Well, I guess I'm an "Old Timer" also. As I recall the concrete roads (state hiways) were the "Hard Roads", ie U.S 45/ SR146, then there were Gravel Roads, such as Ganntown/Reevesville or Stonefort to McCormick to Eddyville, and then there were Dirt Roads, such as the one from Grantsburg that intersected the Ganntown/Reevesville Road near the Benton School & Church, or the one from Renshaw to Reevesville. Although they were called "Dirt" most of them were more clay than anything else and when wet were as slick as grease and became easily rutted. In later years most of the Concrete roads were resurfaced with asphalt, the Gravel Roads were chipped & sealed and the Dirt roads were graveled and of course later yet the Chip & Seal were paved with asphalt and became the "Black Tops". Even though the old concrete hiways were covered with asphalt they were still the "Hard Roads" Out here in Arizona we only seem to have Black Top's and dirt roads which are mostly dust. Barney ----- Original Message ----- From: <WXFORDS@aol.com> To: <ILPOPE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 12:04 PM Subject: Re: [ILPOPE-L] This oldtimer quest is a great one. Anyone who can go and talk... > > In a message dated 9/14/2005 10:15:18 A.M. Central Standard Time, > Rmarkowi@aol.com writes: > > When electric came in and when roads were not paved. It is all > fascinating and only the old timers who are from long time families in the > area > would be able to reflect these tidbits. > > > > If you ever hear the term "hard road" you can bet they are from Southern > Illinois. When they started paving the roads people in the local area > would > call them the "hard road". > > Linda in TN > > >