The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1958-11-27

these silent, treacherous, mysteri-
Gus heights of land we call the
Appalachian range.
Did that stop the white man?
Nothing stopped the white man
who must go west. He paid his
toll of scalps, ineXpressible physi-
cal agony the blessing of death,
and always his kind came from
salt waters to the foot of the Al
leghenies and crawled upward
toward +he challenge and the
promise and, sometimes, the re-
wards of the land beyond this
seemingly endless chain of up
thrust rock and furlnuring for
est. Their boats were tossing
against the skyline of the sea, they
sailed as far as they could go up
the salt bays, they followed the
Patuxent, the Susquehanna, the
PotoWmack and then went on
afoot on horse, or whatever way
chance provided. This is part of
the astounding heritage of Ameri-
cans and of Marylanders. . that
these people would not turn back
that they must search always
for the easier way over the noun
tains and having found an ac-
ceptable route, stubbornly hang
to its direction until a road had
been cut through the wilderness.
We are familiar with G. Wash
ington, Nemacolin, Gist and Cres-
ap, who had part in cutting
the military road over these noun
tains, the road we now identify as
US 40; that road we travel with
only the primary thought of not
getting killed by another automO-
bile and of getting to where we
want to go in a helluva hurry.
Quit sWearing" Okay. okay.
don't deal with fact. just fancy
We are not familiar with one,
Francis DeakinS, a surveyor who
followed Washington by a few
years and surveyed, blazed and
hacked out a route through what
is now Garrett County for
wagon road. Not for military glory,
fame or undying homage. just
for coin and profit. for CONNER
cial purposes. But, the job Deak-
ms did was vital in holding to-
gether this nation on each side
Of the mountains. How vital
part this Interstate Road played
in our affairs is made clear in an
excellent article by Mr.. Felix
Robinson, editor, of Tableland
Trails, published this summer.
The Interstate road passed
within sight Of what later became
Altamont. 1t came across a ravine
near the present home of Thomas
Lohr, wound up the hillside and
topped ridge just west Of the
present intersection of Turkey
Neck road and Highway 1856 This
road contiued southwestward to-
ward Oakland or what is now
Oakland. The route of that pioneer
wagon road can be identified in
1858 by telephone trunkline paral-
telling the unpaved road on the
ridge.
After the building of this old
wagon road fifty years of more
would pass before railroad
reached the Summit In this in
terval. primitive roads began to
appear leading into the cross
country Interstate Road. One of
these connecting roads left the
Interstate on the ridge, passed
eastward through the later site
of Altamont toward Backbone
Mountain. Its course was down
the hillside of what later became
the Old Tobacco Field, now owned
by Herman Schmidt, across the
low gap and wound around the
hillside now crossed by the paved
highway to Kitzmiller, Maryland
This road curved around the pres
ent ElWood Lee bungalow (then
the tWo-story Herman Beckman
house,, and forked just beyond
where the telephone trunkline
passed toward the mountain.
The lefthand fork of the connect
ing road followed the present
line of the telephone wires, going
by the log church-Our Fathers
House-and after the year 1850,