The wealth of timber, mineral, and farm products of the State was so great
as to cause early improvements in the building of macadamized roads or
pikes, and as early as 1830 the turnpike from Maysville to Lexington was
built to facilitate the movement of freight and farm products from the
bluegrass region to the towns along the Ohio River on the northern
boundary. A similar road was built from Louisville through Glasgow and
Bowling Green to Nashville, Tenn., and this road not only served as a
commercial outlet to the South, but has played an important part in the
history and subsequent development of the State.
Early in the past century, interest was shown in the making of the water
courses of Kentucky navigable throughout the year by the building of locks
and dams. These were built on Kentucky, Barren and Green Rivers. Kentucky
is said to have a greater number of miles of navigable streams than is
owned by any other State. Its territory was supposed, in the early days,
to extend to low water mark on the eastern side of the Big Sandy River, to
the northern bank of the Ohio River, and to the western bank of the
Mississippi on the western border, while the Kentucky, Barren and Green
rivers lie wholly within its borders, and the Cumberland and Tennessee
rivers cross the State in the western section. Green River is said to be
one of the deepest river waterways in the world, and the scenery along its
banks is indeed picturesque. The towering walls on either side of the
Kentucky River between Frankfort and Beattyville rival in grandeur and
majestic beauty the famous palisades of the Hudson or the castellated
southern shore of the beautiful Columbia River.
Railroad construction was early commenced in Kentucky. While traveling
from Lexington to Frankfort today over the L. & N. railroad, one can see
from the car windows the old grade and the cuts indicating the line along
which ran the early cars on stones in which grooves were cut for the
guidance of the wheels instead of the steel rail and the flange wheel of
the present day. These early cars were drawn by mules, after they had been
pulled by a windlass up the cliff from the boat landing at Frankfort. The
mules and the rock rails were soon replaced by two locomotives and iron
rails. One engine brought the train from Frankfort to a point half way, by
noon, and after the passengers had eaten dinner at Midway, the other
engine took the train on to Lexington.