Record #:

8476

Author(s):

Fountain, Alvin M.

Abstract:

Before the automobile, wagons were the prime mode of local transportation. Wagons built in eastern North Carolina differed from those built in western North Carolina in the width of their track. Owing to the rough terrain, western buggies had a width of only fifty-four inches; those in the east had a width of sixty inches. Buggies that went on roads outside of their region experienced rough rides. This was rarely a problem, however, as few North Carolinians took their buggies far away from home. The automobile changed things. The first mass-produced cars, such as the Ford Model-T, came with a sixty-inch tread option, but by 1916, all cars were manufactured with a fifty-four-inch tread. This caused a lot of damage to roads in eastern North Carolina until the paving campaigns of the 1920s and 1940s.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 51 Issue 2, July 1983, p14, il

Subject(s):

Roads--History; Automobiles--History