July 24, 2005

National Road Was First Step Across USA

The Interstate Highway System is an engineering marvel that surely would astound Delaware Indian chief Nemacolin.

He was hired in 1752 by the Ohio Company landholders - including a young surveyor named George Washington -- to mark a primitive trail through the Cumberland Gap that became the first federal highway.

We know it today as part of U.S. 40 stretching from Baltimore, Md., to Barstow, Calif.

In the early days of this country, costal waters and rivers were the principal modes of transport. There were few roads between communities because of the great distances and rough terrain.

By 1800, the Ohio Country - from which five Midwestern states were to be carved - was largely settled. Yet, the eastern seaboard and the fabulously productive heartland were separated by the Allegheny Mountains. There were no connecting rivers.

Presidents Washington and Jefferson saw the need to open transport from the Potomac and Ohio River systems. However, the funding was controversial according to historian Timothy Crumrin of the Midwest Open-Air Museum.

"Some people thought costs should be borne by the territories it would help most," says Crumrin. "They felt it was unconstitutional for the federal government to fund internal improvements."

President Jefferson's Treasury Secretary, Albert Gallatin, proposed a funding solution. He had been thinking on the matter since he - as a Wheeling land agent 18 years previously - had advised President Washington on a suitable route.

Gallatin penned a letter to Congress - titled "Origin of the National Road." He suggested that sates exempt federal land sales from taxation and earmark a percentage of the proceeds for road building.

The first road would "connect the navigable waters emptying into the Atlantic to the Ohio, and afterwards continue through the new states."

The National Road committee declared the thoroughfare "would be cement of the Union by making crooked ways straight and rough ways smooth, in effect remove the intervening mountains -- and by facilitating the intercourse of our western brethren -- unite them in interest."

Congress liked the idea. In 1803 it allocated part of revenues from the sale of public land in Ohio territory to the building of a road from Cumberland Gap in Maryland (on the Potomac) to Wheeling in what is now West Virginia (on the Ohio).

An enabling act - later including Indiana and Illinois -- allotted 3/5 of federal land sales for road building within the states and 2/5 for the National Road from border to border.

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President Jefferson signed legislation in 1806 for the "United States' Road" from Cumberland to the Mississippi. Moving force behind the project was Senator Henry Clay of Wheeling.

The road was to be "as straight as possible and run through the capitals of each state along the route." Construction began five years later.

"Technically, the commissioners had to obtain permission to place the road across occupied land, though they were to make no use of the right of eminent domain," says Crumrin.

"No compensation was offered landowners because it was felt the road brought 'nothing but benefits and blessings' in its wake. Few property owners balked. Indeed, they often helped clear the right of way."

The road itself was 20 feet wide and surfaced - if at all - by a variety of materials. The preferred construction was devised by Scottish engineer John Macadam whose name came to be associated with hard-surfaced roads.

Stones passing through a 7-inch brass ring were laid down as a foundation 12 to 18 inches deep. The road was graded up another 6 inches with a sloping crown of 3-inch stones, gravel and soil to provide a smooth well-drained surface. Ditches were dug along side.

Hundreds of bridges were constructed over tributary streams. If the road approached at an angle, it was given an S curve to cross squarely and save money. These S curves - jokingly attributed to tipsy engineers --became the National Road's "brand."

Initial cost estimates, says Crumrin, were $6,000 a mile. Portions of the road through hilly sections of Pennsylvania cost up to $13,000 per mile. The first 113-mile section - between Cumberland and Wheeling - was completed in seven years.

Passenger "stage" and teamster "freight" lines sprang up to use the road marvel. Coaches averaged about 60 to 70 miles per day. Express" lines boasted of covering 150 miles a day with frequent changes of 6-horse teams.

An occasional cabin on wheels came along - the first travel trailers.

"Conestoga" wagons hauled heavy freight. Their large swayback bodies on a short wheelbase prevented cargo shifting and permitted sharp turns. The six-horse rigs -- brightly painted and festooned with bells - averaged 15 miles per day. The driver, with reins' usually walked along side the "off" horse, but sometimes rode if the way was rough or muddy - never in the wagon reserved for paying freight.

Many towns and businesses sprang up to accommodate the traveling public -- stores for food and supplies, hotels, blacksmiths, livery stables and hay markets.

When the Indiana road survey began in 1827, for example, Indianapolis was virtually the only town between Centerville and Terre Haute - a distance of 115 miles. Within eight years, nine new towns and villages still in existence sprang up along the route.

Motels of the period were taverns that supplied lodging, meals, ardent spirits, entertainment and often-temporary bedmates of tender gender. Ordinary lodging was for beds shared with others of the same sex.

In the road's heyday, it was estimated there was one tavern or bar per mile.

To control wayside bars, Indiana in 1832 passed a law stipulating that taverns and inns must have at least one spare room with two beds -- and stabling for four horses -- in order to get a liquor license.

Road Remembered

Harper's Monthly magazine in1879 interviewed several old men who recalled the glory days of the National Road:

"The wagons were so numerous that the leaders of one team had their noses in the trough at the end of the next wagon ahead. Coaches, drawn by four or six horses, dashed along at a speed of which a modern limited train might not feel ashamed.

"Besides the coaches and wagons, there were gentlemen traveling singly in the saddle - with all their luggage stuffed into their saddlebags.

"There were enormous doves of sheep and herds of cattle, which raised the dust like a cloud.

"Once in a while, Senator Clay or General Jackson made an appearance, and answered with stately cordiality the familiar greetings of the other passers-by.

"Homespun Davy Crockett sometimes stood in relief against the busy scene. All the statesmen of the West and South - Harrison, Houston, Taylor, Polk and Allen - came along the road to Washington, D.C.

"The traffic was so heavy that generally it was safe from highway robbery. However, the [affluent] traveler by coach had his expedition spiced by occasional assaults of highwaymen who sprang out of the pines that in some places made perpetual night of the brightest day.

"Nearly every mile had its tavern, and every tavern its pretty maid or jovial host. The eating was the cream of the earth - venison cutlets, ham and eggs, Johnnycakes.

"There were rival lines. The competition led to overdriving and many accidents.

"Sometimes two coaches of different lines would travel together. As one passed the other, passengers in the vehicle left behind would threaten and gesticulate against the victors. The verbal menace was often emphasized by an exhibition of bowie knives and pistols.

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The 800-mile National Road reached Vandalia, Illinois, in 1841 -- just short of its planned terminal at St. Louis. Rapid expansion of railroads, with greater speed and carrying capacity, overtook America's first step across the continent.

Nevertheless, Americans with a taste for adventure can tour the historic segment; eat at some of the original taverns along the scenic route; and visit the several national parks preserving our fascinating past - Chevrolets not included.

Author: Lindsey Williams