Old Contractors—Cost of the Road—Contractors for Repairs—Stone Breakers—An Old Stone Breaker Convicted of Murder—The Measuring Ring—The Napping Hammer—An Old Stone Breaking Machine—A Second Table Showing Heights of Mountains and Hills.

The first contracts in sections for the first ten miles of the road west of Cumberland were signed April 16th and May 8th, 1811, and were finished in the fall of 1812. The next letting was in August, 1812, of eleven miles, extending west as far as Tomlinson’s, and these contracts were completed early in 1815. The work was let from Tomlinson’s to Smithfield, eighteen miles, in August, 1813, and completed in 1817. The delay was caused by the scarcity of laborers during the war, war prices, and apprehension of failure of some of the contractors. The next letting was in September, 1815, embracing the work six miles and a half westward from Smithfield. This was awarded in sections to John Hagen, Doherty, McLaughlin and Bradley, and Charles McKinney. In May, 1817, the work was let to Uniontown, the successful bidders being Hagan and McCann, Mordecai and James Cochran, Thompson McKean, and Thomas and Matthew Blakely. From Uniontown to Brownsville, portions were let in September, 1815, to Kinkead, Beck & Evans, who soon thereafter undertook the residue to Brubaker’s. This firm sub-let many sections of the work. Bond and Gormley had the contract from Brubaker’s to Brownsville, and their work was completed in 1818. George Dawson had the contract for the heavy stone walls in Brownsville. John Miller and John Kennedy, of Uniontown, took contracts in the mountains. Miller was a son-in-law of Jacob Beeson, one of the founders of Uniontown. Mr. Kennedy was the grandfather of Hon. John K. Ewing, of Uniontown, and after his experience as a contractor, one of the justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The whole line of the road, for purposes of construction, was laid off in two divisions, called Eastern and Western. David Shriver was superintendent of the eastern, and Josias Thompson of the western division. The dividing line between the two divisions was Brubaker’s, near, and east of, Brownsville. Mr. Shriver lived in Cumberland, and was the father-in-law of Hon. Andrew Stewart. Mr. Thompson was a Virginian.

In March, 1817, the greater part of the work, from a point two miles east of Washington to the Virginia line, was let to Thomas McGiffin, Thomas H. Baird and Parker Campbell, the latter one of the foremost lawyers of his time. In 1819 the same gentlemen contracted to do the work, from the point first above named, to a point two miles west of Brownsville. The work east of Hillsboro was turned over by the contractors above named, to William and John H. Ewing, who were returned to the authorities at Washington City as original contractors, and they finished the work for $6,000 per mile. The remainder of the work west of Hillsboro was sub-let by McGiffin, Baird and Campbell, to a number of small contractors.

The road was completed from Cumberland to Uniontown at a cost, including all expenses of survey and location, salaries, bridges, and some repairs, of $9,745 per mile. The average cost of the entire road to Wheeling was nearly $13,000 per mile, showing the Eastern division much less costly than the Western. This was charged to some prodigality of work and too liberal contracts, for which Superintendent Thompson was “investigated” and superseded.

Daniel Steenrod, the old tavern keeper, and Col. Moses Shepherd, were extensive contractors for construction on the Virginia line of the road. Colonel Shepherd built Feay’s bridge, near Wheeling, one of the best on the road, and also the bridge over Wheeling creek, near Mrs. Gooding’s old tavern. Capt. Valentine Giesey, a veteran of Brownsville, who is well remembered by the old citizens of that place, was a large contractor on the work of taking up the original road bed.

The foregoing were all contractors for work on the original construction of the road. Among the contractors for repairs, after the road was completed, and during its prosperous era, the following familiar names are recalled: Abram Beagle, James McIntyre, William Hastings, John Whitmire, James Dennison, Henry Masterson, Hiram Freeman, Thomas Egan, John Robinson, William Paull, Charles Stillwagon, Jacob Stillwagon, Jacob Dougherty, Anthony Rentz, Henry Murray, James Thompson, Thomas D. Miller, Daniel Canon, Hugh Graham, Morris Whalen, Perry White, Anthony Yarnell, John Whollery, Thomas McKean, John Risler, Isaac Nixon, Robert Brown, Thomas McGrath, Matthew McNeil, Edward Kerven, John Bennington, William H. Graham, Henry Showalter, John Dickey, John McDonough, Morris Purcell, Daniel Ward, Daniel Valentine, Jacob Probasco, John Bradfield, William Reynolds, Thomas Brownfield, Peter Lenhart, James Marlow, John W. McCollough, Nicholas McCartney, John W. McDowell, Robert McDowell, James Snyder, Lewis M. Snyder, Samuel Shipley, Elias Gilmore, Samuel Rush, German D. Hair, Jackson Brown, William C. Stevens, John Gadd, Robert S. Henderson, Joseph Lawson, Michael Thomas, Charles Rush, Nicholas Bradley, John Bradley, Daniel Bradley, Henry Show, William Griffin, Robert McDowell, esq., Adam Speers, James Speers, William Hatfield, Thomas Brown, Thomas Moxley, Hiram Miller, Matthias Fry, John Wallace, John Hardin, William Hardin, John G. Burnworth, Henry Sampey, Henry Clay Rush, Alex. McDowell, Benjamin Miller, Jefferson Miller, John Worthington, E. W. Clement, John Snider, Hiram Mitchell, John Mitchell, William Endsley, Daniel Augustine, John M. Oliver, and many others, some of whose names appear in the accounts of the old Commissioners in the Appendix to this volume.

The average result of a stone breaker in a single day was eight perches, and the price paid was twelve and a half cents per perch. Tradition has it that Robert S. McDowell, still living in Dunbar, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, was the speediest stone breaker on the road. He is the eldest son of “Gate Bob,” elsewhere mentioned. In the year 1848, when Colonel Hopkins was commissioner, Robert S. McDowell broke in one day sixteen perches and two feet. This was done on a bet, and in a contest with Capt. Elias Gilmore. A string of stones one rod in length made two perches, under the gauge in use, and McDowell’s string measured eight rods and two feet. Captain Gilmore, who was one of the most vigorous men on the road, gave up the contest about the middle of the afternoon, and yielded the palm to McDowell. Peter Kelley, who lived at Searights, was one of the best and speediest stone breakers on the road. His occupation, for many years, was breaking stone on the pike, and near the close of his life he became an actor in a tragedy, which lost him his liberty, as well as his former good name. He was not a vicious man, but on occasions would indulge in immoderate drinking. On one of these occasions he killed William Thornton, father of the Hon. J. Russell Thornton, member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania for the county of Fayette. Kelley and Thornton were returning from Brownsville after nightfall, and quarrelled. When near the old Brubaker tavern, Thornton was struck by Kelley, and killed. Kelley was tried, convicted and sent to the penitentiary for a long term, and never thereafter returned to the familiar scenes of the old pike. Alexander Campbell, of Somerfield, was one of the fastest stone breakers on the road, and Robert Hogsett, the well known millionaire of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, broke stones on the road when a boy.

In the early work on the road, there was a requirement that stone for the lower stratum or bed should be broken so that the pieces would pass through a seven-inch ring, and for the upper stratum, which was six inches in thickness, would pass through a three-inch ring. Old contractors provided rings of these dimensions, respectively, and enforced a strict compliance with the regulation mentioned. Subsequently the rings fell into disuse, and were ultimately abandoned, but the stones spread over the surface of the road were always broken to small pieces. The hammer of the stone breaker was a very simple contrivance. It was of iron, round as an apple, weighing probably one pound, with a hole through the center for the insertion of a handle. The handle was of hickory wood, slender in the middle, with a thick end for the grasp of the hand. There was also a larger hammer, with a longer and stouter handle, used for breaking stones thrown into holes. In using this hammer the breaker stood on his feet, and in using the smaller one, sat on the stone pile, moving his position as his work advanced. In hot weather the stone breaker, in many instances, used a ready-made, movable bower, to ward off the scorching rays of the sun. About the year 1848, some person whose name is forgotten, supposing himself endowed with inventive genius, constructed a machine for breaking stones. It was operated by horse power, proved a failure, and was laid aside to rot on the summit of Laurel Hill.

The following table showing the heights of mountains and hills on the road is copied from the sketch by Mr. Veech, accompanying the map of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, before mentioned. It will be seen that it differs somewhat from the measurement of the Commissioners who ran the original lines of the road, but it will be remembered that their measurement was from a point in the Potomac, near Cumberland, whereas the table below gives heights above the Atlantic and above Cumberland. This table also gives heights of hills, west of Uniontown, and the heights furnished by the old Commissioners, are of mountains and hills between Cumberland and Uniontown. As to the accuracy of, and authority for, this table, the author of this volume is not informed, but it seems to have been sanctioned and adopted by Mr. Veech, whose reputation as a local historian is unimpeachable.

THE TABLE.