The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1924-02-28
INCIDENTS IN MARYLAND
HISTORY. =
CA Reprint.)

timore and Washington may in time
become a link in a great highway con-
Meeting the North and South. 1t may
also become a part of a system of
smooth road between the East and the
West; or rather the old National road,
which was the predecessor of the Bal
timore and Ohio Railroad, may be
modernized and may become the great
highway for automobiles as the sue
cessor of the old stage coaches. In
deed, the smooth, hard and durable
roads and the automobile gives prom
Use of affording relief from excessive
freight and passenger rates of the
/ steam railroad companies. 1t was the
| life ambition of the late Senator Cor
man to lnaugurate a system of i'm
proved roads extending East and
West, North and South from Wash
lngton. He had in mind the great
need of such roads for military pur-
poses as well as for ordinary traffic.
> In his minds eye he saw these smooth
highways crowded with automobiles,
bicycles and horse vehicles as were
the turnpikes in old days filled with
four horse wagons, Conestoga wag-
ons and other vehicles.
From time to time there appear in
print suggestions of a great Appian
Way across the continent from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. 1t is possible
that such a highway may be built.
1t would only be repetition in his
tory if Maryland became the pioneer
IN the great project with the boule-
ward between Baltimore and Washing
ton, as the state was the pioneer in
railroad building, in the telegraph
and in electric railroads while a ma
tive of Maryland-Rumsey-con-
structed and operated the first steam
boat on the Potomac River. The sug-
gested Appian Way would follow the
old National pike. The route is pre-
historic. Even before the Indian in
vaded America herds of buffalo
roamed the continent. They were
Americas first roadmakers. They
did their work so we'll that a map of
their trails and traces" would dupli-
cate the great highway and railroad
system of today.
The National pike, or the Cumber-
land road, as it was popularity called,
was first buffalo trace worn deep
across the Appalachians by the pound
ing hoofs of millions of bison. When
the Indians came they followed this
same trail in their hunting excursions
and war expeditions, retreating over
It to the West before the ever advanc-
ing, relentless frontier of the white
man. Over this path came the Anglo
Saxon hunter and trapper, followed by
the home maker, until at last the tide
of emigration poured in a deluge thru
the mountain passes to the land of
promise.
To supply the trade demand of this
growing Western population in the
early days long trains of pack ponies
picked their way to and fro over the
old Cumberland trail, to be displaced
| by the great Conestoge freight wag-
ons and speeding mail coaches of the
early days of the century, they in turn
to vanish when the steam railroad
accomplished the supposedly impos-
sible feat of climbing the mountains.
Every mile of the old Cumberland
road is historic ground. Over it toiled
the young surveyor, Washington. La
ter the British grenadiers tramped the
route led by Braddock, whose grave
is still green beside the trail Dis
content followed the settlement of the
country beyond the Appalachians.
Despised by the tidewater particians
the settlers of the Western valleys
turned to the support of the Burr con-
spiracy. Just at this crisis there was
successful demand for great road
which should bind the two sections
together. In 1902 jefferson signed a
bill for the survey of the National
pike. The first contract was awarded
in 1911 and the road was completed
in 1918. In 1925 was begun the ex-
tension Of the National pike from
Wheeling to st. Louis.
The reconstruction of the old Ma
tional road will resurrect in a measure
the vanished stage-coach days. Scat
tered along the road were the old
taverns of which only a few remain.
It is expected that many of these will
be rebuilt, thus restoring the most
picturesque feature of the old turn
| pike. The first taverns along the
route were built of logs, and consisted
IF only two rooms ana a great fire.
place, before which the tired travel
ers slept i'll their blankets, curled up
on the puncheon floors. They sported
such names as Sign of the Rising
Sun, Sign of the Orange Tree, Tenn
pie of June, Six-mile House, Sign of
the Golden Swan, Sign of the Indian
Queen, Sign of the Green Tree and