The Old Pike Part 15

Jesse Franks, and his son Conrad, of High House, Fayette county, Pa., were old wagoners. Conrad's team ran off near c.u.mberland, on one of his trips, overthrowing the wagon, and causing an ugly dislocation of Conrad's thigh, from which he suffered great pain for many weeks.

John Manaway, late owner of the Spottsylvania House, Uniontown, drove a team on the road for many years, and no man enjoyed the business more than he.

There was an Ohio man of the name of Lucas, called Gov. Lucas, because a man of like name was an early Governor of Ohio, who was an old wagoner, and his team consisted of but five horses, yet he hauled the biggest loads on the road. He was the owner of the team he drove. In the year 1844, one of his loads weighed twelve thousand pounds--"one hundred and twenty hundred," as the old wagoners termed it, and the biggest load ever hauled over the road up to that date.

William King, of Was.h.i.+ngton county, Pa., an old wagoner, was noted for his steady habits. On one of his trips over the road, and going down the eastern slope of Laurel Hill, when it was covered with ice, his wagon slipped from the road and fell over the bank near the old Price residence, dragging the team after it. Strange to say, the horses were uninjured and but little damage done to the wagon. The contents of the load were Ohio tobacco and bacon. After getting things restored, King drove to Jimmy Snyder's, stayed all night, and the next morning proceeded on his journey to Baltimore. He was the owner of a farm in Was.h.i.+ngton county.

Joseph Thompson, an old wagoner on the road, is now and has been for many years in charge of the large and valuable coal farm belonging to the estate of the Hon. James G. Blaine, on the Monongahela river, near Pittsburg. A trusty old wagoner, he has approved himself the trusty agent of the great statesman.

Jacob Probasco was an old wagoner, and also kept a tavern at Jockey Hollow. He went west and founded a fortune.

Joseph Lawson, an old wagoner, kept tavern for many years in West Alexander, Was.h.i.+ngton county, Pa., and died the possessor of a valuable estate. The author of this book took dinner, in 1848, at Lawson's tavern, in company with James G. Blaine, the late distinguished Secretary of State.

Matthias Fry, an old wagoner, kept the Searight House in 1840, and subsequently presided as landlord over several houses at different times in Hopwood. He was one of the best men on the road. His large and well proportioned form will be readily recalled by the old pike boys. He was a native of Old Virginia, and died in Hopwood.

David Hill was one of the most noted wagoners of the road. He was an active, bustling man, and given to witty sayings. He belonged to Was.h.i.+ngton county, Pa., and was the father of Dr. Hill, of Vanderbilt, and the father-in-law of the Rev. J. K. Melhorn, who preached for many years in the vicinity of McClellandtown, Fayette county, Pa.

Andrew Prentice, who died recently in Uniontown, the possessor of considerable money, drove a team on the old road in his early days.

Henry Clay Rush, a prominent citizen of Uniontown, and ex-jury commissioner, was once the proud driver of a big six-horse team. He drove through from Baltimore to Wheeling, and can recount incidents of every mile of the road to this day. None of the old pike boys enjoys with keener relish a recital of the stories of the old pike than Rush.

William Worthington, who died not long since in Dunbar towns.h.i.+p, Fayette county, Pa., aged upwards of ninety years, was one of the earliest wagoners on the road. When he made his first trip he was only thirteen years old, and the road was then recently opened for travel. He continued as a wagoner on the road for many years, and located in Dunbar towns.h.i.+p, where he purchased property, which subsequently became very valuable by reason of the coal development.

William Chenriewith, who recently, and probably at the present time, keeps a hotel near Bedford Springs, was an old wagoner of the National Road.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HENRY CLAY RUSH.]

John Thomas, who kept a hotel and livery stable in Baltimore, was an old wagoner, and is well remembered along the road.

George b.u.t.termore, father of Dr. Smith b.u.t.termore, of Connellsville, was at one time a wagoner on the National Road.

John Orr, now a prosperous and well-known farmer of the vicinity of West Newton, Westmoreland county, Pa., was an old wagoner of the road.

James Murray, an old wagoner, is remembered for his extravagance of speech. One of his sayings was, that "he saw the wind blow so hard on Keyser's Ridge, that it took six men to hold the hair on one man's head."

E. W. Clement, of Hopwood, was an old wagoner, and invariably used bells on his horses. He subsequently kept a tavern in Hopwood, and built the house there known as the "s.h.i.+pley House."

Robert Bell was an old wagoner with quaint ways. He was rich, and owned his team, which was the poorest equipped of any on the road. Horses in his team were not infrequently seen without bridles. He was a trader, and often bought the goods he hauled and sold them out to people along the road. His reputation for honesty was good, but he was called "Stingy Robert."

George Widdle, an old wagoner of the age of eighty and upwards, still living in Wheeling, drew the single line and handled the Loudon whip over a six-horse team for many years, between Wheeling and Baltimore, and accounts the days of those years the happiest of his existence. He was also a stage driver for a time. Nothing affords him so much pleasure as a recital of the incidents of the road. He says there never were such taverns and tavern keepers as those of the National Road in the days of its glory, and of his vigorous manhood.

James Butler, like Bell, was a trader. Butler drove a "bell team," as teams with bells were called. He was a Virginian, from the vicinity of Winchester. It was the tradition of the road that he had a slight infusion of negro blood in his veins, and this a.s.signed him to the side table of the dining room. When he quit the road he returned to Winchester, started a store, and got rich.

Neither tradition or kindred evidence was necessary to prove the race status of Westley Strother. He showed up for himself. He was as black as black could be, and a stalwart in size and shape. He was well liked by all the old wagoners, and by every one who knew him. He was mild in manner, and honest in purpose. He had the strongest affection for the road, delighted in its stirring scenes, and when he saw the wagons and the wagoners, one after another, departing from the old highway, he repined and prematurely died at Uniontown.

CHAPTER XVII.

_Old Wagoners continued--Harrison Wiggins, Morris Mauler, James Mauler, John Marker, John Bradley, Robert Carter, R. D. Kerfoot, Jacob F. Longanecker, Ellis B. Woodward--Broad and Narrow Wheels--A peculiar Wagon--An experiment and a failure--Wagon Beds--Bell Teams._

Harrison Wiggins, widely known as a lover of fox hunting, and highly respected as a citizen, was one of the early wagoners. His career as a wagoner ceased long before the railroad reached c.u.mberland. He hauled goods from Baltimore to points west. His outfit, team and wagon, were owned by himself and his father, Cuthbert Wiggins. Harrison Wiggins was born in the old Gribble house, two miles east of Brownsville, on the 30th of April, 1812. About the year 1817 his father moved to Uniontown, and kept a tavern in a frame building which stood on the lot adjoining the residence of P. S. Morrow, Esq. He remained here until 1821, when he went to the stone house at the eastern base of Chalk Hill, and was its first occupant. His house at Uniontown numbered among its patrons, Hon.

Nathaniel Ewing, Samuel Cleavenger, Mr. Bouvier, John A. Sangston, John Kennedy, John Lyon, and other eminent men of that period. In 1832 or '33, Harrison Wiggins married a daughter of John Risler, a noted tavern keeper of the road, one of the very best, a talent which descended to his children. At the date of the marriage Mr. Risler was keeping the stone house at Braddock's run, and the wedding occurred in that house.

In 1839 Harrison Wiggins went to Iowa, with a view of locating in that State, but returned the next year and leased the property on which he now lives from Charles Griffith. In ten years thereafter he bought this property, and it has been his home for more than half a century. Under the careful and sagacious management of Mr. Wiggins, it has become one of the prettiest and most valuable properties in the mountains. It has been a long time since he was a wagoner, but he enjoys a recital of the stirring scenes he witnessed on the old road in the days of its glory.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HARRISON WIGGINS.]

There is not a more familiar name among the old pike boys than that of Morris Mauler. He was an old wagoner, stage driver and tavern keeper. He was born in Uniontown in the year 1806. The house in which he first beheld the light of day, was a log building on the Skiles corner, kept as a tavern by his father. Before he reached the age of twenty-one he was on the road with a six-horse team and a big wagon, hauling goods from the city of Baltimore to points west. He continued a wagoner for many years, and afterward became a stage driver. He drove on Stockton's line. From stage driving he went to tavern keeping. His first venture as a tavern keeper was at Mt. Was.h.i.+ngton, when the old tavern stand at that point was owned by the late Hon. Nathaniel Ewing. He subsequently and successively kept the old Probasco house at Jockey Hollow, the old Gaither house, the Yeast house, and a house in Hopwood. He always furnished good entertainment for strangers and travelers, as well as for friends and acquaintances, and as a consequence, was well patronized. He died about seven years ago at Fairchance, and when his light went out a shadow of sorrow pa.s.sed over the hearts of all the old pike boys.

James Mauler, a son of Morris, above mentioned, is also an old wagoner.

He went on the road with a team in the year 1830, and remained on it as long as he could obtain a load of goods to haul over it. He is still living and in robust health, at Brownfield station, four miles south of Uniontown.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN MARKER.]

John Marker, now residing in the east end of Uniontown, is an old wagoner. He was born at the Little Crossings in the State of Maryland, in the year 1816, and while yet a lad began to drive a team on the road for Joseph Plucker. In 1839 he quit the service of Plucker and came to Wharton towns.h.i.+p, Fayette county, Pa., and soon thereafter began driving again, first for Sebastian Rush and next for Nicholas McCartney. He is a near relative of the s.h.i.+pley, McCollough and McCartney families, all of the old pike. Marker says he never suffered an "upset" himself, but saw a great many "upsets" on the road. He also states that he saw a stage driver killed near Little Crossings in 1835 by the "running off" of his team and the "upsetting" of the coach. The name of this unfortunate stage driver was James Rhodes, and he drove on Stockton's line. John Marker, in his prime, was one of the stoutest men on the road, upwards of six feet in height, and rounded out in proportion, but, being of an amiable temperament, he never engaged in broils, realizing, no doubt, and acting upon the poetic sentiment that:

"It is excellent to have a giant's strength, But tyrannous to use it as a giant."

He still clings to the old road, breaking stone to repair it, when his health will permit. He is in the 76th year of his age.

John Bradley, brother of Daniel, of Jockey Hollow, is an old wagoner. He drove a team for Benjamin Brownfield, Jr., now residing near Newark, Ohio., son of Col. Ben., the centennarian of South Union towns.h.i.+p, and grand marshal of Democratic processions of the olden time. John Bradley also worked on the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad in 1839, near Oldtown, Md., fifteen miles east of c.u.mberland. His employer on this work was the late Zalmon Ludington, of Uniontown, who had a contract at the point mentioned. John Bradley is now living in the city of Pittsburg.

Robert Carter was a well known old wagoner, a native of Was.h.i.+ngton county, Pa., a "regular," and a very energetic, persevering and keen sighted man. He took a prominent part in many of the festivities of the old road, but never lost his head. He was a money maker, and unlike most of that cla.s.s, kind hearted and generous. He married the eldest daughter of Thomas Moxley, the old tavern keeper, whose house was three miles west of Uniontown. After his marriage he bought a small farm, known as the Solomon Colley farm, near Hatfield's, in Redstone towns.h.i.+p, Fayette county, Pa., subsequently merged in the Hatfield estate. He operated this farm for a short time, but while engaged as a farmer, kept his team on the road in charge of a hired driver. He sold his farm and leased the Bar house in Bridgeport, and kept tavern there for some time. When business ceased on the road, he gave up his team and his tavern, and moved with his family to Iowa, where he engaged extensively in farming and stock raising.

R. D. Kerfoot, the well known miner and labor leader of Everson, was at one time a wagoner on the National Road. He was born in Lancaster county, Pa., and before reaching the full stature of manhood in point of age, went to Was.h.i.+ngton county, Md., where he engaged as a driver for one J. B. Bear, a farmer of that county and State, and was put in charge of a fine six-horse team, and a broad wheeled wagon, with which he hauled goods, wares and merchandise to and from Baltimore and Wheeling.

He enjoyed the stirring scenes of the old road, and recalls with a keen relish the bounteous tables of the old taverns.

Jacob F. Longanecker, who served as county commissioner of Fayette county, Pa., from 1854 to 1857, was an old wagoner. He owned a farm in German towns.h.i.+p, and was a good practical farmer, but spent much of his time, for many years, on the road with his team. He enjoyed life on the road, and seemed loath to relinquish the occupation of a wagoner.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ELLIS B. WOODWARD.]

Ellis B. Woodward, of Menallen towns.h.i.+p, Fayette county, Pa., is an old wagoner with experience hardly sufficient to ent.i.tle him to be cla.s.sed as a "regular," and yet almost enough to take him from the list of "sharp-shooters." He kept his big road wagon on his farm for many years after the road ceased to be a profitable avenue of transportation, and felt a pride in exhibiting it as a reminder of his identification with the great highway, in the days of its prosperity. He still lives and warmly cherishes the memories of the old road.

The first wagons used on the National Road were made with narrow rimmed wheels, like those in use at the present day on farms and country roads.

It was not long, however, after the opening of the road, until the broad wheeled, or "broad tread wagon," as it was called, was introduced, and came into general use by the "regulars." The "sharpshooters," as a rule, retained the narrow tread, as their wagons were designed mainly for farm service. The width of the broad tread was about four inches, and lighter tolls were exacted at the gates from broad than from narrow tread wagons for the obvious reason that narrow wheels cut deeper into the road than broad wheels.

A gentleman of Wheeling interested in the transportation business at one time, conceived the idea of constructing a wagon that would make so wide a track as to be allowed to pa.s.s over the road for a very low rate of toll, if not entirely exempt. His model was a wagon with the rear axle four inches shorter than the front one, so that a track was made of eight inches in width. To this wagon nine horses were attached--three abreast. It pa.s.sed over the road several times, with Joseph Sopher as driver, attracting much attention, but turning out a failure as well in the matter of saving toll as in being an impracticable vehicle of transportation.

The bed of the regular road wagon was long and deep, bending upward at the bottom in front and rear. The lower broad side was painted blue, with a movable board inserted above, painted red. The covering was of white canvas stretched over broad wooden bows, so that the old road wagon, probably more as a matter of taste than design, disclosed the tri-colors of the American escutcheon, red, white and blue.

An average load was 6,000 pounds, but loads weighing 10,000 pounds, "a hundred hundred," as all old wagoners boastfully put it, were frequently hauled over the road.

The reader who never saw the endless procession on the old pike, in the days of its glory, may have the impression that the bells used by some of the old wagoners on their teams were like sleigh bells, or those of the milk wagon of the present day, and in like manner strapped around the horses. But that was not the way of it. The bells of the old wagoners were cone shaped, with an open end, not unlike a small dinner bell, and were attached to a thin iron arch, sprung over the tops of the hames. The motion of the horses caused a quiver in the arch, and the bell teams moved majestically along the road attracting attention and eliciting admiration. The great majority of wagoners did not use bells.