The Old Pike. Thomas B. Searight
sacrifices of distances and expense.
That, therefore, an estimate must be made on the route as passing wholly through new grounds. In doing this the commissioners feel great difficulty, as they cannot, with any degree of precision, estimate the expense of making it merely passable; nor can they allow themselves to suppose that a less breadth than that mentioned in the law was to be taken into the calculation. The rugged deformity of the grounds rendered it impossible to lay a route within the grade limited by law otherwise than by ascending and descending the hills obliquely, by which circumstance a great proportion of the route occupies the sides of the hills, which cannot be safely passed on a road of common breadth, and where it will, in the opinion of the commissioners, be necessary, by digging, to give the proper form to thirty feet, at least in the breadth of the road, to afford suitable security in passing on a way to be frequently crowded with wagons moving in opposite directions, with transports of emigrant families, and droves of cattle, hogs, etc., on the way to market. Considering, therefore, that a road on those grounds must have sufficient breadth to afford ways and water courses, and satisfied that nothing short of well constructed and completely finished conduits can insure it against injuries, which must otherwise render it impassable at every change of the seasons, by heavy falls of rain or melting of the beds of snow, with which the country is frequently covered; the commissioners beg leave to say, that, in a former report, they estimated the expense of a road on these grounds, when properly shaped, made and finished in the style of a stone-covered turnpike, at $6,000 per mile, exclusive of bridges over the principal streams on the way; and that with all the information they have since been able to collect, they have no reason to make any alteration in that estimate.
The contracts authorized by, and which have been taken under the superintendence of the commissioner, Thomas Moore (duplicates of which accompany this report), will show what has been undertaken relative to clearing the timber and brush from part of the breadth of the road. The performance of these contracts was in such forwardness on the 1st instant as leaves no doubt of their being completely fulfilled by the first of March.
The commissioners further state, that, to aid them in the extension of their route, they ran and marked a straight line from the crossing place on the Monongahela, to Wheeling, and had progressed twenty miles, with their usual and necessary lines of experiment, in ascertaining the shortest and best connection of practical grounds, when the approach of winter and the shortness of the days afforded no expectation that they could complete the location without a needless expense in the most inclement season of the year. And, presuming that the postponement of the remaining part till the ensuing spring would produce no delay in the business of making the road, they were induced to retire from it for the present.
The great length of time already employed in this business, makes it proper for the commissioners to observe that, in order to connect the best grounds with that circumspection which the importance of the duties confided to them demanded, it became indispensably necessary to run lines of experiment and reference in various directions, which exceed an average of four times the distance located for the route, and that, through a country so irregularly broken, and crowded with very thick underwood in many places, the work has been found so incalculably tedious that, without an adequate idea of the difficulty, it is not easy to reconcile the delay.
It is proper to mention that an imperious call from the private concerns of Commissioner Joseph Kerr, compelled him to return home on the 29th of November, which will account for the want of his signature to this report.
All of which is, with due deference, submitted, this 15th day of January, 1808.
ELI WILLIAMS,
THOMAS MOORE.
Note.—It will be observed that Keyser’s Ridge, which is unquestionably the highest point on the road, is not mentioned by the commissioners. This is, no doubt, because, at the date of their report, the locality did not bear the name Keyser’s Ridge, and was known as a peak of Negro mountain. Soon after the location of the road, one Keyser acquired the property at the ridge, and it took its name from him. It will also be observed that the measurement of heights by the commissioners was made from “a point ten feet above the surface of low water in the Potomac at Cumberland.” A table of heights given in a subsequent chapter, the authority for which is not ascertainable, differs from that in the commissioners’ report, but their report must be accepted as accurate from their point of measurement. The other table referred to gives the heights above the Atlantic and above Cumberland, and embraces more hills than the commissioners’ report.
CHAPTER VI.
Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, called upon for Information respecting the Fund Applicable to the Roads mentioned in the Ohio Admission Act—His Responses.
TENTH CONGRESS—FIRST SESSION.
Communicated to the House of Representatives March 8, 1808.
Treasury Department. March 3, 1808.
Sir: In answer to your letter of the 1st instant, I have the honor to state:
1st. That the 5 per cent. reserved by the act of 30th April, 1802, on the net moneys received for public lands in the State of Ohio, sold since 1st July, 1802, has amounted to the following sums, viz:
| From 1st July, 1802, to 30th June, 1803 | $ 6,220 00 |
| From 1st July, 1803, to 30th June, 1804 | 8,810 17 |
| From 1st July, 1804, to 30th June, 1805 | 13,994 30 |
| From 1st July, 1805, to 30th June, 1806 | 31,442 20 |
| From 1st July, 1806, to 30th June, 1807 | 28,827 92 |
| From 1st July, 1807, to 31st December, 1807 (estimated) | 15,000 00 |
| $104,294 59 |
And that the said 5 per cent. will henceforth probably amount to $30,000 a year.
| 2d. That, of the $30,000 appropriated by act of 29th March, 1806, there has been expended, in laying out the Cumberland road from Cumberland to Brownsville, about | $10,000 |
| That there may be wanted to complete the location, about | 5,000 |
| $15,000 |
3d. That contracts have been made for opening one-half of the breadth of said road, which, as verbally informed by one of the commissioners, will require about $3,000, leaving, probably, about $12,000 of the appropriation for the further improvement of the road.
4th. That the portion of the road actually located and confirmed, no part of which exceeds an angle of five degrees, extends from the navigable waters of the Potomac, at Cumberland, to the navigable waters of the Monongahela, at Brownsville (Red Stone Old Fort), and it is stated, though no official report has been made to me, at about seventy miles.
5th. That that road can be considered as a national object only if completed as a turnpike, whereby all the flour and other produce of the western adjacent countries may be brought to a market on the Atlantic shores; and the transportation of all the salt and other commodities and merchandise whatever, imported from the Atlantic ports to the western country generally, may be reduced probably one dollar per cwt.
And, Lastly, that the expense of completing that part of the road in such manner, is estimated at $400,000.
I have the honor to be, respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,
ALBERT GALLATIN.
Hon. John Montgomery, of Maryland, Chairman, etc., in Congress.
Committee Room, Dec. 22, 1808.
Sir: The committee appointed on the message of the President, transmitting a report of the commissioners concerning a road from Cumberland to Ohio, have directed me to request that you would cause to be laid before them such information as may be in possession of the Treasury Department respecting the fund applicable by law to “the laying out and making public roads leading from the navigable waters emptying into the Atlantic, to the Ohio,” etc. (1) The unexpended balance of the $30,000 appropriated by the act of the 29th of March, 1806; (2) The amount of moneys, exclusive