Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-04-06
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IMPROVEMENT
EVOLUTION OF ROADS.

GtOIOtION Of hOADSs
Development of the Public Highway sys-
tenn In the United States.
The notice: Keep off the grass"
posted in public squares or on unfencedf
swards, are not so much a forbiddinR
to children who would play upon them
as to older persons who, in the hurry
of life, would make crossing-paths be-
cause of the instructive impulse of Pc
destrians to cut off corners In seeking
the shortest distance to points of desti-i
nation.
Paths are the beginnings of roads.
Man is a social animal, and, In his In
tercourse with his neighbors for either
pleasure or trade, will make the short.
est practicable cut to get at them.
These cuts are soon worn into paths
Undoubtedly the first paths and
trails in America were made by the
Indians In their tribal communication,
in trips to their hunting grounds, and
later in visits to the trading posts of
the white men. In hilly and mountain.
Gus regions these trails were directed
over the high grounds or the passes
through them. and thence to the ford
able places in streams, or else they fol-
lowed the submits of mountain ranges
or the valleys lying between them.
The conversion of the foot trail into
a horse trail demanded more of air than
of earth work The forests were many
and dense. Overhanging branches,
obstructive trees and swinging vines
had to be chopped away. or bumped
heads, skinned legs, and dismantling OF
pack trains would have been inevitable
Occasionally fallen trees and rocks In
fords had to be removed; sometimes an
ascent too steep for horses had to be
avoided.
1t was not until the necessity for the
wheeled carrier arose that what is now
called public road came into exist
ence. The poles of the Indians wig
wan dragged behind their ponies when
they carried their household effects,
and required no wider path than the
family loads upon their ponies backs;
but the wagon, with its broad tread
and upsetting proclivites, had to be pro-
vided for. 1t was not until then that
the hands, backs and ingenuity OF the
white settlers were much road-taxed
The horse trail had to be broadened,
trees, stumps and rocks removed,
marshy lands and steep places avoided.
gullies and deep streams bridged. But
the trail indicated the general route;
the wagon road followed It,
With the wagon roads came the obli-
CATION upon the people to keep them
in repair, or at least passable. To ac-
complish this the ruling bodies of COM
munities made orders that each man
should do his allotment of work upon
the roads or pay his proper share.
One of the earliest of these orders
16TS-is found among the records OF the
court at Upland, Pa: Ordered, that
every person within the space Of two
months, as far as his land reaches,
make good and passablo ways from
neighbor to neighbor, with bridges
where it needs, to the end that neigh
bors on occasion may come together;
those neglecting to forfeit twenty-five
guilders
The manner of making these roads is
not prescribed in this order, but few
months later the court in the near
town of New Castle made the following
order:
s'The highways to be cleared as fol-
loweth, viz: the way to bee made cleare
of standing and lying trees, at least
ten feet broad; all stumps and shrubs
to bee cut close to ye ground The trees
mark'd yearly on both sydes-sufficient
bridges to be made and kept ouer all
marshy, swampy, and difficult dirty
places, and whatever else may be
thought necessary about ye Highways
aforesaid"
In 1850 the Upland court records:
"Whereas, the court finds lit necessary
that some fit person bee appointed
overseers of ye highways and roads.
Very similar methods Of making,
maintaining and overseeing roads pre-
vail to this day.
AS pioneers and emigrants scattered
settlements in ali directions from the
mother colonies on the Atlantic coast,
roads were made and maintained to
them by taxing all the citizens residing
In the townships, counties and states
through which they passed. When
public road was a much-used thor
oughfare, demanding extraordinary
soliditv of road bed and the best con-
dition of repair, a company was organ
lied, capital was furnished. and the
road was handed over by the people to
the company. who lowered Its grades,
bridged its streams, stoned and drained
it's wheel-way. and, when finished,
charged each traveller on horse or
wheels a toll for each mile travelled
upon it. Thus the public road became
a turnpike; so called because nt the
places where the toll was collected
there we're poles armed with spikes set
across the road, which turned upon
post-a prickly notice to the traveller
that he must pay or stop.
The first turnpike in America was
chartered in 1902. by the Philadelphia
& Lancaster Turnpike company. 1t
was commenced in 1894. and soon COM
pleted.
There is no more important economic
subject before the American people to-
day than the best method OF making
and maintaining the public roads
Charles McIlvaine, in Lippincotts
Magazine.