CONSTRUCTION CREATES SHORTAGE OF LABOR

HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: W. Kerr Scott Wins Governorship Race 

June 21-27, 1923 

So much construction is under way in Rockingham County that a severe labor shortage has developed. And still more construction is to come. 

Among the major projects under way: 

Carolina Cotton and Woolen Mills Co. is building 160 houses in Leaksville, Spray and Draper for its employees. Most of the houses are four rooms, but some are six rooms and larger. The work is expected to cost $200,000. 

Hedrick Construction company is laying a system of asphalt streets, and the McCrary Co. is completing a water and sewer system in Leaksville. 

The Atlantic Bridge Co. has just begun an 825-foot concrete bridge over Dan River near Leaksville. 

Other major building projects are in the offing. 

The county Board of Education has called for bids on schools at Mayodan and Ruffin costing a total of $60,000. 

Bids will be received in a few days at Spray for five five-story warehouses planned by the Marshall Field company. The warehouses, each 50-by-116 feet, will be of concrete and steel construction and will have modern elevators. Several old warehouses will be torn down to make room for the new ones. The cost of the construction is estimated at $250,000. 

Teenage brothers John Lee and Early Mitchell and Jesse and J.L. Kendricks were standing around a wagon at a barn on the Kendricks farm at Intelligence planning a swimming trip to Dan River to cool off from the hot sultry day when a bolt of lightning struck with ferocity. Early Mitchell was killed, and John Lee Mitchell and the Kendricks were knocked to the ground. A mule inside the barn also was killed as the lightning first struck a tree, jumped to the wagon and then to the barn. 

Miss Ann Abel has begun writing a history of Rockingham County and is asking older citizens to help her find some of the landmarks obscured by the passage of time. ... A severe drought has been broken by recent rains. ... J. Vaughn Penn, who recently graduated from Washington and Lee University, has returned to the family home in Madison, where he will spend the summer. 

E.B. King left Friday for St. Louis, where he will be Leaksville-Spray Rotary Club's delegate at the national Rotary convention. ... The regular monthly meeting of the Rockingham County Tobacco Growers Association was held at Wentworth with president C.H. Dalton presiding. 

Car for sale: Willys-Knight coupe sedan, $1,595. 

Rug sale: 9x12 ft. Chinese Oriental rug, $150. 

Leading lady: Dorothy Gish stars in "The Bright Shawl."