Jim/Bryan,
I'm pretty sure I didn't do a very good job explaining why I believe that the 4th fairway in the 1913 picture is to the left of that sandy dirt road going up the hill.
Let me give it another shot.
The first thing to understand about that 1913 photo which appears in the Shelly book (and posted here) is that it differs from the one referred to in the Brown book, which mentions that you can see the 3rd tee, in that about 10-15 yards on the left side are truncated on the Shelly photo, which cuts off the area of the 3rd tee. Even with that, the photo edge still doesn't extend far enough left to see the tree line, just adjacent to the 3rd tee.
Let's look at the photo again, now blown up to 150% size...
I'm purposefully keeping these images large for view-ability so you'll need to use the scroll bar on the bottom of the post. Sorry about the inconvenience.
Please note a few things. First, see the one large, bushy tree marked with a red arrow over on the left side of the photo. More about that later. Also, please note that the sandy road, starting at the bottom, seems to be coming from the right before rising up the hill. At the top of the hill the road splits into a Y, with the right side continuing down the hill towards the clubhouse.
Next, let's look at a 200% blowup of the 1920 aerial.
Here I've shrunk it to see the entire pic for perspective of where various features are in relation to each other...the 2nd green and third tee along the trees can be seen on the upper right..
Again, some important things to note. First, what looks to be the same tree I noted in the previous photo looks to be still there, just to the left of the 4th fairway.
Also, please look at the road, which not only extends from the 4th hole to the clubhouse, but also swings around across the valley on #6, and passes in front of the #5 green, the clubhouse, and down in front of the 18th green. In essence, it wraps completely around the deep ravine. I believe that road was pre-existing, much like some of the other roads seen in those old aerials I posted.
Not to jump topic yet, but some folks have been looking at the fact that Crump bought the property from the Lumberton Mine Company, who had deed to the land from 1904. More about that later if the conversation continues but there is definite evidence that the areas of ridges and depressions like the big bowled out ravine were previously mined for sand.
Finally, just to get a better view of that road and it's route through the property, here is the 1931 Hagley Museum view from an angle not too far from where I believe the photographer in that 1913 photo was, down on the lower right not far from the 6th green.
In the distance, one can see the horizontal line of the entrance road which parallels the railroad tracks in that area, as well as the elevation of the rail bed directly behind which raises the tracks several feet above the road. That road is, I believe, that white line evident on the right side of the 1913 photo, which I mistakenly called the railroad tracks in previous posts.
The tracks are much more elevated above the road as you can clearly see.
Hope this explains things better...thanks.
