HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA
VOLUME 10
[Illustration: BRIDGE AT "BIG CROSSINGS"]
HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA
VOLUME 10
The Cumberland Road
BY
ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT
_With Maps and Illustrations_
[Illustration]
THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
CLEVELAND, OHIO
1904
COPYRIGHT, 1904
BY
THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE 11
I. OUR FIRST NATIONAL ROAD 15
II. BUILDING THE ROAD IN THE WEST 71
III. OPERATION AND CONTROL 91
IV. STAGECOACHES AND FREIGHTERS 119
V. MAILS AND MAIL LINES 142
VI. TAVERNS AND TAVERN LIFE 152
VII. CONCLUSION 174
APPENDIXES 189
ILLUSTRATIONS
I. BRIDGE AT "BIG CROSSINGS" _Frontispiece_
II. MAP OF CUMBERLAND ROAD IN PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND 55
III. CHESTNUT RIDGE, PENNSYLVANIA 65
IV. MAP OF CUMBERLAND ROAD IN THE WEST 79
V. A CULVERT ON THE CUMBERLAND ROAD IN OHIO 177
PREFACE
For material used in this volume the author is largely in the debt of
the librarians of the State Libraries of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois. From the Honorable C. B. Galbreath, of the Ohio
State Library, he has received much assistance covering an extended
period. To the late Thomas B. Searight's valuable collection of
biographical and colloquial sketches, _The Old Pike_, the author wishes
to express his great indebtedness. As Mr. Searight gave special
attention to the road in Pennsylvania, the present monograph deals at
large with the story of the road west of the Ohio River, especially in
the state of Ohio.
The Cumberland Road was best known in some parts as the "United States"
or "National" Road. Its legal name has been selected as the most
appropriate for the present monograph which is revised from a study of
the subject _The Old National Road_ formerly published by the Ohio State
Archæological and Historical Society.
A. B. H.
MARIETTA, OHIO, May 15, 1903.
The Cumberland Road
_It is a monument of a past age; but like all other monuments, it is
interesting as well as venerable. It carried thousands of population
and millions of wealth into the West; and more than any other
material structure in the land, served to harmonize and strengthen,
if not to save, the Union._--VEECH.
CHAPTER I
OUR FIRST NATIONAL ROAD
_The middle ages had their wars and agonies, but also their intense
delights. Their gold was dashed with blood, but ours is sprinkled
with dust. Their life was intermingled with white and purple; ours
is one seamless stuff of brown._--RUSKIN.
A person cannot live in the American Central West and be acquainted with
the generation which greets the new century with feeble hand and dimmed
eye, without realizing that there has been a time which, compared with
today, seems as the Middle Ages did to the England for which Ruskin
wrote--when "life was intermingled with white and purple."
This western boy, born to a feeble republic-mother, with exceeding
suffering in those days which "tried men's souls," grew up as all boys
grow up. For a long and doubtful period the young West grew slowly and
changed appearance gradually. Then, suddenly, it started from its
slumbering, and, in two decades, could hardly have been recognized as
the infant which, in 1787, looked forward to a precarious and doubtful
future. The boy has grown into the man in the century, but the changes
of the last half century are not, perhaps, so marked as those of the
first, when a wilderness was suddenly transformed into a number of
imperial commonwealths.
When this West was in its teens and began suddenly outstripping itself,
to the marvel of the world, one of the momentous factors in its progress
was the building of a great national road, from the Potomac River to the
Mississippi River, by the United States Government--a highway seven
hundred miles in length, at a cost of seven millions of treasure. This
ribbon of road, winding its way through Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois, toward the Mississippi, was one of the most
important steps in that movement of national expansion which followed
the conquest of the West. It is probably impossible for us to realize
fully what it meant to this West when that vanguard of surveyors came
down the western slopes of the Alleghenies, hewing a thoroughfare which
should, in one generation, bind distant and half-acquainted states
together in bonds of common interest, sympathy, and ambition. Until that
day, travelers spoke of "going into" and "coming out of" the West as
though it were a Mammoth Cave. Such were the herculean difficulties of
travel that it was commonly said, despite the dangers of life in the
unconquered land, if pioneers could live to get into the West, nothing
could, thereafter, daunt them. The growth and prosperity of the West was
impossible, until the dawning of such convictions as those which made
the Cumberland Road a reality.
The history of this famed road is but a continuation of the story of the
Washington and Braddock roads, through Great Meadows from the Potomac to
the Ohio. As outlined in Volumes III and IV of this series, this
national highway was the realization of the youth Washington's early
dream--a dream that was, throughout his life, a dominant force.
But Braddock's Road was for three score years the only route westward
through southwestern Pennsylvania, and it grew worse and worse with
each year's travel. Indeed, the more northerly route, marked out in part
by General Forbes in 1758, was plainly the preferable road for travelers
to Pittsburg until the building of the Cumberland Road, 1811-1818.
The rapid peopling of the state of Ohio, and the promise of an equal
development in Indiana and Illinois caused the building of our first and
only great national road. Congress passed an act on the thirtieth of
April, 1802, enabling the people of Ohio to form a state government and
seek admission into the Union. Section seven contained the following
provision:
"That one-twentieth of the net proceeds of the lands lying within said
State sold by Congress shall be applied to the laying out and making
public roads leading from the navigable waters emptying into the
Atlantic, to the Ohio, to the said state, and through the same, such
roads to be laid out under the authority of Congress, with the consent
of the several states through which the roads shall pass."[1]
On the third of March, 1803 another act was passed which appropriated
three of the five per cent to laying out roads in the state of Ohio, the
remaining two per cent to be devoted to building a road from navigable
waters leading into the Atlantic Ocean, to the Ohio River contiguous to
the state of Ohio. A committee was appointed to review the matter and
the conclusion of their report to the Senate on the nineteenth of
December, 1805 was as follows:
"Therefore the committee have thought it expedient to recommend the
laying out and making a road from Cumberland, on the northerly bank of
the Potomac, and within the state of Maryland, to the Ohio river, at the
most convenient place on the easterly bank of said river, opposite to
Steubenville, and the mouth of Grave Creek, which empties into said
river, Ohio, a little below Wheeling in Virginia, This route will meet
and accommodate roads from Baltimore and the District of Columbia; it
will cross the Monongahela at or near Brownsville, sometimes called
Redstone, where the advantage of boating can be taken; and from the
point where it will probably intersect the river Ohio, there are now
roads, or they can easily be made over feasible and proper ground, to
and through the principal population of the state of Ohio."[2]
Immediately the following act of Congress was passed, authorizing the
laying out and making of the Cumberland Road:
AN ACT TO REGULATE THE LAYING OUT AND MAKING A ROAD FROM CUMBERLAND,
IN THE STATE OF MARYLAND, TO THE STATE OF OHIO
SECTION 1. _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That the President
of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized to appoint, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate, three discreet and
disinterested citizens of the United States, to lay out a road from
Cumberland, or a point on the northern bank of the river Potomac, in the
state of Maryland, between Cumberland and the place where the main road
leading from Gwynn's to Winchester, in Virginia, crosses the river, to
the state of Ohio; whose duty it shall be, as soon as may be, after
their appointment, to repair to Cumberland aforesaid, and view the
ground, from the points on the river Potomac hereinbefore designated to
the river Ohio; and to lay out in such direction as they shall judge,
under all circumstances the most proper, a road from thence to the river
Ohio, to strike the same at the most convenient place, between a point
on its eastern bank, opposite to the northern boundary of Steubenville,
in said state of Ohio, and the mouth of Grave Creek, which empties into
the said river a little below Wheeling, in Virginia.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the aforesaid road shall be laid
out four rods in width, and designated on each side by a plain and
distinguishable mark on a tree, or by the erection of a stake or
monument sufficiently conspicuous, in every quarter of a mile of the
distance at least, where the road pursues a straight course so far or
further, and on each side, at every point where an angle occurs in its
course.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners shall, as soon
as may be, after they have laid out said road, as aforesaid, present to
the President an accurate plan of the same, with its several courses and
distances, accompanied by a written report of their proceedings,
describing the marks and monuments by which the road is designated, and
the face of the country over which it passes, and pointing out the
particular parts which they shall judge require the most and immediate
attention and amelioration, and the probable expense of making the same
possible in the most difficult parts, and through the whole distance;
designating the state or states through which said road has been laid
out, and the length of the several parts which are laid out on new
ground, as well as the length of those parts laid out on the road now
traveled. Which report the President is hereby authorized to accept or
reject, in the whole or in part. If he accepts, he is hereby further
authorized and requested to pursue such measures, as in his opinion
shall be proper, to obtain consent for making the road, of the state or
states through which the same has been laid out. Which consent being
obtained, he is further authorized to take prompt and effectual
measures to cause said road to be made through the whole distance, or in
any part or parts of the same as he shall judge most conducive to the
public good, having reference to the sum appropriated for the purpose.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all parts of the road which the
President shall direct to be made, in case the trees are standing, shall
be cleared the whole width of four rods; and the road shall be raised in
the middle of the carriage-way with stone, earth, or gravel or sand, or
a combination of some or all of them, leaving or making, as the case may
be, a ditch or water course on each side and contiguous to said
carriage-way, and in no instance shall there be an elevation in said
road, when finished, greater than an angle of five degrees with the
horizon. But the manner of making said road, in every other particular,
is left to the direction of the President.
SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That said commissioners shall each
receive four dollars per day, while employed as aforesaid, in full for
their compensation, including all expenses. And they are hereby
authorized to employ one surveyor, two chainmen and one marker, for
whose faithfulness and accuracy they, the said commissioners, shall be
responsible, to attend them in laying out said road, who shall receive
in full satisfaction for their wages, including all expenses, the
surveyor, three dollars per day, and each chainman and marker, one
dollar per day, while they shall be employed in said business, of which
fact a certificate signed by said commissioners shall be deemed
sufficient evidence.
SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the sum of thirty thousand
dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, to defray the expenses
of laying out and making said road. And the President is hereby
authorized to draw, from time to time, on the treasury for such parts,
or at any one time, for the whole of said sum, as he shall judge the
service requires. Which sum of thirty thousand dollars shall be paid,
first, out of the fund of two per cent reserved for laying out and
making roads to the state of Ohio, and by virtue of the seventh section
of an act passed on the thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight
hundred and two, entitled, "An act to enable the people of the eastern
division of the territory northwest of the river Ohio to form a
constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state
into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and for
other purposes." Three per cent of the appropriation contained in said
seventh section being directed by a subsequent law to the laying out,
opening, and making roads within the said state of Ohio; and secondly,
out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, chargeable
upon, and reimbursable at the treasury by said fund of two per cent as
the same shall accrue.
SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the President be, and he is
hereby requested, to cause to be laid before Congress, as soon as
convenience will permit, after the commencement of each session, a
statement of the proceedings under this act, that Congress may be
enabled to adopt such further measures as may from time to time be
proper under existing circumstances.
Approved March 29, 1806.
TH. JEFFERSON.
President Jefferson appointed Thomas Moore of Maryland, Joseph Kerr of
Ohio, and Eli Williams of Maryland commissioners. Their first report was
presented December 30, 1806, as follows:
"The commissioners, acting by appointment under the law of Congress,
entitled, 'An act to regulate the laying out and making a road from
Cumberland in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio,' beg leave to
report to the President of the United States, and to premise that the
duties imposed by the law became a work of greater magnitude, and a task
much more arduous, than was conceived before entering upon it; from
which circumstance the commissioners did not allow themselves sufficient
time for the performance of it before the severity of the weather
obliged them to retire from it, which was the case in the first week of
the present month (December). That, not having fully accomplished their
work, they are unable fully to report a discharge of all the duties
enjoined by the law; but as the most material and principal part has
been performed, and as a communication of the progress already made may
be useful and proper, during the present session of Congress, and of the
Legislatures of those States through which the route passes, the
commissioners respectfully state that at a very early period it was
conceived that the maps of the country were not sufficiently accurate to
afford a minute knowledge of the true courses between the extreme points
on the rivers, by which the researches of the commissioners were to be
governed; a survey for that purpose became indispensable, and
considerations of public economy suggested the propriety of making this
survey precede the personal attendance of the commissioners.
"Josias Thompson, a surveyor of professional merit, was taken into
service and authorized to employ two chain carriers and a marker, as
well as one vaneman, and a packhorse-man and horse, on public account;
the latter being indispensable and really beneficial in accelerating the
work. The surveyor's instructions are contained in document No. 1,
accompanying this report.
"Calculating on a reasonable time for the performance of the
instructions to the surveyor, the commissioners, by correspondence,
fixed on the first day of September last, for their meeting at
Cumberland to proceed in the work; neither of them, however, reached
that place until the third of that month, on which day they all met.
"The surveyor having, under his instructions, laid down a plat of his
work, showing the meanders of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, within the
limits prescribed for the commissioners, as also the road between those
rivers, which is commonly traveled from Cumberland to Charleston, in
part called Braddock's road; and the same being produced to the
commissioners, whereby straight lines and their true courses were shown
between the extreme points on each river, and the boundaries which limit
the powers of the commissioners being thereby ascertained, serving as a
basis whereon to proceed in the examination of the grounds and face of
the country; the commissioners thus prepared commenced the business of
exploring; and in this it was considered that a faithful discharge of
the discretionary powers vested by the law made it necessary to view
the whole to be able to judge of a preference due to any part of the
grounds, which imposed a task of examining a space comprehending upwards
of two thousand square miles; a task rendered still more incumbent by
the solicitude and importunities of the inhabitants of every part of the
district, who severally conceived their grounds entitled to a
preference. It becoming necessary, in the interim, to run various lines
of experiment for ascertaining the geographical position of several
points entitled to attention, and the service suffering great delay for
want of another surveyor, it was thought consistent with the public
interest to employ, in that capacity, Arthur Rider, the vaneman, who had
been chosen with qualification to meet such an emergency; and whose
services as vaneman could then be dispensed with. He commenced, as
surveyor, on the 22nd day of September, and continued so at field work
until the first day of December, when he was retained as a necessary
assistant to the principal surveyor, in copying field notes and
hastening the draught of the work to be reported.
"The proceedings of the commissioners are especially detailed in their
general journal, compiled from the daily journal of each commissioner,
to which they beg leave to refer, under mark No. 2.
"After a careful and critical examination of all the grounds within the
limits prescribed, as well as the grounds and ways out from the Ohio
westwardly, at several points, and examining the shoal parts of the Ohio
river as detailed in the table of soundings, stated in their journal,
and after gaining all the information, geographical, general and
special, possible and necessary, toward a judicial discharge of the
duties assigned them, the commissioners repaired to Cumberland to
examine and compare their notes and journals, and determine upon the
direction and location of their route.
"In this consultation the governing objects were:
1. Shortness of distance between navigable points on the eastern and
western waters.
2. A point on the Monongahela best calculated to equalize the advantages
of this portage in the country within reach of it.
3. A point on the Ohio river most capable of combining certainty of
navigation with road accommodation; embracing, in this estimate, remote
points westwardly, as well as present and probable population on the
north and south.
4. Best mode of diffusing benefits with least distance of road.
"In contemplating these objects, due attention was paid as well to the
comparative merits of towns, establishments and settlements already
made, as to the capacity of the country with the present and probable
population.
"In the course of arrangement, and in its order, the first point located
for the route was determined and fixed at Cumberland, a decision founded
on propriety, and in some measure on necessity, from the circumstance of
a high and difficult mountain, called Nobley, laying and confining the
east margin of the Potomac, so as to render it impossible of access on
that side without immense expense, at any point between Cumberland and
where the road from Winchester to Gwynn's crosses, and even there the
Nobley mountain is crossed with much difficulty and hazard. And this
upper point was taxed with another formidable objection; it was found
that a high range of mountains, called Dan's, stretching across from
Gwynn's to the Potomac, above this point, precluded the opportunity of
extending a route from this point in a proper direction, and left no
alternative but passing by Gwynn's; the distance from Cumberland to
Gwynn's being upward of a mile less than from the upper point, which
lies ten miles by water above Cumberland, the commissioners were not
permitted to hesitate in preferring a point which shortens the portage,
as well as the Potomac navigation.
"The point of the Potomac being viewed as a great repository of produce,
which a good road will bring from the west of Laurel Hill, and the
advantages which Cumberland, as a town, has in that respect over an
unimproved place, are additional considerations operating forcibly in
favor of the place preferred.
"In extending the route from Cumberland, a triple range of mountains,
stretching across from Jening's run in measure with Gwynn's, left only
the alternative of laying the road up Will's creek for three miles,
nearly at right angles with the true course, and then by way of Jening's
run, or extending it over a break in the smallest mountain, on a better
course by Gwynn's, to the top of Savage mountain; the latter was
adopted, being the shortest, and will be less expensive in hill-side
digging over a sloped route than the former, requiring one bridge over
Will's creek and several over Jening's run, both very wide and
considerable streams in high water; and a more weighty reason for
preferring the route by Gwynn's is the great accommodation it will
afford travelers from Winchester by the upper point, who could not reach
the route by Jening's run short of the top of Savage, which would
withhold from them the benefit of an easy way up the mountain.
"It is, however, supposed that those who travel from Winchester by way
of the upper point to Gwynn's, are in that respect more the dupes of
common prejudice than judges of their own ease, as it is believed the
way will be as short, and on much better ground, to cross the Potomac
below the confluence of the north and south branches (thereby crossing
these two, as well as Patterson's creek, in one stream, equally fordable
in the same season), than to pass through Cumberland to Gwynn's. Of
these grounds, however, the commissioners do not speak from actual view,
but consider it a subject well worthy of future investigation. Having
gained the top of Alleghany mountain, or rather the top of that part
called Savage, by way of Gwynn's, the general route, as it respects the
most important points, was determined as follows, viz:
"From a stone at the corner of lot No. 1, in Cumberland, near the
confluence of Will's creek and the north branch of the Potomac river;
thence extending along the street westwardly, to cross the hill lying
between Cumberland and Gwynn's, at the gap where Braddock's road passes
it; thence near Gwynn's and Jesse Tomlinson's, to cross the big
Youghiogheny near the mouth of Roger's run, between the crossing of
Braddock's road and the confluence of the streams which form the Turkey
foot; thence to cross Laurel Hill near the forks of Dunbar's run, to the
west foot of that hill, at a point near where Braddock's old road
reached it, near Gist's old place, now Colonel Isaac Meason's, thence
through Brownsville and Bridgeport, to cross the Monongahela river below
Josias Crawfords' ferry; and thence on as straight a course as the
country will admit to the Ohio, at a point between the mouth of Wheeling
creek and the lower point of Wheeling island.
"In this direction of the route it will lay about twenty-four and a half
miles in Maryland, seventy-five miles and a half in Pennsylvania, and
twelve miles in Virginia; distances which will be in a small degree
increased by meanders, which the bed of the road must necessarily make
between the points mentioned in the location; and this route, it is
believed, comprehends more important advantages than could be afforded
in any other, inasmuch as it has a capacity at least equal to any other
in extending advantages of a highway; and at the same time establishes
the shortest portage between the points already navigated, and on the
way accommodates other and nearer points to which navigation may be
extended, and still shorten the portage.
"It intersects Big Youghiogheny at the nearest point from Cumberland,
then lies nearly parallel with that river for the distance of twenty
miles, and at the west foot of Laurel Hill lies within five miles of
Connellsville, from which the Youghiogheny is navigated; and in the same
direction the route intersects at Brownsville, the nearest point on the
Monongahela river within the district.
"The improvement of the Youghiogheny navigation is a subject of too much
importance to remain long neglected; and the capacity of that river, as
high up as the falls (twelve miles above Connellsville), is said to be
equal, at a small expense, with the parts already navigated below. The
obstructions at the falls, and a rocky rapid near Turkey Foot,
constitute the principal impediments in that river to the intersection
of the route, and as much higher as the stream has a capacity for
navigation; and these difficulties will doubtless be removed when the
intercourse shall warrant the measure.
"Under these circumstances the portage may be thus stated: From
Cumberland to Monongahela, sixty-six and one-half miles. From Cumberland
to a point in measure with Connellsville, on the Youghiogheny river,
fifty-one and one-half miles. From Cumberland to a point in measure with
the lower end of the falls of Youghiogheny, which will lie two miles
north of the public road, forty-three miles. From Cumberland to the
intersection of the route with the Youghiogheny river, thirty-four
miles.
"Nothing is here said of the Little Youghiogheny, which lies nearer
Cumberland; the stream being unusually crooked, its navigation can only
become the work of a redundant population.
"The point which this route locates, at the west foot of Laurel Hill,
having cleared the whole of the Alleghany mountain, is so situated as to
extend the advantages of an easy way through the great barrier, with
more equal justice to the best parts of the country between Laurel Hill
and the Ohio. Lines from this point to Pittsburg and Morgan town,
diverging nearly at the same angle, open upon equal terms to all parts
of the western country that can make use of this portage; and which may
include the settlements from Pittsburg, up Big Beaver to the Connecticut
reserve, on Lake Erie, as well as those on the southern borders of the
Ohio and all the intermediate country.
"Brownsville is nearly equidistant from Big Beaver and Fishing creek,
and equally convenient to all the crossing places on the Ohio, between
these extremes. As a port, it is at least equal to any on the
Monongahela within the limits, and holds superior advantages in
furnishing supplies to emigrants, traders, and other travelers by land
or water.
"Not unmindful of the claims of towns and their capacity of
reciprocating advantages on public roads, the commissioners were not
insensible of the disadvantage which Uniontown must feel from the want
of that accommodation which a more southwardly direction of the route
would have afforded; but as that could not take place without a
relinquishment of the shortest passage, considerations of public
benefit could not yield to feelings of minor import. Uniontown being
the seat of justice for Fayette county, Pennsylvania, is not without a
share of public benefits, and may partake of the advantages of this
portage upon equal terms with Connellsville, a growing town, with the
advantage of respectable water-works adjoining, in the manufactory of
flour and iron.
"After reaching the nearest navigation on the western waters, at a point
best calculated to diffuse the benefits of a great highway, in the
greatest possible latitude east of the Ohio, it was considered that, to
fulfill the objects of the law, it remained for the commissioners to
give such a direction to the road as would best secure a certainty of
navigation on the Ohio at all seasons, combining, as far as possible,
the inland accommodation of remote points westwardly. It was found that
the obstructions in the Ohio, within the limits between Steubenville and
Grave creek, lay principally above the town and mouth of Wheeling; a
circumstance ascertained by the commissioners in their examination of
the channel, as well as by common usage, which has long given a decided
preference to Wheeling as a place of embarkation and port of departure
in dry seasons. It was also seen that Wheeling lay in a line from
Brownsville to the centre of the state of Ohio and Post Vincennes. These
circumstances favoring and corresponding with the chief objects in view
in this last direction of the route, and the ground from Wheeling
westwardly being known of equal fitness with any other way out from the
river, it was thought most proper, under these several considerations,
to locate the point mentioned below the mouth of Wheeling. In taking
this point in preference to one higher up and in the town of Wheeling,
the public benefit and convenience were consulted, inasmuch as the
present crossing place over the Ohio from the town is so contrived and
confined as to subject passengers to extraordinary ferriage and delay,
by entering and clearing a ferry-boat on each side of Wheeling island,
which lies before the town and precludes the opportunity of fording when
the river is crossed in that way, above and below the island. From the
point located, a safe crossing is afforded at the lower point of the
island by a ferry in high, and a good ford at low water.
"The face of the country within the limits prescribed is generally very
uneven, and in many places broken by a succession of high mountains and
deep hollows, too formidable to be reduced within five degrees of the
horizon, but by crossing them obliquely, a mode which, although it
imposes a heavy task of hill-side digging, obviates generally the
necessity of reducing hills and filling hollows, which, on these
grounds, would be an attempt truly quixotic. This inequality of the
surface is not confined to the Alleghany mountain; the country between
the Monongahela and Ohio rivers, although less elevated, is not better
adapted for the bed of a road, being filled with impediments of hills
and hollows, which present considerable difficulties, and wants that
super-abundance and convenience of stone found in the mountain.
"The indirect course of the road now traveled, and the frequent
elevations and depressions which occur, that exceed the limits of the
law, preclude the possibility of occupying it in any extent without
great sacrifice of distance, and forbid the use of it, in any one part
for more than half a mile, or more than two or three miles in the whole.
"The expense of rendering the road now in contemplation passable, may,
therefore, amount to a larger sum than may have been supposed necessary,
under an idea of embracing in it a considerable part of the old road;
but it is believed that the contrary will be found most correct, and
that a sum sufficient to open the new could not be expended on the same
distance of the old road with equal benefit.
"The sum required for the road in contemplation will depend on the style
and manner of making it; as a common road cannot remove the difficulties
which always exist on deep grounds, and particularly in wet seasons, and
as nothing short of a firm, substantial, well-formed, stone-capped road
can remove the causes which led to the measure of improvement, or render
the institution as commodious as a great and growing intercourse appears
to require, the expense of such a road next becomes the subject of
inquiry.
"In this inquiry the commissioners can only form an estimate by
recurring to the experience of Pennsylvania and Maryland in the business
of artificial roads. Upon this data, and a comparison of the grounds and
proximity of the materials for covering, there are reasons for belief
that, on the route reported, a complete road may be made at an expense
not exceeding six thousand dollars per mile, exclusive of bridges over
the principal streams on the way. The average expense of the Lancaster,
as well as Baltimore and Frederick turnpike, is considerably higher; but
it is believed that the convenient supply of stone which the mountain
affords will, on those grounds, reduce the expense to the rate here
stated.
"As to the policy of incurring this expense, it is not the province of
the commissioners to declare; but they cannot, however, withhold
assurances of a firm belief that the purse of the nation cannot be more
seasonably opened, or more happily applied, than in promoting the speedy
and effectual establishment of a great and easy road on the way
contemplated.
"In the discharge of all these duties, the commissioners have been
actuated by an ardent desire to render the institution as useful and
commodious as possible; and, impressed with a strong sense of the
necessity which urges the speedy establishment of the road, they have to
regret the circumstances which delay the completion of the part assigned
them. They, however, in some measure, content themselves with the
reflection that it will not retard the progress of the work, as the
opening of the road cannot commence before spring, and may then begin
with making the way.
"The extra expense incident to the service from the necessity (and
propriety, as it relates to public economy,) of employing men not
provided for by law will, it is hoped, be recognized and provision made
for the payment of that and similar expenses, when in future it may be
indispensably incurred.
"The commissioners having engaged in a service in which their zeal did
not permit them to calculate the difference between their pay and the
expense to which the service subjected them, cannot suppose it the wish
or intention of the government to accept of their services for a mere
indemnification of their expense of subsistence, which will be very much
the case under the present allowance; they, therefore, allow themselves
to hope and expect that measures will be taken to provide such further
compensation as may, under all circumstances, be thought neither profuse
nor parsimonious.
"The painful anxiety manifested by the inhabitants of the district
explored, and their general desire to know the route determined on,
suggested the measure of promulgation, which, after some deliberation,
was agreed on by way of circular letter, which has been forwarded to
those persons to whom precaution was useful, and afterward sent to one
of the presses in that quarter for publication, in the form of the
document No. 3, which accompanies this report.
"All which is, with due deference, submitted.
ELI WILLIAMS,
THOMAS MOORE,
JOSEPH KERR.
December 30, 1806."
Starting from Cumberland the general alignment of Braddock's Road was
pursued, until the point was reached where the old thoroughfare left the
old portage trail, on the summit of Laurel Hill. The course was then
laid straight toward Brownsville (Redstone Old Fort) probably along the
general alignment of the old Indian portage path, and an earlier road.
From Brownsville to Washington was an old road, possibly the course of
the Indian trail.
As has already been suggested, there was a dispute concerning the point
where the road would touch the Ohio River. The rivalry was most intense
between Wheeling and Steubenville. Wheeling won through the influence of
Henry Clay, to whom a monument was erected at a later date near the town
on the old road. The commissioners rendered a second report on the
fifteenth of January, 1808 as follows:
"The undersigned, commissioners appointed under the law of the United
States, entitled 'An act to regulate the laying out and making a road
from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio,' in
addition to the communications heretofore made, beg leave further to
report to the President of the United States, that, by the delay of the
answer of the Legislature of Pennsylvania to the application for
permission to pass the road through that state, the commissioners could
not proceed to the business of the road in the spring before vegetation
had so far advanced as to render the work of exploring and surveying
difficult and tedious, from which circumstance it was postponed till the
last autumn, when the business was again resumed. That, in obedience to
the special instructions given them, the route heretofore reported has
been so changed as to pass through Uniontown, and that they have
completed the location, gradation, and marking of the route from
Cumberland to Brownsville, Bridgeport, and the Monongahela river,
agreeably to a plat of the courses, distances and grades in which is
described the marks and monuments by which the route is designated, and
which is herewith exhibited; that by this plat and measurement it will
appear (when compared with the road now traveled) there is a saving of
four miles of distance between Cumberland and Brownsville on the new
route.
"In the gradation of the surface of the route (which became necessary)
is ascertained the comparative elevation and depression of different
points on the route, and taking a point ten feet above the surface of
low water in the Potomac river at Cumberland, as the horizon, the most
prominent points are found to be elevated as follows, viz.:
_Feet_
Summit of Wills mountain 581.
Western foot of same 304.4
Summit of Savage mountain 2,022.24
Savage river 1,741.6
Summit Little Savage mountain 1,900.4
Branch Pine Run, first Western water 1,699.9
Summit of Red Hill (afterwards called shades of death) 1,914.3
Summit Little Meadow mountain 2,026.16
Little Youghiogheny river 1,322.6
East Fork of Shade run 1,558.92
Summit of Negro mountain, highest point[3] 2,328.12
Middle branch of White's creek, at the west foot of Negro
mountain 1,360.5
White's creek 1,195.5
Big Youghiogheny river 645.5
Summit of ridge between Youghiogheny river and Beaver waters 1,514.5
Beaver Run 1,123.8
Summit of Laurel Hill 1,550.16
Court House in Uniontown 274.65
A point ten feet above the surfaceof low water in the
Monongahela river, at the mouth of Dunlap's creek 119.26
"The law requiring the commissioners to report such parts of the route
as are laid on the old road, as well as those on new grounds, and to
state those parts which require the most immediate attention and
amelioration, the probable expense of making the same passable in the
most difficult parts, and through the whole distance, they have to state
that, from the crooked and hilly course of the road now traveled, the
new route could not be made to occupy any part of it (except an
intersection on Wills mountain, another at Jesse Tomlinson's, and a
third near Big Youghiogheny, embracing not a mile of distance in the
whole) without unnecessary sacrifices of distances and expense.
"That, therefore, an estimate must be made on the route as passing
wholly through new grounds. In doing this the commissioners feel great
difficulty, as they cannot, with any degree of precision, estimate the
expense of making it merely passable; nor can they allow themselves to
suppose that a less breadth than that mentioned in the law was to be
taken into the calculation. The rugged deformity of the grounds rendered
it impossible to lay a route within the grade limited by law otherwise
than by ascending and descending the hills obliquely, by which
circumstance a great proportion of the route occupies the sides of the
hills, which cannot be safely passed on a road of common breadth, and
where it will, in the opinion of the commissioners, be necessary, by
digging, to give the proper form of thirty feet, at least in the breadth
of the road, to afford suitable security in passing on a way to be
frequently crowded with wagons moving in opposite directions, with
transports of emigrant families, and droves of cattle, hogs, etc., on
the way to market. Considering, therefore, that a road on those grounds
must have sufficient breadth to afford ways and water courses, and
satisfied that nothing short of well constructed and completely finished
conduits can insure it against injuries, which must otherwise render it
impassable at every change of the seasons, by heavy falls of rain or
melting of the beds of snow, with which the country is frequently
covered; the commissioners beg leave to say, that, in a former report,
they estimated the expense of a road on these grounds, when properly
shaped, made and finished in the style of a stone-covered turnpike, at
$6,000 per mile, exclusive of bridges over the principal streams on the
way; and that with all the information they have since been able to
collect, they have no reason to make any alteration in that estimate.
"The contracts authorized by, and which have been taken under the
superintendence of the commissioner, Thomas Moore (duplicates of which
accompany this report), will show what has been undertaken relative to
clearing the timber and brush from part of the breadth of the road. The
performance of these contracts was in such forwardness on the 1st
instant as leaves no doubt of their being completely fulfilled by the
first of March.
"The commissioners further state, that, to aid them in the extension of
their route, they ran and marked a straight line from the crossing-place
on the Monongahela, to Wheeling, and had progressed twenty miles, with
their usual and necessary lines of experiment, in ascertaining the
shortest and best connection of practical grounds, when the approach of
winter and the shortness of the days afforded no expectation that they
could complete the location without a needless expense in the most
inclement season of the year. And, presuming that the postponement of
the remaining part till the ensuing spring would produce no delay in the
business of making the road, they were induced to retire from it for the
present.
"The great length of time already employed in this business makes it
proper for the commissioners to observe that, in order to connect the
best grounds with that circumspection which the importance of the duties
confided to them demanded, it became indispensably necessary to run
lines of experiment and reference in various directions, which exceed an
average of four times the distance located for the route, and that,
through a country so irregularly broken, and crowded with very thick
underwood in many places, the work has been found so incalculably
tedious that, without an adequate idea of the difficulty, it is not easy
to reconcile the delay.
"It is proper to mention that an imperious call from the private
concerns of Commissioner Joseph Kerr, compelled him to return home on
the 29th of November, which will account for the want of his signature
to this report.
"All of which is, with due deference, submitted, this 15th day of
January, 1808.
ELI WILLIAMS,
THOMAS MOORE."
It was necessary to obtain permission of each state through which the
Cumberland Road was to be built; Pennsylvania, only, made any condition,
hers being that the road touch the towns of Washington and Uniontown.[4]
The first contracts were let on the eleventh and the sixteenth of April,
1811, for building the first ten miles west of Cumberland, Maryland.
These contracts were completed in the year following. More were let in
1812, 1813, and 1815; and two years later contracts for all the distance
to Uniontown, Pennsylvania were let. In 1818, United States Mail coaches
were running between Washington, D. C. and Wheeling, Virginia. The cost
of the road averaged $9,745 per mile between Cumberland and Uniontown,
and $13,000 per mile for the entire division from the Potomac to the
Ohio. Too liberal contracts is the reason given for the heavy expense
between Uniontown and Wheeling.
[Illustration: MAP OF CUMBERLAND ROAD IN PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND]
A flood of traffic swept over the great highway immediately upon its
completion. As early as the year 1822 it is recorded that a single
one of the five commission houses at Wheeling unloaded one thousand and
eighty-one wagons, averaging three thousand five hundred pounds each,
and paid for freightage of goods the sum of ninety thousand dollars.
But the road was hardly completed when a specter of constitutional cavil
arose, threatening its existence. In 1822 a bill was passed by Congress
looking toward the preservation and repair of the newly-built road. It
should be stated that the roadbed, though completed in one sense, was
not in condition to be used extensively unless continually repaired. In
many places only a single layer of broken stone had been laid, and, with
the volume of traffic which was daily passing over it, the road did not
promise to remain in good condition. In order to secure funds for the
constant repairs necessary, this bill ordered the establishment of
turnpikes with gates and tolls. The bill was immediately vetoed by
President Monroe on the ground that Congress, according to his
interpretation of the constitution, did not have the power to pass such
a sweeping measure of internal improvement.
The President based his conclusion upon the following grounds, stated in
a special message to Congress, dated May 4, 1822:
"A power to establish turnpikes, with gates and tolls and to enforce the
collection of the tolls by penalties, implies a power to adopt and
execute a complete system of internal improvements. A right to impose
duties to be paid by all persons passing a certain road, and on horses
and carriages, as is done by this bill, involves the right to take the
land from the proprietor on a valuation, and to pass laws for the
protection of the road from injuries; and if it exist, as to one road,
it exists as to any other, and to as many roads as Congress may think
proper to establish. A right to legislate for the others is a complete
right of jurisdiction and sovereignty for all the purposes of internal
improvement, and not merely the right of applying money under the power
vested in Congress to make appropriations (under which power, with the
consent of the states through which the road passes, the work was
originally commenced, and has been so far executed). I am of the
opinion that Congress does not possess this power--that the states
individually cannot grant it; for, although they may assent to the
appropriation of money within their limits for such purposes, they can
grant no power of jurisdiction of sovereignty, by special compacts with
the United States. This power can be granted only by an amendment to the
constitution, and in the mode prescribed by it. If the power exist, it
must be either because it has been specially granted to the United
States, or that it is incidental to some power, which has been
specifically granted. It has never been contended that the power was
specifically granted. It is claimed only as being incidental to some one
or more of the powers which are specifically granted.
"The following are the powers from which it is said to be derived: (1)
From the right to establish post offices and post roads; (2) from the
right to declare war; (3) to regulate commerce; (4) to pay the debts and
provide for the common defense and the general welfare; (5) from the
power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution
all the powers vested by the constitution in the government of the
United States, or in any department or officer thereof; (6) and lastly
from the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations
respecting the territory and other property of the United States.
According to my judgment it cannot be derived from either of these
powers, nor from all of them united, and in consequence it does not
exist."[5]
During the early years of this century, the subject of internal
improvements relative to the building of roads and canals was one of the
foremost political questions of the day. No sooner were the debts of the
Revolutionary War paid, and a surplus accumulated, than a systematic
improvement of the country was undertaken. The Cumberland Road was but
one of several roads projected by the general Government. Through the
administrations of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison large appropriations
had been made for numerous improvements. The bill authorizing the
levying of tolls was a step too far, as President Monroe held that it
was one thing to make appropriations for public improvements, but an
entirely different thing to assume jurisdiction and sovereignty over the
land whereon those improvements were made. This was one of the great
public questions in the first half of the present century. President
Jackson's course was not very consistent. Before his election he voted
for internal improvements, even advocating subscriptions by the
Government to the stock of private canal companies, and the formation of
roads beginning and ending within the limits of certain states. In his
message at the opening of the first congress after his accession, he
suggested the division of the surplus revenue among the states, as a
substitute for the promotion of internal improvements by the general
Government, attempting a limitation and distinction too difficult and
important to be settled and acted upon on the judgment of one man,
namely, the distinction between general and local objects.
"The pleas of the advocates of internal improvement," wrote a
contemporary authority of high standing on economic questions, "are
these: That very extensive public works, designed for the benefit of the
whole Union, and carried through vast portions of its area, must be
accomplished. That an object so essential ought not to be left at the
mercy of such an accident as the cordial agreement of the requisite
number of states, to carry such works forward to their completion; that
the surplus funds accruing from the whole nation cannot be as well
employed as in promoting works in which the whole nation will be
benefited; and that as the interests of the majority have hitherto
upheld Congress in the use of this power, it may be assumed to be the
will of the majority that Congress should continue to exercise it.
"The answer is that it is inexpedient to put a vast and increasing
patronage into the hands of the general Government; that only a very
superficial knowledge can be looked for in members of Congress as to the
necessity or value of works proposed to be instituted in any parts of
the states, from the impossibility or undesirableness of equalizing the
amount of appropriation made to each; that useless works would be
proposed from the spirit of competition or individual interest; and that
corruption, coëxtensive with the increase of power, would deprave the
functions of the general Government.... To an impartial observer it
appears that Congress has no constitutional right to devote the public
funds to internal improvements, at its own unrestricted will and
pleasure; that the permitted usurpation of the power for so long a time
indicates that some degree of such power in the hands of the general
Government is desirable and necessary; that such power should be granted
through an amendment of the constitution, by the methods therein
provided; that, in the meantime, it is perilous that the instrument
should be strained for the support of any function, however desirable
its exercise may be.
"In case of the proposed addition being made to the constitution,
arrangements will, of course, be entered into for determining the
principles by which general are to be distinguished from local objects
or whether such distinction can, on any principle, be fixed; for
testing the utility of proposed objects; for checking extravagant
expenditure, jobbing, and corrupt patronage; in short, the powers of
Congress will be specified, here as in other matters, by express
permission and prohibition."[6]
In 1824, however, President Monroe found an excuse to sign a bill which
was very similar to that vetoed in 1822, and the great road, whose fate
had hung for two years in the balance, received needed appropriations.
The travel over the road in the first decade after its completion was
heavy, and before a decade had passed the roadbed was in wretched
condition. It was the plan of the friends of the road, when they
realized that no revenue could be raised by means of tolls by the
Government, to have the road placed in a state of good repair by the
Government and then turned over to the several states through which it
passed.[7]
The liberality of the government, at this juncture, in instituting
thorough repairs on the road, was an act worthy of the road's service
and destiny.
[Illustration: CHESTNUT RIDGE, PENNSYLVANIA]
In order to insure efficiency and permanency these repairs[8] were made
on the Macadam system; that is to say, the pavement of the old road was
entirely broken up, and the stones removed from the road; the bed was
then raked smooth, and made nearly flat, having a rise of not more than
three inches from the side to the center in a road thirty feet wide; the
ditches on each side of the road, and the drains leading from them, were
so constructed that the water could not stand at a higher level than
eighteen inches below the lowest part of the surface of the road; and,
in all cases, when it was practicable, the drains were adjusted in such
manner as to lead the water entirely from the side ditches. The culverts
were cleared out, and so adjusted as to allow the free passage of all
water that tended to cross the road.
Having thus formed the bed of the road, cleaned out the ditches and
culverts, and adjusted the side drains, the stone was reduced to a size
not exceeding four ounces in weight, was spread on with shovels, and
raked smooth. The old material was used when it was of sufficient
hardness, and no clay or sand was allowed to be mixed with the stone.
In replacing the covering of stone, it was found best to lay it on in
layers of about three inches thick, admitting the travel for a short
interval on each layer, and interposing such obstructions from time to
time as would insure an equal travel over every portion of the road;
care being taken to keep persons in constant attendance to rake the
surface when it became uneven by the action of wheels of carriages. In
those parts of the road, if any, where materials of good quality could
not be obtained for the road in sufficient quantity to afford a course
of six inches, new stone was procured to make up the deficiency to that
thickness; but it was considered unnecessary, in any part, to put on a
covering of more than nine inches. None but limestone, flint, or granite
were used for the covering, if practicable; and no covering was placed
upon the bed of the road till it had become well compacted and
thoroughly dried. At proper intervals, on the slopes of hills, drains
or paved catch-waters were made across the road, whenever the cost of
constructing culverts rendered their use inexpedient. These catch-waters
were made with a gradual curvature, so as to give no jolts to the wheels
of carriages passing over them; but whenever the expense justified the
introduction of culverts, they were used in preference, and in all cases
where the water crossed the road, either in catch-waters or through
culverts, sufficient pavements and overfalls were constructed to provide
against the possibility of the road or banks being washed away by it.
The masonry of the bridges, culverts, and side-walls was ordered to be
repaired, whenever required, in a substantial manner, and care was taken
that the mortar used was of good quality, without admixture of raw clay.
All the masonry was well pointed with hydraulic mortar, and in no case
was the pointing allowed to be put on after the middle of October. All
masonry finished after this time was well covered, and pointed early in
the spring. Care was taken, also, to provide means for carrying off the
water from the bases of walls, to prevent the action of frost on their
foundations; and it was considered highly important that all foundations
in masonry should be well pointed with hydraulic mortar to a depth of
eighteen inches below the surface of the ground.
By the year 1818, travel over the first great road across the Allegheny
Mountains into the Ohio Basin had begun.