The old bridge across Neuse River is soon to be torn down, and travel being diverted to the new bridge, on the route of the state highway when the concrete approaches to the bridge were completed Saturday.
The turnpike from the old bridge to Beasley’s store will of course be abandoned, and thus will pass one of the landmarks of Smithfield. A history of this turnpike may be of interest to readers of The Herald and the structure is particularly worthy to be remembered, because it was a monument to the vision and public spirit of one man who lived among us a half century ago.
Before the turnpike was built, two-thirds of the road from the Neuse to the fork of the road at Mr. Stephenson’s gin, was under water in every large overflow or freshet. People living in this day of modern improvement can hardly estimate this inconvenience. When “a freshet was in the river” all travel from the Sanders-Beasley brickyard to Smithfield was made in small flat boats. Imagine the feelings of a man coming to the county seat during a freshet. He would be obliged to tie his horse to a tree, near the site of Mr. Beasley’s store—then a thick wilderness—and perhaps wait until a boatman could be called to his side of the river. Then he would get in a little canoe and be rowed slowly across the quarter of a mile of water. He would return the same way entering the boat at the foot of the bridge, and again slowly crossing the flooded lowlands. Needless to say, no one came to Smithfield at such times, unless the necessity was urgent.
When a family on the west side of the river had sickness, great anxiety was felt lest the river should rise and “sending for the doctor” be made a matter of hours. That meant that some one must go to the edge of the water, be paddled across, find the physician, bring him down to the bridge, have him rowed across in the canoe, get in the waiting vehicle and go to his patient. If the doctor did not have a complete supply of drugs I his pockets—he usually did—“filling the prescription” would necessitate another tedious trip to town. What would the people of the 60’s think of our paved roads, automobiles and telephones? Smithfield was then a village of about 400 inhabitants, and the most serious obstacle in the way of its growth was the isolation caused by high water.
This was the situation in 1867, when the late Edward W. Pou, the father of our townsman of the same name, moved to Johnston County from Alabama. Mr. Pou was one of the most highly cultured men who ever lived among us, a graduate of the University of Georgia with honors which had never been equaled in the history of that great institution. Education with him has blossomed into high ideals and an earnest desire to serve his fellow men. While serving as an officer in the Confederate army, Mr. Pou’s health failed, and ever after, until the day of his death he was a semi-invalid. After the surrender, his physicians advised him to seek a colder climate, in the hope of regaining his health. So leaving his home and a growing law practice, he moved with his young family to North Carolina. They lived at the Bython Bryan place, later the Harper place, which belonged to Mrs. Pou. Mr. Pou soon saw the inconvenience to half the county when the river overflowed its banks, and immediately set about to find a remedy. As a member of the Legislature of 1868, he opposed the action of that body in raising the pay of its members fro $4 to $7 per day. He did not consider such an increase fair to the people of the state, weighed down as they then were by the bitter poverty which followed the war. Being unable to defeat the measure in the Legislature, he determined to return his portion to his county. He decided that the best way to do this would be to build an embankment which would enable people to come to Smithfield at all times on dry land. So in 1870 he began the turnpike. All the work was done under his direction, and by far the greater part of the expense was borne by him. Although labor was very cheap in those days, it is safe to say that Mr. Pou spent much more money upon the project than his entire salary as a legislator. Many people were skeptical of the success of the venture, and a few laughed at it, but on the whole the community was sympathetic. Some of the neighbors across the river and the citizens of Smithfield contributed towards the building fund.
Work progressed slowly through seven years, the embankment being built from either end, while the road beside it through the low grounds, accommodated travel. All through those long years, Mr. Pou did not lose faith in the ultimate success of his idea. At last, in 1878 the county built the “Highland Bridge” linking both ends of the levee, which was then ready for use. The Road was then well above any freshet, and only a few times afterwards was travel by land stopped.
In 1887 Mr. James H. Pou represented this county in the state Senate, while Messrs. Ed S. Abell and the late John Sanders were members of the House. These gentlemen agreed to press a bill to secure 50 convicts from the state, to make the Smithfield turnpike higher and broader, to build one at Swift Creek and to grade down the hill at Black Creek. The idea of state aid to highways was novel in those days. Indeed, this was the first instance of such aid being given to any county. Mr. Pou secured the passage of the bill by the Senate, without much trouble; but it met great opposition in the House. The western members could not see why Johnston County should obtain help from the state to build its roads while their counties, with such bad roads naturally, should receive none. Mr. Abell however lead the fight for the measure with such consummate skill that the bill passed by one vote.
The convicts were sent and the work done in the fall of 1888. The state board all expenses of the men and of their guards, thus making the work a gift to the county.
Since then, the turnpike has been covered by water only two or three times, and it has fulfilled the expectations of its builders so well that only our older citizens remember the hardships which it supplanted.
Probably no other improvement has played to great a part in making possible the subsequent growth and development of Smithfield as this has done. Now it is to be left to the weeds and briars and to the slow disintegration of time while a better one takes its place. Perhaps this is the rule of life—that the good gives place to the better—if we could always see with minds which fully understand. But while the people of our generation live, the old levee should be a reminder of the debt of gratitude which Smithfield owes to four men—the late Edward W. Pou, who originated the idea, began and partially built it at his own expense; James H. Pou, Ed S. Abell and John Sanders, who secured its final completion.
From the front page of The Smithfield Herald, Tuesday morning, Oct. 20, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073982/1925-10-20/ed-1/seq-1/
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