OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
 

151
 

CHAPTER XI
 

^HE contract for constructing a turnpike road
from Hagerstown to the Conococheague
Creek was let to McKinley, Kinkead &
Ramsey, of Cumberland, and the stone
bridge to Silas Harry, in December, 1817,
the work to be completed in two years.
The cost of the bridge was between $11,000
and $12,000. The National Road extended from
Cumberland to the West. The Bank road from
the Conococheague to Cumberbland had been laid
out by Commissioners, and would be completed in
1822 and this road would give a continuous ma¬
cadam road from Hagerstown to the Ohio river.
From the east the turnpike had not yet reached
Boonsboro, and the portion between that town and
Hagerstown was not completed for several years
and was a serious obstacle to travel between Bal¬
timore and Washington and the West. The mat¬
ter of roads was a much more serious and impor¬
tant question than at present. Now wagon roads
are merely local affairs; then, they were national.
Intercommunication between the distant parts of
a broad land was only maintained, away from
the coast or navigable rivers, by means of wagons
and stage coaches. The peculiar character of the
soil of the country between Hagertsown and Bal¬
timore and Washington made good roads of any
other kind than those of stone almost impossible.
Before the turnpikes were made, the County was
frequently cut off from all communication with
the outside world. Mails were delayed, and freight
had to be stored in warehouses until the state of
the roads admitted of travel. This was particu¬
larly exasperating because the major part of the
transportation was done in farm wagons and was
 

most liable to interruption at the very time when
farmers were at leisure to do the work. It is not
surprising therefore that this question occupied
much of the thoughts of the people of Washington
County at an early time; and many meetings were
held and projects and schemes suggested. As early
as December 1, 1796, a meeting was held at Hag¬
erstown in the Court House, to devise means for
procuring a turnpike road to be made from Bal¬
timore Town through Hagertsown to Williamsport,
one-eighth of the expense to be borne by Wash¬
ington County. Gen. Thomas Sprigg presided.
Resolutions were passed setting forth the advan¬
tages of the road to the farming interests of West¬
ern Maryland, in giving access to market, and at
the time of the year when farmers were unable
,, to work on their farms and could then move their
crops. General Heister was the choice of the
meeting for Washington Cotmty's member of the
Commission to lay out the road. Eli Williams,
William Clagett, Samuel Ringgold, Daniel
Hughes, Nathaniel Rochester and Adam Ott were
the committee,to procure the passage of a charter,
and a committee was also appointed to get names
to a petition to the General Assembly for such
a charter. It was to be left to the Legislature to
decide whether the road should fork at Boonsbor-
ou.gh, with one branch to Hagerstown and one to
Williamsport or whether it should be made
through Hagerstown to Williamsport. The char¬
ter was granted in March 1797 for the road to pass
from Baltimore through Frederick and Hagers¬
town to Williamsport. In September, 1797, Na¬
thaniel Rochester presided over another turnpike
meeting  in  Hagerstown  to  express  the  opinion