120 THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 



die of the state, the coach which carried Charles Dickens 

 crossed a well-made road which ran east and west at right 

 angles to the route which was being traversed by the eminent 

 author. When Ohio came into the Union in 1803 the law 

 of admission contained a proviso that the proceeds from the 

 sale of public lands in the state should be used in the con- 

 struction of highways. This was the origin of the National 

 Road, so called by way of pre-eminence, the first contracts 

 for which were let in 1811. It was to extend from Cum- 

 berland, Maryland, through southwest Pennsylvania, over the 

 Alleghany Mountains to Wheeling, West Virginia, thence 

 across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois to St. Louis, Mo. The clear- 

 ing for this excellent turnpike was 60 feet wide, along the 

 middle of which ran the roadbed, 30 feet wide. After the 

 Monongahela was crossed the steepest grade was only a little 

 above 4 degrees. It was built upon the principles advocated 

 by Telford and Macadam, and was so well constructed that 

 it remains to this day a monument to its promoters and build- 

 ers. Stone bridges spanned the rivers which crossed its 

 path, iron mile-posts indexed its distances, and iron gates 

 were placed at its tollhouses. Ten miles an hour was the av- 

 erage speed of the stage coaches which traveled upon it, 

 though over certain sections the remarkable speed of 26 

 miles in two hours was said to have been attained. There 

 were also great wagons, capable of carrying ten tons each, 

 which were burdened with freight from Baltimore to Wheel- 

 ing, where it was transferred to boats upon the river for in- 

 land points all the way to St. Louis and beyond. These 

 picturesque overland freighters were drawn by twelve horses, 

 and the rear wheels were twelve feet high. 



In 1817 Calhoun and Clay voiced the requirements of the 



