Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

other dirt road was encountered CROSSING
our path. Keeping straight ahead we
| crossed the road and soon came to an
other fine stretch of macadam with
This time 1t was a macadamized road
way. BY turning to the left one can go
| to Silver Spring, and to the right in the
direction of Avenel. Nd We continued
=, straight ahead, however. and arrived at
| Four Corners. H. miles from the start
ing point. Here. for the first time. the
good news reaches ones ears that the
! toll gates on the Colesville turnpike have
| been abolished. This has been only with
| ing the past winter, when a vote was
| taken to bond the pike and tear down
the toll gates. The motorist at this point
is confronted with three roads. one to
the right Of him. one to the left OF him
| and one in front of him. The one to the
| right leads to Burnt Mills. the left to Sill
Md.
We decided to take the road to the left,
which we did. 1t was good hard pike,
| and. while rough in places was not the
worst road We have been over. The road
way was lined with attractive pine trees,
While the scenery was rustic and appeal
ing to the eye. It was just trif1e over
| mile from Four Corners that we came
across a relic of bygone days-a toll gate.
The pole which had been let down SO
many times to collect from the passer-
by, whether he was a teamster, a BIZ
cyclist Of motorist, had performed its
last duty. The pole and the upriShts
had been pulled down and the huge pile
| OF logs stacked in front of the little
frame house by the woOdside, where the
tollkeeper resided during the period of
collection days.
| Across the top of the porch in bold let
tiers could be seen the words toll gate"
Another sign Informed the motorists that
| Autos Pay Toll Here" which still re-
| mains tackled on the front of the building
| in plain view Of the tourist. 1t was quite
| a relief to think that we did not have to
pay any toll on this pike especially when
| one figures the amount that has been ex-
pended for this purpose year after year.
1t is not so much the amount that is
paid that the average motorist objects
| to, but it is the principle of the thing,
| and also the fact that after all Of this
money is collected it is rarely ever used
for improving the road. The writer has
| found by experience that in many cases
where toll is collected the roads for
which it is intended are in a worse con-
| dition than roads over which no fee is
| charged for their use. But ere long there
will not be single toll gate collecting
| funds from the motorists. Maryland is
| rapidly abolishing its, toll gates; Penn
| sylvania is carrying on a crusade in this
| direction, and next in line promises to be
| Virginia. In both Of the former states a
| large number have been put out of COM
mission, out IN the latCeF STATE iltlle mas
| been done in that direction.
$500
| After taking few snapshots with the
camera at the ancient roadside landmark,
we continued our journey up a rather
steep incline and headed for Sligo. on the
7th street road. Crossing the electric line
of the Forest Glen branch of the Wash
fngton Railway and Electric Company, we
| turned sharply to the left and soon were
| under the wings of the Sligo tollgate.
where we were compelled to ANTE up
6 cents, which permitted us to use the
road from that point to Silver Spring,
Md This tollgate. and, in fact, the others
on the eth street pike. are among the
few that are still in operation but even
| at that their days are numbered. Heading
I directly southwark, we crossed the tracks
of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and
soon hit the fine, smooth, macadamized
; roadway at the District line, passing Ia
koma Junction at the Walter Reed Hos
pital, and entering the Military road at
! Brightwood. D. c., 15.5 miles from the
start. Passing in the rear of the Bright
wood Hotel. We decided to enter Rock
Creek Park via the 10th street entrance.
This was accomplished by continuing
over the same roadway, turning to the
right at the first road, and then to the
left into 18th street, and finally the park
entrance The route through the park