Plan of Repairs—The Macadam System adopted—Mr. Stockton offers his services—Capt. Delafield made Superintendent—The Road in a bad condition—Permission asked to deviate from instructions, and refused—Capt. Giesey lifted the old road bed indiscriminately— First defects to be remedied—Lieut. Mansfield at Uniontown—Plan emphasized in notices for contracts—Free passage for water a first consideration.

Engineer Department,
Washington, July 23, 1832.

Lt. J. K. F. Mansfield, Corps of Engineers:

Sir: By direction of the Secretary of War, you have been assigned, temporarily, to the superintendence of the repairs of the Cumberland Road east of the Ohio river; and in the discharge of your duties in this capacity, you will be governed by the following instructions:

1st. Respecting the parts to be repaired. The extreme limits within which your operations will be confined are, the point of intersection of the road with the western boundary line of the State of Pennsylvania, and Cumberland, in the State of Maryland; the dividing line between these States will be considered as dividing the line of the road to be repaired into two divisions, and the division within the State of Pennsylvania will be subdivided into six equal sections, and that within the State of Maryland, into two; then, having made a thorough examination of each of these sections, with a view to make yourself acquainted with their exact condition, you will classify them in the order of their condition, placing the worst first, the next worst second, and so on, making the best the last. You will then make an estimate for the repairs of each of these sections, to ascertain how far the appropriation, which is one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, will go toward repairing the whole road. Separate contracts will then be made for executing the repairs, commencing with No. 1, and passing regularly through the sections, as classified, to the best section; and these repairs will be prosecuted with as much despatch as the nature of the case will allow. Should you deem it advisable, in letting out these sections, to retain any portion of them which may seem to require but slight repairs, and which repairs could be executed with greater economy by having overseers and laborers to act under your immediate direction, you are at liberty to do so, bearing in mind, however, that whenever the repairs of the road can be made with equal economy, it is the wish of the department that they should be made by contract. As soon as one or more of these sections are finished, you will notify the commissioners appointed to receive this road by the laws of Pennsylvania and Maryland, approved, that of the former on the 4th day of April, 1831, and that of the latter on the 4th day of January, 1832, that these sections are ready to be turned over to the State, and you will accordingly turn them over.

2d. Respecting the mode of repairs. In order to insure efficient and permanent repairs, they are to be made on that which is called the Macadam system; that is to say, the pavement of the old road must be entirely broken up, and the stones removed from the road; the bed of which must then be raked smooth, and made nearly flat, having a rise of not more than three inches from the side to the center, in a road thirty feet wide; the ditches on each side of the road, and the drains leading from them, are to be so constructed that the water cannot stand at a higher level than that which is eighteen inches below the lowest part of the surface of the road; and, in all cases, when it is practicable, the drains should be adjusted in such a manner as to lead the water entirely from the side ditches. The culverts are to be cleared out, and so adjusted as to allow the free passage of all water that may tend to cross the road.

Having thus formed the bed of the road, cleaned out the ditches and culverts, and adjusted the side drains, the stone, reduced to a size not exceeding four ounces in weight, must be spread on with shovels, and raked smooth. The old material should be used only when it is of sufficient hardness, and no clay or sand must be mixed with the stone.

In replacing the covering of stone, it will be found best to lay it on in strata of about three inches thick, admitting the travel for a short interval on each layer, and interposing such obstructions from time to time as will insure an equal travel over every portion of the road; taking care to keep persons in constant attendance to rake the surface when it becomes uneven by the action of the wheels of carriages. In those parts of the road, if any, where materials of good quality cannot be obtained from the road in sufficient quantity to afford a course of six inches, new stone must be procured to make up the deficiency to that thickness; but it is unnecessary, in any part, to put on a covering of more than nine inches. None but limestone, flint or granite, should be used for the covering, if practicable; and no covering should be placed upon the bed of the road till it has become well compacted and thoroughly dried. At proper intervals, on the slopes of hills, drains or paved catch-waters must be made across the road, when the cost of constructing culverts would render their use inexpedient. These catch-waters must be made with a gradual curvature, so as to give no jolts to the wheels of carriages passing over them; but whenever the expense will justify the introduction of culverts, they will be used in preference; and in all cases where the water crosses the road, either in catch-waters or under culverts, sufficient pavements and overfalls must be constructed to provide against the possibility of the road or banks being washed away by it.

The masonry of the bridges, culverts, and side walls, must be repaired, when it may be required, in a substantial manner, and care must be taken that the mortar used be of good quality, without admixture of raw clay. All the masonry to be well pointed with hydraulic mortar, and in no case must the pointing be put on after the middle of October; all masonry finished after this time will be well covered, and pointed early in the following spring. Care must be taken, also, to provide means for carrying off the water from the bases of walls, to prevent the action of frost on their foundations; and it is highly important that all foundations in masonry should be well pointed with hydraulic mortar to a depth of eighteen inches below the surface of the ground.

As the laws on the subject of this road do not seem to justify a deviation from the original location, you will be careful to confine your operations to the road as you find it located; but, as it is believed that its axis may be dropped without adding much to the expense in those places where its inclination with the horizon exceeds four degrees, you are authorized, under the exercise of a sound discretion, to make this change.

In making your contracts, it must be understood that you are to have the general supervision of their execution, and that it will be your duty to see that all labor and materials (provided for by them) be applied in the most faithful and substantial manner. These contracts must provide in their specifications for all the work that can be anticipated, and should it happen that additional stipulations are afterwards found to be necessary for either workmanship or supplies not originally provided for, the facts must be reported to this department, and, with its approbation, if obtained, new contracts will be made for the additional services and supplies required; and it must be distinctly understood by the contractors that no payment will be made for work not provided for by their contracts.

Mr. L. W. Stockton, of Uniontown, has been engaged on this road and is intimately acquainted with every part of it, as well as with the adjacent country; and, as he has offered his services, you would do well to call upon him and avail yourself of them in any capacity that may seem to you best.

As soon as it can be done, a drawing of the whole road, with details of construction, will be forwarded, to be filed in this office.

You will take up your headquarters at any point on the road where your services may appear to you to be most needed; and, as soon as you shall have completed such an examination of the road as will place you in possession of the information necessary to draw up the specifications to your contracts, you will invite proposals for those contracts through the public prints. These contracts will be closed with as little delay as the interest of the road will allow, when the work will be commenced, and the contracts, together with the proper estimates, forwarded to this office. For the mode of making these estimates, keeping your accounts, and conducting your correspondence with this office, you are referred to the regulations of the Engineer Department.

Captain Delafield has been assigned to the permanent superintendence of the repairs of this road, and has been directed to join you on or before the 1st of October next. You will, therefore, immediately on his arrival, turn over to him these instructions, together with all the papers and public property that may be in your possession relating to the road. As soon as you shall have completed the necessary examinations on the road, you will commence and continue the repairs simultaneously in both States.

You will make application for such instruments and funds as may appear necessary to enable you to execute the foregoing instructions.

I am, &c.,
C. GRATIOT,
Brigadier General.

Cumberland, Md., August 1, 1832.

Sir: I have this evening returned from a general reconnoissance of the road in this State. I find the road in a shocking condition, and every rod of it will require great repair; some of it is now almost impassable. I purpose leaving here to-morrow, on a particular measurement and survey of the road as it is, and the requisites to put it in complete repair.

The object of this communication is to request to be permitted to deviate, according to circumstances, from so much of my instructions as requires the old bed in all cases to be lifted, and the rise in the middle three inches; for there are parts of the road where the top of the old bed is full low, and where it will be more expensive, and less firm, to remove the old bed and fill in with earth, than to bring stone and Macadamize on the top of the old bed to the thickness of nine inches; and there are cases on the sides of the mountains where a greater rise than three inches, such, for instance, as some parts of it now have, which is more advantageous than a less one to confine the water to the gutters in cases of torrents, and thereby preventing a general sweep over the whole road, which would carry off the smallest stuff of a Macadamized road.

The repairs made by Mr. Giesey, about two years since, have the radical fault resulting from having lifted the old road indiscriminately, and not giving sufficient rise to the center for a mountainous country.

I have the honor to be, sir,
Very respectfully, your most obedient,
J. K. F. MANSFIELD,
Lieut. of Engineers.

Gen. Chas. Gratiot, Chief Engineer.

Engineer Department,
Washington, August 9, 1832.

Sir: Your letter of the 1st instant, requesting permission to deviate, according to circumstances, from so much of the instructions of the department to you, on the subject of the repairs of the Cumberland Road, as requires the old road in all cases to be lifted, and the rise in the middle to be made three inches, has been under consideration, and I have to inform you that this permission cannot be granted.

In withholding the sanction of the department to any deviation from the prominent features of your instructions on the subject of these repairs, it may, perhaps, be proper to state, for your information, the views of the department on this subject.

By referring to the report of Mr. Weaver, a printed copy of which you have in your possession, who made an examination of the Cumberland Road in 1827, you will perceive that the mode of constructing it was that of digging a trench, or of sinking the bed of the road below the natural surface of the ground; that this trench was filled with large stones, and that these were covered with stones a size smaller, and so on. By this construction, it was intended that the weight of the carriages passing over the road should be supported by the large stones, and that the smaller stones were only intended to present an even surface for the easy passage of vehicles over it. The great objections to this construction are, that the bed being lower than the surface of the ground on each side, the ditches can hardly ever be sunk sufficiently deep to intercept the passage of water from the ground adjacent to the road to the ditch or trench in which the road is made; this water, by keeping the bed constantly wet, would cause the heavy stones of the first layer to sink into the ground, and thus break up the surface of the road, and allow the free passage of water through the covering itself. In the winter, the frost acting upon the bed, rendered wet by the free passage of water to it in every direction, would heave the stones to such a degree that the road in a little time would be perfectly impassable; and if any evidence, in addition to that presented by the testimony of the most experienced and approved road builders, were necessary to convince the department that the present dilapidated state of the road under your charge is owing entirely to the operation of the causes above alluded to, it is believed that that evidence is found in the report made by Capt. Delafield, who inspected the repairs of this road made by Mr. Giesey. By pursuing the course suggested in your letter, it is believed that these objections and difficulties would still obtain, and that in a little time, however faithfully the repairs might be made on the top of the large stones, the road would be in as bad order as it is at present, since the great cause of these evils would remain, viz.: that of having the bed which supports the stones, and which in fact should be the real support of the traffic on the road, lower than the neighboring ground.

It is the intention of the department that the defects of the first construction of the road shall be remedied in its repair, and as it is believed that the adoption, as nearly as practicable, of the Macadam system, in all its important features, presents the only means of effecting this remedy, and as this system forms the basis of your instructions, it is recommended that they be departed from as little as possible.

It is by no means the intention of the department to take from you all discretion in the discharge of your duties; such a course would defeat the object had in view in sending an officer of engineers on the road; but it is believed to be highly important that the exercise of this discretion should be limited to an extent that will insure the adoption of such principles and rules as cannot fail to render these repairs permanent. For these principles and rules, you are referred to Mr. Macadam’s work on the construction and repairs of roads, a copy of which is in your possession. In removing the metal from the old road, whenever hollows present themselves in the old bed, it is recommended that they be filled with earth; indeed, the whole bed of the road should be elevated, and its form given to it, before any of the covering of stone be replaced. The earth necessary for this may be taken from the ditches, or even from the sides of the road, where it can be done without encroaching upon the privileges of persons residing on the road.

I am, &c., &c.,
C. GRATIOT.

Lt. J. K. F. Mansfield,
Corps of Engineers, Uniontown, Pa.

EXTRACTS FROM NOTICES FOR CONTRACTS.
PLAN OF REPAIRS.

The plan for repair is to lift the pavement of the old road in all cases, and deposit the stone off the bed; then to repair the culverts, clear the drains, ditches, and culverts, so as to admit the free passage of water, and graduate the bed of the road, so that, when well packed by travel or other means, it will be three inches higher in the middle than at either side, for a bed of thirty feet. Having thus formed the bed of the road, the hard stone (if there be any) of the old road, broken to a size not exceeding four ounces, is to be placed on the bed of the road to a breadth of twenty feet, and a thickness not exceeding nine inches, and in cases where there is a deficiency of the old material, limestone or whinstone is to be procured to supply the deficiency to the required thickness of nine inches. Catch-waters and hollow-ways to be permanently constructed on the sides of hills, and at other places where it will be thought necessary by the superintending engineer, but in no case to exceed one in every twelve rods. In those sections where pieces of hitherto Macadamized road are included, the sand is to be taken off, and, before new metal is added, the surface loosened with a pick. The metal added to be three inches thick in the cases heretofore Macadamized.

JOS. K. F. MANSFIELD,
Lieutenant Corps of Engineers.

Engineer Department,
Washington, August 27, 1832.

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th inst., inclosing two printed advertisements for proposals to contract for the repairs of the Cumberland Road under your charge.

In answer, the department would call your attention to your remarks under the head “Plan of Repairs,” and would suggest that, instead of removing the stones from the bed of the road before the drains, ditches, and culverts are put in repair, to allow the free passage of water from the road, this latter operation should be first attended to, to the end that the removal of the stone from the road might be effected without the fear of being annoyed by the accumulation of water from heavy rains. Besides, thus preparing the drains, ditches, &c., in the first place, would enable the bed to become perfectly dry by the time the stones are prepared to be replaced.

I am, &c.,
C. GRATIOT.

Lt. J. K. F. Mansfield,
Corps of Engineers, Uniontown, Pa.