Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-02

ment. 1t is a great military mountaS with
| four submits, the highest about 1. feet
| above tide and 1 900 feet above the srsound-
| ing country. Two miles or less westSf it q
| bold ridge like redan or crescent, am in the
nature OF a counterscarp wall, springs Np and
| defends the passage of the Monocac9 The
| Sugar Loaf is the nearest mountain tide
| water south OF New York bay and as pictA. esque
as the Catskllls. A strong stream callXt Ben
netts creek winds around its northefE base
| and flows into the Monocacy. with frequSlt cas-
cades. A pike road from Georgetown IL this
mountain would make it the coaching &eigh-
ing and carriage resort, opon all winter {xhere
now only these hard concrete streets Permit
| winter driving"
How far is it from the Sugar Loaf 7noun-
| tain to Antietam cemetery"
| About % miles. crossing the Mono 3acy at
the new iron bridge at Greenfield Miss, and
| through Adamstown and jefferson and sicross
| the Catoctin and Pleasant valeys-tht: same
| course as was taken by the sixth corps ID 1862
to night the action of Champions gap"
THE COURSE THE ROAD SHOULD TAXI;
what is your general notion of the course
OF a road to both Gettysburg and Antietsn?'
1T might cross the Sugar Loaf mountain
| and divide on the western side thereof. send
| ing one arm up the east side of the Mont,cacy,
| which would be a military road Just With n the
fosse of that river. and at the Urban pike
| bridge. some seven miles farther up th,' short
| arm would connect with the whole FIR, ;erick
| City system of already piked roads, wis II ex-
tend TO the Pennsylvania line and n,7rly to
| gettysburg. Or the national road migls FORK
| about Clarksburg and inclose the Sug: Loaf
| mountain IN its arms one arm going toSlntie-
| tam and the other to Urbana. The efsct of
building these rs miles of pike road at So 900 a
mile would be to bind this capital to ths turn
! pike system of the entire land. for thek are
| solid roads from New England to PitAburg.
| Wheeling and Stanton Va, within the ,noun-
| tam rim which is so near and parallelft the
sea coast. The only poor roadless distrtc. lies
| between Georgetown and the Catoctin noun
| tain, 40 miles off. This is the region (which
will separate Washington from its destiny
| until the government will span it. and then a
great, new, active world beyond the first 5noun-
| tain line will at once become suburban to
| Washington. settlement of villas like those
| in the Berkshire hills will give to this :city a
| summer and an autumnal season."
THE BLUE RIDGE AND THE CArocr1f.
do Gettysburg and Antietam lie upon the
same side of the Blue Ridge?'
mo. Gettysburg is east of the South Noun
tain or Blue Ridge, but in full sight of IT; An
| tietam field west of it. The Catoctin mountain
| Is range SIX or seven miles east OF the South
mountain. The Sugar Loaf is ten miles east of
| the Catoctln mountain, peak isolated and no
| doubt to hold some great. useful relation to
| this capital and nation some day. 1t is the
| kenesaw mountain of Maryland. How shame
| full that, being i'll sight of ex-President Cleve-
| lands house at Georgetown, it is as far from us
III our drives and excursions as if it were in
| Georgia. repeat that the government ought
! to span that little region between with a broken
| stone road and let itself and us out to our pos
! sessions. The influence upon the intervening
people who make the underlying race stock of
Washington would be like public schools and
| new raiment."
Would you suggest that Maryland and Penn
| sylvania cooperate in this slight expenseY'
| 1T would cost more to stir them up than TO
| quietly present them with the job, for in Mary
| land 1t Is put down. in France, that broken
stone pike costs only 100000 the hundred
miles. Mr.. Saks, the Washington clothier said
| to me yesterday: That is what government
| will do with this surplus after it gets done
| monkeylng with the pensions; it will improve
| Its military common roads like all other mod
ern nations and especially around this capital "
| A BAD DIsTRICTING.
ITO what do you impute the want of local
self help in these old Maryland districts?''
Partly to bad political districtng; they
| ought to have the New England town govern
ment system, with small divisions, frequent
| town meetings. and that public spirit which
| coming together engenders. The Maryland
districts are large and sprawlng and do not
| improve themselves. Hostility often exists be-
| tween neighboring counties like secession
They want to be strongly and well advised by
| newspapers like THE STAR, for Washington is
| nearer to them and more their fellow citizen
| than Baltimore. Washington is twenty miles
farther in the west of Maryland than Baltimore;
it is as far west as Elmira, n. Y. In the revo-
lutionary war General Charles Lee offering to
the British plan of treason, proposed to con-
meet Annapolis and Alexandria by good mill
tary road. and with strong detachments upon it
to completely separate the southern and north
ern states and whip them in alternate sections.
The issue of roads is before the country power
| fully; not railroads, but roads. For want of
| good roads and picturesque access to each
other spend 800, 600 900 year at least In Eu-
rope, the Christian continent of good roads and
cheap drives. With the sum Of 800, 900 this
| capital can in one year be clasped to the South
mountain or Blue ridge, where the summer res
idence of the executive government ought to
be, within telephone reach of the depart
ments."