32 BULLETIN 387, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ROAD MILEAGE. 
At the close of the year 1914, Mississippi had 45,779 miles of public 
roads, of which 2,133.35 miles, or 4.66 per cent, were surfaced. Of 
the surfaced roads, 1,281.10 miles were surfaced with gravel, 604.25 
with sand-clay, 114 with shell, 86 with macadam, 29.5 with bitu- 
minous macadam, 14 with concrete, 4 with slag, and 0.5 with burnt 
clay. 
In mileage of surfaced roads Lowndes County stood first, with 223 
miles, or 54.65 per cent; Lee County, second, with 157 miles, or 
50.32 per cent; Monroe County, third, with 150 miles, or 23.07 per 
cent; Lauderdale County, fourth, with 146.75 miles, or 18.37 per 
cent; and Hinds County, fifth, with 110 miles, or 12.79 per cent. 
Noxubee County had 103 miles and Copiah County 100 miles of 
surfaced roads, while 38 counties reported no surfaced roads. The 
surfaced and drained earth roads amounted to 13,686 miles. 
In 1909 Mississippi reported 39,619 miles of public roads, of which 
342.25, or 0.86 per cent, were surfaced. It thus appears that in the 
5-year period 1,791.1 miles of road have been surfaced. Detailed 
information in regard to road mileage in the various counties is 
contained in Table 45. 
NORTH CAROLINA. 
By Joseph Hyde Pratt, State Geologist and Secretary North Carolina Highway Com- 
mission, and Collaborator United States Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineer- 
ing. 
North Carolina has a land area of 48,740 square miles, a population, 
according to the 1910 Census, of 2,206,287, and a total road mileage 
of 50,758. The State, therefore, has a population of 45.3 per square 
mile of area and 43.5 per mile of road, with 1.04 miles of road per 
square mile of area. Of the population in 1910, 85.6 per cent, or 
1,887,813, was rural, thus indicating a rural population of 37.19 per 
mile of road. 
From the coast lowlands westward to the mountains for a distance 
of over 500 miles there is great variation in topography. The con- 
ditions make for complex problems, so that each section has its own, 
especially with regard to location and surfacing materials. Thus it 
is found advisable to use macadam, gravel, sand-clay, or topsoil. 
Material for making sand-clay * road is abundant, and such roads 
meet the traffic requirements over a large portion of the State. 
All the road work in North Carolina is directed by county or town- 
ship officials. Until recent years all road-tax levies were made by 
the county commissioners and the funds were spent under their 
direction. Within the past three years, however, especially where 
road bonds have been issued, special road commissions have been 
1 Sand-clay includes gravel and topsoil, 
