CELIA CATHCART 1919 Road Correspondence I

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY Staff
Celia Cathcart 1919 Road Correspondence I
Published 2022-01-07 hw/aae

CELIA CATHCART 1919 Road Correspondence I
(January – July)

Celia Cathcart (Holton): Teacher, Fundraiser 1915, 1918–1919;
Member, Board of Trustees & General Advisory Board

CELIA CATHCART 1919 Road Correspondence I

Maya Sudo Album: Rebel’s Rock with new road, Laden Trail, running under cliff. [sudo_album_037b_mod.jpg]


TAGS: Celia Cathcart Holton, Ethel de Long Zande, Laden Trail road, Kentucky Department of Public Roads, road engineers, land surveys, blueprints, convict labor, convict camps, Louisville & Nashville (L&N) Railroad, Federal Aid, Fiscal Court, Road Fund, Harlan County Good Roads Committee, James Metcalf, county attorneys, gift of dynamite, Dupont Powder Company, Kentenia Catron Corporation, contributions


CONTENTS: 1919 CELIA CATHCART Road Correspondence I

Correspondents

W. Wayne Barton – County Road Engineer, Harlan County Good Roads Committee, Harlan, KY.

Judge J.S. Forester – County Attorney, Harlan, KY. 

Horace E. Fox – Fox & Peck, Civil and Mining Engineers, Big Stone Gap, VA. 

O.B. Hollingsworth – Superintendent, Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Cumberland Valley Division, United States Railroad Administration, Middlesborough, KY.

Mrs. Celia Cathcart Holton – A PMSS staff member who represents the School concerning Road construction.

J.R. Johnson – Division Engineer, Convict Labor Fund for Bell County, Kentucky Department of Public Roads, Pineville, KY; College of Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington.

W.B. Paynter County Road Engineer, Kentucky Department of Public Roads, Frankfort, KY.

Rodman Wiley – Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Public Roads, Frankfort, KY.

Ethel de Long Zande – PMSS Co-Founder and Co-Director, 1913-1928.

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[Note: Letters from PMSS staff in the PMSS Collections are carbon copies, typewritten, unsigned, and meant for the Office files. The original signed copies were sent to the correspondents. The initials at the bottom left of some PMSS letters indicate the writer (along with initials of the secretary). For example, “EZ” are the initials for Ethel de Long Zande. Letters to PMSS are typewritten originals, unless indicated otherwise.]

January & February 1919

1919_01_21 January 21, 1919. To Ethel de Long Zande from Horace E. Fox of Fox & Peck, Civil and Mining Engineers, Big Stone Gap, VA. State Division Engineer J.R. Johnson told Fox that the officials agreed to reduce the road width from the original 20 feet. The new plans will cost approximately $600. He encloses statements of the amounts PMSS owes the engineers (reduced by removing the cost of the office work). He describes the surveying done in fall 1917.

1919_01_21 (054) January 21, 1919. First page of a two-page invoice from Fox & Peck, Big Stone Gap, VA, for “Pine Mountain Road…work done March April and May 1918,” totaling $752.74.
1919_01_21 (055) January 21, 1919. Second page of invoice, with expenses listed for “Pine Mountain Road, locating party June and July 1918, and making plans and estimates,” including $600 for new survey and totaling $3,487.61.

1919_01_23 (057) January 23, 1919. To Fox from EZ (Zande), who questions the cost of an additional set of blueprints and will need to seek advice. She has assigned Mrs. Celia Cathcart Holton to represent the School.

1919_01_23 (058) January 23, 1919. Page 1 of a two-page handwritten letter to Zande from J.R. Johnson, Pineville, KY, on letterhead for Manhattan Hotel, updating Zande on Mr. Fox’s work, which will now be increased since Mr. Wiley agreed to approve a road narrower than 23 feet. It will take from 30 to 60 days to complete the survey and plans….”
1919_01_23a (059) Page 2. Johnson fears that the additional survey and plans will delay the construction in the spring.

1919_01_23 (060) January 23, 1919. Page 1 of a two-page statement by Zande concerning the “Pine Mountain Road.” Zande explains the original plan to finance the construction and original agreements made with Horace Fox, Engineer (who was engaged in 1917 by Harlan County judge, John A. Ward). She describes Fox’s “failure to comply with Commissioner Wiley’s instructions.”
1919_01_23a (061) Page 2. Zande lists her “complaints against Mr. Fox,” including the “preposterous” charge for an extra set of blueprints.
1919_01_23b (062) N.D. Reverse side of page 2. Handwritten notes concerning road expenses; also, sketches of the Road.

1919_01_25 January 25, 1919. Handwritten letter to Zande from Fox. “The work I mentioned in my letter comes from changing the width of the road, and not from any fault of mine….” and warns that it will cost much more in construction if the width of the road is significantly reduced.

1919_02_08 February 8, 1919. To Mrs. (Celia Cathcart) Holton from J.R. Johnson, Division Engineer, Convict Labor Fund for Bell County, Kentucky Department of Public Roads. Johnson met with Fox and informed Wiley that Fox “can not afford to accept the offer made (to) him of $150.00 per mile but that he is willing to arbitrate the difference.” Wiley had directed Johnson to try to find out from Fox the cost of Fox’s survey.

1919_02_24 February 24, 1919. Carbon copy of letter to Wiley from Johnson, reporting on his meeting with Fox, who estimates that the cost to him of the Pine Mountain survey to date is $2289.61. Johnson provides a breakdown of the charges.

March 1919

1919_03_04 March 4, 1919. To Hon. R. Wiley, Attention Mr. Heath from Johnson. “I don’t want to be seeming to try to rush folks that are as busy as you-all are in the central office, but the dear women and I will be much pleased if you can soon come to some definite decision in regard to Surveyor Fox and the Pine Mountain Survey.”

1919_03_07 March 7, 1919. A copy of a letter to Johnson from Wiley, Pineville, KY. “…[T]he proposition we offered Mr. Fox is all that we are willing to consider….” unless he submits a detailed expense statement. (Handwritten note at bottom of page from Johnson, clarifying that Wiley’s letter was a reply to Johnson’s letter of February 24.)

1919_03_10 March 10, 1919. Page 1 of a two-page handwritten letter to Holton from Johnson, who encloses copies of his letters to Mr. Fox, following a meeting with him on February 22, and Fox’s reply on March 9. Johnson then wrote a letter to Mr. Fox, in “the tone of Mr. Wiley’s last letter.” He awaits Fox’s reply and is writing Wiley to ask if anything can be done “to push the survey to completion, pending the settlement with Mr. Fox.”
1919_03_10a Page 2. Mentions the camp for convicts that still needs to be built. He assures Holton that “I am more anxious to see this road started and completed than any other road in the state.” 

1919_03_13 March 13. 1919. To Holton from Wiley, responding to her March 6 letter. Wiley cannot do anything about the Road until he has received the plans and advises that Holton gets Fox to complete them as soon as possible “or else make some sort of settlement that is reasonable.” It is suggested that Fox meet with the PMSS directors and Mr. Johnson.

1919_03_20 March 20, 1919. To Holton from O.B. Hollingsworth on letterhead for “U.S. Railroad Administration, Director General of Railroads, Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Cumberland Valley Division, Office of the Superintendent, Middlesborough, KY.” Hollingsworth responds to Holton’s May 16 letter “with reference to siding at the end of the Pine Mountain road, as well as stop at the same place for our passenger trains.” He has received authority to relocate the PMSS depot at Chad to the end of the Road without charge to the School. He is corresponding with Mr. Lewis about the siding; asks when the Road is expected to be completed.

1919_03_26 March 26, 1919. To Holton from Wiley. Referring to Holton’s “most interesting” letter of May 16, he assures her “that it will not be necessary for me to give Mr. Johnson any orders as to representing this office” at the PMSS directors’ meeting with Fox. In any case, he hopes that the matter can be resolved and work can be started soon. “…I appreciate the good work you have done in trying to get some roads built in that section of the State.”

1919_03_27 March 27, 1919. To Holton from Johnson, who is waiting for a response from Fox; encloses a copy of a letter Johnson wrote to Wiley “which shows about how I feel in regard to the settlement.”

1919_03_31 March 31, 1919. Page 1 of a carbon copy of a three-page report from Fox, titled “Report of Fox & Peck Engineers, on the Pine mountain Road, Harlan County, Kentucky.” Fox covers the history of Fox & Peck’s association with the road construction beginning September 1917. Describes the road’s location and charges for the survey, which have been reduced due to his personal knowledge of “the good work this school is doing” and the hard work of the teachers’ fundraising. He describes the difficulties of their survey work.
1919_03_31a Page 2. When the surveying was completed in November 1917, it was partially re-done in June & July according to “Bulletin No. 9” from Wiley titled “Instructions to Engineers Making Road Surveys.”
1919_03_31b Page 3. Fox received Zande’s letter on August 3, stating that Wiley agreed to narrow the road, which “would require another cross-section and estimate of the road.”

April 1919

1919_04_14 (074) April 14, 1919. Handwritten letter to Holton from Johnson reporting that the central office “would send a man this coming week…. There is quite an unusual demand for locating engineers from the central office now on account of the increased interest in Federal Aid roads.”

1919_04_14 (334) April 14, 1919. Handwritten letter to Zande from J.S. Forester, Harlan, KY, who explains how the Road money was loaned and that it has been turned over to the State on “call deposit”at 2% interest.

1919_04_18 April 18, 1919. To Judge J.S. Forester from (unsigned, possibly Zande). Mr. (Charles N.) Manning, PMSS Board Treasurer, recently advised buying War Finance Corporation 5% notes as a short-time investment for the School. Zande would like to do the same for the investment of the Road Fund. Also, on April 2, PMSS settled their account with Fox & Peck, paying $1000.

1919_04_21 (075) April 21, 1919. To Mrs. Holton from Wiley. His office can send an engineer to complete the plans with the hope that work can begin in a few months. He is “glad indeed that the affair has been settled.”

1919_04_21 (076) April 21, 1919. Handwritten letter to Holton from W.B. Paynter (Road Engineer), on letterhead for Kentucky Department of Public Roads, Frankfort, KY. He refers Holton to a government bulletin containing plans for a convict camp that he showed Mrs. Zande. “It was my notion to have the Fiscal Court build the camp & take it off of the School’s hands when the road was completed. The camp plan was of the portable type and could be used on other roads….”

1919_04_24 April 24, 1919. Two-page letter to Zande from J.S. Forester, County Attorney, Harlan, KY, responding to her April 18th letter regarding the Road Fund. (Page 1) The fund has been turned over to the State and is subject to the order of the Road Commissioner. It is on deposit at 2% in the bank in Harlan. Another county road engineer will take up the matter with the State Road Commissioner concerning Fox & Peck’s bill, which, he states, Zande should not have paid.
1919_04_24a (Page 2) “You see these things have to be managed so that the State will give State Aid on the money spent. I hope however, you can get your full Thousand Dollars back….”

1919_04_29 April 29, 1919. To Holton from Wiley, responding to her April 24 letter. He will be sending an engineer on May 1st to prepare plans “for about a half mile of road and we will then send convicts to start work, and while they are working on the first half mile, the plans would be completed for the remainder of the road.” He hopes work can start by June 1st.

May & June 1919

1919_05_01 May 1, 1919. To Forester from EZ (Zande), updating him on the road survey. She explained the objection to Mr. Fox’s bill by both the School and the State Department, a meeting with Fox, and a settlement of $1509.58. She assures Forester that the School has acted according to Wiley’s direction. A $500 gift has just come to PMSS for the Road. Therefore, the amount owed to the school from the Road Fund is $1009.58.

1919_05_23 May 23, 1919. Handwritten letter to Holton from F.G. Phillipe, answering her question regarding the time it will take to build the Road. “That depends largely on the number of men the State sends here. We hope they will send force(?) enough to build it this year.”

1919_05_24 May 24, 1919. Side 1 of a two-sided handwritten card to Miss (Evelyn K.) Wells, from H.E. Jackson, Westfield Union Co., NJ, enclosing a $100 check for the Pine Mountain Settlement School to be used as desired; offers to contribute more if needed later.
1919_05_24a (Side 2). He would like to call on her, if she is ever in Summit, to learn more about PMSS.

1919_05_30 May 30, 1919. To Holton from Hollingsworth, responding to her May 28 letter and assuring her that “the siding is receiving the necessary attention.” He explains the process which included applying for siding and furnishing the funding for the survey by Mr. Lewis; instructing an engineer to submit an application to management for approval.

1919_06_07 June 7, 1919. Handwritten letter to Zande from W. Wayne Barton, County Road Engineer, on letterhead for Harlan County Good Roads Committee, Harlan, KY. Barton received a “letter from J. (James) L. Metcalf saying that Martha Metcalf wants $300.00 for the right-of-way through her land.” He asks Zande to “see them and adjust this matter. Mr. Johnson advises me that it ought not to cost over $25.00…..”

1919_06_09 (083) June 9, 1919. To Barton from EZ (Zande), who is forwarding Barton’s letter to Johnson, who has been seeing the Metcalfs on the right-of-way issue. “The Metcalfs would not give right-of-way through their property….”

1919_06_09 (084) June 9, 1919. To Johnson from EZ (Zande), asking him if the matter of right-of-way through Metcalf’s land can be adjusted “so that we may not have to go through the legal routine of entering condemnation,” which would cause a two-month delay.

1919_06_13 June 13, 1919. To Johnson from EZ (Zande), asking him to notify Forester that the settlement with Fox was accepted by the State Department. Therefore, the County Treasurer may return $1009.58 to PMSS “advance from our general funds.”

1919_06_16 June 16, 1919. Page 1 of a four-page handwritten letter to Zande from Johnson. (Page 1) He assures Zande that he will write Forester and meet with him in Harlan next week. Wiley will contact the prison officials at Dillon about sending convicts.
1919_06_16a (Page 2) Suggests waiting until the survey is completed before doing anything about the right-of-way on the Metcalf lands. “This should all be settled in the July court,” whose appraisers are appointed by the county judge and will decide the amount.
1919_06_16b (Page 3) He advises what to emphasize when asking for the valuation of the Metcalf land. He is asking Barton “to ascertain …what Mr. Jas. Metcalf will make for his land, so it can all be settled at the same time.”
1919_06_16c (Page 4) To hasten the procedure Johnson suggests urging the Harlan officials, as well as the county attorney or the county road engineer to get a reply from James Metcalf.

1919_06_19 (090) June 19, 1919. To Johnson from EZ (Zande), who is glad to hear from him “that the convicts are probably at work already,” and thanks him for his advice on the Metcalf land. Reports that she asked Barton to get a reply from Metcalf.

1919_06_19 (091) June 19, 1919. To Barton from EZ (Zande), who updates Barton on Johnson’s advice and asks him to get an answer from Mr. Metcalf as soon as possible.

1919_06_24 June 24, 1919. To Mr. W.L. Bailey, Harlan, KY, from EZ (Zande), who reviews Bailey’s arrangement for payments on his $5.00 pledge and suggests making full payment.

1919_06_25 (092) June 25, 1919. To Wiley from EZ (Zande), who assures him that Holton will “secure that gift of a ton of dynamite.”

1919_06_25 (327) June 25, 1919. To Holton at her home at Sidell, IL, from EZ (Zande), reminding her to get the dynamite gift. Zande is writing to Harlan contributors, with the hope that Miss Douglas can help.

1919_06_26 June 26, 1919. Handwritten note to PMSS from Cawood Hardware Co., Harlan, KY, who asks if PMSS has their subscription to the Road Fund. “The above name is Pope & Cawood Lbr. Co.”

1919_06_30 June 30, 1919. To Cawood Hardware Co., from EZ (Zande), who informs them that PMSS has a pledge card for $25 from “Cawood Hdw. and Lm. Co. The Pope and Cawood pledge is on another card.”

July 1919

1919_07_01 July 1, 1919. To Zande from Wiley. His department purchased 20,000 pounds of dynamite and 20,000 pounds of black powder for the Road. He hopes Zande will be able to get another ton from Dupont Powder Company. He tells of other equipment his department is assembling: steam shovel, air compressors, drills, scrapers, etc.

1919_07_02 (328) July 2, 1919. Page one of a two-page letter to Zande from Holton, who has written to the Chicago office of the Dupont Company for the dynamite. She describes her time with husband Caryl, who has been discharged, visiting places in Chicago and her father’s farm in Ohio and seeing Mr. Taft speak on the League of Nations; and her plans for a “second honeymoon.” They will probably live in London, Ohio.
1919_07_02a (329) (Page 2) Comments on Mossie’s decision to go to Lincoln Memorial.

1919_07_02 (341) July 2, 1919. To Zande from Will Ward Duffield, Harlan, KY, who has forwarded her June 24 letter to Mr. Charles H. Davis, President of Kentenia Catron Corporation, NYC, to decide the mode of payment.

1919_07_03 (094) To Johnson from EZ (Zande), concerning the construction of a switch at Dillon to unload the steam shovel. Zande asks Johnson to consult with Hollingsworth about this. Zande is asking Mr. Lewis about assistance in paying for the switch.

1919_07_03 (258) July 3, 1919. To Hollingsworth from EZ (Zande), who reports that she has referred the switch issue to Johnson. “I am extremely anxious to have as much of this paid for by the citizens of Dillon and people who live along the railroad on the other side of Pine Mountain as possible, since they want the switch as much as we do….” until they found it would be more expensive than expected.

1919_07_15 July 15, 1919. To Zande from Holton with news about the “DuPont mixup.” Mr. Miller of West Virginia, who was to ship the dynamite, wrote to Holton that his Company does not wish to make gifts to the State of Kentucky, “which, he thinks, is building the road independently of us” and other complaints. Holton wrote to him about the history of the Road project and addressed his complaints. If Miller doesn’t make the gift, Holton has another contact at the company that she can try. She then describes her activities in Ohio with her father and Caryl and the house they bought in London, Ohio. She plans to come to PMSS on August 8.

1919_07_17 July 17, 1919. To Johnson from EZ (Zande), asking about Mr. Hollingsworth and the switch. 

1919_07_19 July 19, 1919. Handwritten letter to Zande from Johnson, who plans to see Hollingsworth in Middlesboro (sic) about the siding at the road intersection. He also reports that “the steam shovel has not yet been unloaded, but a boiler and compressor have. The steam shovel and drills have been ordered.”

1919_07_21 (096) July 21, 1919. Page 1 of a four-page handwritten letter to Zande from Johnson, reporting on his meeting with Hollingsworth, who “was real nice about granting all I asked except putting in a siding at the expense of the railroad.” Johnson cites Hollingsworth’s reasons for this decision.
1919_07_21a (098) Page 2. Hollingsworth said he will try other officials. Hollingsworth “agreed to give a general order to have all of our freight unloaded at the camp instead of a special order for each shipment as heretofore.” Johnson explains that this is more convenient and less expensive.
1919_07_21b (099) Page 3. Hollingsworth also allowed unloading coal on the main tract at the camp, and perhaps the steam shovel. “We are saving for the school the first pick that was stuck in the ground on the new road. I wished on the first day that we had thought to invite a representative of the school to stick the first pick in the ground.”
1919_07_21c (100) Page 4. Handwritten notes on the reverse side of page 3, showing costs of pine framing, subflooring, slant(?) sheeting, flooring, ceiling, shelf stuff, and furniture.

1919_07_21 (259) July 21, 1919. To Hollingsworth from EZ (Zande), asking him to “go ahead immediately with the switch…. So that our steam shovel may be unloaded….” as soon as possible.

1919_07_22 July 22, 1919. To Zande from Hollingsworth, asking her if she wants the siding constructed “on account of the Pine Mountain Settlement School.”

1919_07_24 (101) July 24, 1919. To Johnson from EZ (Zande), who is “delighted with the concessions you got from Mr. Hollingsworth.” She plans to visit the road site next week and hopes to meet him there. Mentions that the Metcalfs received $200 for the Metcalf land right-of-way.

1919_07_24 (261) July 24, 1919. To Hollingsworth from EZ (Zande), asking if L&N Railroad would pay for the switch if it is used for shipping lumber from Dillon, which is likely to continue for four or five years. She thanks him for “allowing us to unload at the foot of the mountain.”

1919_07_28 (341b) July 28, 1919. To Duffield from Charles H. Davis via an assistant in Cape Cod, MA. Davis directed the assistant to inform PMSS that the School will get a $250 contribution from Kentenia if the Road is guaranteed to be finished or is already finished.

1919_07_29 July 29, 1919. To Forester from EZ (Zande), asking him to authorize as soon as possible the return of $1009.08 that was advanced from PMSS’s general funds, now that the state department has accepted the settlement reached by Johnson, Holton, and Fox.

1919 _07_31 July 31, 1919. To Ethel de Long Zande from Duffield, enclosing a copy of a letter from Charles H. Davis about the contribution of Kentenia Catron Corporation to the Road. Provides Davis’s address in NYC and suggests Zande write to him.


Previous:
CELIA CATHCART 1918 Road Correspondence

Next:
CELIA CATHCART 1919 Road Correspondence II

See Also:
CELIA CATHCART Staff Biography

CELIA CATHCART 1916 Road Correspondence 
CELIA CATHCART 1917 Road Correspondence
CELIA CATHCART 1920 Road Correspondence I
CELIA CATHCART 1920 Road Correspondence II

ETHEL De LONG ZANDE 1917 Correspondence
LADEN TRAIL or THE ROAD – Prospectus and history and other links.
LADEN TRAIL or THE ROAD CORRESPONDENCE Part I – 1916–1919
LADEN TRAIL or THE ROAD CORRESPONDENCE Part II – 1920-1921
LADEN TRAIL or THE ROAD Photo Gallery


GALLERY: 1919 CELIA CATHCART Road Correspondence I


See Also:

CELIA CATHCART 1919 Road Correspondence II