The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-02
THE EARLY RoADMAKERS
WORK OF PIONEERS IN CONSTRUCT
ING PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.
1t Was Conducted Under Grent DIM
cuIties and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
of Travel Eighty Years Ago.


Paper read before the Indiana Centennial AS
sociation. July 4. by Calvin Fletcher.l
The interest of many in their government
is limited to the interest their government
takes in their personal caliings or In their
personal fads- Some bicycle century
riders Is patriotism pulsates with the good
or bad qualities of the road over which
they travel, to the construction OF wnicn
they never contributed money or muscle,
and to whose improvement they commend
their distinguished relative, Uncle Sam
The voices of such are heard, even In pohti-
cal conventions, in their efforts to commit
parties to their views. These zealots have,
in the language Of another, no conception
of the magnitude Of undertaking re-
curing centuries to consummate and cost
ing more than all the adjacent property IS
WORTH
At my age I do not feel called upon to
respond to the demand, nor yet to erect
bulwark against the results OF that oe-
mand. The business sense Of our people
will meet the emergency when it arises
However, would stay the pedals OF many
a grumbler, and call his attention TO the
labors and expenditures of those who, dur
ing the century we celebrate. have secured
what he to-day thanklessly enjoys-labors
and expenditures that aggregate more than
the cost Of their farms. ] speak OF the
road workers of Indiana.
The pioneers Of our State found Indian
trails" which. with widening. proved easy
lines of travel to their chosen Ell Dorados-
Many Of these afterwards became fixtures
through use, improvement ard legislation
Hadiating from this seat of government,
and other business centers Of the State.
are evidences of such procedure in our sys-
tenn of roads. To the national government
we are indebted for the great Cumberland
road, bisecting the State by an east-and-
west line, so ably treated Of by Hon.
Smiley N Chambers. A treaty with the
Pottawatomie Indians gave us the Michi-
gan road from the Ohio river to Lake
Michigan. The capital of Indiana is plated
upon and about the intersection Of these
two roads. The network, or shall say the
vind-work, of State and county roads that
covers our land was fixed upon us by many
acts of many legislatures, and through or
ders of county commissioners, the roads
themselves through the prompt response
of Industrious men interested in getting 10
neighbors' houses, to blacksmiths' shops,
to mill, to village stores, to schoolhouses,
to log-cabin churches, to the half-cleared
and unavoidable burying ground
The level character of our glacial clay
soil and river bottoms, surrounding US,
simplifed the location of roads. as the open
lines Of the government surveys made it
possible for the owner of each tract of land
IN xyifh cfr,c~
his neighbours land and thereby inficting
upon others the necessity of extra fencing
or waste of soil and timber. Next to the
hearty handshake and ready lift at the
handspike when neighbors snapped work
at logrollings. was the greeting when. at
fixed periods, all ablebodied men met to
open up or work upon roads. My child
feet battered along many of the well-con-
structed thoroughfafes of to-day when only
indistinct tracings, long lines Of deadened
trees, deep-worn horse paths and serpen-
tine tracks of wabbling wagon wheels
guided me.
ROAD WORKING.
The ever-recurring road working days
and their cheerful observance, with times
work in rotting and fires work in removing
dead tree and stump. at last let in long
burn up the masma, and to bless the way
farer to other parts, well to disclose
what these pioneer roadmakers had done
for themselves by opening up fields in the
forests. recall how heartily they pro-
vided for the wants of others, wants they
felt when they cut the first logs for their
cabin homes. There were no nurseries,
from which to draw supplies of fruit trees
in all the land; but apple seeds or sprouts,
and peach pits came with each household:
and the fence corners along the future high
ways bore testimony to generous impulses,
and free fruit for everybody. Oh, how
those luscious peaches once carpeted the
ground from here to Noblesville, to Pendle-
ton, to Greenfield, to Shelbyville, to Frank
lin. to Martinsville, to Putnamville, to Dan
vile, to Charlottesville, and all the other
villages and villes in central Indiana.
A congested two-roomed house a square
from where your chairman held sway over
team of well-disciplined hogs led Judi
cious parents who desired a moments
peace" to plan out many pedestrian trip
for myself and brothers, while the black
bears tracks commingled with our own in
the mud or dust; and the terrible panther's
human cries misled the lost child and
brought terror to searching parties or wan
derers. And thus ii came about that
am able to give testimony in behalf Of
the generation now altogether passed away.
and to emphasize the saying that their
works do follow them" They left plenty for
others to do, both in roadmaking and in
farming.
To perfect easily and naturally these In
dustries requires three generations. The
forests must be felled, logs rolled and
burned. families reared, and in most cases
the land is to be paid for. When this is
accomplished faithful picture would re-
veal not only the changes that had been
wrought, but host Of prematureiy broken
down men and women, besides ard undue
proportion resting peacefully in country
graveyards.
A second generation straightens out the
fields at odd corners, pulls the stumps, drains
the wet spots. and casting aside the sickle