ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 48 
hucksters in the county have established 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 railroad 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 first 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 railroad in the county, and as a basis tor 
ascertaining the tonnage hauled over the public roads, the freight 
shipments on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad 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 iron ore, which do not pass over the public 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 including live stock, on the 
roads of the county in 1914 was as shown in Table 15. 
TABLE 15, 
Tons. 
EELS Em LOGIE Lette gee aes a SAO PL US a ae oto we de ei os eee 28, 000 
Farm and miscellaneous products hauled to the railroad station and mining 
GistKicis2s 2.2232. See ee cee got es Fe AS CS oe oko oe OOD 
Feed, fertilizer, coal, groceries, and miscellaneous products..........-.-.---- 20, 630 
Reena ee. OPS wr ea eee 7A, 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 
mec of 5 miles. thus making the total annual pone on 
the improved road system 297,180 ton-miles. 
From numerous Poe vations 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 fall and about 
800 to 1,000 pounds during the winter and spring, with an average 
throughout the year of about 1,500 pounds. Most of the hauling 
was done in the fall, 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 
