26 



^{)c Saxmtx's illoxitlil|) biaitor. 



District of" Coluiiiiiia have not given over llie 

 lio|ie of grant adviiiitajrCM which their ciinal hii^ 

 yet lo f^ivc iheni, in Ihe transport of coal. 1 donht 

 very iniich whether they "ill realize these ail- 

 vantajres in the prestiit fjeMcration. 



A stajre jmirney over the Alle<;haiiy mountains 

 hjsalua.\s heen the dread of the traveller, es- 

 pecially in the ivinler when the hi^h ridges are 

 generally covered with ice. 1 had heard of the 

 danger of roliherie.s on these inouiilains in the 

 night; and the story of a notahle rohhervvho had 

 kept the tavc-rn at Uiiioiilovvn, where wc expcaned 

 to hrealiliist Ihe next niorning after leaving Cum- 

 herland, dii! not lessen those apprehension.*. 

 This njail robhcr had carried on his depredations 

 for years: in some one or more of the mail roh- 

 beries helween Wheeling and ISallimore, persons 

 had heen shot. The great JJhie Beard was .-it 

 length delected, and is now working out solitary 

 imprisomnenl, liir ten years, in the penitentiary 

 of Western I'eimsyU aifia. .Mthough known to 

 have led in the hnsiness of highway rohhery for 

 years, yet no morder could he tiaced to his re- 

 sponsiiiility, so that although indicted on several 

 connls, no conviction was procured as for a capi- 

 tal <itTence. He united to the profession of a 

 taverner that of a nominal physician and sur- 

 geon. 



Soon after ])assing off the pavements in the 

 streets of Onmherland, it grew dark. The smi 

 had shone. clear during the previous afternoon ; 

 hut we eonid see dark clouds resting upon the 

 monntaiiis westward. As soon as we hegan the 

 ascent of the first hills, the clear sky and the 

 stars were shut from the view: indeed, Ihe in- 

 creasing cold rendered it more comforlahle to 

 shut up the stage close, so as to make it entirely 

 dark. The first and almost the only incivility 

 rei'eived since the commeni'ement of the jour- 

 ney, was ;i noiicclhat my trunk had hicn weigh- 

 ed and fomiil tocoulain twenty-five extra |ioimils 

 over t!ie fil'ty to which the payment of ten dol- 

 l.ars from the relay at Elicott's mills to Pilislinrg 

 eiilitled me, and that 1 must pay one dollar extr.i 

 for this. Heavily at the same lime was the 

 stage loaded down with wooden boxes enclosing 

 cans of oysters front the Ches.-ipeake, intended 

 for the western market, besides the mail and six 

 I)assengers. In not the best temper for taking a 

 silver ilollar beyond my calculations i'ov trans- 

 port, and half a dollar besides for less than half 

 a supper, the solilary traveller began in the dark 

 to calculate who and what were his darkened 

 companions in the inside, what wotdd be the fate 

 of his pnrse if not of his life, in case any new 

 depreil.ilioii upon the mountain had hc'Cii plame'd. 

 It was bad cniiugh to riile all night minus a cloak 

 which had in the warmer country below, will) a 

 cnnibr(Mis pair of overshoes, heen carefully locked 

 beyond reach in the big trunk, with no other 

 benefit than lo pay for their passage over the 

 nioiuitain as extra baggage, at the rate of four 

 cents p'.r pound — it was worse to ride with the 

 apprehension of robbery tmd perhaps murder 

 slaring full in the liice. The value of " wife, 

 cbildri.'U and Iriends" at home almost for ihe first 

 time hegan to hi; ieali/.i'<l. Silence in the car- 

 riage was lirst broken by ihe in(|uiry w hi'lhcr the 

 several stages making up the two lines limn 

 (Jninberland In Wheeling and I'iltsburg kept on 

 their way iscjlnled or in company: the answer 

 being (iivorahle to the larger rmmher as the 

 preater .safety in ihe iiuillilude of counsellors, 

 Btillne.ss reigned for some time, while tin- well 

 disciplined four horses with the slow or walking 

 p.'iec continiKwl to ascinid the hill, when the sole 

 New rCngland passenger, (a.s be supposed) like 

 the boy in the woods whistling oif fear, began lo 

 hum the tune wilh the words — 

 " O li:ippy is llio iiKiti wlui he.'irs 



InMti-uclion's wiiniitii; voice, 

 Aiul who cc'leslial nisdoin makes 

 Hio r;irly. only choice." 



Another voii;n in a dilfereiit corner of the stage 

 coach soon responded wilh another tune, set lo 

 llie hjnin of Dr. Watts — 



" Mv S:iviour, tiiy aliniqhry IVictuI, 



When I hiv.'in thy pr.ik*-, 

 Where will the plormiltt niinihers end. 



The iiuiiihcid of ihy ijmce ? 

 AwriUe, awake iny IliiieTnl voice, 



Willi iIm; ileliL'iill'nl soni; ; 

 I'll enlerhiin the ii:irkest hours, 



ISiiT think the stM^iin lun;,'." 



This was lianlly ended, when two oilier voices, 

 in those uielliflnnus intoiiatioiis which chanii the 



air of a Methodist or Freewill camp meeting — 

 the high-toned tenor with the lower-toned second 

 — broke the stilluc'ss in wilder and wider tiiid 

 linider notes and swifter nietre, with word* like 



these — 



" The Bible is justly esteemed 



'i'hc glory supreme ol' the land; 

 It shows how the sinner 's redeemed 



And |)laced .it Jehovah's right hand." 



Thus far the voluntary music discovered four 

 of Ihe six inside passengers as at least "near of 

 kin" to the New England rurilans. A mutual 

 comparison of notes showed one to he a native 

 of Mas-sachnsetts, who from bis longer life in 

 New Hampshire bad made that his adopted rotate, 

 and w ho was pursuing his way over the nioun- 

 laiiis mainly lo avoid tbeelfects on a worn down 

 asthmatic constitution of the severe winter cli- 

 mate — tlie second, to lie a junior partner in a 

 IJoston mercaiiiile firm who had left home with 

 a simple carpet bag, as if for not more than a 

 week's absence, to secure debts and propei-ty in 

 the interior of Ohio, having the materials in that 

 carpet bag to come out next morning on board 

 the steamboat in quite as giiy attire as the most 

 particular merchant of his city upon 'Change : — 

 th<! remaining two, vocal wilh sacred song, were 

 nalives of western I'enn.Mlvania, sharp and 

 shrewd as any Y'aiikees from the fiirther east, 

 who having succeeded in laying by money from 

 working in the fertile soil c)f the ueigbborhood, 

 bad commenced trade upon a busy landi'ig place 

 of the Monongabela river, which has but now 

 opened a steady steambuin navigation \\ilh the 

 Ohio river below, and along whose bauk.s, for the 

 distance of many miles, is underlaid an imineiise 

 body of coal, which will continue to supply for 

 ages the country connected with the western 

 waters with abnndanee of that belter substitute 

 for wood as fuel: these had becni eastward to 

 ni'die their purr-haso of jiierchandize and inler- 

 ehaiige of commodities, and were returning with 

 Ihe best knowledge Of what the farmers of their 

 neighborhooel could turn of their products to the 

 most profitable account. Of the two remaining 

 inside passengers, one was a traveller w ilbont 

 baggage or scrip, who n few weeks before had 

 passed over this road on foot on a visit lo the 

 friends of his early youth, who bad probably been 

 furnished by them wilh Ihe means to pay his 

 passage back, and who at each stojipage at a post 

 office or liir the interchange of horses, made di- 

 rect enquiry liir tlie enemy which some arc wont 

 to "put into their mouths to take away their 

 brains." He was accompanied by a youth who 

 insisted that he should be sick if not sufiered to 

 cfujoy his long nine within the body of the stage 

 coach, and who in respect to ihe glass of whiskey 

 was not on any occasion behind his elder com- 

 pai.ion and li-iend. 'J'he two were laborers ulien 

 they could get employ as persons of all work 

 amongst the more industrious and tnore moral 

 communiiy, whose activity and industry have 

 built up tlie flourishing city of Pillsbnrg with its 

 a;ipendages, numbering a popul;ilion of some 

 fifty thousand liuinau souls. 



yalistied wilh the explaiialions — for it was to 

 be seen at oiicc that even the inebriates were 

 only their own worst enemies — perfect confi- 

 dence of security existed in the darkness upon 

 the mountains, illuminaied only by the lamps on 

 Ihe outside at eilher band of the drivei-. 'J'he 

 National road, covered with broken stone metal, 

 was at this time as smooth as the hard-tro(ld(!n 

 paths of the best roads of New England when 

 frost has closed them up, and when diseiicnm- 

 liered of both snow and ice. In passing, we 

 could only judge of the ascent or descent by the 

 slower or swifter movement of the carri.ige. A 

 most beautiful view exhibitt'd ilself in the wind- 

 ings of ibe mouiilains on thrusting the head mil- 

 side of the coach, by ibe carriages following each 

 oilier in the iraiii, looking backward or forw.-inl, 

 as they were either ascending at a slow, or de- 

 sceudiug at a quicker pace. 



At the; higher elevation we soon came into the 

 cloud which we had seen before leaving tin; 

 Ciiniberlaud valley ; anil those. who know the 

 nature of the clouds which overlay our own 

 While iMoiinl;iiiis,and sometimes rest upon Kear- 

 sarge or Aloiiaduork, will not be surpris'-d lo be 

 inriirmed that our .Alleghanj inonulain cloud was 

 .1 coniiiiiieil snow storm of several hours, re- 

 minding one, as he passed, of that old song of 

 Sliuks|icarc — 



" The traveller benighted and lost, 

 O'er the mountain pursues his lone way — 

 'J'he leaves are all candied wilh frost 

 And the icicle hangs on each spray : 

 fbs lifarth's cheerful blaze still engages his roind, 

 While through Ihe sliarp hawthorn keen blows the cold 

 wind. 



Not so to the travellers in our coach, collected 

 by chance, was the night, desolate nnd solitary 

 npon these mountains. The drivers changed at 

 the interval of every fomteen or sixteen miles; 

 but we kept on onr course through the night. 

 To Watts' psalmody and the times of Old Hiin- 

 flred and the fiiging and irregular harmony of 

 Billings and Holden in every variety of verse, 

 succeeded the lighter airs of Aiild Lang Syne, 

 the Slar-spangled Banner to the tune of .Anac- 

 reon in Heaven, &c. The storm anil cold with- 

 out disturbed not the ."ocial enjoyment within ; 

 and a day of travel in calm sunshine would have 

 been scarcely more pleasant than this stormy 

 night, which, otherwise, might have been mcsl 

 unpleasant and disagreeable. The ice npon lliese 

 mountains in winter sometimes renders their 

 passage most dangerous: we feared not their 

 dark ascent or descent because there v\as at this 

 time no ice, and not eiioiigh snow had fallen to 

 do" the wheels, and because the thorongh knowl- 

 edge of the drivers travelling over the road every 

 night or day, one way or the oilier, covered every 

 inch of ground. We could trust them where wo 

 would not trust ourselves. In the course of the 

 night we bad mounted to an elevation of nearly 

 four thousand feet above tide water at Baltimoii;. 

 We could only regret that night deprived ns of 

 the views in the monntaiiis which are every 

 where presented: most of all did 1 regret to lie 

 deprived of that view of the soil and rocky strata 

 excavated in making the road, at difTereiil points 

 of the mountain, and of the prevailing growth of 

 trees and shrubs, which are always to me inter- 

 esting wherever 1 travel, as disclosing liom earth's 

 bosom whatever distinguishes Ihe more fertile 

 from the more sterile n'gions in the various parts ' 

 of onr country. Laurel Hill, the highest point 

 of the Alleghany mounlains on our route, de- 

 rives its name from that evergreen so frequent in 

 the iKickbone ridge between the Merrimack and 

 Connecticut, which used to be dreaded by the 

 farmers who first settled onr bill towns as poi- 

 sonous to sheep when diiveii to eat it Ivy hunger 

 when the ground was covered with .snow, and 

 which presents the most beautiful and fragriint 

 of our early fiowers in summer. The roi-k nia- 

 |ile anil the beech, with the hemlock and the larch 

 at hiuher elevations, are the most IVeijiient tiers 

 upon the Alleghanies. 



In a few minutes afici descending a high ele- 

 vation, wc come to Uniontown, a shire town of 

 Fayette, o<ie of the most fertile of the western 

 counties of Pennsylvania. This town is situated 

 ill that precise valley through which Biaddock's 

 troops p;isscd with the yoiilhliil Washington, 

 nearly nuiely years ago. The same town is the 

 residence of Dr. Sturgeon, twice elected Senator 

 of the United Stat<'s for the great State of Peiin- 

 sjlvauia, and of Mr. Sluarl, who has several 

 limes represented the dislrict in the Honse of 

 Representatives. Immediately alter having llio 

 mountains we came into that fertile limestone 

 land, which in the course of half a century seems 

 to know no diminiitiou of product. The soil is 

 so rich that it is said never to wear out, and when 

 the surface mould hcconies tired, it may soon he 

 renovated by turning a few inches iKeper with 

 the plough. Much of the whole of Western 

 Pennsylvania and Virginia is said to bo land of 

 this character. 



At I'niontou u, as soon as wc had waslieil onr 

 faces and warmed, we were roiiducted loa break- 

 fast table rendered the uinnr weli'ome from onr 

 shortened iiirc at Cuiuberland full fomteen hours 

 previous, fasting all that time: and here our ap- 

 petites were slaved by liit beef steak iiiid ham, 

 inuniny and luscious buckwheat c.ikes with iiia- 

 pli; molasses, milk and honey, the fin of the kind. 

 The house was the convenient mansion erected 

 by the (fcrnian doctor and mail-robber liom the 

 ill-gotten means of bis several c-illings: he is 

 now atoning for his crimes by bard labor in prison 

 — his house and bind have become the property 

 of a man who b.mer descrvi's the proli>ssion, be- 

 cause he lias earned it by limiest industry. That 

 person, as I loft the table, sabilid as having be- 

 i'ore freqnrnlly seen me, and rcminiled me of 

 him as the former host at the slage-inn at Man- 



