ASHEVILLE
BOARD OF TRADE

Asheville, N.C.

January-
15th-1916.

Mr. H. B. Varner, Chairman,
North Carolina Prison Board,
Lexington, N.C.

Mr. Dear Mr. Varner:-

I have copy of your letter of January 14th,¹ addressed to Governor Craig.

I am enclosing herewith copy of your letter of January 7th, from which you will note that the Penitentiary Board had ordered the convicts removed from the Hickory Nut Gap road, to be sent to Badin.

All our people, the writer especially know that it has been largely thru your efforts, and the Governor, that the convicts have been put on our roads, for which we will always hold you in highest esteem and regard. We feel somehow or other that there has been some misunderstanding somewhere.

I took the matter up with Mr. J. E. Rankin, Chairman of our Good Roads Committee, and we wired the Governor about the matter. I did not have an opportunity to talk with Mr. Craig when he arrived in Asheville until the meeting in the Board of Trade rooms on Tuesday afternoon at three o'clock. If I had been able to have seen him and shown him your letter, the meeting would really have been unnecessary for any discussion except to the disposition of the Hickory Nut Gap squad.

I believe Mr. Mann stated in his talk to the men present - about seventy-five from all sections interested - that the Board had not ordered the removal of the convicts from the roads in the mountains to Badin, that the matter had been spoken of but no action taken, and that perhaps from that source your understanding, as indicated in your letter, was arrived at.

The meeting went off in fine shape.

Dr. Fletcher requested that the convicts be permitted to remain on the Hickory Nut Gap road until after February 1st in order to resurface the road, tho it would not give them time to put in under-drains, as should have been done when the road was built. This was agreed to by both Mr. Mann and the Governor, and all others present.

After the meeting adjourned those interested, together with Governor Craig, and the Superintendent of the Prison, thought it would be to the economy of the State, and the best interests of road construction, to remove the Hickory Nut Gap force and the Madison County force, consolidating the two forces at Swannanoa Gap, and working East, meeting the white force now at work on the Ridgecrest road; with this consolidation of all the convict forces into two camps on the Round Knob Road, it was believed that the road could be open for travel in June.

I believe after the above tentative decision was reached, there was another solution offered, which was that but two camps be operated, one in Madison and one at Ridgecrest; the Hickory Nut Gap force to be divided between these two camps, but the part of the Hickory Nut Gap force sent to Ridgecrest to be exchanged for white men from some other point, inasmuch as the force now working near Old Fort is made up of white men. This would give a camp on the Round Knob road, and the camp in Madison County about fifty men each.

The last conference I had with Governor Craig on Tuesday night was that this would perhaps be done.

There was no conflict of opinion on the part of Asheville people to the plan just outlined of putting all the forces on the Ridgecrest road; neither was there any objection to making two camps, keeping one force on the Round Knob road, and one in Madison County. It is the aim and idea of our people to support the Governor and the Prison Board in every way possible, believing that they are doing the right thing in this matter.

I note you believe that the opening of the Ridgecrest link of the Central Highway is of greater importance to North Carolina as a whole, than the opening of the Madison County link to the Tennessee line, stating that the opening of the Ridgecrest link will give a through line for the people from the East to the mountains of Western North Carolina, which your letter would seem to indicate was not now the case. I wish to call your attention to the fact that the Asheville-Charlotte Highway gives a direct through line from East to West. The distance from Asheville to Charlotte via Chimney Rock is about one hundred and twenty-six miles; from Asheville to Salisbury via the Central Highway is about one hundred and forty-five miles; from Salisbury to Charlotte about thirty or thirty-five miles - so that the increased distance, if any, would amount to only about twenty miles, to use the Asheville-Charlotte Highway. There is no highway entering Asheville from the West - All of the Mississippi Valley and the great rich western section of this country, having automobiles by the hundred thousands, and we have numberless requests from people both West and East regarding the trip through Asheville, from East to West, and from West to East.

Therefore, inasmuch as there are three roads now open into the mountains from the East and South, we feel that the Western road is the most important. However, please do not understand that I am minimizing the importance of the Round Knob link - It is of the utmost importance, and the action of the Governor and Mr. Mann in agreeing to place the convicts at these two points is entirely satisfactory to our people and will have our hearty cooperation in exactly the same proportion as if all the forces had been concentrated in Madison County to complete that link.

I wish to express my most sincere appreciation for all you have done to help get the State convicts on the public roads. During the meeting every man that spoke urged that this policy be pursued in future. Georgia, as you know, is becoming famous for the fine roads which its State convicts are building. North Carolina should not remain a whit behind any other State in the South, or the entire country for that matter, and the good work that you have done for the good roads in North Carolina and the South will forever remain a monument to your wisdom and energy.

With best wishes, believe me,

Sincerely yours,

N. Buckner
Secretary.

Copy to
Gov. Locke Craig
Mr. J. S. Mann, Supt.,
State Prison, Raleigh.

Is this about right?

1. Item not found among the correspondence of Locke Craig.