ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 73 
the county convict forces built roads without engineering advice or 
assistance, but the benefits resulting from the employment of a com- 
petent engineer have become so apparent in the county that no 
work is now done by the convict forces without first calling upon the 
engineer to survey and lay out the work to be done. 
Ten main market roads radiating from Meridian like the spokes 
from the hub of a wheel (see Pl. XX XT) and one branch to a main 
Toad, aggregating 513 miles, were macadamized, and in Beat 1 the 
distances from the ends of the macadam portions to the beat line 
were surfaced with sand-clay, the total of this latter type in Beats 1 
and 5 aggregating 45 miles. The improved roads, therefore, comprise 
a total of 96.75 miles, or about 12 per cent of the total of 800 miles in 
the county. The roads were graded 22 to 24 feet wide in fills and 
28 to 30 feet wide in cuts, with 4-foot shoulders and 3-foot ditches. 
The macadam surfaces were from 14 to 16 feet wide and 6 inches 
thick consolidated. The sand-clay treatment usually extended from 
ditch to ditch. Natural sand-clay mixtures were principally used 
for this construction. The material for the macadam construction 
- consisted of novaculite imported by rail from Tamms, IIl., a distance — 
of 300 miles. The stone cost $1.10 per ton of 2,160 pounds, f. o. b. 
Meridian. The gravel used was shipped in by rail from Iuka, Miss., and 
cost $1 per ton f. o. b. Meridian, of which 30 cents was for material 
and 70 cents for freight. The weight was from 2,700 to 3,000 pounds 
per cubic yard. The average cost of constructing the roads, exclu- 
sive of bridges, was about $6,500 per mile for macadam and $2,000 
per mile for sand-clay. The general average for the entire mileage 
was about $4,666 per mile. Most of the bridges were built of wood 
at a cost of about $3 per running foot. 
For the ordinary road work of the county the convicts, averaging 
from 65 to 70, are regularly employed. These are divided into three 
camps and are used for grading and the building of sand-clay roads 
in the outlying districts, and for general maintenance work on all 
county roads. The cost of feeding, clothing, guarding, and medical 
attention, and the cost of teams and equipment, are paid out of the 
general funds of the county. The total cost of maintaining the three 
camps is about $38,600 per annum, and during the past 5 years they 
have constructed about 50 miles of sand-clay roads. This work was 
principally that of extension from bond-built roads to the county line. 
All road and bridge work in this county, amounting to more than $50, 
except that which is done by the convicts, must be done by contract. 
Very little work has been done, however, except by convicts and 
under the bond issues. The remarkable difference between a good 
and bad road is shown in Plate XXXIT. _ 
