NC Transportation Described in Federal Writers' Project Book

From North Carolina: a guide to the Old North State, a Federal Writers’ Project book, which is online at http://books.google.com/books?id=dQDwh9Ep6jAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Of the principal rivers of the state, the Meherrin is navigable from its mouth on the Chowan River to Murfreesboro; the Chowan, between Albemarle Sound and the confluence of Nottoway and Blackwater Rivers; the Roanoke, between the mouth and Hamilton; the Pamlico and Tar, from the mouth to Washington (2.6-foot channel at Greenville); the Neuse to a point 23 miles above New Bern. Since the time of the early settlements the Cape Fear River was navigable to Fayetteville, a distance of 115 miles above Wilmington. In 1923 navigation to Fayetteville was abandoned, but in 1936 the channel was deepened and new locks were constructed so that the river affords a channel 27 feet above the ocean bar, 30 feet deep to Wilmington, 19 feet deep to a point 9 miles above Wilmington, and 9 feet to the head of navigation at Fayetteville.

From Colonial times, Wilmington was the principal port, since the channel was deepened the city has become an important point for distribution of gasoline and other petroleum products and for a large export trade. Construction of great piers and deepening of the channel at Morehead City in 1935-37 have made the port available to large ships that may arrive, dock, and depart under their own power. Elizabeth City enjoys a thriving trade on the inner course of the Intracoastal Waterway and along the Pasquotank River from Albemarle Sound.

In the early days travel by land was more difficult than by water. Efforts at road building in eastern Carolina were hampered by the numerous creeks, rivers, and swamps. Yet many roads were made in the 18^th century in both the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont. From north to south a highway ran through Edenton, Bath, New Bern, Wilmington, and Brunswick. Bricknell says that the road “from Edenton to Virginia” was “broad and convenient, for all sorts of carriages, such as coaches, chaises, wagons, and carts, and especially for horsemen.”

The Northeast Branch of the Cape Fear was crossed by a bridge which, according to Janet Schaw, “opens at the middle to both sides and rises by pullies, so as to suffer ships to pass under it.” This was Herons Bridge, one of the few drawbridges in the Colonies. A later 18^th-century road ran north and south from Halifax to Tarboro and another went to Cross Creek (now Fayetteville).

A constant stream of families moving from Pennsylvania and Maryland to North Carolina followed the “upper road” through the mountains or the “lower road” across the Coastal Plain. They traveled in large parties, camping out at night, and buying food from farmers along the way. Some of the men of the party, on horseback or on foot, preceded the wagons to clear the way, others followed as rear guard.

A party of Moravians moving from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to take up their lands in Piedmont North Carolina, followed the difficult upper road along the Blue Ridge. In their diary the Moravians recorded that “the road sloped so that we could hardly keep the wagon from slipping over the edge of the mountain and we had to use the tackle frequently.” Another party of Moravians came down by the lower road, “bad in many places it is true, but far easier to travel.”

The few taverns in 18^th-century North Carolina generally were described by travelers as “wretched,” yet the state made an effort to regulate them. Before 1741 tavern keepers had to obtain licenses from the Governor, and after that form the county court. The law specified that the tavern keeper setup plain signs and provide “good and sufficient houses, lodging, and entertainment for travelers, their servants and horses.”

However, there were a few excellent taverns and coffee houses. One at Bute Courthouse was run by Jethro Sumner, a Revolutionary soldier. Another, the Horniblow Taverns of Edenton, was a gathering place for lawyers, and the center of community discussions of law, politics, and literature. At Salem was a good tavern, built by the Moravians as early as 1772, and operated by the church. The landlord was instructed to treat his guests with “kindness and cordiality, but not to encourage them to be intemperate,” and to behave so that the guests could tell “that we are an honest and a Christian people, such as they have never before found in a tavern.”

At the end of the 18^th century, horseback was still the best means of travel. A man with a good horse could average 35 miles a day, passing through rivers, swamps, and marshes that would have halted any vehicle. Four-wheeled wagons drawn by two or four horses carried the produce of planters and the wares of merchants. The Moravians in the Piedmont section, who carried on an extensive trade with Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and with the coast towns of the Carolinas, required from 25 to 30 days to make the return trip by wagon from Charles Town to Salem, averaging about 18 miles a day.

By 1789 a stagecoach was running between Washington and Edenton, and between Edenton and Suffolk, Virginia. In the early 19^th century there were regular lines connecting all important towns, and over these the coaches usually ran three times a week. A letter to Governor Morehead in 1949 complains that the cost of a journey from Charlotte to Goldsboro, 210 miles, is $23, while in Georgia or South Carolina the same distance could be covered for $5. As early as 1925, a line of United States mail coaches with two stages a week started at Fredericksburg, Virginia, passed through North Carolina by way of Greensboro, Salisbury, and Charlotte, and went on to Milledgeville, Georgia, traversing 586 miles in 11 days.

Toll roads, operated by private companies, had been in use for many years when North Carolina began in the 1850s to build plank roads. Following an experiment in Canada in 1934, a veritable fever for building plank roads developed in the United States. In North Carolina the roads were mostly constructed by private companies and operated as toll roads. The principal plank roads radiated from Fayetteville, a commercial point on the Cape Fear River, and longest and most important of these was the road from Fayetteville via Salem to Bethania, a distance of 129 miles. Fifteen tollhouses on the road collected tolls as follows: ½ cent per mile for man on horseback; 1 cent for one-horse vehicle; 2 cents for two-horse team; 3 cents for three-horse team; 4 cents for six-horse team. In 1852, there were 32 plant roads in the state. By the middle 1950s the North Carolina and Western Carolina Railroads having penetrated far into the Piedmont, began to carry produce to markets, and by 1860 the plant roads had practically disappeared.

Prior to 1855 public roads were laid out and maintained by local authorities in small road districts. The roads were mainly routes and cannot be said to have been built, but only cleared of obstructions. The method of upkeep was to require labor, generally six days a week, of all able-bodied men, slaves as well as freemen. Any slave owner who should have as many as three slaves to send out for road work was excused from performing the service himself. Taxes were levied for bridges only.

The first departure from the old labor-tax method took place in 1895, but at the opening of the 20^th century the old method of road upkeep had been abandoned in only two counties in the state. About one-fourth of the counties had supplemented the labor-tax method with special road taxes and improved methods. Mecklenburg was the first county to establish a county road system, and for many years had the best roads in the state. They were built by convict labor at a cost of from $2,700 to $4,000 per mile, including the care and feeding of the convicts. Buncombe and Guilford Counties were next to follow with county systems.

About 1900 the good roads movement received a great impetus from the establishment of rural free delivery of mail, and the farmers, who as a class had opposed the movement, became converted by the prospect of a daily visit from the mail carrier.

In October 1901 a Good Roads Train, one of several operating in the United States that year, was started by the Southern Railroad Company from Alexander, Virginia. Stops were made at Winston-Salem and Asheville in the fall, and at Raleigh in February. Road conventions were held in each of the towns, where Governor Aycock and other leading citizens addressed enthusiastic audiences. At a mammoth convention in Raleigh the crowning event was the organization of the North Carolina Good Roads Association, which became the focal point of the movement.

In 1911 the legislature appointed a central highway committee which was to get the counties to cooperate in routing a highway from Morehead City through Raleigh, Greensboro, Salisbury, and Asheville to the Tennessee Line. The route followed the line of a railroad built about the middle of the previous century. Today that roundabout course is closely followed by the excellent US 70.

The importance of the automobile in the story of road building can scarcely be overestimated, as modern public roads are primarily motor highways. In 1913 there were 10,000 motor vehicles in the state; in 1919 there were 109,000. Not only was public sentiment for good roads greatly increased by the increasing number of automobiles, but the whole purpose of road building was changed, and the county as an administrative unit was found to be inadequate. License fees and gasoline taxes brought in new sources of revenue.

The year 1919 stands out in North Carolina road history; in that year much larger sums were appropriated to match increased federal allotments, and Frank Page was appointed chairman of the State Highway Commission. During the 10 years he was in office, Mr. Page served with marked ability and integrity. The 1919 program still adhered to the county maintenance plan, aided by state and federal funds.

Beginning in 1921, the state took sole responsibility for construction and maintenance of a system of hard-surface highways to connect all county seats. The change in public opinion that made possible a bond issue of $50 million for this purpose was partly due to the industrial development of the World War period. In eight years a primary highway system of 7,500 miles was built, with all main routs constructed of concrete or asphalt. In 1933 the state assumed full responsibility for maintaining the entire secondary road system, constituting about 4,500 miles. In 1938, North Carolina had 10,762 miles of numbered highways which constituted the state highway system, and 48,216 miles of improved county roads. A notable activity of the last few years has been the building or improvement of numerous farm-to-market roads with the aid of federal funds.

Agitation for railroads began in 1828 when Dr. Joseph Caldwell, president of the State university, proposed that a line be built from Beaufort and New Bern to the Tennessee Line. The state was divided over this proposal, however, and no such railroad was commenced for 20 years. The Raleigh Experimental Railroad, a mile and a half long, was the first to be constructed (1833) and was successfully used to move stone for rebuilding the capital. Horse power appears to have been used.

Ten railroads were chartered by the general assembly of 1833-34, only two of which were constructed: the Wilmington & Raleigh and the Raleigh & Gaston, both completed in 1840. The Wilmington & Raleigh was 161.5 miles long, and was reported to be the longest railroad in the world at the time. Rails were of heart pine faced with iron strips. The road cost nearly $2 million and was built by private enterprise.

As a result of state aid in the construction of the more important routes, the central part of North Carolina is now well provided with railroad facilities, both for north and south trunk lines and short haul lines. North Carolina commerce is now handled through home ports to any considerable extent; hence, there is no east-west railroad based upon the existence of an adequate port, and the state suffers from high freight rates to and from the East and Middle West. North Carolina is served (1939) by 4 trunk lines and some 30 independent lines with a total trackage of 4,800 lines.

Asheville had the first electric street railway in North Carolina, its initial line being built in 1889. Similar systems were established soon after in other large cities. In 1934 streetcars began giving way to buses throughout the state; since then a few trackless trolleys have been installed.

Bus transportation had begun in 1922, when the Carolina Motor Company operated without a charter between Raleigh and Durham. The first chartered bus company was the Highway Motor Transit Company of Goldsboro, organized in 1925, operating between Raleigh and Wilmington. In 1939, 24 bus companies were serving the state, under the supervision of the State Utilities Commission. There are approximately 5,000 miles of bus lines in the state.

North Carolina is crossed by two regular mail and passenger air routes, operated by Eastern Air Lines. On the New York to Miami route, Raleigh is the only stop between Washington and Charleston. The New York to New Orleans route has airports at Greensboro and Charlotte. There are 20 airports in the state; 13 are municipal, 6 commercial, and 1 military. Six airports—Charlotte, Greensboro, Pope Field (Fort Bragg), Raleigh, Rocky Mount, and Winston-Salem—are equipped for night flying, as are the three intermediate landing fields at Lexington, Maxton, and Warrenton. In addition there are five auxiliary landing fields. Radio range beacons are operated at Raleigh and Greensboro. Seaplane anchorages are at Edenton and Ocracoke.

In 1939 the United States Coast Guard had under construction at Elizabeth City an air base with a mile of water frontage on Pasquotank River. This will be the midway Coast Guard air base between Cape May, New Jersey, and Charleston, South Carolina.