NATIONAL ROAD 



4077 



NATURAL BRIDGE 



ties chose from their very large supply a large 

 number of relics and specimens to be exhibited 

 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. 

 This collection was arranged chonologically to 

 show the history and development of the United 

 < ami was one of the most interesting de- 

 partments of the Exposition. In 1877, when 

 the exhibit was returned to Washington, the 

 : m Institution was so crowded that no 

 room could be found for the collection, and it 



OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



was therefore stored until Congress could take 

 action. That body authorized the erection of 

 a building for the exhibit in 1879, but in 1881, 

 when the edifice was completed, it was found to 

 be too small. In 1903 Congress ordered the 

 construction of another large building, costing 

 $3,500,000. 



From the standpoint of history and patriot- 

 ism the National Museum is of great value, for 

 within its wall- are .-totvd innumerable memen- 

 tos of American presidents, statesmen, soldiers 

 and literary men, while the natural history 

 specimens and the articles arranged to show the 

 customs and manners of all races are probably 

 not equaled in interest by any other existing 

 secretary of the Smithsonian In- 

 ' per of the Museum; he is aided 

 in this work by an assistant secretary and over 

 y chiefs of departments. The Museum 

 has issued numerous valuable bulletins in zo- 

 and geology, which an- distrib- 

 uted through the Superintendent of Documents 



NATIONAL ROAD. S UNO B<UD, 



NAT TURNER INSURRECTION, 



18 an American negro 



slave, born in Southampton C< m 



1800. While but a child he fanned himself to 

 be God's agent for some great work and 



ulii'h would indicate 



!>e and wh n it hould 



:ued In 1S2S he declared that a voice 



told him to rise against the enemies of the 



negro race and slaughter them without mercy. 

 Turner thought the eclipse of the sun in Feb- 

 ruary, 1831, furnished him the sign for which 

 he had so long waited, but he did not begin 

 his "mission" until August 13. 



On that date he assembled five other negroes, 

 explained his plans, and on the night of August 

 21 killed five members of his master's family at 

 Cross Keys, Va., and the next morning put to 

 death all the pupils in a neighboring school. 

 He compelled other slaves to join him, and by 

 noon of August 22 was leader of a wild group 

 numbering fifty-three. They went from house 

 to house killing every white person they found, 

 until their victims numbered fifty-seven. Be- 

 fore evening of that same day a great mob of 

 white men were hunting the murderers, and 

 were soon joined by United States troops and 

 militia. The negroes were captured in October, 

 were tried at Jerusalem, Va., and seventeen, in- 

 cluding Turm : mged there on Nov 

 ber 11. The massacre resulted in the immedi- 

 ate passing of more stringent slave laws in 

 nearly every Southern state, free negroes were 

 driven from many sections, and practically all 

 State and Church efforts toward educating the 

 colored race were temporarily halted in the 

 South. 



NATURAL BR'lDGE, a structure created by 

 the hand of Nature, which takes the form of a 

 mass of earth or rock spanning a stream, gorge 

 or other depression. In many instances a natu- 

 ral bridge is the result of the action of water 

 which works its way slowly through loose soil 

 jor soft rock beneath a harder layer, gradually 

 washing out the softer material. The solid up- 

 per layer is thus left a natural bridge. There 

 are more than fifty of such interesting forma- 

 tions in the United States. Of these the best 

 known is in Rockbridge County, Va., sixteen 

 miles from Lexington, Va. It is from fifty to 

 one hundred feet wide, affording a comfortable 

 passageway for traffic, is 215 feet above the 

 stream below, and has a span of ninety feet 

 The thickness of the bridge is about forty feet. 

 Originally the structure was a natural tunix 1. 

 but as water continued to percolate through the 

 rocks the softer portions were loosened and all 

 of the roof except this bridge portion collapsed 

 many years ago. 



In Utah there arc three remarkable natural 

 bridges, all of which arc pictured in these vol- 

 umes in connection with ' 



v are the N..: ' ' iirh ; the 



Kdwm. Ill foot in height, and eiista 



Sandstone, 205 feet high. Other notable struc- 



