Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-10-18
The Old National Pike.

The traffic seems like frieze with an endless
procession Of figures There mere was sometimes
the cattle and sheep were never out Of sight;
the aS-covered wagons were drawn BY six
or twelve horses with bows or bells over their
collars; the families OF statesmen and merch ants
went by in private vehicles; and while most OF
the travellers were unostentattous, few had
SPLENDID equipages, and employed ou5riders
Some Of the passes through the Alieghanie5
were as PERCEPTIONS as any in the Sierra
Nevada, and the mountains were as wild.
Within a mile of the road the country
was wilderness, but On the highway the Traffic
was as dense as continuous as in the N Ain
street Of large town.
The national road proper was built from
Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, Virginia,
by the United States government the Intention
being to establish 1t as far as st. Louis It was
excellently macadamiZed; the rivers and creeks
were spanned by Stone bridges; the distances
were tndexed by iron miie-posts, and the toll
houses supplied with strong iron gates. It's
protector and chief supporter was Henry Clay,
whose services In It's behalf are cOmmemOrated
by monument near Wheeling. Henry BeeSon.
a former congressman, was also an advocate of
1t, and on one occasion made public speech In
which he showed the audence-S0 flexible Is
arithmetic combined with tmagination-thaJ
from The number Of horseshoeS iJ would neces-
stale, and the number OF nails, it was better
adapted to promote trade than any railway
could be. From Cumberland to Baltimore the
road, or large part OF 1t, was built by certain
banks Of Maryland, which were rechartered In
1916 on condition that they should complete the
work. SO far from being burden to them, it
proved to be a most lucrative property for
many years, yielding as much as twenty per
ceLt., aid it Is only of late years that 1t h Is
yielded no more than two or three per cent.
The part built by the federal government was
transferred to Maryland some time ago, and
the tolls became a political perqulslte. but
within the past yearit has been acquired by the
counties Of Alleghany and Garrett, which have
made IL Tree.
We have written of what Is past. The canal
and the railway have superseded the old ma
ttonal pike" and 1t is not often now that
traveller diSturbS the dust that lies upon 1t.
The dust itself, indeed, has settled and given
root to the grass and shruDbery, which in many
places show how complete the decadence Is.
The black snakes, mOccaSinS, and copperhead5,
that were always plentiful in the mountains.
have become so unused TO the intrusion of
man that they sun themselves In the road, and
vehicle can not pass without running over
them. Many OF the villages which were pros
porous In the coaching days have fallen asleep
and the wagon OF peddler or farmer Is alone
seen where once the travel was enormous. The
men who are actively engaged on The road as
drivers, station agents, and mail contractors
are nearly all dead. The few that remain are
very old, and while an inquiry about the past
teammates them for moment, they soon
lapse into the oblivion Of their years. But the
taverns, with their hospitable and picturesque
fronts, the old smthie5, and the toll-gateS,
have not been entirely swept away. Enough
has been left undespoiled to sustain the inter
est and Individuality Of the highway, which
from Frederick TO Cumberland Is rich by dover
OF pature. independently OF its past.-[R. H.
R'deing, an Harper's Magazine for Nouentbsr.