The Cumberland Road was built by the United States Government under 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 support from those who traveled upon 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 an act passed April 11, of the same year.[21]

The gates in Pennsylvania were located as follows: Gate No. 1 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.[22] 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 all her works of internal improvement under the supervision of a Board of Public Works, into whose hands the Cumberland Road passed.[24] Special commissioners were appointed from time to time by the state legislatures to perform special duties, such as overseeing work being done, auditing accounts, or settling disputes.[25] Two resident engineers were appointed over the eastern and western divisions of the road in Ohio, thus doing away with the continual employment and dismissal of the most important of all officials. These engineers made quarterly reports concerning the road’s condition.[26]

The road was conveniently divided by the several states into departments. East of the Ohio River, the Monongahela River was a division line, the road being divided by it into two divisions.[27] West of the Ohio the eighty-seventh mile post from Wheeling was, at one time, a division line between two departments in Ohio.[28] Later, the road in Ohio was cut up into as many divisions as counties through which it passed.[29] The work of repairing was let by contract, for which bids had been previously advertised. Contracts were usually let in one-mile sections, sometimes for a longer space, notice of the length being given in the advertisement for bids. Contractors were compelled to give testimonials of good character and reliability; though one contract, previously quoted, professed to be satisfied with “competent or responsible individuals only.” A time limit was usually named in the contract, with penalties for failure to complete the work in time assigned.

The building of the road was hailed with delight by hundreds of contractors and thousands of laborers, who now had employment offered them worthy of their best labor, and the work, when well done, stood as a lasting monument to their skill. Old papers and letters speak frequently of the enthusiasm awakened among the laboring classes by the building of the great road, and of the lively scenes witnessed in those busy years. Contractors who early earned a reputation followed the road westward, taking up contract after contract as opportunity offered. Farmers who lived on the route of the road engaged in the work when not busy in their fields, and for their labor and the use of the teams received good pay. Thus not only in its heyday did the road prove a benefit to the country through which it passed, but at the very beginning it became such, and not a little of the money spent upon it by the Government went into the very pockets from which it came by the sale of land.

The great pride taken by the states in the Cumberland Road is brought out significantly in the laws passed concerning it. Pennsylvania and Ohio legislatures passed laws as early as 1828, and within three days of each other (Pennsylvania, April 7,[30] and Ohio, April 11[31]), looking toward the permanent repair and preservation of the road. There were penalties for breaking or defacing the milestones, culverts, parapet walls, and bridges. A person found guilty of such act of vandalism was “fined in a sum of not more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in a dungeon of the jail of the county, and be fed on bread and water only, not exceeding thirty days, or both, at the discretion of the court.”[32] There were penalties for allowing the drains to become obstructed, for premature traveling on unfinished portions of the roadbed;[33] for permitting a wagon to stand over night on the roadbed, and for locking wheels, except where ice made this necessary. Local authorities were ordered to build suitable culverts wherever the roads connected with the Cumberland Road. “Directors” were ordered to be set up, to warn drivers to turn to the left when passing other teams.[34] The rates of toll were ordered to be posted where the public could see them.[35] “Beacons” were erected along the margin of the roadbed to keep teams from turning aside. Laws were passed forbidding the removal of these.[36]

The operation of the Cumberland Road included the establishment of the toll system, which provided the revenue for keeping it in repair; and from the tolls the most vital statistics concerning the old road are to be obtained. Immediately upon the passing of the road into the control of the individual states, tollgates were authorized, as previously noted. Schedules of tariff were published by the various states. The schedule of 1831 in Pennsylvania was as follows:

TOLLS ON THE CUMBERLAND ROAD IN PENNSYLVANIA (1831)

The tolls established the same year in Ohio (see table, pp. 103-104) were higher than those charged in Pennsylvania.

The philosophy of the toll system is patent. Rates of toll were determined by the wear on the road. Tolls were charged in order to keep the road in repair, and, consequently, each animal or vehicle was taxed in proportion as it damaged the roadbed. Cattle were taxed twice as heavily as sheep or hogs, and, according to the tariff of 1845, hogs were taxed twice as much as sheep. The tariff on vehicles was determined by the width of the tires used, for the narrower the tire the more the roadbed was cut up. Wide tires were encouraged, those over six inches (later eight) went free, serving practically as rollers. The toll-rates in Ohio are exhibited in the following table:

TOLLS ON THE CUMBERLAND ROAD IN OHIO (1831-1900)

Estimates differed in various states but averaged up quite evenly. To the rising generation, to whom tollgates are almost unknown, a study of the toll system affords novel entertainment, helping one to realize something of one of the most serious questions of public economics of two generations ago. Tollgates averaged one in eighteen or twenty miles in Pennsylvania, and one in ten miles in Ohio, with tolls a little higher than half the rate in Pennsylvania.

Tollgate-keepers were appointed by the governor in the early days in Ohio,[38] but, later, by the commissioners. These keepers received a salary which was deducted from their collections, the remainder being turned over to the commissioners. The salary established in Ohio in 1832 was one hundred and eighty dollars per annum.[39] In 1836 it was increased to two hundred dollars per annum, and tollgate-keepers were also allowed to retain five per cent of all tolls received above one thousand dollars.[40] In 1845 tollgate-keepers were ordered to make returns on the first Monday in each month, and the allowance of their per cent on receipts over one thousand dollars was cut off, leaving their salary at two hundred dollars per annum.[41] Equally perplexing with the question of just tolls was found to be the question of determining what and who should have free use of the Cumberland Road. This list was increased at various times, and, in most states, included the following at one time or another: persons going to, or returning from public worship, muster, common place of business on farm or woodland, funeral, mill, place of election, common place of trading or marketing within the county in which they resided. This included persons, wagons, carriages, and horses or oxen drawing the same. No toll was charged school children or clergymen, or for passage of stage and horses carrying United States Mail, or any wagon or carriage laden with United States property, or cavalry, troops, arms, or military stores of the United States, or any single state, or for persons on duty in the military service of the United States, or for the militia of any single state. In Pennsylvania, a certain stage line made the attempt to carry passengers by the tollgates free, taking advantage of the clauses allowing free passage of the United States mail by putting a mail sack on each passenger coach. The stage was halted and the matter taken into court, where the case was decided against the stage company, and persons traveling with mailcoaches were compelled to pay toll.[42] Ohio took advantage of Pennsylvania’s experience and passed a law that passengers on stagecoaches be obliged to pay toll.[43] Pennsylvania exempted persons hauling coal for home consumption from paying toll.[44] Many varied and curious attempts to evade payment of tolls were made, and laws were passed inflicting heavy fine upon all convicted of such malefaction. In Ohio, tollgate-keepers were empowered to arrest those suspected of such attempts, and, upon conviction, the fine went into the road fund of the county wherein the offense occurred.[45]

Persons making long trips on the road could pay toll for the entire distance and receive a certificate guaranteeing free passage to their destination.[46] Compounding rates were early put in force, applying, in Ohio, for persons residing within eight miles of the road,[47] the radius being extended later to ten.[48] Passengers in the stages were counted by the tollgate-keepers and the company operating the stage charged with the toll. At the end of each month, stage companies settled with the authorities. Thus it became possible for the stage drivers to deceive the gate-keepers, and save their companies large sums of money. Drivers were compelled to declare the number of passengers in their stage, and in the event of failing to do so, gate-keepers were allowed to charge the company for as many passengers as the stage could contain.[49]

Stage lines were permitted to compound for yearly passage of stages over the road and the large companies took advantage of the provision, though the passengers were counted by the gate-keepers. It may be seen that gate-keepers were in a position to embezzle large sums of money if they were so minded, and it is undoubted that this was done in more than one instance. Indeed, with a score and a half of gates, and a great many traveling on special rates, it would have been remarkable if some employed in all those years during which the toll system was in general operation did not steal. But this is lifting the veil from the good old days!

As will be seen later, the amounts handled by the gate-keepers were no small sums. In the best days of the road the average amount handled by tollgate-keepers in Pennsylvania was about eighteen hundred dollars per annum. In Ohio, with gates every ten miles, the average (reported) collection was about two thousand dollars in the best years. It is difficult to reconcile the statement made by Mr. Searight concerning the comparative amount of business done on various portions of the Cumberland Road, with the figures he himself quotes. He says: “It is estimated that two-fifths of the trade and travel of the road were diverted at Brownsville, and fell into the channel furnished at that point by the slackwater navigation of the Monongahela River, and a similar proportion descended the Ohio from Wheeling, and the remaining fifth continued on the road to Columbus, Ohio, and points further west. The travel west of Wheeling was chiefly local, and the road presented scarcely a tithe of the thrift, push, whirl and excitement which characterized it east of that point.”[50] On another page Mr. Searight gives the account of the old-time superintendents of the road in Pennsylvania in its most prosperous era, one dating from November 10, 1840 to November 10, 1841,[51] the other from May 1, 1843 to December 31, 1844.[52] In the first of these periods the amount of tolls received from the eastern division of the road (east of the Monongahela) is two thousand dollars less than the amount received from the western division. Even after the amounts paid by the two great stage companies are deducted, a balance of over a thousand dollars is left in favor of the division west of the Monongahela River. In the second report, $4,242.37 more was received on the western division of the road than on the eastern, and even after the amounts received from the stage companies are deducted, the receipts from the eastern division barely exceed those of the western. How can it be that “two-fifths of the trade and travel of the road were diverted at Brownsville?” And the further west Mr. Searight goes, the more does he seem to err, for the road west of the Ohio River, instead of showing “scarcely a tithe of the thrift, push, whirl and excitement which characterized it east of that point,” seems to have done a greater business than the eastern portion. For instance, when the road was completed as many miles in Ohio as were built in Pennsylvania, the return from the portion in Ohio (1833) was $12,259.42-4 (in the very first year that the road was completed), while in Pennsylvania the receipts in 1840 were only $18,429.25, after the road had been used for twenty-two years. In the same year (1840) Ohio collected $51,364.67 from her Cumberland Road tollgates—about three times the amount collected in Pennsylvania. Again Mr. Searight gives a Pennsylvania commissioner’s receipts for the twenty months beginning May 1, 1843, as $37,109.11, while the receipts from the road in Ohio in only the twelve months of 1843 were $32,157.02. At the same time the tolls charged in Ohio were a trifle in excess of those imposed in Pennsylvania, therefore, Ohio’s advantage must be curtailed slightly. On the other hand it should be taken into consideration that the Cumberland Road in Pennsylvania was almost the only road across the portion of the state through which it ran, while in Ohio other roads were used, especially clay roads running parallel with the Cumberland Road, by drivers of sheep and pigs, as an aged informant testifies. As Mr. Searight has said, the travel of the road west of the Ohio may have been chiefly of a local nature, yet his seeming error concerning the relative amount of travel on the two divisions in his own state, makes his statements less trustworthy in the matter. Still it can be readily believed that a great deal of continental trade did pass down the Monongahela after traversing the eastern division of the road and that increased local trade on the western division rendered the toll receipts of the two divisions quite equal. Local travel on the eastern division may have been light, comparatively speaking. Mr. Searight undoubtedly meant that two-fifths of the through trade stopped at Brownsville and Wheeling and one-fifth only went on into Ohio. The total amount of tolls received by Pennsylvania from all roads, canals, etc., in 1836 was about $50,000, while Ohio received a greater sum than that in 1838 from tolls on the Cumberland Road alone, and the road was not completed further west than Springfield.

A study of the amounts of tolls taken in from the Cumberland Road by the various states will show at once the volume of the business done. Ohio received from the Cumberland Road in forty-seven years nearly a million and a quarter dollars. An itemized list of this great revenue shows the varying fortunes of the great road:

About 1850 Ohio began leasing portions of the Cumberland Road to private companies. In 1854 the entire distance from Springfield to the Ohio River was leased for a term of ten years for $6,105 a year. Commissioners were appointed to view the road continually and make the lessees keep it in as good condition as when it came into their hands.[53] Before the contract had half expired, the Board of Public Works was ordered (April, 1859) to take the road to relieve the lessees.[54] In 1870 the proper limits of the road were designated to be “a space of eighty feet in width, and where the road passed over a street in any city of the second class, the width should conform to the width of that street,” such cities to own it so long as it was kept in repair.[55]

Finally, in 1876, the state of Ohio authorized commissioners of the several counties to take so much of the road as lay in each county under their control. It was stipulated that tollgates should not average more than one in ten miles, and that no toll be collected between Columbus and the Ohio Central Lunatic Asylum. The county commissioners were to complete any unfinished portions of the road.[56]

Later (1877) the rates of toll were left to the discretion of the county commissioners, with this provision:

“That when the consent of the Congress of the United States shall have been obtained thereto, the county commissioners of any county having a population under the last Federal census of more than fifteen thousand six hundred and less than fifteen thousand six hundred and fifty shall have the power when they deem it for the best interest of the road, or when the people whom the road accommodates wish, to submit to the legal voters of the county, at any regular or special election, the question, ‘Shall the National Road be a free turnpike road?’ And when the question is so submitted, and a majority of all those voting on said question shall vote yes, it shall be the duty of said commissioners to sell gates, tollhouses and any other property belonging to the road to the highest bidder, the proceeds of the sale to be applied to the repair of the road, and declare so much of the road as lies within their county a free turnpike road to be kept in repair in the way and manner provided by law for the repair of free turnpikes.”[57]

The receipts from the Franklin County, Ohio, tollgate for the year 1899 were as follows:

It will be noted that April was the heaviest month of the year. The gate-keeper received a salary of thirty dollars per month.

It is hardly necessary to say that this great American highway was never a self-supporting institution. The fact that it was estimated that the yearly expense of repairing the Ohio division of the road was one hundred thousand dollars, while the greatest amount of tolls collected in its most prosperous year (1839) was a little more than half that amount ($62,496.10) proves this conclusively. Investigation into the records of other states shows the same condition. In the most prosperous days of the road, the tolls in Maryland (1837) amounted to $9,953 and the expenditures $9,660.51.[58] In 1839 a “balance” was recorded of $1,509.08, but a like amount was charged up on the debtor side of the account. The receipts reported each year in the auditor’s reports of the state of Ohio show that equal amounts were expended yearly upon the road. As early as 1832 the governor of Ohio was authorized to borrow money to repair the road in that state.[59]