USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 17
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The old Clifton- Road was no doubt one of early date, as was the one leading to Urbana and another one leading south- west through the village of Piqua or New Boston.
Some of these roads were afterwards laid out by direction of the county com- missioners, and there we find that the rec-
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ords show that the Urbana Road was laid out in 1823, Yellow Springs 1821, Old Clifton 1830, Possum 1829, Springfield and New Carlisle in 1867, Garther Pike 1867, Davidson Pike, 1880, Mad River Valley 1843.
The old Boston road led west from Boston (Piqua) past the Paul mill, near New Carlisle, up past the farm of Horace W. Stafford to the Miami River, and was no doubt upon the route taken by the In- dians, when going from one village to an- other. At a very early day a road was laid out southeast through a point near S. Charleston to Chillicothe. (See Pike Township for route of Captain Black coming from Virginia.)
MILITARY ROUTE.
No very great armies have ever crossed the soil of this county. In the war with Great Britain in 1812, General Hull started from Dayton on the 15th of June and marched north to Detroit. At Ur- bana he received a considerable reinforce- ment. It has been contended by some that in his march from Springfield to Urbana he came up the Mad River Valley, either on the east or west side, to some point between Donnelsville and Springfield, and then went up over the hill lands not far from Lawrenceville and up that way to Urbana. Indeed, there are persons liv- ing along this route who assert that old people have formerly told them that along here passed Hull's Army. It seems to the writer however that this is probably a mistake. In Lossing's history it is stated that General Hull moved north through Staunton and Urbana and that he was from there on four months hew-
ing his way through the unbroken forests to reach his destination. We find that the Staunton mentioned was the name of the first platted town of Miami County and that it was located about one mile east of Troy.
So, taking this statement, it would be next thing to an impossibility that Hull's army passed over any part of Clark Coun- ty. In addition to this, the writer has in- terviewed General Keifer, who was born near the route that is supposed to have been taken by Hull through Clark Coun- ty, and he says he is satisfied that Hull's army did not pass along the supposed route in this county; that his mother who was about thirteen years old at that time told him frequently of her trip to Day- ton to see Hull's Army, and that his father, who was some fifteen years older than his mother and then living in the vicinity, had never seen Hull's Army at all. General Keifer further said "that if the army would have passed through that neighborhood he would surely have been told of the fact by his parents."
Of course, in the battle of Piqua, 1780, General Clark's troops came as far north as the location of this battle, but after it was over they did not proceed further, but returned to their Kentucky homes, having been gone less than a month.
Tradition has it that later in the year 1812, General McArthur passed through the eastern part of the county, not far from Catawba, in his journey from Chil- licothe, then the capital of Ohio, to Ur- bana, which seems to have been a general starting point for the trip further north. It is probable, however, that McArthur's trip did not occur until some time after Hull's. During the same war some Ken-
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tucky troops came up through the east- ern part of Moorefield Township, like- wise having Urbana for their immediate destination.
CORDUROY ROADS.
As a matter of course the early high- ways through the county were nothing more than passageways clearedof obstruc- tions, and naturally these ways would be laid out along the lines of least obstruc- tion, and likewise where the streams could easily be forded. Timber being very plentiful, it was used extensively in the construction of the early roads. If there was a bog or marshy place to be passed over, timber was cut down and dragged into such places, and usually laid cross- wise of the proposed road. This kind of a road received the name of corduroy. As civilization advanced, material of a more substantial character was used, and the corduroy road has now so completely passed out of existence that very few of the present generation know what the word means. You may rest assured that its surface was not one of extraordinary smoothness but possessed as large a pro- portion of "ups and downs" as one can well imagine. The writer well remem- bers driving when a boy over roads of this kind in various parts of the county.
NATIONAL ROAD.
The old national pike which extends through this entire county was first con- ceived by Albert Gallatin. As early as 1806 commissioners were appointed by President Jefferson to take the matter under consideration, and in 1811 a con-
tract for the first ten miles west of Cum- berland, Maryland, was laid, and in 1818 it was completed to the Ohio River at Wheeling. It was not, however, opened through Springfield until 1832.
In locating this road, in many places Indian and Buffalo trails were followed, mostly because they afforded the best course and the shortest routes. The busi- ness done over this road was tremendous, often as much as twenty or thirty wagons following each other carrying immense burdens. The advent of steam and the growth of railroads, however, cut short the building of this thoroughfare to its western extremity, which was originally intended to be Indianapolis and, possibly, St. Louis. It was never worked up, how- ever, further than a short distance west of this county at a place called Brant. Indeed the grading stopped near the west line of Springfield Township. Bridges and other works of that kind were con- structed further west. Five good covered bridges built at that time are still stand- ing and in good order- at Donnels Creek, Jackson Creek-Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek. Along this highway there soon arose a large number of small villages and hotels, or taverns as they were then called. Specimens of these still exist in this county, notably in the villages of Brighton, Vienna and Har- mony. For a number of years this road remained in the control of the United States Government, afterwards it was ceded to the state and it in turn to the various counties through which it ex- tended.
Toll gates were placed on this thorough- fare and toll collected until 1883. In the early eighties however all the toll roads
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were purchased by the county or were made free from this toll.
TOLL PIKES.
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than heretofore. Perhaps it is too much to say that this agitation is alone due to the automobiles, for even prior to the re- quirements of this class of travel, the sub- ject of good roads seemed to have new life
About the time of and after the con- infused into it, and the legislature has struction of the National Road private accordingly made provision for state aid. Generally speaking, however, it may be said that the roads of Clark County are in a reasonably good condition. Perhaps no locality in the state is blessed with a more plentiful supply of first class ma- terial both in the way of limestone rock and natural gravel than is our county. There is today about 320 miles of county turnpikes. Added to this may be some 500 additional miles of township and coun- ty roads. enterprise took up the question of build- ing roads in the various parts of the coun- ty. In 1843 .John Minnich and others re- ceived a charter for what became the long- est toll road in the county leading from Dayton to Westville, about three miles west of Urbana, being a total of thirty- four miles. At a later date a pike was built toward Urbana by E. B. Cassily and associates, and another road was built from Springfield to South Charleston and one to New Carlisle. Parties using the In Mr. Hypes' address at the City Cen- tennial he divides these roads up among the townships, as follows: Bethel Town- ship 39 miles; German Township 33 miles; Green Township, 55 miles; Har- mony Township 50 miles; Mad River Township, 47 miles; Moorefield Township 49 miles; Madison Township 66 miles; Pike Township 30 miles; Pleasant Town- ship 45 miles; Springfield Township 84 miles. public highways today hardly realize the amount of annoyance that has been done away with by abolishing the toll gate and making the roads free. No matter how short the distance travelled or how cold or inopportune the time, when you came to the toll gate you had to stop and pay the stipend demanded and it was not a small amount. The writer remembers that the toll on the Urbana Pike, from Springfield to the County line, for a horse THE STAGE COACH. and buggy was 25c round trip, a sum which now would pay the fare on the electric line for the round trip over the same distance. Along in 1867, in pur- suance to laws that had been previously passed, a number of free turnpikes were constructed throughout the county, the expense being met by taxing the land own- ers whose property lay on each side of said roads. Recently the travel by auto- mobiles has caused the question of good roads to be agitated more thoroughly
With the coming of steam there van- ished from our county one of the most picturesque conveyances of travel-the stage coach. It was a large lumbering wagon with springs, a good imitation of which most of the present generation have seen in Buffalo Bill's street parade, sometimes having as many as six horses, usually but four, however. The routes of these stages through Clark County were principally east over the National
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Road, south over the road to Yellow Springs or down by Enon and west over the National Road and north over the Urbana Pike. They ceased running on the National road in 1853. The ease with which travel was performed would hardly compare however with the Pullman coach of today. A poet has described it as fol- lows :
Jolting through the valley, Winding up the hill, Splashing through the "branches," Rumbling by the mill; Putting nervous "gemmen" In a towering rage; What is so provoking As riding in a stage?
Feet are interlacing Heads severely bumped,
Friend and foe together Get their noses thumped : Dresses act as carpets- Listen to the sage-
"Life's a rugged journey Taken in a stage."
As descriptive of a stage coach journey through this county, the following is taken from a tour that was made in 1834 by a Mr. Reed, from Great Britain, who trav- eled from Sandusky south to Cincinnati. Commencing with that part of his jour- ney at Columbus, he says :
"Columbus has a good location in the heart of the State. It contains about 4,000 persons, and is in a very advancing con- dition. This indeed is true of all the settlements in this state and you will hardly think it can be otherwise, when I inform you that forty years ago there
were only 500 persons in the whole ter- ritory, and that now there are about a million.
"The inn at which we stopped is the rendezvous of the stages. Among others there were two ready to start for Cin- cinnati. On seeking to engage my place the inquiry was, 'Which will you go by, sir? the fast or slow line?' Weary as I was of the slow line, I exclaimed, 'Oh, the fast line, certainly !' I quickly found myself enclosed in a good coach, carry- ing the mail, and only six persons inside. In this journey we had but three.
"Rough Traveling .- In demanding to go by the fast line I was not aware of all the effects of my choice. It is certainly a delightful thing to move with some rapid- ity over a good road: but on a bad road, with stubborn springs, it is really ter- rible. For miles out of Columbus the road is shamefully bad : and as our horses were kept on a trot, however slow, I was not only tumbled and shaken as on the previous day, but so jarred and jolted as to threaten serious mischief. Instead, therefore, of finding a lounge, or sleep, as I had hoped, in this comfortable coach, I was obliged to be on the alert for every jerk. And after all I could do, my teeth were jarred, my hat was many times thrown from my head, and all my bruises bruised over again. It was really an amusement to see us laboring to keep our places.
"Jefferson .- About noon we paused at the town called Jefferson. We were to wait half an hour; there would be no other chance of dinner ; but there were no signs of dinner here. However, I had been on very short supplies for the last twenty-four hours, and considered it my
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duty to eat if I could. I applied to the good woman of the inn, and in a very short time she placed venison, fruit-tarts and tea before me, all very clean and the venison excellent. It was a refreshing repast, and the demand on my purse was only twenty-five cents.
" 'How long have you been here?' I said to my hostess, who stood by me fan- ning the dishes to keep off the flies. 'Only came last fall, sir.' 'How old is this town?' 'Twenty-three months, sir-then the first house was built.'
"There are now about 500 persons set- tled here, and there are three good hotels. There is something very striking in these rapid movements of life and civilization in the heart of the forest.
"Noble Forests .- On leaving Jefferson we plunged again into the forest, and to- ward evening we got on the greensward or natural road. This was mostly good and uncut, and we bowled along in serpentine lines, so as to clear the stumps, with much freedom. The scenery now, even for the forest, was becoming unusu- ally grand. It repeatedly broke away from you, so as to accumulate the objects in the picture, and to furnish all the beauties of light, shade and perspective. The trees, too, were mostly oak, and of finest growth. Their noble stems ran up some hundred feet above you, and were beautifully feathered with verdant foliage. There they ran off in the distance, park- like, but grander far, in admirable group- ing, forming avenues, galleries, and re- cesses, redolent with solemn loveliness; and here, they stood before you like the thousand pillars of one vast imperishable temple for the worship of the Great In- visible. Well might our stout forefathers
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choose the primitive forests for their sanc- tuaries. All that art has done in our finest Gothic structure is but a poor, poor imita- tion.
"Yellow Springs and Springfield .- "I passed in this day's ride the Yellow Springs and Springfield. The former is a watering-place. There is a fine spring of chalybeate and an establishment cap- able of receiving from 150 to 200 visitors; it is resorted to for the purpose of health, hunting and fishing. Springfield is a flourishing town, built among the hand- some hills that abound in this vicinity. It is one of the cleanest, brightest, and most inviting that I have seen. But all the habitations were as nothing compared with the forest. I have been traveling through it for two days and nights, and still it was the same. Now, you came to a woodman's hut in the solitudes; now a farm; and now to a village, by courtesy called a town or a city; but it is still the forest. You drove on for miles through it unbroken; then you came to a small clearance and a young settlement; and then again you plunged into the wide, everlasting forest to be with nature and with God. This night I had also to travel and, weary as I was, I was kept quite on the alert.
"A Thunderstorm .- I had longed to witness a storm in the forest and this was to happen earlier than my anticipations. The day had been hot, but fine; the night came on sultry, close and silent. The beautiful fire-flies appeared in abundance ; summer lightning began to flash across the heavens. All this time clouds were mov- ing from every part of the circumference to the center of the sky. At length they formed a heavy, dense, black canopy over
-
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our heads, leaving the horizon clear and bright. The lightning, which at first ap- peared to have no center, had now con- solidated their forces behind this im- mense cloud, and were playing round its whole circle with great magnificence and brilliancy; continually the prodigious cloud was getting larger and darker, and descending nearer to us, so as powerfully to awaken expectation. The splendid coruscations which played round its mar- gin now ceased and all was still. In an in- stant the forked lightning broke from the very center of the cloud; the thunder, deep and loud, shook the earth, and rolled and pealed through the heavens; the heavy rain dashed in unbroken channels to the ground, and the mighty winds burst forth in their fury and roared and groaned among the giant trees of the wood. There were we, in the deep forest and in the deep night and in the midst of a storm such as I had never witnessed. Oh, it was grand! God's own voice in God's own temple! Never did I see so much of the poetic truth and beauty of that admirable ode, 'The choice of the Lord,' etc. It ceased as suddenly as it began. The winds which bore the cloud away left all behind calm; and the fire- fly, which had been eclipsed or affrighted, reappeared and sparkled over us in the profound darkness, and presently the stars of a higher sphere looked forth benignantly on the lower elements and all was peace."
DICKENS' STAGE COACH RIDE.
In 1842 Charles Dickens, the celebrated novelist, made a tour of some of the Amer- ican states going as far west as St. Louis.
A description of this trip is given in his "American Notes." From Pittsburg he went to St. Louis and returned to Cincin- nati by boat. From Cincinnati he went to Columbus, and thence north until he struck the old Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, which was built as far as Tiffin. His description of this journey is cer- tainly interesting as regards the stage coach and the country through which he traveled. Nothing is said as to whether or not he came by way of Springfield, but probably he did. In narrating his trip from Columbus to Springfield he says :
"Our place of destination in the first instance is Columbus. It is distant about a hundred and twenty miles from Cin- cinnati, but there is a macadamized road (rare blessing!) the whole way, and the rate of travelling upon it is six miles an hour.
"We start at eight o'clock in the morn- ing, in a great mail coach, whose huge cheeks are so very ruddy and plethoric, that it appears to be troubled with a tendency of blood to the head. Dropsical it certainly is, for it will hold a dozen passengers inside. But, wonderful to add, it is very clean and bright, being nearly new; and rattles through the streets of Cincinnati gaily.
"Our way lies through a beautiful country, richly cultivated and luxuriant in its promise of an abundant harvest. Sometimes we pass a field where the strong bristling stalks of Indian corn look like a crop of walking-sticks, and some- times an enclosure where the green wheat is springing up among a labyrinth of stumps; the primitive worm-fence is uni- versal, and an ugly thing it is; but the farms are neatly kept, and, save for these
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differences, one might be travelling just now in Kent.
"We often stop to water at a road- side inn, which is always dull and silent. The coachman dismounts and fills his bucket, and holds it to the horses' heads. There is scarcely ever anyone to help him; there are seldom any loungers standing round; and never any stable company with jokes to crack. Some- times, when we have changed our team, there is a difficulty in starting again, arising out of a prevalent mode of break- ing a young horse; which is to catch him, harness him against his will, and put him in a stage-coach, without further notice; but we get on somehow or other, after a great many kicks and a violent struggle; and jog on as before again.
"Occasionally, when we stop to change, some two or three half-drunken loafers will come loitering out with their hands in their pockets, or will be seen kicking their heels in rocking-chairs, or lounging on the window-sill, or sitting on a rail within the colonnade. They have not often anything to say, though, either to us or to each other, but sit there idly staring at the coach and horses. The landlord of the inn is usually among them, and seems, of all the party, to be the least connected with the business of the house. Indeed, he is with- reference to the tav- ern, what the driver is in relation to the coach and passengers; whatever happens in his sphere of action, he is quite indif- ferent, and perfectly easy in his mind.
"The frequent change of coachmen works no change or variety in the coach- man's character. He is always dirty, sul- len and taciturn. If he is capable of smartness of any kind, moral or physi-
cal, he has a faculty of concealing it which is truly marvelous. He never speaks to you as you sit beside him on the box, and if you speak to him, he answers (if at all) in monosyllables. He points out nothing on the road, and seldom looks at anything ; being, to all appearance, thoroughly weary of it, and of existence generally. As to doing the honours of his coach, his business, as I have said is with the horses. The coach follows because it is attached to them and goes on wheels; not because you are in it. Sometimes, to- wards the end of a long stage, he sud- denly breaks out into a discordant frag- ment of an election song, but his face never sings along with him; it is only his voice, and not often that.
"He always chews and always spits, and never incumbers himself with a pocket handkerchief. The consequences to the box passenger, especially when the wind blows towards him, are not agree- able.
"Whenever the coach stops, and you can hear the voices of the inside passen- gers; or whenever any bystander ad- dresses them, or any one among them; or they address each other; you will hear one phrase repeated over and over and over again to the most extraordinary ex- tent. It is an ordinary and unpromising phrase enough, being neither more or less than 'Yes, sir;' but it is adapted to every variety of circumstances, and fills up every pause in the conversation. Thus : "The time is one o'clock, noon. The scene, a place where we are to stay to dine on this journey. The coach drives up to the door of an inn. The day is warm, and there are several idlers ling- ering about the tavern, and waiting for
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the public dinner. Among them, is a stout gentleman in a brown hat, swinging him- self to and fro in a rocking-chair on the pavement.
"The conversational powers of the com- pany having been by this time pretty heavily taxed, the straw hat opens the door and gets out; and all the rest alight also. We dine soon afterwards with the boarders in the house and have nothing to drink but tea and coffee. As they are both very bad and the water is worse, I ask for brandy; but it is a Temperance Hotel, and spirits are not to be had for love or money. This preposterous forc- ing of unpleasant drinks down the re- luctant throats of travellers, is not at all uncommon in America, but I never dis- covered that the scruples of such wincing landlords induced them to preserve any unusually nice balance between the qual- ity of their fare, and their scale of charges; on the contrary, I rather sus- pected them of diminishing the one and exalting the other, by way of recompense for the loss of their profit on the sale of spirituous liquors. After all, perhaps, the plainest course for persons of such tender consciences, would be, a total ab- stinence from tavern-keeping.
"Dinner over, we get into another ve- hicle which is ready at the door (for the coach has been changed in the interval), and resume our journey, which continues through the same kind of country until evening, when we come to the town where we are to stop for tea and supper; and having delivered the mail bags, at the Post Office, ride through the usual wide street, lined with the usual stores and houses (the drapers always having hung up at their door, by way of sign, a piece
of bright red cloth), to the hotel where this meal is prepared. There being many boarders here, we sit down, a large party, and a very melancholy one as usual. But there is a buxom hostess at the head of the table, and opposite, a simple Welsh school- master with his wife and child, who came here on a speculation of greater promise than performance, to teach the classics; and they are sufficient subjects of interest until the meal is over, and another coach is ready. In it we go on once more, lighted by a bright moon, un- til midnight, when we stop to change the coach again, and remain for half an hour or so in a miserable room, with a blurred lithograph of Washington over the smoky fire-place, and a mighty jug of cold water on the table; to which refreshment the moody passengers do so apply them- selves that they would seem to be, one and all, keen patients of Doctor Sangrado. Among them is a very little boy, who chews tobacco like a very big one; and a droning gentleman, who talks arithmetic- ally and statistically on all subjects, from poetry downwards; and who always speaks in the same key, with exactly the same emphasis, and with very grave de- liberation. He came outside just now, and told me how that the uncle of a cer- tain young lady who had been spirited away and married by a certain captain, lived in these parts; and how his uncle was so valiant and ferocious that he shouldn't wonder if he were to follow the said captain to England, "and shoot him down in the street, wherever he found him;" in the feasibility of which strong measure I, being for the moment rather prone to contradiction, from feeling half asleep and very tired, declined to ac-
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