USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 12
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"These old settlers never considered it a visit unless they staid all night ; but how were half a dozen or more visitors in addition to the family to sleep over night in one small room without sleeping accommodations ? Necessity knows no written law or custom. After a good supper and visit they were ready to go to bed about midnight, and the bed arrange- ments were quickly made. They took what beds were in the house and spread them out upon the floor as far as they would reach and the rest of the bed they made of straw, generally reaching across the whole floor. The whole bed on the floor was now covered with blankets, reserving enough for covering. These old settlers generally had plenty of cover- lids and sheets, for their wives and daughters spun and wove them by hand. I knew one girl in my neighborhood, who was married a little late in life and went west when Iowa was first settled, who was credited with taking with her forty pairs of blankets or coverlids and fifty pairs of sheets, all made with her own hands.
"When the bed for the visitors was ready for occupancy the man and his wife laid down in the centre of the bed on the floor-and like the Indian they did not forget to have their feet toward the large fire-place in which was kept a steady fire whenever the weather was cold. The women visitors occupied the bed next to the wife and the men the side next to the husband. No scandal ever resulted from this manner of sleeping when on a visit. A divorce was seldom heard of in the early settlement of the country."
CHAPTER XII .- LAYING OUT THE ROADS.
THE FIRST OF THE HIGHWAYS .- AND THEN THE TURNPIKES, AND AT LENGTH THE SHORT-LIVED PLANK ROADS.
Naturally the first requisite of the settlers, after having provided a place of abode (too often it was entitled to no better name than a place of shelter, and a rude one it was at that), was a cleared space of ground upon which to cultivate the crops necessary for their sustenance. The clearing was begun just as soon as possible but was prosecuted chiefly in the winter when other farm work was not so pressing. The mode of procedure was first to cut out the underbrush and small timber, and after- wards to fell the high trees. These were cut in lengths convenient to handle, and then logging bees were in order. The neighbors gathered, the logs were piled, and, with the heaps of brush, were burned. The stumps that remained were not all immediately removed. That was too serious an undertaking. But many of the smaller stumps and roots were grubbed out and it cost a prodigious amount of hard labor to get a small area of ground in condition for cultivation. Many a field was devoted to grain, half of the area of which was taken up by the great stumps that could not readily be got rid of, and it must have been a great trial to the patience of the plowman to prepare the soil for the sowing of his crops. The reaping was a different matter. That was comparatively easy as hus- bandry was conducted in those days. There were no reaping machines. Even the grain cradle was an invention yet distant in the future. To the sickle or reaping hook the stumps offered an indifferent obstacle, and as for the other crops, the corn and the roots, the hoe, even in the condition the ground was in, could be handled with passable facility. But farm work then was hard work under any circumstances. The horse cultivator and the shovel plow had not been dreamed of. It was the brawn of arms and legs and of back that wrested from the earth the bread that was eaten in the sweat of the brow.
Therefore for a considerable period, little was thought of but how to increase the acres of tillage. The solicitude of the settler was for the daily bread. If he could by industrious toil obtain enough for himself and his rising family he was well content. The question of a market for the product of his farm was one which did not greatly trouble him for the time being.
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But it was not very long before the question of communication be- tween settlements did come to the fore. Even in the wilderness, where the pioneer had planted his home, and where it was his expectation, for a time at least, to be shut in apart from the great world outside, his social instinct was not entirely suppressed. Therefore the subject of roads came up, introduced primarily by those of the community who had occasion to go from place to place on business, or to have facilities to accomodate the business that it was desired should come their way. These were the land agents, the surveyors and, too, the newcomers who were seeking homes. But the farmer had an interest, too, for he had needs that his piece of ground would not supply. and a need always in a new community is neighbors-for the house-raising, for the logging, for help when the barn is to be built, and for social intercourse with his fellows. Therefore, as time passed the need of roads began to be felt.
In 1795 there was but one road in the county, the road built by the French, more than forty years before. It was not the best road in the world. It was in fact a very poor road. It was for most of its extent merely an avenue cut through the forest, corduroyed here and there where it was necessary to cross boggy tracts, but scarcely any attempt had been made at grading. A small part of it had been improved to the extent of grubbing out most of the stumps, a circumstance that in the course of time obtained for it the name of the grubbed road, later abbreviated into the grub road-sometimes thought to be a name obtained from Capt. Grubb, but er- roneously so. Even during the time of its use by the French it was scarcely entitled to the name of road, it was so difficult a thoroughfare to traverse. No doubt it had been the intention of the French to have eventually improved it into a true military road, but it had never advanced beyond being a portage, and most of the supplies carried over it was on the backs of the soldiers and the Indians. It is current tradition that along this road for many years cannon balls were frequently found, and other military relics, thrown away no doubt by the over-laden porters who were toiling under their excessive burdens. It was a mighty poor road, but until 1797 was the only thoroughfare in Erie county, as was stated above."
In the year 1797 the first road undertaken by the permanent settlers was begun. This road was the work of the Pennsylvania Population Company and was built by Thomas Rees in Harborcreek township. At about the same time Judah Colt set about constructing a road to the station of the company in Greenfield township. This road extended from Freeport, as the mouth of Sixteen-mile creek was named, to Colt's station, a distance of nine and a half miles. It passed through what was after- wards North East village. A year later this road was extended south to the Forks of French creek, now the borough of Wattsburg. The in- terest of Mr. Colt as agent of the Population Company did not really ex- tend any farther than to Wattsburg, for the lands of the company in Erie
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county were confined practically to the Triangle and Wattsburg is located on the old state line.
At about the same time that the Population Company's road south from the lake was built another road was projected, this for the use and benefit of the farmer folk at Erie in West Millcreek. Mr. Forster had built a mill at the mouth of Walnut creek, eight miles from Erie. It was the first mill in the county, and the first of several that were in time to occupy that beautiful valley and later, to give the hamlet the name of Manchester. The road projected in 1797 and opened in 1798 was to enable the farmers to get to the mill to have their grain ground. The road to Forster's mill followed the route of the lake road of today, generally speaking, having been located sufficiently far south to avoid the deep ravines that are so numerous near the brow of the bluff.
Contemporaneously two other roads were laid out, one to Conneauttee lake, where Alexander Powers had located, and another to Conneaut creek, in the neighborhood of Albion of the present day, Col. Dunning McNair's station as agent of the Pennsylvania Population Company. A third road was surveyed, to the headwaters of Beaver creek, where Jabez Colt was assistant agent of the Population Company. Nearly all of the earliest roads were the work of the Pennsylvania Population Company, a fact the reason of which is apparent.
These were the only roads up to the beginning of the nineteenth century. But they were not all that had been projected. In those early days there were no other means of communication in the interior, ex- cept by wagon roads, and it was early the care of the state to make pro- vision for roads. Not only were all the land titles conferred made con- ditional upon a percentage of the land sold being reserved for roads, but the legislature planned certain routes of communication, the main route to extend diagonally the length of the state, from Presque Isle to Phila- delphia. The first act, of 1791, covered the section from Presque Isle to Le Bœuf, and it was the proposed opening and use of this road by the people of Pennsylvania that stirred up the trouble between the state authorities and the Indians, in which the British took so prominent a part. It was not until these difficulties had finally been settled that the legislature thought it worth while to proceed farther with this road across the state. In 1795 an act was passed for a survey of a road from Le Bœuf to Curwensville in Clearfield county, by way of Meadville and Franklin, the ultimate purpose being to have a road constructed down the valley of the Juniata and the Susquehanna to Harrisburg, Lancaster and Philadelphia. No doubt there were dreamers then who contemplated the splendid enterprise of a stage line from Philadelphia to Erie, a journey by which would have been as serious an undertaking as a present-day trip across the Atlantic-it would have taken a longer time and have yielded a world more of discomfort. The continuous road has become a
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reality ; the stage service did not materialize, because the railroad "but- ted in."
But there did come a stage service to Erie, for this town and others on the line in the county were on the direct route of an important thor- oughfare that came in time to be much traveled. The great south shore stage route came pretty soon after the main roads were built. These were the Buffalo road on the east and the Ridge road to the west. The former was projected in 1801 but was not a road for travel until 1805, and then it did not follow a direct route from Buffalo to Erie,-as we would regard it today-but, on reaching Wesleyville turned north, following the valley of Four-mile creek to the Lake road, and entered Erie on that thorough- fare. This route continued until 1812, when the court ordered the Buffalo road to be completed through to Erie. The Ridge road was opened in 1805, the same year the Buffalo road came into use. As its name indicates it was surveyed on the first ridge, and this it followed in as nearly a direct course as conditions would permit, through Millcreek, Fairview, Girard and Springfield townships into Ohio. These roads-the Buffalo road and the Ridge road-became the route of travel by stage from Buffalo to Cleveland. But few relics of those stagin days remain to the present. There is one, however, that may sometimes excite the curi- osity of the tourist by twentieth century auto car, who notes its name in dingy letters, still legible, through the much-worn paint, and wonders why it should ever have been called what its name proclaims it to be. the "Half-way House." It is an old stage station; a wayside inn, and marks half the journey between Buffalo and Cleveland. It stands on the Ridge road at the corner formed by the road leading down to Trinity Cemetery-the "Head road," of a few years back. It is a long time since it offered refreshment for man or beast, and even fell into ill re- pute through the occurrence of a wicked crime. But there it stands, a marker upon the road, as it may have stood for most a century, and to this day the smithy, that was a necessity at every stage station, stands by its side, and you can hear the ring of the anvil as your auto rushes by with its trail of dust behind.
The Lake road. as such, was opened in 1806, entering Erie from the east on Sixth street and from the west on Eighth street. A goodly part of the west Lake road is considerably older, for that is the road to Forster's mill that came into use in 1:98. The Lake road traverses the length of the county, from east to west, but the section west of the city has always been rather more traveled than the other section.
The most notable of all the Erie county roads, however, is the Water- ford Turnpike, famous as the avenue over which passed an inland com- merce of remarkable proportions considering the period. This road, conceived by Thomas Forster, was decided upon as a prime necessity because of the extremely bad condition of the French road, and for the purpose of its construction and maintenance a company was organized and
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incorporated. The first election resulted in the choice of Thomas Forster, president ; Henry Baldwin. John Vincent, Ralph Marlin, James E. Herron, John C. Wallace, William Miles, James Brotherton and Joseph Hackney, managers, and Judah Colt, treasurer. The route selected was up what is now State and Peach streets, following the latter in its bend to the true southerly direction, thence across the second ridge, at Nicholson's hill, and through the town of Walnut Creek, southeastward to Waterford. It was considerably longer by this route than by the French road, but it became necessary to consult the interests of property owners who had stock in the enterprise. Work on the Turnpike was not concluded until 1809, and even then it was far from being a good road, and according to all accounts in no good sense a turnpike at all. In so far as the road itself was designated by the workings upon it, there were places where it was apparently from one to two miles wide, but in reality, was lost in wide expanses of clearing where nothing whatever had been done to the road itself, the travelers being allowed over these stretches to make their own selection of what seemed to be the easiest route. And yet this Turnpike was to become one of the most important commercial thoroughfares of the time in the state. It was the salt trade which promoted this com- merce. During the first years of the nineteenth century, salt was not pro- cluced in Western Pennsylvania and the country still farther west. It was freighted from Salina in New York State, to Oswego, thence by boat to Niagara, where it was carried past the Falls to Schlosser, loaded in small boats and taken to Black Rock where it was laden upon larger vessels and conveyed to Erie. At this port it was discharged from the vessels and then loaded upon wagons, drawn usually by three yoke of oxen, and hauled to Waterford where it was again trans-shipped and on flat boats built for the purpose was floated down French creek and the Allegheny river to Pittsburg. Not all the salt boats returned, but there was east bound freight by that route : whiskey, bacon, glass, manufactured iron and flour. Most valuable of all the commodities handled, however. was the salt. which came as near to being the circulating medium of the time as anything so bulky could. But its value was not uniform through- out its journey. Every stage of the progress westward in its course, in- creased its value. It required from four to six months for transportation from Salina to Pittsburg, and of one hundred barrels to leave the springs seventy-five barrels were required to pay the charges. The freight from Buffalo to Erie was 873 cents per barrel, the storage here 12} cents; hauling from Erie to Waterford was $1.50 per barrel, and freight from Waterford to Pittsburg $1, per barrel. Frequently it required four days to haul a load of salt from Erie to Waterford, and not rarely a part of a load was set down by the wayside to be returned for, if the road happened to be unusually soft.
Now this road, the property of a corporation, being a private enter- prise, was not for public use without pay. Every one who used it was
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required to pay toll. There was resistance to this exaction at the be- ginning, and the question of the right of the corporation to levy toll. and, indeed, the constitutionality of the act, came before the courts. The decision was in favor of the Turnpike company, and thereafter all passers- by paid toll, at the northern end to Robert Brown, just south of the city limits, and at the southern end to Martin Strong, on the summit. about where the Turnpike joined the old French road. The short street extend- ing diagonally from State street to Peach, just north of the railroad, (Turnpike), was a part of the Waterford and Erie Turnpike, and that is how it got its name.
The Wattsburg road was constructed in 1809. and its route was from the French road at Cold Spring, now the southern end of Parade street, the locality even yet known as Marvintown, in a southeasterly direction through Phillipsville to Wattsburg. It is very nearly a direct route. and was continued in use as the main thoroughfare to Wattsburg until the plank road was built.
The Station road as it is known today, was originally the Colt's Station road and was built by the Pennsylvania Population Company to afford more direct communication between the station of the company in Greenfield. as well as to form a part of a main road from Erie to May- ville, N. Y. This road began at Wesleyville where it branched off from the Buffalo road, and was constructed in 1813.
The Lake Pleasant road was opened, at its northern end in 1821-22, extending then from the Wattsburg road, at the. Davidson place about a mile east of Erie, to a point in Greene township. In 1826 an extension was decided upon, which carried it past Lake Pleasant to French creek where it meets the road from Wattsburg to Union City.
These were the principal county roads out of Erie up to the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century. From time to time other country roads were laid out and improved as the growing population re- quired them, and the establishing of a new road in time came to be very much an every-day affair. Today there are, perhaps hundreds of roads, good, bad and indifferent in the county of Erie, and the end of road- making is not yet.
In the year 1850 a pretty general movement for the construction of plank roads arose, and there was no great difficulty experienced in enlisting, capital in these enterprises, the common belief being that the stock would yield liberal returns. That year two companies were formed. The first was for the construction of a road from Erie to Edinboro, and it was completed in 1852. It followed the course of the Waterford Turnpike to a short distance south of Walnut creek, and there turned to the right. It is the course of the Edinboro road of the present time and is probably as favorable a route as could be found by which to cross the several ridges that are characteristic of Erie county's topog- raphy. Simultaneously the Edinboro and Meadville plank road was
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completed, affording direct communication between Erie and Meadville over what in its day was believed to be the most perfect system of coun- try road construction. But the enterprise proved to be a financial fail- ure, notwithstanding the great increase in travel the hetter road brought about. In 1868 it was decided by the corporation to abandon the road, which was taken over by the road commissioners of the townships through which it passed.
The Erie and Waterford Plank Road Company was organized in 1850, and the road was finished in 1851. Abandoning both routes that had previously been pursued, the plank road corporators were able to find a much more advantageous location for a road. Beginning at the head of State street the survey followed up the course of Mill creek to the upper end of the hamlet once known as the Happy Valley, at a point where the old Erie County Mill was located. By a winding course it passed up out of the valley of Mill creek and turning east, adopted the route of the French road when that thoroughfare was reached, to which it held to the line of Summit township, when it again turned . eastward and, crossing a low ridge entered upon the valley of Walnut creek. The route was up this valley by a gentle grade until the divide was passed, when the valley of Le Bœuf creek was entered upon and followed to Waterford. It is today the road of easiest grades in Erie county of all that lead in a southerly direction. But it did not pay the investors, and was abandoned to the township commissioners at the same time the Edinboro road was.
A third plank road was projected in 1851 by the Erie & Watts- burg Plank Road Company, and completed in 1853. Generally it fol- lowed the route of the old road to Wattsburg. Like the other enterprises of a similar character the Wattsburg road was a financial failure. It quickly got into bad condition and repairs were not made. There were four toll gates on the road, and notwithstanding it had become well- nigh useless, toll was collected regularly as at first. In 1865 the farmers became exasperated, organized a party of wreckers, and starting at Erie demolished every gate in turn and proclaimed an open thorough- fare. Threats of prosecution were made, but nothing was ever done and the toll system on the Wattsburg road was forever at an end. The road passed into the care of the several townships and, the last lingering piank having long ago disappeared the appellation of the "Wattsburg Plank Road," also soon passed into oblivion.
Allusion was made above, in this chapter, to the staging days on the Buffalo-Cleveland route. The beginnings of this business was in the establishing of a mail route. At first the carriage of the mail was alone considered and this was done by a post rider. The mail service between Buffalo and Erie was begun in 1806, and then there was one trip a week. This continued for a long time before it seemed necessary to extend the service farther west. The regular stage business between
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Erie and Buffalo was not begun until 1820, when weekly trips were inaugurated, a stage leaving Buffalo Saturday at noon and arriving in Erie on Monday at 6 p. m. ; returning it departed from Erie at G p. m. on Tuesday and reached Buffalo at noon Thursday. In the begin- ning of 1824 a mail-stage made semi-weekly trips between Erie and Cleveland and in 1825 a daily stage was run between Erie and Buffalo and Erie and Cleveland-that is to say, a stage started every day from every terminus but did not necessarily traverse the entire route within the twenty-four hours of that day.
In 1827 a notable stroke of early enterprise occurred in the be- ginning of a four-horse mail-coach service between Buffalo and Cleve- land, and Rufus S. Reed of Erie was among the incorporators of the company. The company carried a daily mail, and it is a pleasure to state that it was a paying enterprise. Parenthetically it will be pardoned if the statement is made here that as a rule anything with which Rufus S. Reed had to do was a financial success.
The mail service between Pittsburg and Erie was begun in 1801, and in accordance with the universal custom of the time the mail was car- ried on horseback and there was but one trip a week. The route was by way of Waterford and Meadville. When the Waterford Turnpike was opened a regular stage line went into operation, and in 1826 the service was improved so that three trips each way were made every week. Later there was a daily mail and stage service, which continued until the advent of the railroads.
Long after the railroads were in operation, however, there was stage service out of Erie, run regularly between here and a number of the county towns. The stage business between Erie and Edinboro may have yielded some profit, the latter being the normal school town, and a considerable amount of commerce naturally carried on between them. It is questionable, however, whether the stage business between Erie and Wattsburg ever paid. The stage accommodations were not in any sense luxurious, the vehicles consisting, in each case of ordinary "crack- ey" wagons of two and sometimes three seats, drawn by a single pair of horses. The principal and dependable source of revenue of these stage lines was the contract for carrying the mail. These were what used to be called "star routes"-perhaps in the postoffice department they are still known by that appellation. But neither of these two stage lines is now in existence. The Edinboro stage went out when the trolley line came in, and the Wattsburg stage line ceased operations on or about February 28, 1905.
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