MARYLAND WEATHER SERVICE 319 



part of the Colony became directly concerned in the road as a route 

 for traffic, or as an outlet for produce. The direct purpose of this 

 road was for the better communication between the two Forts, Cum* 

 berland and Frederick* about which settlements were growing up, 

 which were dependent upon them for protection from the Indian 

 troubles which at intervals following Braddock's defeat were of 

 serious importance. Settlements followed the line of communica- 

 tion that was thus opened, and agriculture thus spread westward 

 along the road. 



The National Road, for which moneys were first appropriated 

 by the Congress in IS 10, extended westward from Cumberland 

 toward the settlements of the Ohio valley. The name has been ex- 

 tended to cover the main turnpike route eastward from Cumberland 

 through Flintstone, Hancock and Hagerstown to Frederick, and 

 the term "National Pike" is applied also to the road through Mount 

 Airy eastward. This system of roads was in fact the feeder for 

 the National Eoad proper, as it brought the freight to the starting 

 point at Cumberland. These roads were of much importance in the 

 development of the agriculture of the central sections of the Colony, 

 and the German settlers of the Monocacy Valley were thrifty in their 

 use of such routes for the marketing of their produce. 



There were two roads of importance across the central Valley 

 area as early as 1805 f , one from the District of Columbia and the 

 other from Baltimore, which ran westward to Frederick, thence to 

 Williamsport. These were directly related to the National Road 

 as its antecedents and feeders. For a considerable time the Road 

 lend through unsettled country, but the favorable locations along 

 the route were gradually taken up, and the country became settled 

 from the roadside back into the wilderness. The extension of the 

 highway between Baltimore and the Cumberland end of the National 

 Road, was largely the work of an association of banks, which formed 

 an incorporated company for the building of the necessary connec- 

 tions between the City and the Road to Ohio. The road so built 

 is sometimes referred to as the "Bank Road." The completion of 

 this system of transportation routes, about 1820, from the Ohio 



*At Cumberland and near Big Pool, Washington County, respectively. 

 tSee Maryland Geological Survey, vol. iii, p. 182. 



