A4 BULLETIN 393, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. - 
of a two-horse team and driver has increased from $3 to $3.50 per 
day in the past few years, due to the increased cost of feed. 
Lumber is hauled into Pennington Gap 7 miles along the Dryden 
Road, 700 feet b. m. to the load. This road is now graded and about 
1 mile macadamized. Two trips a day are now made by teamsters, 
who receive $3 per 1,000 feet b. m., which is at the rate of 17 cents 
per ton-mile. 
Hauling costs on the old roads varied all the way from 40 to 80. 
cents per ton-mile. The average cost per ton-mile for the cases 
under observation was 25 cents on macadam, 40 cents on graded 
roads, and 55 cents on the old roads. The saving is 30 cents on 
macadam and 15 cents on graded roads, and an average of about 
20 cents per ton-mile. The total annual saving by reason of the 
improved roads would, therefore, be about $59,400. 
An implement dealer at Jonesville reports that he gave $400 
toward the building of the Ben Hur-Jonesville road four years ago 
and that he is now saving that amount each year by the reduced 
cost of hauling freight from Ben Hur. He paid for hauling freight 
from 15 to 20 cents per hundredweight for a 5-mile haul over the old 
road, which equals from 60 to 80 cents per ton-mile; on the improved 
road, from 8 to 10 cents per hundredweight for a 5-mile haul, which 
equals from 32 to 40 cents per ton-mile. For hauling coal, 10 cents 
per bushel of 80 pounds for a 5-mile haul on the old road, which 
equals 50 cents per ton-mile; on the improved road he paid 5 cents 
per bushel of 80 pounds for a 5-mile haul, which equals 25 cents per 
ton-mile 
WISE COUNTY, VA. 
Road improvement in Wise County was begun in 1910 through the 
construction of 4.6 miles of macadam road under the supervision 
the State highway department. As was the case in other counties, 
the first example of good-road construction served as an object lesson 
and created a strong sentiment for comprehensive road improvement 
throughout the county. On November 22, 1910, a county bond issue 
of $700,000 for grading and macadamizing 110 miles of road was 
carried by a vote of 2,156 for the bonds to 176 against them. Unfortu- 
nately, no preliminary surveys or engineering advice were obtained 
upon which to base the program of construction outlined in the order 
of election, and in consequence it was found, after the bonds had been 
voted and surveys for actual construction made, that the routes set 
forth in the order of election aggregated 125 miles instead of 110 
miles, and that the cost of grading and macadamizing this mileage 
would amount to more than $1,000,000 instead of the $700,000 which 
the people had voted. This naturally caused some dissatisfaction 
and required a change in policy. It was, therefore, decided to grade 
the whole mileage and build permanent drainage structures, utilizing 
Se eee ee ee 
