The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1899-09-13
a yisit ~ Fort Neeesslty.
.reailnndence Register.

correspondence Register.
Moved by an interest in llistor!
and certain degree of curiosity t'
see some of it's land marks, 1 re
Gently made a trip through Fuyett'
county, Pennsylvania, visiting var
,i5na points of Importance to th'
student5 My trip was made pleas
ant by the company of Prof. Ice
ISmith, superintendent of the
I,Uniontown public schools, n gen
ltlemantthoroughly familiar with the
local traditions of his county ano
state
Fayotte is one of the most inter
estipg counties in Pennsylvania
In population it ranks next TO ALLIE
.gheny county, and it has nearly
half as many Inhabitants as the
whole state of West Virginia. In
extent is The greatests in the
state, being about twice as large as
Mason county, 1t is traversed in
the eastern part by the Chestnut
Ridge range of the Allegheny
mountains, while the western part
consists of an undulating plain,
The natural scenery is scarcely un-
surpassed in beauty anywhere.
Standing on the summit of the
mountains and looking westward,
tho plain, covered with coke ovens
and various kinds of factories,
stretches away as far as the eye can
see. In day time the scene pre-
sents an almost unbroken cloud of
rising coal smoke; but, at night,
when the stars peep out, or, better,
when clouds thicken overhead, the
glaring furnaces, lighting up the
sky with lurid hue, can hardly
fail to remind one of Dante's hell:
"As where Klonc stngpntes on the plains of
Aries,
or as at Pola, near Qunrnnro's Gulf,
That closes Italy and lnVes her bounds,
The place is all thick spread with sepulchors;
SO was 1t here, save what in horror here
Exccll'd: for midst tho graves were scatter
cd flames,
Wherewith intensely all throughout they
burn'd,
That iron for no craft there hotter needs "
This was one of George Wash
ington's favorite regions. He
owned large tract of land in this
part of tho State, and the traveller
still finds many places named for
him. His first acquaintance with
that part of the country was when
at the age of twenty. two years, he
was sent by Governor Dinwiddie,
of Virginia, in 1753, to warn the
French commander on the Ohio
that he was intruding on English
soil, Ho made other military ex-
petitions through here in 1854 and
l705, besides several trips for the
purpose of surveying.
On Sunday morning, August 81,
my friend Smith and l started for
the East from Uniontown, the
county seat of Fuyette county,
over tho national pike, which
crosses tho mountains at this point.
a word about this road and it's
history may be interesting here.
In 1706, Congress authorized the
President to appoint three Com
missioners to lay out road from
Cumberland, on the Potomac, in
Maryland, to Wheeling, on the
Ohio river, in West Virginia. 1t
was finally completed as far West
as Illinois in 1888, at cost of
nearly seven millions of dollars.
The road is sixty feet wide and is
mcadamized all the way. 1t is
now kept up by the States through
which it passes, to which Congress
turned it over few years ago. In
carly day when this was the only
great highway over tho mountains,
connecting the Ohio valley with
tho coast, it was infested with nu-
merous gangs OF robbers. We as
cended the mountain whore two
noted gangs, Braddee's and Lewis
used to ply their vocation. Gap
tain Braddee, the most noted of
these desperadoes, was considered
respectable citizen of Uniontown
until he wns unmasked and cap
tured while making night attack,
at the head of gang of cut-throets
upon party of travellers.
After reaching the top of the
mountains, we were soon in sight
of General Braddock's grave. He
sleeps in little clump of pine
trees on slight elevation just
above the pike and about nine