were designated by the 

 circuit court judge. Since that time the positions have been elective. 

 The salary of the members is $40 per annum each, except the secre- 

 tary, who receives S65 per annum. In addition to the salary mem- 

 bers receive $2 per day for inspection, not to exceed $10 per annum 

 for each district. The total salaries and expenses of the board are 

 therefore about $265 per annum. 



There were 102.5 miles of road designated for improvement in the 

 order of election issued by the judge of the circuit court. Namozine 

 district was to have 30 miles; Rowanty district, 22.5 miles; Sapony 

 district, 23 miles; and Darvills- district, 27 miles. The work was 

 begun on June 16, 1909, and is still in progress. The county has 524 

 miles of public road, of which 91.31 miles have been surfaced from 

 the bond-issue funds, which, added to the 9.75 miles previously con- 

 structed, make 101.06 miles, or 19.3 per cent of the total mileage 

 surfaced. (PI. VIII.) Of the 91.31 miles, 81.1 miles were con- 

 structed with the aid of State convicts and 10.2 miles without convicts. 

 The 81.1 miles cost $68,490.72 m cash and 67,736.5 convict days. 

 The cost of guarding, clothing, and food for convicts was paid by the 

 State at an average of $0.5468 per convict working day, or a total of 

 $37,038.32. The actual cost to the county was therefore $844 per 

 mile, and, including convict labor, the average cost was $1,301.22 

 per mile. The total cost of the 10.2 miles built without convicts was 

 $17,712.69, or an average of $1,736.53 per mile. 

 ■ The roads were graded to an average width of 20 feet and were, 

 for the most part, surfaced to a width of from 12 to 14 feet with 

 top-soil, selected from near-by fields. The top-soil, which is a kind 

 of natural sand-clay or gravel-clay mixture, consisted for the most 

 part of clay naturally mixed with coarse sand or fine angular pebbles 

 of disintegrated granite. This material is fairly well distributed 

 throughout the county and in some cases was contributed free by 

 abutting property owners. In other cases, however, it was pur- 

 chased at 3 cents per cubic yard. Several sandy roads were treated 

 with clay and several clay roads were treated with sand. 



The county now has two surfaced roads radiating from Petersburg, 

 extending entirely across the county. The Boydton Plank Road 

 (PI. VII, fig. 2, and PL X, fig. 2), 26.25 miles long, extends through 

 the center of the county in a southwesterly direction along the Sea- 

 board Air Line RaUroad to the Brunswick Comity line. The Cox 

 Road (PI. IX, fig. 2), 32 miles long, extends through the northern 

 part of the county in a westerly direction along the Norfolk & Western 

 Raiboad to the Nottoway County line. The Hahfax Road has been 

 improved for 3 miles south of Petersburg. The Stage Road has been 

 improved for about 8 miles from the Nottoway River in a north- 



