Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-12-26
A WONDERFUL IRISH ROAD.
Though Little Known Its Scenery Is
Among the Grandest.

There is wonderful Irish road which
If 1t existed almost anywhere else would
be far more familiar TO tourists than il
now is. Motorists are beginning to find
It, however, and before long 1.-THE Irish
Simplon' will be as famous as it de-
serves to be, for the grandeur of the
scenery through which it passes is hard
~ surpassed in the British isles
Every schoolboy has read of the roads
constructed by Marshal Wade to facili-
tate the pacification of the highlands of
Scotland after the Jacobite rising of
1f15, says the English Queen. Wade's
engineering triumphs are recorded in the
historic bull
Had you seen these roads before they
they We're made
You would lift up your hands and bless
which was inscribed on an obelisk which
formerly stood on the road between m
verness and Inverary.
Wade employed 500 soldiers in the
work. who received sixpence a day extra
pay and whom. he facetiously termed his
highwaymen. Few, if any, histories.
however, record the fact that similar
works Were undertaken in Ireland in
connection with the suppression of the
rebellion of 1898. The most remarkable
of these Irish military roads traverses
the central line of the Wicklow noun
tains.
Until the close of the 18th century
there We're only three passes. Wicklow
gap, Sally gap and Glenmalur by which
the retreats of the great Wicklow chain
could be approached, and each was al
most impossible. After defeat in the
open field the rebels of '9S retreated to
these wild Businesses. where for several
months they defied the efforts of the
government to dislodge them.
So vexatous and formidable did this
mountain warfare become that the idea
of taking leaf out of Marshal Wades
book suggested itself to the lord lieuten-
ant Lord Corvallis. He ordered the con-
struction of what is known as "the
great military road in order to lay open
the most inaccessible tracts As it was
deemed expedient to station troops at
certain strategic points four extensive
| barracks were erected upon the road.
The main road begins four miles south
of Dublin and terminates in the south
west of the County Wicklow The dis
lance between the two extremities as
the crow flies is about 30 miles, but
contours of the mountains the total dis
lance traversed is much greater. In adj
dition there are branch roads running
up minor valleys and circling hills
which sheltered outlaws and desperadoes
This fine work was executed between
the years 1893 and 1901 by regiments of
highland militia. With the exception of
the level in one valley called Glenmac-
cd n
take advantage of a single vale. AS a
rule the glens in these mountains run
! from east to west, while the direction
! of the road is from north to SOUTH hence
the latter keeps for nearly the whole dis
lance a solitary mountain course at the
hight of 1900 or 1700 feet above the sea
and but seldom descends to any of the
valleys.
| The road was most skilfully engineered
as regards gradients in order to render
it passable for artillery. There are but
few parts of it which are not rideable by
the cyclist mounted on machine
equipped with three speeds. That the
work was effected in the most durable
manner is clear fro the fact that al
though very little has been spent OH
maintenance during the last half-century.
morasses a smooth and level surface and
substratum perfectly strong and well
founded.
The great military road is sometimes
called the Irish Simplon,' and the COM
parison with Napoleon's splendid Alpine
thoroughfare which this implies is not
so far fetched. The road speedily full
filled the chief object for which it was
undertaken; namely, the restoration OF
complete tranquility to the country and
the latter rendered the barracks quite UNI
necessary, though sergeant's guard
continued to be quartered in each til
about SO years ago. At present one OF
these barracks is Catholic reformatory
one is a shooting box, one is in ruins
and the fourth has been turned into {
picturesque residence by John Redmond
NJ. P.-Springfield Republican.