CUMBERLAND 



1669 



CUMBERLAND ROAD 



the Census Bureau estimate of 26,074 in 1916 

 showed an increase of 4,235 since 1910. 



Cumberland occupies a site 700 feet above 

 tide-water in a locality noted for picturesque 

 scenery. Besides possessing scenic beauty, this 

 district is rich in coal deposits, great quantities 

 of the semi-bituminous variety being shipped 

 from Cumberland. Manufacturing, in which 

 large capital is invested, is represented by steel 

 mills, iron foundries, cement works, tanneries, 

 glass works and large rolling mills engaged in 

 making railway supplies. 



CUMBERLAND, R. I., a town in the extreme 

 northeastern part of the state. The population 

 increased from 10,107 in 1910 to 10,848 in 1916. 

 The town is situated near the Pawtucket and 

 Seekonk rivers, in Providence County, six miles 

 north of Providence and thirty-eight miles 

 southwest of Boston. Three branches of the 

 New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad 

 serve the city, and electric lines connect with 

 towns north and south. The town was settled 

 in 1646, was incorporated in 1747, and was 

 named for Cumberland, England. 



Beautiful hills and wooded districts surround 

 Cumberland, and coal, copper, gold and granite 

 are found in the vicinity. The interests of 

 the town are largely centered in the manufac- 

 ture of cotton, silk and horseshoes. A Car- 

 negie Library adds to the educational advan- 

 tages of the public school system, which has 

 fifteen elementary schools and a high school. 

 The only Cistercian Trappist Monastery in 

 New England is located here. 



CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS, the name 

 given that division of the Appalachian Moun- 

 tain system which extends across the eastern 

 part of Tennessee and forms the boundary 

 between Virginia and Kentucky. The region 

 covered by the division is a plateau about 

 2,000 feet high and fifty miles wide, on which 

 rise several ranges of hills or low mountains 

 to the height of 500 or 600 feet. The slopes 

 of the plateau are steep. The region is covered 

 with forests of chestnut, oak, ash and other 

 hard woods. An opening through these moun- 

 tains where Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee 

 meet is the celebrated "Cumberland Gap," 

 through which early settlers wended their way 

 westward into Kentucky and Tennessee, and 

 which was traversed by both the Confederate 

 and the Union forces during the War of Seces- 

 sion. 



CUMBERLAND RIVER, a large tributary of 

 the Ohio River, which rises in the highlands 

 in Southeastern Kentucky, flows westward into 



Tennessee, and after making almost a half- 

 circle in that state, returns to Kentucky and 

 mingles its waters with those of the Ohio, near 

 Smithland. Its winding course is 688 miles in 

 length, and its drainage basin is over 18,000 

 square miles in area. At the Great Falls, in 

 Whitley County, Ky., the river makes a sudden 

 descent of sixty-three feet; below the falls 

 the stream plunges over a series of rapids, the 

 Great Shoals, for a distance of ten miles, de- 

 scending to a level course between beautiful 

 bluffs that gradually decrease in height. When 

 conditions are favorable the Cumberland is 

 navigable for light steamers carrying local 

 products and merchandise as far as Burnside, 

 Ky., 518 miles from its mouth, and steamers go 

 to Nashville, a distance of 193 miles, through- 

 out the year. 



During the War of Secession the Confed- 

 erates erected Fort Donelson on the Cumber- 

 land, and near-by, Fort Henry, on the Ten- 

 nessee. The capture of these two forts in 

 1862 by Commander Foote and General Grant 

 was one of the most important Union victories 

 of the year. 



CUMBERLAND ROAD, a government high- 

 way, called also the NATIONAL ROAD, and known 

 at first as the GREAT NATIONAL PIKE. It was 

 projected in response to a demand for a better 

 route from the East to the West, in view of 



MAP OF THE CUMBERLAND ROAD 



rapid settlement beyond the Ohio River. As 

 finally built, it extended from Fort Cumber- 

 land, on the Maryland frontier, to Vandalia, 

 111., a distance of 800 miles. As it was for many 

 years the chief line of travel for thousands of 

 Eastern settlers who were making their way 

 westward, the Cumberland Road was an im- 

 portant factor in the development of the West 

 and Southwest. The original plan was to con- 

 struct the road from funds obtained by the 

 sales of public lands in the states through 

 which it passed, but it soon became necessary 

 to call on Congress for additional appropria- 

 tions, and between 1806, the year in which 

 construction work began, and 1838 there were 

 voted sums amounting to $6,821,246. 



It was largely due to the efforts of Henry 

 Clay that Congress advanced this money, and 



