Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's Note

There were a number of spelling and typographical errors in the original text. The handling of each one is noted in the transcriber's note at the end of this text. Footnotes have been located at the end of the paragraphs where they appear. The underscore character indicates where the original is in _italics_.

THE OLD PIKE.

A HISTORY OF

THE NATIONAL ROAD,

WITH

INCIDENTS, ACCIDENTS, AND ANECDOTES
THEREON.

ILLUSTRATED.

BY

THOMAS B. SEARIGHT.

UNIONTOWN, PA:
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
1894.

COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY T. B. SEARIGHT.

PRESSES OF
M. CULLATON & CO.,
RICHMOND, IND.

LETTER FROM JAMES G. BLAINE.

STANWOOD, BAR HARBOR, MAINE. }
September 8th, 1892. }

HON. T. B. SEARIGHT,
UNIONTOWN, PA.

MY DEAR FRIEND:--

I have received the sketches of the "Old Pike" regularly and have as regularly read them, some of them more than once, especially where you come near the Monongahela on either side of it, and thus strike the land of my birth and boyhood. I could trace you all the way to Washington, at Malden, at Centreville, at Billy Greenfield's in Beallsville, at Hillsboro (Billy Robinson was a familiar name), at Dutch Charley Miller's, at Ward's, at Pancake, and so on--familiar names, forever endeared to my memory. I cherish the desire of riding over the "Old Pike" with you, but I am afraid we shall contemplate it as a scheme never to be realized.

Very sincerely,
Your friend,
JAMES G. BLAINE.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAGES
Inception of the Road--Author's Motive in Writing its
History--No History of the Appian Way--A Popular Error
Corrected--Henry Clay, Andrew Stewart, T. M. T.
McKennan, General Beeson, Lewis Steenrod and Daniel
Sturgeon--Their Services in Behalf of the Road, etc.,
etc. 13-19

CHAPTER II.

Origin of the Fund for Making the Road--Acts for the
Admission of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri,
etc., etc. 20-24

CHAPTER III.

The Act of Congress Authorizing the Laying Out and Making
of the Road 25-27

CHAPTER IV.

Special Message of President Jefferson--Communicating to
Congress the First Report of the Commissioners--Uniontown
left out, etc. 28-35

CHAPTER V.

Pennsylvania grants Permission to make the Road through
her Territory--Uniontown Restored, Gist left Out, and
Washington, Pennsylvania, made a Point--Heights of
Mountains and Hills--On to Brownsville and Wheeling,
etc., etc. 36-40

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 41-43

CHAPTER VII.

The Life of the Road Threatened by the Spectre of a
Constitutional Cavil--President Monroe Vetoes a Bill
for its Preservation and Repair--General Jackson has
Misgivings--Hon. Andrew Stewart Comes to the Rescue 44-51

CHAPTER VIII.

State Authority Prevails--The Road Surrendered by
Congress--The Erection of Toll Gates Authorized--
Commissioners Appointed by the States to Receive the
Road, etc., etc. 52-56

CHAPTER IX.

Plan of Repairs--The Macadam System Adopted--Mr. Stockton
offers his services--Captain Delafield made
Superintendent, etc., etc. 57-63

CHAPTER X.

Lieut. Mansfield superseded by Capt. Delafield--The
Turning of Wills Mountain, etc., etc. 64-76

CHAPTER XI.

On with the Work--Wooden Bridges Proposed for the New
Location up Wills Creek and Braddock's Run--The War
Department holds that Wooden Superstructures would be
a Substantial Compliance with the Maryland
Law--Cumberland to Frostburg, etc. 77-86

CHAPTER XII.

Gen. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, Transmits a
Report--More about the Wooden Bridges for the New
Location near Cumberland, etc. 87-94

CHAPTER XIII.

The Iron Bridge over Dunlap's Creek at Brownsville 95-99

CHAPTER XIV.

Appropriations by Congress at Various Times for Making,
Repairing, and Continuing the Road 100-106

CHAPTER XV.

Speech of Hon. T. M. T. McKennan 107-108

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 109-115

CHAPTER XVII.

Old Wagoners continued--Broad and Narrow Wheels--A
Peculiar Wagon--An Experiment and a Failure--Wagon
Beds--Bell Teams 116-119

CHAPTER XVIII.

Old Wagoners continued 120-126

CHAPTER XIX.

Old Wagoners continued--The Harness they Used, etc. 127-133

CHAPTER XX.

Old Wagoners continued--An Exciting Incident of the
Political Campaign of 1840--All about a Petticoat--A
Trip to Tennessee--Origin of the Toby Cigar--The
Rubber--The Windup and Last Lay of the Old Wagoners 134-145

CHAPTER XXI.

Stage Drivers, Stage Lines and Stage Coaches--The
Postillion, etc. 146-155

CHAPTER XXII.

Stages and Stage Drivers continued--Character of Drivers
Defended--Styles of Driving--Classification of
Drivers, etc. 156-163

CHAPTER XXIII.

The First Mail Coaches--The Stage Yard at
Uniontown--Names of Coaches--Henry Clay and the
Drivers--Jenny Lind and Phineas T. Barnum on the Road,
etc., etc. 164-174

CHAPTER XXIV.

Stages and Stage Drivers continued--Gen. Taylor
Approaching Cumberland--Early Coaches, etc. 175-183

CHAPTER XXV.

Distinguished Stage Proprietors--Lucius W. Stockton,
James Reeside, Dr. Howard Kennedy, William H.
Stelle--Old Stage Agents--The Pony Express 184-191

CHAPTER XXVI.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers from Baltimore to
Boonsboro--Pen Picture of an Old Tavern by James G.
Blaine 192-196

CHAPTER XXVII.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Boonsboro to
Cumberland 197-203

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Cumberland to
the Little Crossings--The City of Cumberland 204-208

CHAPTER XXIX.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Little
Crossings to Winding Ridge--Grantsville 209-213

CHAPTER XXX.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Winding Ridge
to the Big Crossings--The State Line--How it is
Noted 214-219

CHAPTER XXXI.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Big Crossings
to Mt. Washington 220-226

CHAPTER XXXII.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Mt. Washington
to Uniontown 227-233

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Uniontown--The
Town as it Appeared to Gen. Douglass in 1784--Its
Subsequent Growth and Improvement, etc., etc. 234-243

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Uniontown to
Searights 244-249

CHAPTER XXXV.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Searights to
Brownsville 250-259

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Brownsville to
Beallsville 260-265

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Beallsville to
Washington 266-272

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Washington,
Penn.--Washington and Jefferson College--The Female
Seminary 273-282

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--Washington to
West Alexander 283-289

CHAPTER XL.

Old Taverns and Tavern Keepers continued--West Alexander
to Wheeling 290-297

CHAPTER XLI.

West of Wheeling--Old Stage Lines Beyond the Ohio
River--Through Indiana--The Road Disappears Among the
Prairies of Illinois 298-310

CHAPTER XLII.

Superintendents under National and State Control--Old
Mile Posts, etc. 311-318

CHAPTER XLIII.

Old Contractors--Cost of the Road--Contractors for
Repairs, etc. 319-322

CHAPTER XLIV.

Thomas Endsley, William Sheets, W. M. F. Magraw, etc. 323-328

CHAPTER XLV.

Dumb Ike--Reminiscences of Uniontown--Crazy Billy, etc. 329-338

CHAPTER XLVI.

The Trial of Dr. John F. Braddee for Robbing the U.S.
Mails 339-352

CHAPTER XLVII.

Visit of John Quincy Adams to Uniontown in 1837--Received
by Dr. Hugh Campbell--The National Road a Monument of
the Past--A Comparison with the Appian Way 353-356