Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published Oct. 15, 2003

We've always been asking for better roads

Unless potholes appear or driving surfaces deteriorate badly, few drivers think much about roads. In the almost forgotten past that was not true. Before roads were built those hardy souls who had to explore the unknown used Indian foot paths and animal trails. Those first travelers found the rivers more an impediment than a help because there were so many blockages. Instead they chose the struggle to the ridgetops. Those who returned to tell tales of what was to be found farther west excited the imagination of many and soon scores of families and fortune seekers were loading wagons with their possessions and moving out. It became apparent wagon roads were a priority.

Crossville's J.W. Dorton did some research on early roads in this part of Tennessee and wrote an article on the subject for the paper in October 1926. Tennessee was still a territory in 1794 when an ordinance was passed creating a lottery scheme to raise funds to cut and clear a wagon road. It was a complicated plan with 3,000 tickets to be sold for $5 but it included prizes which would amount to $15,000. Those winning a prize were expected to return one fifth of it back to the treasury for the road. The details of this lottery were to be published for three months in Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and territories. Nothing more was heard about the scheme.

Then on Oct. 26, 1799 an act was passed declaring that under the treaty of the United States with the Cherokees, there was the right to free and unmolested use of a road across most of the territory from east to west as far as what became Nashville. Three were appointed to serve as a committee to oversee clearing the road and to see that a toll was collected to repay the state for the funds used in making the road and keeping it repaired. That road was the Old Walton Road.

Once the horseless carriage appeared on the American scene roads were in the spotlight again. In October 1899 the Chronicle received a letter to the editor inquiring about the road money for the 5th District. The editor answered the letter at great length and put it on the front page.

He began, "Roads and road money has been the source of no little comment, speculation and some criticism by various citizens of the county." The editor explained that the entire tax levied for all purposes for some years past has been 19 cents on the $100 valuation and is divided as follows: state, 3 cents; county, 3 cents; school, 6 cents; special, 4 cents; road, 1 cent; jail, 2 cents. The road fund is the lightest in the county.

The money raised in each district is expended on the roads of that district. The books show that since Oct. 1, 1896 to Sept. 11, 1899 - nearly three years - $628.47 road money was collected for the 5th District and expended. That amount came to approximately $200 a year. As near as the investigator could find, in one year $87.44 of the money was paid to 20 overseers in the 5th District, there being an overseer for each five miles of road. The road commissioner received $124.28 for his service, for the labor of his team and some material.

The editor concluded, "From our point of view the main problem seems to be that our present road system is faulty. Under the new law that goes into effect next January we may reasonably hope for better roads, provided a capable, conscientious and energetic man is chosen."

That new law didn't stop the clamor for better roads and in Crossville the letters, articles and editorials on the road situation continued well into the 1930s. Nationwide, roads stir controversy today and probably for all the tomorrows.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.