The Old Pike Part 35

The village of Was.h.i.+ngton is next reached. Here Simon Beamer kept at the sign of the "Black Bear," and Peter Colley, formerly of Centreville, kept a tavern in Was.h.i.+ngton as late as 1854.

West of Was.h.i.+ngton the old traveler on the road found rest and refreshment first at the tavern of Widow Slams, and before reaching Cambridge, excellent entertainment was furnished by Joseph Griffith, James Smith, John Shaw, Mr. Slater, Mr. McCain, John Nice, Robert Curry, Mr. Waterhouse, and Joshua Davis.

Cambridge comes next on the line. This is the capital of Guernsey county, one of the liveliest towns on the road, and surviving its decline, remains prosperous. The old tavern keepers in Cambridge were William Ferguson, Wyatt Hutchinson, Bazil Brown, Mr. Nee dam, Mr.

Pollard, Joseph Bute, Elijah Grimes, John Cook, James B. Moore, Captain Hearsing, John Tingle and George Met calf. The latter kept one of the stage houses.

Three miles west of Cambridge, Thomas Curran kept an old tavern. Further west, taverns were kept by Jacob Frank, Mr. Laird, Alex. Leper, Ichabod Grumman, Mr. Sutton, Frank Dixon, William McDonald and Lewis McDonald.

Lewis McDonald's old tavern was near the dividing line between Guernsey and Muskingum counties.

After entering the county of Muskingum the first old tavern reached was kept by William McKinney, and next in line comes the old tavern of William Wilson, still doing business under the management of Edward McLeod.

At Norwich Mr. Cinnabar kept a tavern. He was the father of Rev. Hiram Cinnabar, D. D., for many years a leading member of the Pittsburg Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, a man of much learning and genuine piety, pure in thought, and upright in conduct. The author of these pages knew him well, and in the whole range of his acquaintance never met a sincerer friend, or a more just man. He died in Los Angeles, California, a few years ago. Lightly rest the sod that covers his grave.

He is numbered among the pike boys, as in early life he led horses from his father's house in Ohio to eastern markets.

Further westward on the road Jacob Probasco hung up his sign in front of an old tavern, he of Jockey Hollow fame before mentioned. His tavern at this point was known as the "Ten Mile House," being distant ten miles from Zanesville.

One mile west of Proboscis's one Mc.n.u.tt, of Irish extraction, and good fame as a landlord, kept a tavern, and next beyond, on the westward trend, John Livengood, whose name imports old Pennsylvania Dutch stock, ministered to the wants of strangers and travelers.

Zanesville is next reached. Zanesville is the county seat of Muskingum county. It is situate on the Muskingum river, fifty-nine miles east from Columbus. Mr. Leslie kept a tavern in Zanesville in the olden time, and entertained the public in a highly satisfactory manner. His house was a brick building on the north side of the street and road, and at the west end of the town. When Leslie kept tavern in Zanesville, the town contained a population of about 7,000. Its population at this date exceeds 25,000. It survived the decline of the road, and grew rapidly in population and wealth, but it may be doubted whether its present money making inhabitants experience as much of the real pleasures and enjoyments of life as their predecessors of fifty years ago, when the das.h.i.+ng stage coach woke up the echoes of the dull town, and the heavy tread of the ponderous broad wheeled wagon told the whole story of commerce and trade. The ill.u.s.trious Samuel S. c.o.x was born and reared in Zanesville, and therefore, under a definition given in a previous chapter, a pike boy. He was called "Sunset," by reason of a gus.h.i.+ng description he wrote of the Setting Sun, when a young man, and there is no doubt that the views which so deeply impressed his youthful mind were had from points on the National Road, in the vicinity of his native town. He was one of the brightest stars in the galaxy of American statesmen.

A writer in a Guernsey county paper gives the following lively description of scenes on the road in that locality:

"Isaac Cleaves was one of the old tavern keepers in Fairview. His house was the stage office, where a halt was made for exchange of horses, and to discharge and take on pa.s.sengers. The stage offices were places of public resort, and around the bar-rooms gathered the toper's and loafers, by day and by night. The old stage drivers were full of fun and frolic, and could entertain the curious with

'Tales fearful and awful, E'en to name would be unlawful.

Fast by an Angle blinking Bonni, W'ie recanning swats that drank divinely, These sorters told their queerest stories, And the landlord's laugh was ready chorus.'

"There was Nat Smith, Sam Smith, Jim Smith, Bate Smith, Jo Smith, Quill Smith, Bill Smith, and more of the Smith family, and Sam Carouse, Jake Carouse, Sylvester Root, Sam Kirk, Tom Kirk, Tom Bryan, Andy Caster, Tom Carter, Jim Bryan, Bony Sheldon, Wash Cranford, Jim Bay less, Mart Huck, Henry Hight, Tom Crawford, John Silvain, Ross Briggs, and a host of others of the 'knights of the whip and reins,' of those old coaching days,

'When hand to hand they cut and strive, Devil take the hindmost of the drive.'

"Near by stood the old 'smithy' of Capt. John G. Bell's father, whose bellows flapped, and red sparks flew, and anvil rang, night and day, to keep the horses feet in trim, so that down the slope to Honduras, and on to Borden's hill and Taylor's hill, and o'er Salt Fork's long stretch, through ice and sleet, these Jehu's could safely, and on time, move on their load of living freight and the mails sent out by 'Uncle Sam.' John Skimmings, one of the early settlers at the mouth of Wills Creek, was the general agent from Columbus to Wheeling, of the great Neil, Moore & Co., whose lines cobwebbed the State of Ohio. Otho Hinton was the United States mail agent to look after the mail robbers. He turned out to be one himself, and was placed under arrest for opening the mails between Cambridge and Was.h.i.+ngton. He was indicted and arraigned before the United States court at Columbus, released on bail, and fled to Honolulu, where he died in 1856.

"Gen. N. P. Flamage placed on the road what was called the opposition, or Good Intent, line of stages. This was just after the Was.h.i.+ngtonian temperance movement. He made temperance speeches along the line, and required his drivers to take the pledge. He stopped at Cambridge and made a speech in the old Presbyterian church, and sang a song, his drivers taking up the chorus. We give in substance, if not in word, a verse:

'Our horses are true and coaches fine, No upsets or runaways; Nor drunken drivers to swear and curse, For its cold water all the days.

CHORUS.

For our agents and drivers Are all fully bent, To go for cold water, On line Good Intent, Sing, go it, my hearties, Cold water for me.'

"Isaac Cleaves was not behind as a caterer to the inner man, and a dinner or supper by the stage pa.s.sengers, after being rocked and tossed at a six miles per hour rate, was relished even by Tippecanoe and Corwin, too, and Democrats did not starve nor turn up their noses because old Isaac was a Whig. He had a famous recipe for the cure of the ague, which for its queer compound he was often required to give, not so much for the ingredients; they were very simple; but for the first preparation for the compound. This was to boil down a quart of water to a pint. And to the inquiry, 'What is the water boiled down for, Uncle Isaac?' he would reply, 'to make it stronger.'

"A little further, and last, was Major William Bradshaw, just over in Belmont county. He was the soul of wit and humour, and gave out many expressions that have become noted. To all that he did not feel disposed to entertain, he gave the answer, 'Take the Janesville road.' His toast drank in honor of the Fairview guards, a military company that had been parading 'with plumes and banners gay,' just after the close of the Mexican war, will live in the military history of Guernsey county--'Soldiers in peace, civilians in war.'"

The Smiths above mentioned all drove stages on the road east of Wheeling, before going to Ohio, and lived in Brownsville. All the male members of the family were drivers, including Samuel, the father. His sons were, Samuel, jr., Gilbert, Quill, Bate and Nat, familiar names in the early history of the road.

The largest town on the line of the road west of Columbus, in the State of Ohio, is Springfield, the capital of Clark county. The distance between Columbus and Springfield is forty-five miles. Springfield enjoyed for a number of years the advantages of the road, and felt a pride in being on its line, but its growth and development, the result of other agencies, have thrown a mantle of oblivion over the time when the rattle of the stage coach and the rumble of road wagons furnished the chief excitement of her streets.

The road penetrated Indiana at the boundary line of Wayne county, in that State. The length of the line through Indiana is one hundred and forty-nine and one-fourth miles, and the sum of $513,099 was expended on it for bridges and masonry. Work was begun at Indianapolis and prosecuted east and west from that point, in obedience to an act of Congress given in the chapter on Appropriations. The road was completed through Wayne county in 1827. It was not macadamized or graveled, and in the year 1850 was absorbed by the Wayne County Turnpike Company, under a charter granted by State authority. The length of this pike is twenty-two miles.

The second section of the act incorporating the Wayne County Turnpike Company reads as follows:

"The capital stock of said company shall be one hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of fifty dollars each, and shall be applied to the construction of a turnpike road in Wayne county, commencing at the western terminus of the Richmond turnpike, about three miles east of Richmond, and to be continued westward on the line of the National Road to the county line between the counties of Henry and Wayne; and the State of Indiana hereby relinquishes to said Wayne County Turnpike Company all the rights, interests, and claims in and to the line of said National Road in said county of Wayne; the grade, materials, bridges, constructions of all kinds she now has, or may hereafter acquire from the General Government, in and to the said National Road: _Provided_, That in case the Federal Government should, at any time hereafter, determine to resume the owners.h.i.+p and control of said road, said company shall relinquish the same to the General Government, on receiving from it the full cost of construction as expended by said company."

The section quoted discloses a point which the court of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, seems to have overlooked when it condemned that portion of the road lying within the borders of that county, took possession of its property, and decreed it free from tolls. The several acts of Congress ceding the road to Pennsylvania and the other States through which it pa.s.sed, reserved the right of Congress at any subsequent time to resume owners.h.i.+p and control, and in case of the exercise of this reserved right, the question arises, what would become of the decree of the Somerset county court?

Prior to the construction of the National Road in Indiana, Robert Morrisson, the founder of the Morrisson Library, of Richmond, and one of the leading citizens of that place, was mainly instrumental in causing a gravel road to be made from Richmond to Dayton, Ohio, which was known as the "Richmond and Short Line Pike." The engineers of the National Road adopted the line of Morrison's road in Indiana, with the exception of one mile from a point near Clawson's tavern to the Ohio State line. The Government survey carried the line east from Clawson's tavern, and north of Sycamore Valley, over two long and steep hills, separated by a deep valley. To avoid these hills on the Ohio side, travel dropped down over a good country road to the Richmond and Short Line Pike at the State line. This country road was afterwards macadamized, but the distance between the State line and Clawson's tavern has remained a gravel road until the present time, kept up and used as a portion of the National road, instead of the line over the hills north of Sycamore Valley.

Morrisson's company was merged in the Wayne County Turnpike Company in 1850. This company issued seven hundred and eighty shares of stock of the par value of fifty dollars each, and operated its road until the year 1890, when Jackson towns.h.i.+p, by virtue of a popular vote, purchased that portion of it lying within her boundaries for the sum of $4,500, and made it free of tolls. In 1893, Wayne towns.h.i.+p bought the road within her boundaries for $11,000, and made it free. The preliminary steps are now being taken by the citizens of Center towns.h.i.+p to take a vote on a proposition to purchase the road within her borders. If this measure carries the road will be free throughout its entire length in Wayne county.

The Presidents of the Wayne County Turnpike Company have been Robert Morrisson, Jacob Brooks, Edmund Laurence, William Parry, and Joseph C.

Ratliff, the last named having served continuously from 1871 to the present time, a pleasant gentleman of fine executive abilities.

This company has always paid dividends of seven per cent. on its capital stock of $39,000, and for the last ten years a majority of its stockholders have been women.

The rate of toll was two cents a mile for horse and buggy and one-half cent per mile for each additional horse, one cent for a horse and rider per mile, and one-half cent for a led horse.

The toll houses were small frame structures and the gates simply heavy poles to raise and let down after the manner of the beam that lowered and lifted up "the old oaken bucket that hung in the well."

Going westwardly from the Ohio State line, in Indiana, the first tavern was that of James Neal, at Sycamore Valley. Of Neal but little can be gleaned beyond the fact that he kept tavern at this point for several years.

The next tavern was Clawson's, a brick building, erected about the year 1818 by Robert Hill. It stood a little distance north of the road, and near the western end of the line before mentioned, as having been located but not used, and was subsequently torn down and rebuilt on the traveled line. It is said that Robert Hill's daughters hauled the brick for their father's house in an ox cart. Clawson was a tall, muscular man, and beyond these facts concerning him, he is lost to the memory of the oldest inhabitant of Indiana. West of Clawson's the first toll gate in Indiana was encountered. It stood near Glen Miller Park and almost within the suburbs of Richmond. This gate was moved several times, but never over a mile from Richmond.

The city of Richmond is the first large town on the line of the road within the borders of the State of Indiana, and the road forms its Main street. It is four miles from the Ohio line, and the county seat of Wayne county. Its present population is 25,000.

The first tavern of the road in Richmond was kept by Charles W. Starr.

It was a regular old pike tavern, with extensive stabling and drove yards attached, occupying one-fourth of a square on the northeast corner of Eighth, formerly Fifth street. The building was of brick, known in later years as the Tremont Hotel. It is still standing, but not used as a hotel or tavern. Charles W. Starr was a man of medium size and of Quaker faith. He wore the Quaker garb, had Quaker habits, and was esteemed a good citizen. Some of his descendants are still living at Richmond, and three of his sons are prominent and active business men of that place.

A short distance below Starr's, and between Sixth and Seventh streets, stood Sloan's brick stage house, and its proprietor, Daniel D. Sloan, was at one time postmaster of Richmond. This tavern was headquarters for two stage lines, one running to Indianapolis and the other to Cincinnati. The Cincinnati line had opposition, and by cutting rates the fare was reduced by the compet.i.tion and during its continuance, from five dollars to fifty cents for the round trip, distance seventy miles direct. A portion of Sloan's old tavern still remains, and adjoins Roling's hardware store. Sloan was heavy set, fleshy, and well poised for a tavern keeper.

On the south side of the road, between Seventh and Eighth streets, William Nixon kept a tavern on the site of the present Huntington House.

He was a spare, sinewy man, of the Quaker faith. He kept the tavern at the point named from 1840 to about 1843.

A noted tavern was Gilbert's, on the northeast corner of Sixth and Main streets. Joseph W. Gilbert kept this house for many years. It was a two-story frame building, pebble coated. Gilbert was tall and slim, polite and affable, and had many friends. He suffered the misfortune of going blind, and died at Richmond in 1890, in the ninety-second year of his age. When barely able to distinguish large objects he walked much up and down the streets, asking persons he met to tell him the time of day, always pulling out his watch and holding it up for inspection. At one time when Gilbert was moving a part of his tavern building, Charles Newman, on pa.s.sing along, inquired of the old landlord, whose house was noted for its cleanliness, how many bed bugs he found. Gilbert replied with indignation, "Not a single one." "I believe you, Joseph," said Newman, "for they are married and have large families." Most of the early taverns of Richmond were in the western part of the town.

It is related in the latest history of Indiana, that Jeremiah c.o.x, one of the earliest settlers in Richmond, regarded with disfavor the scheme of building up the town; and is said to have remarked, that he would rather see a buck's tail than a tavern sign, and his sincerity was made evident by the fact, that he did not make his addition to the town plat until two years after the date of Smith's survey, or two years after Philip Harter had a tavern sign swinging near a log building on lot 6, South Fifth (Pearl) street.

Another early tavern of Richmond was kept at the northwest corner of Main and Fifth (Pearl), sign of the green tree, by Jonathan Bayles, and another, of later date, on Fourth (Front) street, near the southwest corner of Main, by Ephraim Lacey. Harter soon afterward kept a tavern at the corner of North Fifth (Pearl) and Main, where the Citizen's bank afterward stood, then called Harter's corner.

Another tavern was kept on Gilbert's corner, northwest corner of Main and Sixth (Marion), first, it is believed, by Abraham Jeffries, and continued afterward by several other persons at different times.

Richard Cheesman, an early settler, lived on South Fourth (Front) street, kept a tavern several years, and subsequently removed to Center towns.h.i.+p, where he died. William, a nephew, remained in Richmond, and married a Miss Moffitt. He died some years ago, but his widow is still living.

John Baldwin, an original Carolinian, kept a tavern and store at the Citizen's bank corner. He went west, and became a trader with the Indians. Their savage nature having at one time been excited by liquor which he had sold them, they scalped, or partially scalped him, but he survived the operation and returned to Wayne county, where he died, six miles north of Richmond, in 1869. After Baldwin, William H. Vaughan kept this tavern for several years, and until it ceased to entertain the public. Vaughan had previously kept the Lacey tavern on Fourth (Front) street.

Patrick Justice, at an early period, kept a tavern on North Fourth (Front) street, near Main. He afterward kept a public house which he built in 1827, near the extreme limits of the town, now the southeast corner of Main and Fifth streets.