Western N.C. Desperately Needs Hard-Surface Roads, Nov. 13, 1920

Advocates of hard-surfaced roads are now getting busy and will be as active as bees about the time the general assembly meets in January. Man of the projects are worth while and should receive hearty support from all the state. For example, a hard-surfaced road form the coast to the mountains is much to be desired as is also a permanent highway from Wilmington to Charlotte. No intelligent North Carolinian can find falt with these projects, which ought to receive consideration by the general assembly. There are sections of North Carolina, however, which ought to have first call. From Lenoir to Boone there is no railroad and the highway is only passable in good weather. The wealth of North Carolina is still locked up because there are no good roads or railroads running into them. Watauga, Ashe, Caldwell and other counties are rich in cattle, produce, apples and hay--and just now thousands of bushels of apples are going to wate because there is no way to get them to market. a special effort should be made to build a hard-surfaced highway from Hickory to Boone. The Central highway would furnish the main artery for distributing these mountain products and for sending to the mountains the things the mountain people need. It would be well to push road building to point where roads would do most good. (From the editorial page of the Hickory Daily Record, Saturday evening, Nov. 13, 1920)