The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-07-30
Mr.. Martin said:

MI marCln SalQ.
The heavy wheels of big, canvas
covered wagon ratified over the cobble-
stones of a street in Baltimore, and
the bells on the harness of the six
horse team jingled merry tune. The
driver swung his long whip over the
backs of his steeds as they turned into
Frederick Road. Night was coming
on and the driver had decided that he
would stop for the night at Halves
Tavern, six miles out of the city. He
was tired. He had brought load of
pork into Baltimore that morning, I'M
loaded it, loaded up with general mer-
chandise, and was now on his way
to Wheeling with his cargo, a journey
that would take him the better part
of two weeks.
His team was not the only one on
the road that evening. Dozens of men
like him were driving six-horse teams
along the old National Road every day
in the year. In 1922, 5000 such wag-
ons unloaded in Wheeling.
More than one hundred years after
this chariot had ratified over the stony
streets of Baltimore, friend of mine
and I followed in his footsteps-or,
rather his wheel tracks. But we trav-
eled in a Ford that made no noise at
all-well, hardly any-and we had no
bells on our harness.
The traveller going west by automo-
bile today does not follow the road out
of Baltimore that the wagoners and
stagecoach drivers did. The modern
motorist naturally travels by the most
direct, best paved, most uninteresting,
most completely hot-dogged and
thoroughly bill-boarded way.
Indeed, unless he is familiar with
old books and maps, the chances are
that he will not know that there is
more than one road leading out of
Baltimore toward Ellicott City.
To follow the wagon tracks out of
Baltimore you go through quiet coun-
try lanes and tree-shaded avenues and
finally into the present Frederick
Road near hill called DEVILS Elbow,
Just before you arrive at Ellicott City.
The modern motorist will tell you
that following the ghost of a stage
! coach driver or WAGNER who has been
gathered to his fathers for nearly a
century is crazy way to get out OF
Baltimore, and maybe it is, but the
fact remains that the world is just
full of crazy people, many of whom
are modern motorists.
This highway from Baltimore west
ward, in addition to its many local
names, is called, when considered In
its entirety, the Old National Pike,
and it connects the Chesapeake Bay
with the Mississippi River-Balti-
more to st. Louis.
Strictly speaking, the name Nation
al Road, or Cumberland Road, or Unit
ed States Road, belongs only to that
section between Cumberland and
Wheeling. The Act of Congress which
in 1906 authorized the building Of this
road, was called Gan act to regulate
the laying out and making road
from Cumberland, in the State of
Maryland, to the State of Ohio" The
act was passed at the time Ohio was
admitted to the Union, when there
was no West Virginia, and when the
country west of the Ohio River was
largely wilderness. The road was re-
ferred to in the original act and in
subsequent acts as the Cumberland
Road, although it soon came to be
known as the National Pike.
While the original act provided only
for the building of road from Cum
berland to Wheeling, the pressure
later brought to bear on Congress
from the settlements beyond the Ohio
was so great that subsequent legisla-
ton provided for road in a straight
line to a point opposite st. Louis, or
the Mississippi. This road was sur
veyed through the forests and right
of way was cleared, and much of il
completed by the National Govern
ment, especially in Ohio, but parts Of
it had to be completed by the individ
ual states through which it passed.
All of the road was eventually turn
ed over to the individual states be
cause Congress would not appropriate
money for it's maintenance and it wa!
felt that the National Government
had no authority to collect toll. It wa
after the individual states came int
possession of the road that the toll
gates were erected on that portion O.
bit built by the government.
p The Baltimore Cumberland section
was built and was made up largely O.
older and shorter roads which wer
formerly Indian paths, local dirt road
or pieces of roads built by the state O.
by local turnpike companies.
What you call road depends large
ly on where you are and where you ar
going. If YOU are in Baltimore AM