206 Kansas Academy of Science. 



From the engineering standpoint it was probably the best rock road 

 constructed in America, there being three layers of stone used, good drain- 

 age, low grades, and excellent bridges. It was almost as straight as Peter 

 the Great's famous road to St. Petersburg, which was laid out by the im- 

 perious monarch himself by the simple process of laying a ruler down on 

 the map between the desired terminals. On the engineering staff we 

 find the names of McKee, who fell at Beuna Vista, Williams, at Monterey, 

 and Major-General Mansfield, at Antietam. 



Much objection to the construction of the road was made on constitu- 

 tional grounds, but it was finally constructed under the authority given to 

 the government to regulate post roads and the mails. However, when the 

 question of keeping the road in repairs came up it was thought best to 

 turn it over to the states within whose borders it passed for the purpose 

 of erecting toll gates and using the revenue obtained in this manner for 

 keeping the road in repair. The position of toll gate keeper was quite a 

 lucrative one, but Ohio alone received $1,139,795.30 from tolls from 1831 

 to 1877. This indicates the vast amount of travel over the road even 

 when railroads and canals were being rapidly developed. 



For at least three sessions of congress previous to the last appropria- 

 tion for the National Road, various committees and individual members 

 urged that the remaining portion of the highway be made a government 

 railroad instead of a wagon road, but when each time the matter came 

 to a vote, these amendments were struck out, and the original plan was 

 pursued. 



The principal rivals of macadamized roads were those known as plank 

 roads. The first plank road in America was constructed in 1835-'36 at 

 Toronto, Canada, and the first in the United States in 1837, near Syra- 

 cuse, N. Y. This foi"m of roadway proved very popular, there being 

 2,106 miles constructed in New York alone during the next fifteen years. 

 Plank roads were made of 3" x 8" planks laid crosswise of the road, and 

 fastened to stringers. Such roads cost about $2,000 per mile, or about 

 one-fifth of the cost of the Cumberland Road. The tractor power was 

 much less than on the rock roads, one team easly pulling as much as 

 six tons on low grades. Sometimes these plank roads were constructed 

 as a neighborhood enterprise, and were only second to a log rolling in 

 popularity as a social event. 



With the rapid rise of the railroads, there came a corresponding de- 

 cline in road making. The Federal government ceased entirely to devote 

 any attention to the subject, and the same was true of almost all of the 

 states. The power to improve and repair the roads was left almost 

 wholly to the townships or small road districts. The expense for this 

 work was largely borne by a poll tax which might be worked out by each 

 individual if he so chose. The road overseer was generally quite igno- 

 rant of the proper methods of road drainage, establishing of economical 

 grades, and kindred subjects. Consequently we had for many years a 

 system of roads only good in the dry seasons. 



In the last twenty-five years there have been two important develop- 

 ments which have done a great deal for the improvement of our roads, 

 and are destined to accomplish much more in the near future. The first 



