ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 43 



hucksters in the comity have estabhshed regular routes through the 

 farming sections and buy up chickens, eggs, butter, and other 

 products. These products are sold in the mining camps or hauled 

 to the raihoad stations. In this way the farmers receive cash for 

 many perishable products which would otherwise be a total loss. 



The improvement of the roads has brought about the shipment 

 of large quantities of tanbark, extract wood, and pulp wood hitherto 

 unprofitable. The teamsters in hauling lumber to Jonesville over 

 4 and 5 miles of earth roads, then on to Ben Hur over the macadam 

 road, can only haul a small load into Jonesville, return for a second 

 load, to which the fust is added on reaching Jonesville, and then 

 haul both in one load over the improved road to Ben Hur. In 

 hauling coal from Ben Hur, two wagons are fastened together and 

 drawn by one team to the end of the improved road, then uncoupled 

 and hauled separately to their destination over the earth roads. 



There are 97 miles of raihoad in the coimty, and as a basis ior 

 ascertaining the tonnage hauled over the public roads, the freight 

 shipments on the Louisville & Nashville Raihoad at 11 stations 

 in the county were ascertained in 1914 to be 49,733,23 tons of out- 

 going freight and 16,211.37 tons of incoming freight, exclusive of 

 coal and hon ore, which do not pass over the pubhc roads. From the 

 data thus obtained and from a study of the traffic areas served by the 

 roads, supplemented by actual observations of traffic, it has been 

 estimated that the annual traffic, not mcluding live stock, on the 

 roads of the county in 1914 was as shown in Table 15. 



Table 15. 



Tons. 



Forest products 28, 000 



Farm and miscellaneous products hauled to the railroad station and mining 



districts 25, 565 



Feed, fertilizer, coal, groceries, and miscellaneous products 20, 630 



Total 74, 295 



Of the total tonnage it is estimated that approximately 80 per 

 cent, or 59,436 tons, are hauled over the improved roads an average 

 distance of 5 miles, thus making the total annual ton-mileage on 

 the improved road system 297,180 ton-miles. 



From numerous observations made in 1911, it was found that 

 the average load for a two-horse team before the roads were im-' 

 proved was about 2,000 pounds in the summer and faU and about 

 800 to 1,000 poimds during the winter and spring, with an average 

 throughout the year of about 1,500 pounds. Most of the hauling 

 was done in the faU, so as to avoid bad roads during the winter and 

 spring. 



As compared with the average load on the old road of 1,500 pounds, 

 the average on the improved road is about 4,000 pounds. The value 



