The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1912-08-01
THE OLD NATIONAL
PIKE HAS HISTORY
Longest Straight Road Built by any
Government.

the story of the National road is an I'M
known chapter; yet the flavor of
romance, the memory of almost for
gotten glories, of noble, ambitious
mission successfully accomplished clings
to every hoary monument of that an
cient highway.
The Cumberland road, as it was pOpu-
larly called, was first buffalo trail,
worn deep across the Appalachian
Range by the pounding of millions of
bison. When the Indians came they
followed this trail in their hunting and
war expeditions, retreating over it
westward before the ever advancing
and relentless push of the white man.
Over the same path came the brave and
fearless Angles Saxon hunter and trap
per, at whose heels followed the sturdy
settler, until at last the tide of immigra
ton poured in a deluge of humanity
through the mountain passes to the
lands of milk and honey.
Every mile of this old highway is
historic ground, consecrated by the
worn and bleeding feet of our heroic
nation-builders. Over it toiled the
young surveyor, George Washington.
guided by the noted Indian, Nemacolin,
nursing dreams of future empire. A
few years later, over the same route,
marched the relocated grenadier of
Old England, led by the arrogant and
boastful Med Braddock of Fontenoye,
whose grave can still be seen close to
the deep trail cut by the heavy army
wagons of his ill-starred expedition.
About the hills and valleys fingers the
mighty memories and romances of that
awful conflict, the French and Indian
War, which for eight years, Q755-l763)
drenched our frontiers in sea of blood
and tears, and which eventually led to
the great struggle for liberty in 1776.
After the colonies had obtained their
independence the Braddock trail was
the highway over which the old soldiers
of the Revolution tramped sturdily
along to take up the great work Of set
Ting Ohio and Kentucky. the gift of
Virginia to the young republic.
Great discomfort followed the rapid
settlement of this new territory. Left
without Federal aid to fight the fierce
and blood thirsty savage, despised and
ridiculed and neglected by the wealthy
planters and shareholders that generally
controlled the Federal government, the
pioneers did not altogether turn deaf
ear to the whispered Vaccinations of
the scheming and accomplished Aaron
Burr when he proposed an independent
republic. At this grave crisis in the
affairs of the nation, when mutterings
were heard in every hamlet and clear
ing of the West and Southwest, the far
sighted statesmen of the Young republic
united'ln a successful demand for a
great national road that would pierce
the mountain defles and link together
the States of the Atlantic Coast and
the vast territory of the Mississippi
Valley.
When, IN 1902, Ohio was admitted as
a State. Congress set aside per cent,
of all moneys received from the sale of
public lands within the State to be used
in the construction of road from the
navlgable waters of the Atlantic to the
Ohio, and the same year President JEFF
ferson signed the bill for the survey of
a national pike from Cumberland Md,
to the headwaters of the Ohio. This
was the starting of the old National
turnpike.
Early in 1909 Congress passed bill
authorizing the appointment of COM
missioners to lay out a road over the
mountains, and President Jefferson APP
pointed Thomas Moore and Eli Williams,
of Maryland, and Joseph Kerr, of Ohio.
These men did good work, and by the
close of the year had laid out definite
and well-designed plans for the enter
JIlSS. It IOiu was lOSdttd vi Tic
route they first selected, which speaks
we'll for their wisdom. 1t ran from
Cumberland to Wheeling. a distance of
1870 miles, and from there through Ohio
and Indiana, and finally lost itself in
the pralries of Illinois.
The first contract was awarded in
1911. The road was constructed under
the direction of the War Department,
the work beng let in sections to con-
tractors, with Brigadler-G General Ora
tot in charge of it. 1t continued under
the care of the Government for num-
Der of years, but was finally put in re-
pair and turned over to the different
States through which it passes. Then
they erected tollhouses and tollgates
along the route. and every kind of cattle
and beast was taxed, together with all
classes of vehicles. Persons going to
church, to the mill or to the election
were exempt, as also were those going
to school, to funerals or from one part
of their farm to another. During the
first year of its completion flood of
traffic and immigration began to pour
over the new highway.
A. - i l.