Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1920-11-19
BOONE WAY MAN TELLS
OF FIRST TURNpIKES
Col. Jim Marret Says Early Road
Ran From Milford, First Mad
::5oa County Seat

! HullC l1SnC mere IN Madison. lie
writes in part as follows:
| An act Of Virginia in 1855 which
was still iii force when Kentucky
county became a state in 1882, was
recnacted by the legislature of Ken
lucky Fen. 2o. 1877, provided for the
opening of rev roads and the altera-
ton IF former re ads under surveyors
appointed by courts.
The first road act of the Kentucky
legislature OF Dec. IA, 1913, appoint
ed Be:nett Pemberton, Nathcniel
Saunder- anc Daniel Welsiger "com-
niSs:oners to receive subscriptions
in money, labor OF property, to raise
| Iund fer starting a wagon read
front frankfort to Cincinnati" such
! road being deemed productive of
| private convenience and public utili-
ty. q, d the route lying thru an IN
set.ie'l county which cannot be clear
ell in the usua; manner by order of
th" county co';ltS.
The next road act Dec. II, 1894
appointed commissioners to raise a
/ fu"d for crearing a road from Mati
son courty court house, (then Mil
ford. about four miles Southwest of
RickmoinD t. the Hazel Patch, on the
road leading from the Grab Orchard
to p,,well':, Valley. This road ac:
not nccn opened on Dec. 10, 1875,
when a; .nther act provided for q wa
gon road TO commence in the neigh
borhood of the Crab Orchard and to
terminate or the top of Cumberland
mountain, il the gap thru which the
present read to Virginia passes"
This highway took the name of the
''W.i,lernes. Road" later it was des-
ign:.:ed rs the "Boone Way" 1913, in
honor of Daniel Boone, the greatest
pioneer of them all and whose trail
the road closely follows thru the
Cumberlands The Wilderness Road
, was to be paid for out of the State
Treasury, and was opened in 1886.
Data at hand only shows that the
State paid S6,665 on this road. The
road from Milford to Crab Orchard
remaining unopened the State appro-
priated money and the road was COM
pleted in 1897.
The origin of turnpikes in Ken
lucky was as follows: A turnpike
road, or road on which turnpikes
(tollgates) are established by law
and which are made and kept in re-
pair by toll collected from travellers
who use the road, the road itself be
ing formed by throwing the earth
from the sides to the center. in
rounded form, (crown) is usually
COMPOUNDED with the modern macad-
amized Invented by MacAdam) Oh
artificial road of broken stone. Nc
such road as the latter was made in
Kentucky until 1929. By an act OF
March 1, 1897, Joseph Crockett was
appointed to erect a turnpike at some
convenient place, and purchase as
much land as necessary for that pur-
pose, not exceeding two acres, on the
road leading form the Crab Orcharc
to Cumberland Gap, beyond where
the road from Madison court house
intersects such road. Or. VIM. Al
len Pusey, of 7 West Madison street
Chicago, assisted by the writer, Is
making an effort to find the location
of this, the first tollgate ever erected
in Kentucky, under legislative act. 1t
is intended to place marker IT
the site when it is determined wheIt
this dollhouse was erecteO
The turnpike (tollgate) was to be
farmed out to the highest bidder who
should give bond and security pay
able to the governor of the state for
the faithful payment Of his bid. Thus
turnpike originally meant tollgate
but now generally means the road it
self on which the turnpike or tollgate |
is established. Robert Craig was the !
successful bidder and first keeper of |
the turnpike.
By act of Dec. II, 1901, all public
roads between county seats, or to any |
salt works, or seat of government. |
We're required to be kept up at least
80 feet wide; but county courts might |
extend their width to 40 feet. width
here means right ofway.)
The first appropriation of a specific
sum by the State for road purposes
was $1,000, Dec. 21, 1921, to improve
the State road leading from Lexing-
ton to Nashville, Tenn, where the
said road crosses the Rolling Fork or
Salt river to and over the summit of
Muldrow's Hill. This was sowing to
the thinness of the population in the
neighborhood, and to the quantity of
labor requisite to put into repair that
part of the great highway leading
from the Northwest of the Ohio and
upper settlements of this State, to
the States of Tennessee and Alabama
and the Orleans country"
The purchase of tools for repair
ing roads was first authorized bV the ,