I’m sure harvesters bringing grain into Superior this fall have been real frustrated by road construction caused delays. While local officials could not require a pre-harvest completion date, they had asked for one and had been told to expect one.

Road construction is now the responsibility of the government and most often it is state government’s responsibility.

That hasn’t always been the case.

One hundred years ago road construction was often done by local volunteers. In October of 1923, the Nelson Gazette reported there was a real spirit of cooperation in the Nelson Community. On gravel day, 107 loads of gravel were hauled from the Blue River and applied to the road north of Nelson, along with 206 loads of shale and gravel from Chas. Ritterbush’s place for the road south. The day was so successful, another gravel day was planned for the road going west out of Nelson.

It wasn’t just the men’s project. Community women prepared and served dinner to the volunteers. A lot of boys helping with the project said the dinner alone was worth their day’s work.

More might have been hauled but threatening weather delayed the start of the day. The roads were slippery and the first truckload did not reach Nelson until high noon. Delivery cars, ice wagons, oil trucks, grain boxes and dump board outfits all were part of the gravel gang. Five young farmers ran races with full loads of gravel on board. When another gravel day was held, the newspaper noted more gravel could be hauled if more people were available to shovel.

About the same year members of the Superior Commercial Club laid concrete pavement from the Republican River bridge west to the former Cottonwood Cottage store and south to nearly the state line. Some of that concrete is still in use.

In 1913 the Nuckolls County Commissioners designated Oct. 28, 29 and 30 as Good Roads Days in Nuckolls County. On those days all able bodied men were asked to give at least one day of volunteer work on a road they wanted improved.

In 1952, I watched the men of the Pleasant Valley community improve the road from Highway 14 to the school house. Volunteers took out fences so county road workers could grade the ditches and elevate the road. A land owner donated sand that was scooped from a creek with a dragline and applied to the road. District residents donated funds to pay for the hauling.

I can appreciate the work associated with Graveling Hauling Day for I have had a little experience in hauling gravel.

When I lived on Blauvelt’s Hill, it was common to go to the Republican River bottom and load fill sand left from the Courtland Canal construction project. Often the sand was hauled in a pickup truck but at least once my father rented a 2-ton farm truck from Alexander Motors. All the sand was shoveled into the pickup and then shoveled off. The farm truck had a hoist which made dumping easy but I preferred the pickup for I didn’t have to throw the sand near as far and the rest breaks that came with driving back and forth between the construction site and the sand came more frequently.

As a high school student, I was part of a crew that scooped sand off of a Republican River sand bar into five gallon buckets. After getting the buckets out of the river and back to town, they were carried into the basement of the Norris pool hall where thesand was used to make bullet stops for the high school rifle club

When the Courtland Canal was built, there was a concrete batch plant located in what had been a pasture behind the gasoline station.

My father didn’t like chuck holes in his drive and I got to take my child’s-size wagon to the mix site and haul back sand and rock to fill the holes with. The route through an animal lane was relative level and free of obstacles. It was a hard pull but I took pride in driveway repair projects. The sand was gray and dirty and not of the quality I wanted for my sand box.

One day I spied some bright clean sand a badger had dug out near an early day sand pit.

I wanted some of that sand for my sand box and took the wagon into the pasture across the road from the gas station. My plan was to haul several loads back and create a big play area after a load. That was more than I could accomplish.

The sand was in a ravine. Once out of the ravine, I had to pull the wagon a quarter of a mile or so through the pasture and along the highway. It was an impossible task.

Just like the Oregon Trail travelers who abandoned possessions along the trail to lighten the loads they were trying to haul in their prairie schooners, I dumped sand along the way.

One trip after fresh sand was enough. I never went back for a second.