The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1857-06-11

bne racine now VEGA Dy INC koel8 OF
an unwonted commerce, upon the latest
accession to the Republic, young, bril-
liant, golden-robed California. Towhat
spot, then, in Ohio, gentlemen, could q
welcome you--to what spot in the great
central valley Of the Republic can Won
be welcomed-more fraught with histor-
io interest or more suggestive Of the
grand hoped-for future, than this2
And what an event it is, gentlemen,
which we here unite i'm celebrating
What thoughts, too it owakens of the
past and what hopes for the time TO
come! Three distinct periods seem to
mark the progress Of means Of commu-
uication between the Eastern and Wes-
tern-Western once, but Western no
longer--sections Of our country Our
fathers were glad TO avail themselves of
the Indian trails and buffalo paths on
land and of canoes and broadhorus ON
the water. Eighty-seyen years ago q
Red Man. standing here on the shore of
the Ohio, might have remarked, floating
downward with the stream, n rude canoe.
manned by two Indians, and bearing
three white men, Of whom one, in the
prime of noble manhood, was easily dis
tinguished from the others by his dieui-
fed bearing and by his athletic proper
tions. 1t was WASHINGTON, who had
crossed the mountains on horseback. bv
the rough paths of that period. and was
now ON his way TO establish pre-emption
claims in behalf Of himself and his fell
low-soldiers in the French and Indian
wars, by marking trees and setting up
monuments, on the lands south of the
Ohio just ceded by the Six Nations
Here, and not very far from the place
where we now stand, he landed to ex-
change tokens Of amity and smoke the
pipe of peace with an Indian Chief,
whose friendship he had gained seven
teen years before, when he had visited
the tribes as the youthful envoy Of
/ IDinwiddie.
But the day Of canoes and broadhorns.
of Indian trails and buffalo paths, passed
away Steamboats, made their appear
ance on the rivers, canals furnished new
channels of water communication and
Turnpikes and Macadamized roads fa-
cilitated and quickened intercourse bv
land Over the Alleghanies and west
ward as far as Springfield in Ohio, the
National Road was built for the accom-
mOdation of the traveller and the emf
grant, andtO secure the means of prompt
communication in times Of peril. The
traveller ON this road may still see.
standing by the wayside, not far from
! the city Of Wheeling, q simple monu
ment which commentaries the ser
| vices of HENRY CLAY in the formation
! Of this then important bond and Iirq
ment Of union between the Atlantic
States and the interior. The monu-
ment will crumble-the road 3 elf NAV
be deserted and forgotten but the name
of CLAY will live while patriotism is
honOred and genius finds shrine inthe
hearts of men.
Turnpises and Macadamjzcd roads.
rivers and canals sdu supply indjspen-
sable facilities Of Intercourse. But
third period has begun The Railroad
and the Telegraph now assert their
claims to pre-eminence as the most
important means of rapid communion
ton and the most beneficial agencies of
progress.
With this new Era the greatwork, of
which we now celebrate the accom-
Iplishment, stands closely and promi-
nently connected. While yet youth,
pursuing my professional studies in tho
City Of Washington, remember to have
witnessed the celebration Of the OPEN
ling Of the Baltimore q Ohio Railroad
perhaps to Ellicott's Mills-perhaps,
ouly to what is now the Washington
junction, 1t was a great event, and
| deserved to be appropriately Gel ,yrated,
1t announced the earnest beginning of
a work, then without a rival in bold
ness of design aud grandeur Of con-
Iception. ThrO' what difficulties it has
been prosecutod-what marvels of en-
Igineering skill it has evoked-how sue
cessfully obstacles seemingly insur-
IIhOuntable, have been overcome, others
may better tell than l. l rejoice to see
/, among you to-day a friend of my young
; er years, to whose faithful and intclli-
T gent labors as President Of the Compa-
b N.Y. something, at least Of its success is
due L have no heartier welcome to
} give to-day than that which my heart
offers before my tongue can utter it to
p Thomas SWAMI.
= All thosewho faithfully labor In tho
commencement Of great undertakings.
seeking to realize'in material forms great
, ideas, build far more wisely than they
know The projectors of the Baltimore
, & Ohio Railroad little imagined how
much moro vast than even their great
conception, were to be the results of tho
work they undertook. They contom-
plated a connection with the Ohio, and
through the Ohio and its affiliated riv-
/, ers, with the immense territories wa
tered by them But they did not dream
that these rivers, themselves, were to
be half-superceded by other railroads
+ continuing their own iron track far
ther and farther towards the setting
t sun. They did not even contemplate,
e I believe, the construction of the North
p western Virginia Railroad, over which
o. youlhaye just cone hither. Still less did
= they anticipate that whom that branch
o of their own road should be completed
q to the Ohio, this Cincinnati and 81 Ma
. rietta Road would be here to receive its
s passengers and freight and convey them