The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-07-15
4OO,OOOMILES OF HIGHWAY
In THE UNITED STATES
A Tourist Travelling Thirty
Miles An Hour Could Cover
Them in Three Years.

Driving twelve hours a day at the
average speed of thirty miles an hour,
an automobilist could cover the tour
| able highways of the United States
and nearby Canada in three years
and sixteen days. This estimate is
based on the 100000 miles of highway
catalogued in current automobile
guide book. Yet when the "horseless
carriages" first appeared thirty years
ago it was a problem to find roads on
which they could run.
1--WE are riding up the crest of the
third renaissance of American road
building" says bulletin of the Ma
tlonal Geographic Society from its
headquarters in Washington, D. C.
Mound builders, the mysterious van
lshed tribe in the Mississippi valley,
had the first roads that were built in
North America.
Good Roads Versus Historic Roads
1.-THE second high point in high
way construction was the rise of
trucking roads to serve the nation ex-
panding westward. Of these the best
example is the Lancaster to Philadel-
phia Valley Pike, now incorporated
into the Lincoln highway. Begun in
1872 the stock-subscription Lascaster
Pike with its nine toll gates, was the
first stone-surfaced highway in Amer
lea. The impetus it gave to road build
ing faded after 1880 in the face of the
advancing steel of railroads. Road
building slumped for rs years until
the automobile brought in the most
notable era of turnpike construction
ever seen in any nation in all time.
"a slightly different version of road
evolution was given by a backwoods
kentuckian when asked who built the
roads in his State. The buffer, the
lngin and the ingineer,' he replied.
Ii the question is location of Ameri-
can roads, his answer, except for pro-
nunciation, stands correct for most of
the United States.
"The increasing interest Americans
are giving to the things which have
come down to US from our young
past, colonial houses, colonial furni-
ture and Indian relics, has not vet
spread to roads. They remain to Am
erica with less loss than any other
type OF treasure from the past. But
the tourist is still more interested in
good road than an historic road
Though the traveller may ignore
them, the ghosts of the buffer, the
lngin' and the pioneer crowd turn
pixies like the National Old Trail.
Where is crosses the pass from Cum
berland, Md, over the watershed to
Uniontown, Pa, the buffalo herd first
plowed a path to grazing valleys in
Virginia. The. Indian found it a good
route for hunting and was so when
the first English penetrated the West
they called it Nemacolin's Path, giving
it the name of a famous Delaware
Indian chief. Braddock sought it out
when he hacked a road toward Fort
Duquense (Pittsburgh). Some say the
fame for Braddock's road ought to
swallow the infamy for Braddock's
defeat. Not for 25 years did another
wheeled vehicle push over the road
hewed for the wagon trains of the
English and Colonial armies. Brad
docks road became the National Road.
financed by Congress that the Cones
toga wagons going west might have
easier going. Then came the early
railroad. And now smooth macadam.
When Travel was Travail"
1T is difficult to find person who
does not Just love to travel The fore
fathers spelled it travail The vast
difference between journeys then and
now made necessary new definition.
and the new definition, new SPELL
ing
Any passenger on the back seat
who grumbles at the bumps finds one
to chlde at his discomfort in Captain
Basil Hall, an English traveller. in
America about 1927: Horrible cordu-
roy roads again made their appear
ance in more formidable shape he
wrote of journey.