The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-02-12

f't% ociota, the MuskIngum and the |
0i'lp valleys; and thesmen, all tirel
a''Hdry and hungry. had to be cared
'1Eat great cost, for it was like
ls'1alng an army every day and
pisht. But all this was the life of
pNslness, and il brought great pros
'ffity to the country. Every indus
was stimulated, and laid, and
sn''pr, and commerce, and education,
nHQ social refinement responded to
ApeFiiagnetic touch of plenty, with
~ Upward bound of hundred per
cent. Hall this seems strange, the
a sslRr. must remember that the Ma
'fi5han Road was the grand trunk me
between the East and West for dis
tance of several hundred miles; that
it was direct, broad, solid, and free
to all; that it preceded all canals,
railroads, telegraphs and western
steamboats,. 1t was the outlet and
inlet to a market for four or five nil
lions of people, mostly farmers,
whose produce was nearly worthless
at home, while they were in want of
all kinds of eastern wares, goods and
manuft tctures, which they now re-
ceiyed in return by those immense
teams, each equal to a railroad car
almost. That the road should wear
out as it did in few years is no
wonder, especially through the
mountains, wh.r re the sand rock and
boulders were used for the bed. In
1929 the whole bed was removed and
replaced with eighteen inches of
limestone or Medina granite, broken
fine. This work was done at the eX-
pense of the Nation, under the direc
tion of Maj. Richard Deafield, and G..
w. Cass, who had their office at
Uniontown, in DR.. Daniel Sturgesn's
brick black at the west end of Main
street. After it was macademized
and in complete repair, in which
work | had a hand as contractor, it
was transferred to the several States
through which it passed. The States
immediately erected toll gates at
short intervals to gather a revenue
for repairs. This soon cleared it of
droyes until they came near to the
mountains, where they were com.
PEELED to take it as the only route.
But The National Road, as it was still
called, maintained its supremacy as
a trunk line for many years. AS late
as 1886, l.. w. Stock ton & Co., secured
the contract for transporting the
great western mail in stage coaches
on this road through to Wheeling, at
the rate of four miles an hour, for
which service they received $4,000
a year, for four years. Letter post
age at that time was l82 cents for 800
miles. or less and 25 cents for all
over and pest Offices We're about ten
miles apart, and served once week.
In 1887 war with France WAS i'm
minent, and the government at
Washington, remembering the sym
pathy of Louisiana and New Orleans
with France as the mother country.
with a lingering dread of western
and alien combination, resolved to
quicken her mail service in that di-
rection. She ady yertised for proposals
to carry a light express mail pouch,
carrying short printed slips like tele-
grams, drafts and paper money, on
horseback through, daily, each way
on the National Road from Wash
ington to st. Louis, and also from
Dayton Ohio. to New Orleans, at
the net speed of ten miles an hour,
and stopping only at principal offices.
1t was laid off in sections, and all the
sections We're taken for a term of
three years, and the service perform
ed. The section over the mountain
from Cumberland to Uniontown, Pa,
was awarded to nae at $4,000 year.
associated with me my father-in-
law, William Morris, of Monroe, and
we performed the work very success
fully in 1887 and 1888, when the war
emergency was passed and the SER
vice was discontinued, the govern
ment paying us 1888 extra for leave
to quit. 1t required a relay of nine
horses on the road at once, and three
boy riders. One boy left Cumber-
land at 2. o'clock in the morning,
winter and summer. VIE rode three
successive horses seven miles each,
and so with the other two boys, per.
forming the 63 miles In six hours and
eighteen minutes. Going east they
left Uniontown daily at / O'Clock. y.
M, and rode the same horses back,
and there was no Office on this route
where the mail was opened. AT
that time, 43 years ago, this express
was the fastest overland mail in
and It excited as much
public interest all the time as the
arrival Of railroad tram does now,
In new town.