The Old Pike. Thomas B. Searight
Maryland, and the Ohio river.
Whereas, by an Act of the Congress of the United States, passed on the twenty-ninth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and six, entitled “An act to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio,” the President of the United States is empowered to lay out a road from the Potomac river to the river Ohio, and to take measures for making the same, so soon as the consent of the legislatures of the several States through which the said road shall pass, could be obtained: And whereas, application hath been made to this legislature, by the President of the United States, for its consent to the measures aforesaid: Therefore,
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized to cause so much of the said road as will be within this State, to be opened so far as it may be necessary the same should pass through this State, and to cause the said road to be made, regulated and completed, within the limits, and according to the intent and meaning of the before recited Act of Congress in relation thereto; Provided, nevertheless, That the route laid down and reported by the commissioners to the President of the United States, be so altered as to pass through Uniontown, in the county of Fayette, and Washington, in the county of Washington, if such alteration can, in the opinion of the President, be made, consistently with the provisions of an act of Congress passed March 29th, 1806, but if not, then over any ground within the limit of this State, which he may deem most advantageous.
Sec 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That such person or persons as are or shall be appointed for the purpose of laying out and completing the said road, under the authority of the United States, shall have full power and authority to enter upon the lands through which the same may pass, and upon any land near or adjacent thereto, and therefrom to take, dig, cut and carry away such materials of earth, stone, gravel, timber and sand as may be necessary for the purpose of completing, and for ever keeping in repair, said road; Provided, That such materials shall be valued and appraised, in the same manner as materials taken for similar purposes, under the authority of this Commonwealth are by the laws thereof, directed to be valued and appraised, and a certificate of the amount thereof shall, by the person or persons appointed, or hereafter to be appointed under the authority of the United States for the purpose aforesaid, be delivered to each party entitled thereto, for any materials to be taken by virtue of this act, to entitle him, her or them to receive payment therefor from the United States.
SIMON SNYDER,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
P. C. LANE,
Speaker of the Senate.
Approved, the ninth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and seven. THOMAS M’KEAN.
TENTH CONGRESS—FIRST SESSION.
Communicated to Congress February 19, 1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The States of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia having, by their several acts consented that the road from Cumberland to the State of Ohio, authorized by the act of Congress of March 29, 1806, should pass through those States, and the report of the commissioners communicated to Congress with my message of January 31, 1807, having been duly considered, I have approved of the route therein proposed for the said road as far as Brownsville, with a single deviation since located, which carries it through Uniontown.
From thence the course to the Ohio, and the point within the legal limits at which it shall strike that river, is still to be decided.
In forming this decision, I shall pay material regard to the interests and wishes of the populous parts of the State of Ohio, and to a future and convenient connection with the road which is to lead from the Indian boundary near Cincinnati, by Vincennes, to the Mississippi, at St. Louis, under authority of the act of April 21, 1806. In this way we may accomplish a continuous and advantageous line of communication from the seat of the General Government to St. Louis, passing through several very interesting points, to the Western country.
I have thought it advisable, also, to secure from obliteration the trace of the road so far as it has been approved, which has been executed at such considerable expense, by opening one-half of its breadth through its whole length.
The report of the commissioners herewith transmitted will give particular information of their proceedings under the act of March 29, 1806, since the date of my message of January 31, 1807, and will enable Congress to adopt such further measures, relative thereto, as they may deem proper under existing circumstances.
TH. JEFFERSON.
February 19, 1808.
The undersigned, commissioners appointed under the law of the United States, entitled “An act to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio,” in addition to the communications heretofore made, beg leave further to report to the President of the United States that, by the delay of the answer of the Legislature of Pennsylvania to the application for permission to pass the road through that State, the commissioners could not proceed to the business of the road in the spring before vegetation had so far advanced as to render the work of exploring and surveying difficult and tedious, from which circumstance it was postponed till the last autumn, when the business was again resumed. That, in obedience to the special instructions given them, the route heretofore reported has been so changed as to pass through Uniontown, and that they have completed the location, gradation and marking of the route from Cumberland to Brownsville, Bridgeport, and the Monongahela river, agreeably to a plat of the courses, distances and grades in which is described the marks and monuments by which the route is designated, and which is herewith exhibited; that by this plat and measurement it will appear (when compared with the road now traveled) there is a saving of four miles of distance between Cumberland and Brownsville on the new route.
In the gradation of the surface of the route (which became necessary) is ascertained the comparative elevation and depression of different points on the route, and taking a point ten feet above the surface of low water in the Potomac river at Cumberland, as the horizon, the most prominent points are found to be elevated as follows, viz.:
| Feet. | 10ths. | |
| Summit of Wills mountain | 581 | 3 |
| Western foot of same | 304 | 4 |
| Summit of Savage mountain | 2022 | 24 |
| Savage river | 1741 | 6 |
| Summit Little Savage mountain | 1900 | 4 |
| Branch Pine Run, first Western water | 1699 | 9 |
| Summit of Red Hill (after called Shades of Death) | 1914 | 3 |
| Summit Little Meadow mountain | 2026 | 16 |
| Little Youghiogheny river | 1322 | 6 |
| East Fork of Shade Run | 1558 | 92 |
| Summit of Negro mountain, highest point | 2328 | 12 |
| Middle branch of White’s creek, at the west foot of Negro mountain | 1360 | 5 |
| White’s creek | 1195 | 5 |
| Big Youghiogheny river | 645 | 5 |
| Summit of a ridge between Youghiogheny river and Beaver waters | 1514 | 5 |
| Beaver Run | 1123 | 8 |
| Summit of Laurel Hill | 1550 | 16 |
| Court House in Uniontown | 274 | 65 |
| A point ten feet above the surface of low water in the Monongahela river, at the mouth of Dunlap’s creek | 119 | 26 |
The law requiring the commissioners to report those parts of the route as are laid on the old road, as well as those on new grounds, and to state those parts which require the most immediate attention and amelioration, the probable expense of making the same passable in the most difficult parts, and through the whole distance, they have to state that, from the crooked and hilly course of the road now traveled, the new route could not be made to occupy any part of it (except an intersection on Wills mountain, another at Jesse Tomlinson’s, and a third near Big Youghiogheny, embracing not a mile of distance in