------------------------------------------------------------------ FORWARDED MESSAGE - Orig: 2-Feb-99 16:14 Subject: Early Roads X ------------------------------------------------------------------ Roads Folder -More Early Ohio/Indiana migration routes ============================================================ ============================================================ THE OLD NATIONAL ROAD Originally called the Cumberland Road, since it was going to the West from Cumberland MD. It started at the end of an early road from Baltimore Md that went to Cumberland MD, and followed the path of General Braddock's Army road to Pittsburg. In Fayette Co PA, passing the historic Fort Necessity, of young George Washington, it headed down the Redstone River to the Monongehela. At Old Fort Redstone, now Brownsville PA, many built flatboats for travel down the Ohio River. It crossed the Monongehela and went on to Washington Co PA going to the Ohio River. It arrived at the Ohio, at Old Fort Henry, now Wheeling WVa, in 1818. The Old National Road became US40, and now is paralleled by I-70. The Old National Road left the west bank of the Ohio River in 1825. It continued on across the state of Ohio, with its destination being the new Capitol of Indiana: Indianapolis. It arrived at Richmond IN in 1827, but was stopped by, and did not cross the Gorge until 1835. But by then there was Vandalia, the capitol of the new state of Illinois, and the destination for the Road was set at St. Louis MO, which it reached in 1837. Local construction was by sections, connecting them across the state. The Old National Road followed the Old Zane Trace (1784) from Fort Henry to Zanesville. At Zanesville the Zane Trace turning southwest to Chillicothe, the Old National Road going west, this was memorialized by the Y Bridge. In the very center of the River where the Licking joins the Muskingum, the Covered Bridge (and the modern highway bridge) divided. Go left and you follow the Zane Trace (US 22) past the White Cottage Church of the Brethen, toward Chillicothe. Go right and you follow the Old National Road to Columbus and Dayton. The Brethren settled heavily around Dayton using the Old National Road. The Road in the east had been poorly built, and had to be rebuilt due to the heavy wagon usage. When the decision was made to push the Road on across the nation, the Road east was rebuilt from this experience and the new Road, on west, was built better from the start. It was built on a right-of-way that was 80 feet wide. It was a "Macadam", fifteen feet wide, built of 3 layers of crushed stone, 15 inches deep in the center, but sloping off to the edges for drainage. The Road was "metal-surfaced", graded with a metal blade, at least occasionally. A feature of the Old National Road that can still be seen is its S bridges. The builders of the Road crossed the streams at right angles. Streams do not always flow perpendicular to the Road, so many of approaches curve up onto the bridges. Most of the bridges also are highly arched. The Old National Road had another feature in its day that one considers to be very modern. About 2 miles east of Richmond IN, in Preble County OH, on US 40, on the south side of the Road, is standing a trunkated Pine Tree. It only has a few living branches. This is the only one remaining of originally a triangle of 3 Pine Trees: the Old National Road designation of a Rest Stop. The Road had heavy usage. From the very first, Richmond IN recorded traffic of 100 wagons a day. Many were Conastoga Wagons pulled by 4 to 6 horses or oxen. Shipping charges were $10 per ton. Lighter traffic was with "shake-guts", unsprung carts with 2 huge wheels. In 1832, Zanesville counted: 2357 wagons with 3 or more horses 11613 2-horse carriages or wagons 14907 1-horse carriages 35310 horseback riders 16750 horses and mules 24410 sheep - driven 52845 hogs - driven 96323 cattle -driven That is 100 vehicles a day, and herds of animals, going 18-20 miles a day, West! Many of the Brethren came west in 1828 or 1830 on the Old National Road, and the Brethren used the Road for settlement into Indiana and Illinois. In Indiana there were already several Brethren communities near the Road: the Four Mile, south of Richmond; the Nettle Creek, west of Richmond; and the Ladoga Churches, over near the Wabash in western Indiana; but for most of Indiana and Illinois, the churches were considerably north and migration came west on the Road, then turned north. At St Louis, the end of the Old Nation Road was the springboard for migration on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to the West, settlements in: Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska. The Old National Road is probably one of the most important factors of westward migration in the United States. ============================================================ The Brethren settlements in northern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois received other Brethren coming directly west from the Beaver River, off the Ohio just outside Pittsburg. Other northern Pennsylvania Brethren used the old Shamokin Trail, which may have followed the West Branch of the Susquehanna River (to St Marys /Dubois, possibly going through Warren to Erie PA, or across to the Beaver River - giving access to the Ohio River or either of the routes across northern Ohio). These routes of migration have not been ascertained by me yet -- but in Ohio, those farther south basically are followed by US 30 in the north central part of the state. Farther north the migration routes from the Beaver probably went along OH 14 to the Lake and follow US 6 and US 20 west. [My Rummels went from Beaver Valley, on the PA/OH State Line, south of Youngstown, to the IN/OH State Line, near Decatur IN. As near as I can tell, they went first to Richland Co OH, then to Van Wert Co, so they were on or close to US 30 (Then up to Nappanee). My Stumps crossed from Ontario to New York at Buffalo, and came down through Cleveland to Nappanee IN] Some Canada Brethren used the lake shore roads, coming down from Niagara through Cleveland. Others crossed Ontario to Detroit, then followed the old Indian Trail that ran from Fort Detroit to Fort Dearborn (Chicago), now US 12. Still others went to Georgian Bay, and came by water, down Lake Michigan to the Wisconsin and Illinois shores. ============================================================ If any of you can help me on these last set of roads, I sure would appreciate it. You may have family stories, or records, even maybe a journal! Now -I'm going to be gone for a week -- I get to stay with my granddaughter, while her mother has to take a business trip to Texas. I'll be near Buffalo, just outside of Niagara Falls -- and do a little research -and just have fun. So best to you -and I'll try to catch up after I get back. Merle Rummel Church Historian ==== BRETHREN Mailing List ==== !^NavFont02F16430007NGHH]44F23A Maggie's World of Courthouse Dust & Genealogy Fever http://www.infinet.com/~dzimmerm/mindex.html *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* God Put Me On Earth to Accomplish a Certain Number of Things. Right Now I am so far behind, I will never die. --- Unknown *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*