History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 98

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 98

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On the 18th of November, 1816, Col. Eli Williams advertised in The Reporter of Washington, Pa., as follows :

" WESTERN ROAD .- The location of this road having been changed by order of the President of the U. States so as to pass from Brownsville . through the town of Washington in Pennsylvania, and from thence through Alexandria to Wheeling on the Ohio : Proposals will be received for making parts of that road by the mile or other section; and for that purpose the subscriber, as agent of the U. States, will attend at the times and places following, to receive proposals for making the following sec- tions or parts thereof, viz. : At Brownsville on Monday the 16th day of De- cember next, for a section extending from the east bank of the Mononga- hela river eastwardly to the summit of the river hill, and a corresponding section on the west side of the river, comprehending about a mile on each side. At the town of Washington on Wednesday the 18th of the same month, for two miles eastwardly from the intersection of Maiden and Market [now Main] Streets, and ten miles westwardly from the in- tersection of Market and Chestnut Streets in that town. At Alexandria

on Saturday the 21st following, for the remainder of the distance to Alexandria, and to the Virginia line ; about six miles. And at the town of Wheeling on Monday the 23d following, for a section extending from the Virginia line to the confluence of Big and Little Wheeling, nine miles; and from thence to the town of Wheeling, or the crossing place on the Ohio."

In March, 1817, the greater part of the above adver- tised work-viz., from two miles east of Washington westward to the Virginia line .- was let by Col. Williams to Thomas McGiffin, Thomas H. Baird, and Parker Campbell, of Washington. The same gentlemen received (but not until 1819) the contract for build- ing the road east from their first-named section to a point two miles west of Brownsville. The part of this contract lying east of the town of Hillsborough was turned over by McGiffin, Baird, and Campbell to Messrs. William and John H. Ewing, whose names were returned to the Treasury Department as those of original contractors with the government, and who finished the work at $6000 per mile. The build- ing of the road west from Hillsborough to the point two miles east of Washington was sublet by McGiffin, Baird, and Campbell to a number of small contractors.

The eastern portion of the road, on which work was first commenced, was pushed so vigorously in its construction by the energetic contractors that it was open for travel, with scarcely a break, westward to the Youghiogheny River in the summer of 1818. On the 1st of August in that year the first stage-coach from Cumberland, carrying the United States mail for the West, left that place by the National road, and passing over the completed part of the eastern division to Fayette County, Pa., and also over other completed parts of the western division, between the borough of Washington and the Virginia line, arrived in due time at Wheeling on the Ohio. In a Uniontown newspaper of Aug. 8, 1818, it was announced that "the stages have commenced running from Frederick Town, Md., to Wheeling, in Virginia, following the course of the National road westward of Cumberland. This great road, truly an honor to the United States, will be finished from Cumberland to this place in a few months, and from Brownsville to Wheeling, it is ex- pected, in the course of next summer, leaving only a distance of twelve miles between here and Browns- ville."

In the fall of the same year the road was announced as completed to Uniontown. For some reason which is not wholly apparent the work had not been con- tracted for from that place to the west end of the eastern division (a point one mile and ninety-six rods east from the Monongahela at Brownsville), though the section extending from this latter point to another point about two miles west of the Monongahela (including a large amount of heavy work on the approaches to the river,2 particularly on the east side

1 The one hundred and thirteenth mile of the route, which was after- wards surveyed, and over which the National road was actually built, is about two miles east of West Alexander, the route through Washington borough being considerably longer than the other.

" The government did not bridge the Monongahela for the passage of the National road. The bridge which was built across that river, years after the completion of the road, for the accommodation of the immense travel which it brought, was built by an incorporated company, mention of which will be found in the history of the borough of West Brownsville.

378

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

of it) had been let by Col. Eli Williams, as agent for bear three tons' weight. The acclivity and declivity of the banks at the side of the road not to exceed thirty degrees." the United States, in March, 1817, the same time when he contracted with McGiffin, Baird, and Campbell for the work west from Washington. On the 15th of May, It was to be expected that the opening of such an excellent road-a main thoroughfare between the East and the West, easy, direct, and free to the use of any and all, without cost or charge-would attract to it an immense amount of travel; but all the expecta- tions which could have been previously entertained 1819, David Shriver, superintendent, advertised for proposals to build the road west from Uniontown to the vicinity of Washington, excepting the short sec- tion on both sides of the Monongahela. The work on the west end of the eastern division was let by him to Kincaid & Co., while McGiffin, Baird, and Campbell, of the vast volume of travel and traffic which would as before mentioned, took the work in Washington County, extending from the river section westward to their previous contract.

These contracts were the last to be let on the road between Cumberland and the Ohio. The work was commenced without delay, and vigorously prosecuted during the remainder of 1819 and the spring and summer of 1820, the road being finished and made ready for use in its entire length in the fall of the latter year. An announcement of the fact, dated Dec. 19, 1820, is found in a newspaper of that time, as fol- lows : "The commissioner appointed by the govern- ment of the United States, Thomas McGiffin, Esq., has been engaged for a week or two past in examining the United States turnpike, made under contract with government by James Kincaid & Co., between Union- town and Washington, who has approved of it, and ordered the same to be given up by the contractors for public use. The National turnpike is now com- pleted and in the use of the public from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to Wheeling, in the State of Virginia, a distance of about one hundred and thirty miles."

The National road to the Ohio, when completed, had cost the United States government nearly one million seven hundred thousand dollars, and it was one of the best and most substantial turnpike roads ever built in this country. Its width, grades, and the manner of its construction are shown by the specifi- cations of the work required from the contractors, among which were included the following, viz. : "The natural surface of the ground to be cleared of trees and other wooden growth, and also of logs and brush, the whole width of sixty-six feet, the bed of the road to be made even thirty-two feet in width, the trees and stumps to be grubbed out, the graduation not to exceed five degrees in elevation and depression, and to be straight from point to point, as laid off and directed by the superintendent of the work. Twenty feet in width of the graduated part to be covered with stone, eighteen inches in depth at the centre, tapering to twelve inches at the edges, which are to be supported by good and solid shoulders of earth or curbstone, the upper six inches of stone to be broken so as to pass through a ring of three inches in diam- eter, and the lower stratum of stone to be broken so as to pass through a seven-inch ring. The stone part to be well covered with gravel, and rolled with an iron-faced roller four feet in length and made to |

pass over the National road between the Ohio and the Potomac were trebly verified by the result. There were the stage-coaches carrying the mail and pas- sengers, loaded to their utmost capacity from the first, and constantly increasing in number from that time until the opening of the railroads banished them for- ever. By these conveyances all the prominent public men of the West, and many of those from the South, -- Presidents-elect from Tennesse, Ohio, and Louisiana, on their way to inauguration; Presidents in office, passing to and fro between the city of Washington and their Southwestern homes ; ex-Presidents, on their way to the shades of private life; Senators, members of Congress, and numberless officials of lesser grade, all making the National road their highway to and from the national capital. Then there were the long, almost interminable lines of Conestoga wagons, laden on their eastward trips with flour, whiskey, bacon, and other produce, and returning west with loads of iron, salt, and every kind of merchandise, their num- bers being swelled on the return to the West by the addition of equally numerous trains of the same kind of wagons, freighted with the families and household effects of emigrants from the East, bound to new homes beyond the Ohio. Besides these, the road was crowded with various other descriptions and kinds of wagons, laden and unladen, with horsemen and pri- vate carriages innumerable. "But the passengers on foot outnumbered and out-ate them all. The long lines of hogs, cattle, sheep, and horses working their way on the hoof by the month to an Eastern market was almost endless and countless. They were gath- ered in from the Wabash, the Scioto, the Muskingum, and the Ohio Valleys, and the men, all tired and dry and hungry, had to be cared for at a great cost, for it was like feeding an army every day and night."

To furnish food and other accommodations for all this vast throng of travelers, brute and human, a great number of public-houses were needed, and these sprang up immediately along the road. The stage- houses, for the entertainment of passengers by the coaches, were located in Washington, Brownsville, and other towns on the route, and at stated points between the villages where these were distant from each other. Then there were houses which did scarcely any busi- ness other than the selling of whiskey to thirsty way- farers. And there were along the route numerous taverns which made no specialty, other than to give fair and decent entertainment for man and beast.

379

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

These had no patronage either from the stage passen- gers or wagoners upon the road. The latter with the drovers always clustered together at houses having capacious wagon-yards, and kept especially for that class of customers. The number of public-houses of all kinds which the National road brought into exist- ence was fully equal to one for each two miles of its entire length from Cumberland to the Ohio. It was said that in the mountain portion of the route the average was one to every mile, but in the part west of the Laurel Hill they were less frequent. The keepers of these houses, like the wagoners and the drivers of stages, and, in fact, like the greater part of the people living along the route, looked upon the Cumberland road as being among the chiefest of earthly blessings, and would have regarded with affright the idea that it would ever be abandoned or superseded by other avenues and modes of travel.

It was a general belief that the substantially built National road, with its firm foundation of packed stone, would remain smooth and serviceable for at least a quarter of a century, while some thought it would last for double that length of time, but the re- sult proved the fallacy of this belief. In five years from the time of its opening the ceaseless beating of hoofs, and the never-ending roll and crunch of heavy wheels had worn out its solid bed, so that in many places it was almost impassable. This was particu- larly the case in the vicinity of the Monongahela River, and also in the mountain region of the route, where much of the road-bed had been formed of soft sandstone. An appropriation was made by Congress, and extensive repairs were made on the road, putting the worst parts of it in good condition. But it was of short duration.1 From that time frequent appro- priations were called for, and continually repairs on the road were necessary.

It became evident that the road would be a per- petual and ever-increasing expense to the United States, without producing any income to pay for re- pairs. It had been built for the purpose of satisfying Ohio and the West generally, and thus preventing that section from fostering projects of secession from the Union. But that danger was now past, and the National road had become a heavy burden upon the government. In 1829, Gen. Jackson was inaugurated President of the United States, and the principles of the Democratic party became the rule of public policy.

The States Rights doctrine of that party demanded the transfer of the National road from the general gov- ernment to the States through which its route was laid. It was proposed that the road from Cumberland to Wheeling be surrendered to the States of Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, and Virginia. The people of the sections contiguous to the road were in dread that the United States would abandon the making of repairs and suffer the road to fall into disuse, but if turned over to the States its continuance and preservation would be assured, because, while the United States could, not erect toll-gates and collect tolls upon the road, the States would have the power to do so, and thus secure a revenue from the road to keep it in preservation and repair. Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia would accept the road from the United | States on certain conditions, among which was this, that Congress should first make an appropriation suf- ficient in amount to put it in good condition by ma- cadamizing the roadway in nearly its entire length, from Cumberland to the Ohio.

In 1831 the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed "an act for the preservation and repair of the Cumberland road," approved April 4th in that year, reciting in its preamble that "Whereas, that part of the Cumber- land road lying within the State of Pennsylvania is in many parts in bad condition for want of repairs, and as doubts have been entertained whether the United States have authority to erect toll-gates on , said road and collect toll, and as a large proportion of the people of this commonwealth are interested in said road and its constant continuance and preserva- tion ; Therefore" [it proceeded to declare and enact] "that as soon as the consent of the government of the United States shall have been obtained, as here- inafter provided, William F. Coplan, David Downer, of Fayette County, Stephen Hill, Benjamin Ander- son, of Washington County, and Thomas Endsley, of Smithfield, Somerset Co., shall be and they are hereby appointed commissioners . . . to build toll- houses and erect toll-gates at suitable distances on so much of the Cumberland road as lies within the State of Pennsylvania. . .. That this act shall not have any force or effect until the Congress of the United States shall assent to the same, and until so much of the said road as passes through the State of Pennsyl- vania be first put in a good state of repair, and ap- propriation made by Congress for erecting toll-houses and toll-gates thereon, to be expended under the au- thority of the commissioners appointed by this act." Acts similar to this in effect, with regard to the accept- ance of the National road, were passed by the Legis- latures of Maryland and Virginia respectively on the 23d of January and 7th of February, 1832.

These acts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vir- ginia caused a decision by the government in July, 1832, to repair the road effectually from end to end, and then to cede it to the three States, after which the repairs were to be met by the tolls collected upon it.

1 " In February of 1826 it was estimated that the sum of $278,988 would be sufficient to repair the whole road on the McAdam plan, and in May, 1827, a period of sixteen months, the superstratum or cover of reduced stone had been worn and washed away to an extent almost in- credible, and proved that too great a reliance was placed upon the layer of large stones, as there were not many of them of as good a quality as was first supposed. To have effected the repair in 1827, as was contem- plated in 1826, would have required an additional sum of $50,000, making $328,988 necessary to repair the road upon the best information to be obtained at that period. The utter destruction of the road was foreseen at that time unless measures were taken to repair it thoroughly, it being then in a most wretched condition."-Reportof Richard Delafield, captain U. S. Engineers, laid before Congress in December, 1833.

380

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

" The system adopted," said Capt. Richard Delafield, the engineer who had charge of the work of repair, "was that extensively used in Eng- land, and known by the name of its inventor, McAdam. The condition of the road at this period made very extensive repairs necessary, com- mencing from the grade, there being neither side drains, ditches, nor culverts for draining the water, presenting no better condition for the basis of repairs on the McAdam system than what is called a 'rough grade,' with the large bridges. Rather than make a partial repair by distributing the sum appropriated over the whole line of one hundred and thirty-two miles, the parts through the mountains, being in the

worst condition, and from the face of the country most difficult to travel, were first commenced. The supposition of finding good stone in the bed of the road wherewith to make macadamized metal proved fallacious : not a perch was found through the whole mountain district, the bed being composed of soft sandstone. This when broken to four-ounce pieces and used for a covering is in the course of three months reduced to sand and washed away by the heavy rains from the road into the ditches and drains, making it worse than useless to depend upon any of the varieties of sandstone. Under these circumstances but one course was left, and that was to procure the only suitable material the country produced,-limestone. The natural position of this stone is under the sandstone, and found only in the lowest valleys, often in the beds of creeks covered with several feet of earth, and distant from the line of the road. Through the mountain it is found in few positions. The ex- pense of repairing the road with a good material, and the only one of this character found in the country, is far greater than anticipated before these facts were known. Another heavy item in the expense of repair is the condition of the masonry; this having been exposed for a long time to the weather without coping to throw off the rain and snow, is in a dilapidated condition, requiring a considerable portion to be renewed. Under these circumstances the cost of putting the road in such a condi- tion as will justify toll being exacted is so far beyond that at first au- ticipated as to make it proper to draw the particular attention of Con- gress to the estimate for the year, based upon the facts herein stated. It will be perceived that the sum asked for the service of the year is to finish all that part lying between Cumberland and the Monongahela River and the Virginia line, and to finish the sixteen miles in Virginia, making the sum required to repair the whole road on the McAdam plan not less than six hundred and forty-five thousand dollars, of which the resources of that region of country will advantageously admit of three hundred thousand dollars being expended during the year."

The above is from Capt. Delafield's report, sub- mitted in December, 1833, having reference to the general repairs of the Cumberland road, commenced in 1832, and continued, under his supervision (assisted by Capt .- afterwards General-George W. Cass), to the 30th of September, 1833. The further appropria- tion which he recommends "for the service of the year" has reference to 1834. Congress took favor- able action on the recommendation of the engineer, and made the required appropriation by an act passed in June of that year. The parts of that act relative to the appropriation for repairs on the National road in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and to the cession of the road to those States when the proposed repairs should be completed, are here given, viz. :

"SECTION 3. That for the entire completion of repairs of the Cumber- land road east of the Ohio River, and other needful improvements on said road, to carry into effect the provisions of an act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, entitled ' An act for the preservation of the Cumberland road,' passed the fourth day of April, 1831, and of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Maryland, entitled ' An act for the preservation and repair of that part of the United States road within the limits of the State of Maryland,' passed the 23d day of January, 1832, also an act of the General Assembly of Virginia, entitled ' An act concerning the Cumberland road,' passed February the 7th, 1832, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars be and the same is hereby ap- propriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of War, the money to be drawn out of the treasury in such sums and at such times as may be required for the performance of the work.

"SECTION 4. That as soon as the sum by this act appropriated, or BO much thereof as is necessary, shall be expended in the repair of said road, agreeably to the provisions of this act, the same shall be surren- dered to the States respectively through which said road passes, and the United States shall not thereafter be subject to any expense for repair- ing said road."

Capt. Delafield, in his report,-or, as it is termed, "Memoir on the Progress of the Repairs of the Cum- berland Road East of the Ohio to the 30th of Sep- tember, 1834,"-says that the " nature and progress of the operations" of 1833 were continued to December of that year, "when, the available means being ab- sorbed, a cessation was put to the work, and all the stock and tools collected at points on the road favor- able for renewing the work in the spring" of 1834. He continues that the spring proved very unfavorable, that the road was found to have been badly washed and damaged during the winter, that it had been hoped means would have been available to recom- mence work with the opening of the season, but that, " being disappointed in this particular, it became in- dispensable to dispose of all the stock and every arti- cle of property that would command cash or materials, and apply the limited means thus raised to the drain- age of the road ;" that "it was not until July of 1834 that funds were made available for continuing the re- pairs," but that "by about the middle of August most of the contractors had commenced their operations," and that at the date of the report "the repair on the whole line of the road was in active progress," that quarries of good limestone, before unknown, had been discovered, that " the crops of the farmer were above mediocrity, laborers were more numerous than usual, owing to completion of parts of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad," and, finally, that "with the means now available the work on the road will in all probability be brought to a close (the bridges on the new location excepted) by the date fixed in the contracts, the 31st of December."

The work, however, was not completed at the speci- fied time. The division extending from a point five miles east of the borough of Washington westward to the Virginia line still lacked its macadamized covering, and was not finished until late in the fol- lowing year; but as all the work east of this division had been done, and as this western part was then under contract for completion without delay, it was considered that the United States government, by the passage of the act of Congress of June, 1834, and by providing for the thorough repair of the Cumber- land road in its entire length east of the Ohio River, nearly all of which had already been actually accom- plished, had complied with all the conditions imposed by the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vir- ginia in their acts of 1831 and 1832. All that re- mained then to be done to complete the transfer of the road by the general government was its formal acceptance by the States, and this was done on the part of Pennsylvania by the passage by the General Assembly of " An act for the preservation and re-

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 98

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216