Gravel Plant Signs Deal with R.G. Lassiter for Up to 150 Cars of Gravel a Month, May 4, 1922

Year’s Product of Gravel Sold. . . Concern Running Eight to Ten Cars a Day, Busy Until Spring on One Order

The gravel plant near Carthage last week closed a deal with R.G. Lassiter for the output of the plant for the ensuing year up to a maximum of 150 cars a month. The Lassiter concern is one of the biggest contractors in the South, and uses a vast amount of gravel on the road construction it is engaged in in North Carolina. This big sale insures the steady running of the plant at capacity, and employment for over a score of men at the plant, as well as business for the railroad.

Some $2,000 a month is now coming to the hands at work at the plant, which helps materially to affect business conditions in Carthage. At the present time about eight to 10 cars a day are sent out, which means that much work has been required of the railroad. New ties have been substituted for old ones, and more are going down as fast as they can be secured and laid in place. Machinery on the road has been overhauled, and made more efficient. The facilities for moving the freight are improving day by day. The traffic out of the Randolph and Cumberland is becoming a substantial item for the Seaboard, and it has the advantage of being regular every day.

This regular business at the mines gives t the plant an additional value to Carthage and the community, for it makes the employment of the hands a certainty week after week. Mr. Bible said the other day that it is not likely that any enlargements will be made right away, as the present plan is a well-balanced one to handle and operate, with the establishment running nicely and steadily it is thought better to carry it on at its highest tension and do all the business possible rather than to break in with any enlargements and perhaps interfere with the economic working of the concern while the big contract is in hand. The prospect is that while road building is in such active progress throughout the state, the demand for gravel will keep the works on the present full time basis, and all signs indicate that road building is to be an industry in the state for many years to come.

From the front page of The Moore County News, Carthage, N.C., May 4, 1922. A score of men is 20 men.