Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-06-22

all the streamsl by good bridges. II
was macadamized from Tygar,s Val
ley river to Parkersburg in lS4S. About
1852 ii was further improved BY con.
struction of new bridges across several
streams at important crossings. In
1910 facilities for travel and news were
increased on the western end Of the
road by the establishment Of a daily
line Of stages, and a regular mail
service which made connection with
the Ohio steamers at Parkersburp.
By lS45 there was a line of fast tr-
weekly stages from Winchester, from
Moorefeld and from Green Spring, at
which connections were made with
Baltimore by trains Of the B. & o.
railway. The fare from Green Spring
to Parkersburg, 2l0 miles. was $40.
The road, establishing commercial
and other relations, soon became
busy thoroughfare of travel and traffic
which stimulated the creation of many
inns and towns along the route-such
as Aurora, Fellowsville, Evansville
1889, and West Union (lS46). In
many ways it influenced the material
prosperity and social life Of the people
of the region through which it passed
Following the act Of 1881, which pro-
vided for more satisfactory adjustment
of land titles, it was an important in
centive to immigration and settlement
and development-especially along
the region of southern Preston and in
Richie. Its construction stimulated
the construction Of intersecting roads,
such as the Brandonville pike, start
ing from Somerfeld, Pa, passing via
Kingwood and connecting with the
Northwestern at a point which became
Fellowsville in 1S4S. 1t also doubt
less influenced the legislature in 1887
to provide for survey of Cheat from
the turnpike crossing to the Pennsyl-
vania line. On some parts of It's
course it furnished the incentive for
the establishment Of inns to meet the
needs Of those who desired to escape
the heat of the seaboard by a summer
sojourn amid the wild beauty of the
mountains, whose streams we're filled
with trout and whose forests furnished
home for deer and other game.
Beyond the headwaters of the Pc
tomac, it passed over the Backbone,
opening the way to remote and in
accessible region, bordering on the
land Of Canaan, which was made ia
nous few years later by "The Clerk
Of Oxenford's" David Hunter Stroth-
err in ":The Blackwater Chronicle" and
later by the same writer under the nom
de plume, "Porte Crayon," in "Visit
to the Virginia Canaan"
1t might have been a road Of great
er Importance if Virginia soon after its
completion had not been induced to d.
vert her interest from turnpikes to ca
als-infuenced by the completion OF
a Pennsylvania system Of transportation
COhuSStiilS Will SulO dt lttoOuI gu.
West OF the Alleghenies, it was extern
sively damaged by the numerous heavy
cattle driven over it in the winter and
early spring. 1t was also much iniur-
ed by high waters, especially in 1852
and 1883.
| Although it never became Of ma
tional importance as did its more re-
nowned national rival at the north, il
as for a while the busy scene of much
business Of a national character and
gave fair promise Of serving we'll the
purpose for which Virginia had plann-
ed it until its larger usefulness was
transferred to its horseless rival, which,
persistently overcoming obstacles and
opposition, reached Cumberland in
1912, Grafton in 1884 and Parkersburg
in 1857.
Supported by sentiment that long
scorned the possibility of competition
and that later opposed any improved
system of transportation which, by abb
sorbing the slower traffic, might close
the taverns and ruin the local market
for grain and provisions, it was finally
paralleled by railroad which divert
ed its travel and traffic, created rival
towns, and brought pioneer prospec-
tors and promoters who prepared the
way for the later era Of larger indus
trial development.
Although its utility was diminished
by proximity to the railroad, it was
still kept in moderate repair In the