The Old Pike Part 14

24. Act of March 2, 1831, appropriates $100,000 for opening, grading, &c., west of Zanesville, Ohio; $950 for repairs during the year 1830; $2,700 for work heretofore done east of Zanesville; $265.85 for arrearages for the survey from Zanesville to the capital of Missouri; and $75,000 for opening, grading, &c., in the State of Indiana, including bridge over White river, near Indianapolis, and progressing to eastern and western boundaries; $66,000 for opening, grading, and bridging in Illinois; to be paid from the fund, acts admitting Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri 244,915 85

25. Act of July 3, 1832, appropriates $150,000 for repairs east of the Ohio river; $100,000 for continuing the road west of Zanesville; $100,000 for continuing the road in Indiana, including bridge over east and west branch of White river; $70,000 for continuing road in Illinois; to be paid from the fund acts admitting Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, 420,000 00

26. Act of March 2, 1833, appropriates to carry on certain improvements east of the Ohio river, $125,000; in Ohio, west of Zanesville, $130,000; in Indiana, $100,000; in Illinois, $70,000; in Virginia, $34,440 459,440 00

27. Act of June 24, 1834, appropriates $200,000 for continuing the road in Ohio; $150,000 for continuing the road in Indiana; $100,000 for continuing the road in Illinois, and $300,000 for the entire completion of repairs east of Ohio, to meet provisions of the Acts of Pennsylvania (April 4, 1831), Maryland (Jan. 23, 1832), and Virginia (Feb. 7, 1832), accepting the road surrendered to the States, the United States not thereafter to be subject for any expense for repairs. Places engineer officer of army in control of road through Indiana and Illinois, and in charge of all appropriations. $300,000 to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, balance from acts admitting Ohio, Indiana and Illinois 750,000 00

28. Act of June 27, 1837, (General Appropriation) for arrearages due contractors 1,609 36 ----------- _Carried forward_ $4,720,006 44

_Brought forward_ $4,720,006 44

29. Act of March 3, 1835, appropriates $200,000 for continuing the road in the State of Ohio; $100,000 for continuing road in the State of Indiana; to be out of fund acts admitting Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and $346,186.58 for the entire completion of repairs in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia; but before any part of this sum can be expended east of the Ohio river, the road shall be surrendered to and accepted by the States through which it pa.s.ses, and the United States shall not thereafter be subject to any expense in relation to said road. Out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated 646,186 58

30. Act of March 3, 1835, (Repair of Roads) appropriates to pay for work heretofore done by Isaiah Frost on the c.u.mberland Road, $320; to pay late Superintendent of road a salary, $862.87 1,182 87

31. Act of July 2, 1836, appropriates for continuing the road in Ohio, $200,000; for continuing road in Indiana, $250,000, including materials for a bridge over the Wabash river; $150,000 for continuing the road in Illinois, provided that the appropriation for Illinois shall be limited to grading and bridging, and shall not be construed as pledging Congress to future appropriations for the purpose of macadamizing the road, and the moneys herein appropriated for said road in Ohio and Indiana must be expended in completing the greatest possible continuous portion of said road in said States so that said finished part thereof may be surrendered to the States respectively; to be paid from acts admitting Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri 600,000 00

32. Act of March 3, 1837, appropriates $190,000 for continuing the road in Ohio; $100,000 for continuing the road in Indiana; $100,000 for continuing road in Illinois, provided the road in Illinois shall not be stoned or graveled, unless it can be done at a cost not greater than the average cost of stoning and graveling the road in Ohio and Indiana, and provided that in all cases where it can be done the work to be laid off in sections and let to the lowest substantial bidder.

Sec. 2 of the act provides that Sec. 2 of act of July 2, 1836, shall not be applicable to expenditures hereafter made on the road, and $7,183.63 is appropriated by this act for repairs east of the Ohio river; to be paid from the acts admitting Ohio, Indiana and Illinois 397,183 63 ------------- _Carried forward_ $6,364,559 52

_Brought forward_ $6,364,559 52

33. Act of May 25, 1838, appropriates for continuing the road in Ohio, $150,000; for continuing it in Indiana, including bridges, $150,000; for continuing it in Illinois, $9,000; for the completion of a bridge over Dunlap's creek at Brownsville; to be paid from moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated and subject to provisions and conditions of act of March 3, 1837 459,000 00

34. Act of June 17, 1844, (Civil and Diplomatic) appropriates for arrearages on account of survey to Jefferson, Mo. 1,359 81 ------------- Total $6,824,919 33

NOTE--The appropriation of $3,786 60, made by act of Feb. 26, 1812, is not included in the above total for the reason that it was a balance from a former appropriation.

The act of March 3, 1843, appropriates so much as is necessary to settle certain claims on contract for building bridges over Kaskaskia river and constructing part of c.u.mberland Road.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HON. T. M. T. McKENNAN.]

CHAPTER XV.

_Speech of Hon. T. M. T. McKennan, delivered in Congress, June 6, 1832--The Road a Monument of National Wealth and Greatness--A Bond of Union--Business of the Road--Five Thousand Wagons unload in Wheeling in a single year--Facilities afforded by the Road for transporting the Mails and Munitions of War._

This road, Mr. Speaker (the National Road), is a _magnificent one_--magnificent in extent; it traverses seven different States of this Union, and its whole distance will cover an extent of near eight hundred miles. Magnificent in the difficulties overcome by the wealth of a nation, and in the benefits and advantages and blessings which it diffuses, east and west, far and wide, through the whole country. It is, sir, _a splendid monument of national wealth and national greatness, and of the deep interest felt by the government in the wealth and prosperity and happiness of the people_.

It is not, sir, like the stupendous monuments of other countries and of other times, which have been erected merely for the purpose of show and of gratifying the pride of some despotic monarch; but this and all similar national improvements are _works of utility; they tend to cement the bond of union; they bring together the distant parts of this exalted republic; they diffuse wealth and happiness among a free people, and will be a source of never failing prosperity to millions yet unborn_.

It is, sir, _a great commercial, military, mail, national work_. To give the House, or those of its members who are unacquainted with the fact, some idea of the immense commercial advantages which the eastern as well as the western country has derived from the construction of this road, let me call their attention to the amount of merchandise transported to the Ohio river in a single year after its completion; and here, sir, I avail myself of an estimate made by an honorable member of the other House on another occasion, when he strongly urged the propriety and importance of the extension of the road through the State of Ohio.

In the year 1822, shortly after the completion of the road, a single house in the town of Wheeling unloaded 1,081 wagons, averaging about 3,500 pounds each, and paid for the carriage of the goods $90,000. At that time there were five other commission houses in the same place, and estimating that each of them received two-thirds the amount of goods consigned to the other, there must have been nearly 5,000 wagons unloaded, and nearly $400,000 paid as the cost of transportation. But, further, it is estimated that at least every tenth wagon pa.s.sed through that place into the interior of Ohio, Indiana, &c., which would considerably swell the amount. These wagons take their return loads and carry to the eastern markets all the various articles of production and manufacture of the West--their flour, whisky, hemp, tobacco, bacon, and wool. Since this estimate was made, the town of Wheeling is greatly enlarged; its population has nearly doubled; the number of its commercial establishments has greatly increased; and the demand for merchandise in the West has increased with the wealth and improvement and prosperity of the country.

But, further, sir, before the completion of this road, from four to six weeks were usually occupied in the transportation of goods from Baltimore to the Ohio river, and the price varied from six to ten dollars per hundred. Now they can be carried in less than half the time and at one-half the cost, and arrangements are making by some enterprising gentlemen of the West to have the speed of transportation still increased, and the price of carriage diminished.

Equally important are the benefits derived by the government and the people from the rapid, regular, and safe transportation of the mail on this road. Before its completion, eight or more days were occupied in transporting the mail from Baltimore to Wheeling; it was then carried on horseback, and did not reach the western country by this route more than once a week. Now it is carried in comfortable stages, protected from the inclemency of the weather, in forty-eight hours; and no less than twenty-eight mails weekly and regularly pa.s.s and repa.s.s each other on this road. To show this fact, and the absolute necessity and importance of keeping the road in a good state of repair, in order to enable the postoffice department to fulfill the expectations of the public, I will ask the favor of the clerk to read to the House a communication received from the Postmaster General on the subject. [Here the clerk read an extract from a letter of the Postmaster General]. The facilities afforded by such a road in time of war for the transportation of the munitions of war, and the means of defence from one point of the country to another, need scarcely be noticed; they must be palpable and plain to every reflecting mind, and I will not take up the time of the House in detailing them.

As I said before, the road traverses seven different States of this Union, and in its whole extent will cover a distance of near 800 miles.

Who, then, can doubt its nationality? Who can question the allegation that it is an immensely important national work? _Who can reconcile it to his conscience and his const.i.tuents to permit it to go to destruction?_

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROAD WAGON]

CHAPTER XVI.

_Life on the Road--Origin of the Phrase Pike Boys--Slaves Driven Like Horses--Race Distinction at the Old Taverns--Old Wagoners--Regulars and Sharpshooters--Line Teams--John Snider, John Thompson, Daniel Barcus, Robert Bell, Henry Clay Rush, and other Familiar Names._

As the phrase "Pike Boys" is frequently used in this volume, it is considered pertinent to give its origin. When first used, it was confined in its application to boys--sons of wagoners, stage drivers, tavern keepers, farmers, and in fact the sons of persons of every occupation who lived on or adjacent to the road, in the same sense that the boys of a town are called "town boys." Its meaning and import, however, expanded in course of time, until it embraced, as it now does, all persons in any manner and at any time identified with the road, whether by residence or occupation, and without "regard to age, race, color or previous condition of servitude," as the statute puts it, for be it remembered that negro slaves were frequently seen on the National Road. The writer has seen them driven over the road arranged in couples and fastened to a long, thick rope or cable, like horses. This may seem incredible to a majority of persons now living along the road, but it is true, and was a very common sight in the early history of the road and evoked no expression of surprise, or words of censure. Such was the temper of the times. There were negro wagoners on the road, but negro stage drivers were unknown. Stage driving was quite a lofty calling, and the acme of many a young man's ambition. The work was light and the whirl exciting and exhilarating. Wagoners, white and black, stopped over night at the same taverns, but never sat down together at the same table. A separate table was invariably provided for the colored wagoners, a custom in thorough accord with the public sentiment of the time, and seemingly agreeable to the colored wagoners themselves.

Country life in the olden time was enlivened by numerous corn huskings, b.a.l.l.s, spelling matches, school exhibitions and frolics of all kinds.

Young men and boys along the road, were in the habit of attending these gatherings, going as far as three miles and more in the back country, to reach them, some on foot and others on horseback. A young man would think nothing of getting a girl up behind him on a horse, and hieing away after nightfall, four and five miles to a country dance, and many of the girls of the period considered it but pleasant recreation to walk two or three miles with their lovers, to a spelling match or a revival meeting. A feeling of jealousy always existed between the young men and boys, living along and near the road, and those in the back country, and the occasions before mentioned furnished opportunities from time to time for this feeling to break out, as it often did, in quarrels and fights.

The country boys would get together in antic.i.p.ation of an approaching gathering at some school house, and organize for offense or defense, as the exigencies might require, always calling their rivals and imaginary enemies, "Pike Boys," and this was the origin of that familiar phrase.

The men who hauled merchandise over the road were invariably called wagoners, not teamsters, as is the modern word, and they were both, since Webster defines wagoner as one who conducts a wagon, and teamster as one who drives a team. The teams of the old wagoners consisting, as a rule, of six horses, were very rarely stabled, but rested over night on the wagon yards of the old taverns, no matter how inclement the weather.

Blankets were used to protect them in the winter season. Feed troughs were suspended at the rear end of the wagon bed, and carried along in this manner, day after day all the year round. In the evening, when the day's journey was ended, the troughs were taken down and fastened on the tongues of the wagon to which the horses were tied, three on a side, with their heads to the trough. Wagoners carried their beds, rolled up, in the forepart of the wagon, and spread them out in a semi-circle on the bar room floor in front of the big bar room fire upon going to rest.

Some of the old bar room grates would hold as much as six bushels of coal, and iron pokers from four to six feet in length, weighing eight and ten pounds, were used for stirring the fires. To get down an icy hill with safety, it was necessary to use an ice cutter, a rough lock, or a clevis, and sometimes all combined, contingent upon the thickness and smoothness of the ice, and the length and steepness of the hill. The ice cutter was of steel or iron, in appearance like a small sled, fitted on the hind wheels, which were first securely locked. The rough lock was a short chain with large, rough links, and the clevis was like that used on an ordinary plow, except that it was larger and stronger. These instruments were essential parts of the wagoners' "outfit." There were two cla.s.ses of wagoners, the "regular" and the "sharpshooter." The regular was on the road constantly with his team and wagon, and had no other pursuit than hauling goods and merchandise on the road. The sharpshooters were for the most part farmers, who put their farm teams on the road in seasons when freights were high, and took them off when prices of hauling declined; and there was jealousy between the two cla.s.ses. The regular drove his team about fifteen miles a day on the average, while the sharpshooter could cover twenty miles and more. Line teams were those controlled by an a.s.sociation or company. Many of the regular wagoners became members of these companies and put in their teams. The main object of the combination was to transport goods more rapidly than by the ordinary method. Line teams were stationed along the road, at distances of about fifteen miles, and horses were exchanged after the manner of the stage lines. Many of the old wagoners had bull-dogs tied at the rear of their wagons, and these dogs were often seen pressing with all their strength against the collar about their necks, as if to aid the horses in moving their load; and this is probably the origin of the common form of boast about a man being equal in strength to "a six-horse team with a cross dog under the wagon."

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN THOMPSON.]

The whip used by old wagoners was apparently five feet long, thick and hard at the b.u.t.t, and tapering rapidly to the end in a silken cracker.

Battley White, of Centerville, Washington county, Pa., made more of these whips than any other man on the road. The interior of his whip was a raw hide. John Morrow, of Petersburg, Somerset county, Pa., also made many whips for the old wagoners. There was another whip, much used by old wagoners, known as the "Loudon Whip." The inner portion of this whip was an elastic wooden stock, much approved by the wagoners. It was manufactured in the village of Loudon, Franklin county, Pa., and hence its name. It was used almost exclusively on what was called the "Glade Road," from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, _via_ Chambersburg and Bedford.

Some of the old wagoners of the National Road became rich. John Snider was one of these. He drove a six-horse team on the road for twenty years, and died on his farm near Uniontown in December, 1889, much lamented. Few men possessed more of the higher attributes of true manhood than John Snider. The author of this volume gratefully and cheerfully acknowledges his indebtedness to John Snider for many of the facts and incidents it contains. He was a clear-headed, intelligent, sober, discreet, and observing man, whose statements could be relied on as accurate.

It would be an impossible task to collect the names of all the old wagoners of the National Road. They number thousands, and many of them left the road long since to seek fortunes in new and distant sections of our widely extended country. The most of them have gone to scenes beyond the boundaries of time. It is the author's aim to collect as many of their names as is practicable and write them down in history. The names of John Thompson, James n.o.ble, and John Flack are recalled. These worthy old wagoners are still living in the vicinity of Taylorstown, Washington county, Pa., and highly respected by all their neighbors. The point at which they first entered upon the road was the famous "S" bridge.

Thompson drove his father's team when quite young, in fact, a mere boy.

The first trip he made over the road was in the spring of 1843, in company with the veteran wagoner, George Hallam, of Washington, Pa.

Thompson's father was a pork packer, and the youthful wagoner's "down loads," as those moving eastwardly were called, consisted for the most part of bacon. His recollections of the road are vivid, and warmly cherished. He can sit down in a room, at his comfortable home, and "in his mind's eye" see every mile post along the road and recall the distances to points inscribed thereon. In the year 1852, he went to California, engaged in mining, and was successful. With the instinct planted in every human breast, he returned to his native land, and with his acc.u.mulations bought his father's homestead farm. The old farm enhanced in value by reason of the oil developments, and landed the old wagoner in the ranks of the rich.

The name n.o.ble is a familiar one on the National Road, and suggestive of rank. "Watty" and William n.o.ble were stage drivers. James n.o.ble, the old wagoner, drove a team for the late Hon. Isaac Hodgens, who was at one time a pork salter. He remained on the road as a wagoner until its tide of business ceased, and retired to Taylorstown to take his chances in the on-moving and uncertain affairs of life. He seemed possessed of the idea that there was undeveloped wealth in the vicinity of Taylorstown, and made up his mind to gain a foothold there and wait the coming of events. He managed by the exercise of industry and economy to become the owner of a farm, and the discovery of oil did the rest for him. He is rich.

John Flack's career is similar to those of Thompson and n.o.ble, culminating in like good fortune. "He struck oil, too."

We have in the story of these old wagoners, examples of the possibilities for achievement, under the inspiring genius of American inst.i.tutions. Poor boys, starting out in life as wagoners, with wages barely sufficient for their subsistence, pushing on and up with ceaseless vigilance, attaining the dignity of farmers, in all ages the highest type of industrial life, and now each bearing, though meekly, the proud t.i.tle of "freeholder," which Mr. Blaine said in his celebrated eulogium of Garfield, "has been the patent and pa.s.sport of self-respect with the Anglo-Saxon race ever since Horsa and Hengist landed on the sh.o.r.es of England."

[Ill.u.s.tration: DANIEL BARCUS.]

Otho and Daniel Barcus, brothers, were among the prominent wagoners of the road. They lived near Frostburg, Md. Otho died at Barton, Md., in 1883. Daniel is now living in retirement at Salisbury, Somerset county, Pa. In 1838 he engaged with John Hopkins, merchant at the foot of Light and Pratt streets, Baltimore, to haul a load of general merchandise, weighing 8,300 pounds, to Mt. Vernon, Ohio. "He delivered the goods in good condition" at the end of thirty days from the date of his departure from Baltimore. His route was over the National Road to Wheeling, thence by Zanesville and Jacktown, Ohio, thence thirty-two miles from the latter place to the point of destination, the whole distance being 397 miles. He received $4.25 per hundred for hauling the goods. At Mt.

Vernon he loaded back with Ohio tobacco, 7,200 pounds in hogsheads, for which he received $2.75 per hundred. On the return trip he upset, between Mt. Vernon and Jacktown, without sustaining any damage, beyond the breaking of a bow of his wagon bed, and the loss caused by detention. The expense of getting in shape for pursuing his journey, was the price of a gallon of whisky. Mt. Vernon is not on the line of the road, and Mr. Barcus writes that "when he reached the National Road at Jacktown, he felt at home again." Mr. Barcus also states in a letter to the writer of these pages, that the first lot of goods shipped over the Baltimore and Ohio railway, after its completion to c.u.mberland, destined for Wheeling, was consigned to Shriver and Dixon, commission merchants of c.u.mberland, and by that firm consigned to Forsythe and Son, of Wheeling. This lot of goods aggregated 6,143 pounds, an average load for a six-horse team, and Mr. Barcus contracted with Shriver and Dixon to haul it through to Wheeling in six days for fifty cents a hundred, which he accomplished. He further states that a delegation of wholesale and retail merchants of Wheeling met him at Steenrod's tavern, east of Wheeling Hill, and escorted him to town, then a place of 4,000 or 5,000 inhabitants, and in the evening there was public rejoicing over the unprecedented event of goods reaching Wheeling from Baltimore in the short s.p.a.ce of seven days. Mr. Barcus concludes his letter as follows: "I stayed many nights at Hopwood with Wilse Clement, and many with Natty Brownfield, in Uniontown. I often stayed with Arthur Wallace, five miles east of Brownsville. I remember one night at Wallace's, after caring for my team, I accompanied his two fine and handsome daughters to a party about a mile distant in the country, where I danced all night, till broad daylight, and then walked home with the girls in the morning."

John Grace was another old wagoner, who became wealthy. The old pike boys will remember him as the driver of a black team. He was a Maryland man. When the old road yielded its grasp on trade, to the iron railway, Grace settled in or near Zanesville, Ohio, where he still lives, or was living a few years ago, worth a hundred thousand dollars. He transported his family to Ohio in his big road wagon.