end the militia must be combined in time of war with the regular army and the state with the United States troops; that mutual prompt and vigorous concert should mark the efforts of both for the accomplishment of a common end and the safety of all; it seems needless to dwell upon the importance of transmitting intelligence between the state and federal government with the least possible delay and concentrating in a period of common danger their joint efforts with the greatest possible dispatch. It is alike needless to detail the comparative advantages of a railroad and an ordinary turnpike under such circumstances. A few weeks, nay, a very few days, or hours, may determine the issue of a campaign, though happily for the United States their distance from a powerful enemy may limit the contingency of war to destruction short of that by which the events of an hour had involved ruin of an empire.”

Despite the weight of argument presented by the House Committee their amendment was in turn stricken out, and the bill of 1836 appropriated six hundred thousand dollars for the Cumberland Road, both of

the Senate amendments which the House Committee had stricken out being incorporated in the bill.

The last appropriation for the Cumberland Road was dated May 25, 1838; it granted one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the road in both Ohio and Indiana, and nine thousand dollars for the road in Illinois.

CHAPTER III

OPERATION AND CONTROL

HE Cumberland Road was built by the United States Government under

THE

the supervision of the War Department. Of its builders, whose names will ever live in the annals of the Middle West, Brigadier-general Gratiot, Captains Delafield, McKee, Bliss, Bartlett Hartzell, Williams, Colquit, and Cass, and Lieutenants Mansfield, Vance, and Pickell are best remembered on the eastern division. Nearly all became heroes of the Mexican or Civil Wars, McKee falling at Buena Vista, Williams at Monterey, and Mansfield, then major-general, at Antietam.

Among the best known supervisors in the west were Commissioners C. W. Weaver, G. Dutton, and Jonathan Knight.

The road had been built across the Ohio River but a short time when it was realized that a revenue must be raised for its sup

port from those who traveled upon it. it. As we have seen, a law was passed in both houses of Congress, in 1824, authorizing the Government to erect tollgates and charge toll on the Cumberland Road as the states should surrender this right. 18 This bill was vetoed by President Monroe, on grounds already stated, and the road fell into a very bad condition. But what the national Government could not do the individual states could do, and, consequently, as fast as repairs were completed, the Government surrendered the road to the states through which it passed. Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia, accepted completed portions of the road between 1831 and 1834.19 The legislatures of Ohio and Pennsylvania at once passed laws concerning the erection of tollgates, Ohio authorizing one gate every twenty miles, February 4, 1831,20 and Pennsylvania authorizing the erection of six tollgates by

18 Laws of Pennsylvania (pamphlet), p. 500.

19 See Appropriation No. 27, in Appendix A.

20 Laws of Ohio, XXIX, p. 76. For specimen advertisement for bids for erection of tollgates in Ohio see Appendix D,

an act passed April 11, of the same year.21

The gates in Pennsylvania were located as follows: Gate No. I at the east end of Petersburg, No. 2 near Mt. Washington, No. 3 near Searights, No. 4 near Beallsville, No. 5 near Washington, and No. 6 near West Alexander.

The Cumberland Road was under the control of commissioners appointed by the President of the United States, the state legislatures, or governors. Upon these commissioners lay the task of repairing the road, which included the making of contracts, reviewing the work done, and rendering payment for the same. None of the work of building the road fell on the state officials. Therefore, in Ohio, two great departments were simultaneously in operation, the building of the road by the government officials, and the work of operating and repairing the road, under state officials. Two commissioners were appointed in Pennsylvania, in 1847, one acting east, and the other west, of the Monongahela River.23 In 1836 Ohio placed 21 Laws of Pennsylvania (pamphlet), p. 419.

22 Id., p. 523.

23 Id., p. 477.