HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA VOLUME 10 [Illustration: BRIDGE AT "BIG CROSSINGS"] HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA VOLUME 10 The Cumberland Road BY ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT _With Maps and Illustrations_ [Illustration] THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY CLEVELAND, OHIO 1904 COPYRIGHT, 1904 BY THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 11 I. OUR FIRST NATIONAL ROAD 15 II. BUILDING THE ROAD IN THE WEST 71 III. OPERATION AND CONTROL 91 IV. STAGECOACHES AND FREIGHTERS 119 V. MAILS AND MAIL LINES 142 VI. TAVERNS AND TAVERN LIFE 152 VII. CONCLUSION 174 APPENDIXES 189 ILLUSTRATIONS I. BRIDGE AT "BIG CROSSINGS" _Frontispiece_ II. MAP OF CUMBERLAND ROAD IN PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND 55 III. CHESTNUT RIDGE, PENNSYLVANIA 65 IV. MAP OF CUMBERLAND ROAD IN THE WEST 79 V. A CULVERT ON THE CUMBERLAND ROAD IN OHIO 177 PREFACE For material used in this volume the author is largely in the debt of the librarians of the State Libraries of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. From the Honorable C. B. Galbreath, of the Ohio State Library, he has received much assistance covering an extended period. To the late Thomas B. Searight's valuable collection of biographical and colloquial sketches, _The Old Pike_, the author wishes to express his great indebtedness. As Mr. Searight gave special attention to the road in Pennsylvania, the present monograph deals at large with the story of the road west of the Ohio River, especially in the state of Ohio. The Cumberland Road was best known in some parts as the "United States" or "National" Road. Its legal name has been selected as the most appropriate for the present monograph which is revised from a study of the subject _The Old National Road_ formerly published by the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society. A. B. H. MARIETTA, OHIO, May 15, 1903. The Cumberland Road _It is a monument of a past age; but like all other monuments, it is interesting as well as venerable. It carried thousands of population and millions of wealth into the West; and more than any other material structure in the land, served to harmonize and strengthen, if not to save, the Union._--VEECH. CHAPTER I OUR FIRST NATIONAL ROAD _The middle ages had their wars and agonies, but also their intense delights. Their gold was dashed with blood, but ours is sprinkled with dust. Their life was intermingled with white and purple; ours is one seamless stuff of brown._--RUSKIN.