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- Payment
of Toll Was Evaded. - As might be expected many attempts
were made to
evade the payment of toll. Travelers, familiar with the
country, would
sometimes detour when approaching a toll gate.
Church-goers were frequently
more numerous than church attendants, and there were more funerals
than deaths. Laws were passed whereby one could be
severely punished
for such an offense as evading the payment of toll, and
every tollgate
keeper was authorized to arrest one suspected of
attempting it.
-
- After
the care of the National Road was given over to the
commissioners of the
Counties through which it passed, other forms of revenue
for its maintenance
were found, and the toll gates were gradually
removed.
-
- Stagecoach
Days on the National Road
-
- To the
Guernsey county people in the settlements along the
National Road, the
arrival of the stagecoach was the leading event of the
day. They would gather
at the station to see it come in, and to learn from the
passengers, perhaps,
some late news of the outside world.
-
- What
the Coaches Were Like.-The coaches were gorgeous affairs.
Rival stage
lines tried to outdo each other in painting and
decorations on the outside
of their coaches. The inside was lined with silk plush.
The coach body
rested upon broad, thick leather straps. This caused a
gentle rocking. Within
were three seats, each of which would hold three
passengers. Beside the
driver on a high outside seat an additional passenger
could ride. In favorable
weather this position was sought, as it enabled one to
get a good view of
the country.
-
- Stagecoaches
had names painted on their sides. Some of these were
names of famous
men, of cities and of states; others were fanciful, like
those of Pullman
cars today. At each end of the coach was a boot in which
baggage and mail
were carried.
-
- The
Stage Drivers.-Stage drivers considered their calling
higher than that of the wagoners. As a rule the drivers were loquacious and
witty. Their acquaintance
was large. To the boy along the road a stage driver was
his hero, just as
some baseball or football player may be the hero of a boy
today. The ambition
of many a youngster was some day to drive a stagecoach
and emulate
his hero.
-
- One of
the local stage drivers was Archie McNeil whose father
was a blacksmith
at the Sarchet salt-works on Wills creek, north of
Cambridge. Archie's
love of horses and his ambition to be a stage driver
would often bring
him into town. On such occasions he would spend his time
about the stage
stations. By volunteering to hold horses and run errands
he soon became
acquainted with the drivers. Occasionally he was
permitted to ride on the
high seat with a driver to the end of a division and to
return with another driver.
Gradually he learned to handle the reins himself and,
when given a regular
position, he had realized his youthful ambition. He
drifted eastward and
became one of the best known drivers on the National
Road. The stage driver
on his high seat, with his hands full of reins, felt his
portance as he dashed
into a town, especially if he carried some noted person.
Like that of a motor-bus
driver today his run was over a division.
-
- NATIONAL
ROAD STAGECOACH In 1840 the Good Intent Line ran its stages
through Cambridge from Columbus to Wheeling in twenty
hours. The Mail
Pilot Line advertised that its stages would leave
Columbus daily at 6 A.M.,
reach Zanesville at I P.M., and Wheeling at 6 A.M. next
day, through in twenty-four
hours, allowing five hours for repose at St. Clairsville.
Within each
stage were seats for nine passengers. Horses were changed
about every twelve
miles. Drivers were rewarded for making fast time.
Sylvester Root, who
died in Washington, Guernsey county, in 1878, drove a
four-horse stage from
Washington to Cambridge, a distance of nine miles, in
thirty-two minutes.
He was presented with a driver's horn by the stage
company for
- making
the best time on the line which extended from Washington
City to Cincinnati.
The occasion for speed was the delivery of President Van
Buren's message.
-
- GREYHOUND
BUS In 1940 the Greyhound Bus Line was running its motor
- coaches
through Cambridge from Columbus to Wheeling in four and
one-
- half
hours. The time between Cambridge and Baltimore was
thirteen hours.
- A bus
could carry forty passengers.
-
- Stage
Companies.-Stagecoaches were not operated by private
individuals but
- by
companies as are bus lines today. The largest line
through Guernsey
- county
was the National Road Stage Company, with headquarters at
- Uniontown,
Pennsylvania. Its principal rival was the Good Intent
Line.
- Then
there were the National Stage Company, with headquarters
at
- Columbus,
Ohio, the Neil, Moore and Company, and other lines. There
was
- much
competition amongst the different companies. New
inventions and
- appliances
that might add to the comfort of the passengers were
quickly
- installed
and advertised. Speed was the main end sought and for
this the
- drivers
were held responsible. Making slow time was one of the
greatest
- offenses
a driver could commit.
-
- Stagecoach
stations were located at taverns. On account of the
rivalry each
- line
had its own station. The two leading ones in Cambridge
were the
- Hutchison
tavern that stood on the site of the National hotel, and
the Metcalf
- tavern
at the lower end of Wheeling avenue. All lines did not
have the same
- division
points, as some changed horses at Middletown and other
places in
- Guernsey
county.
-
- Stage
Schedules.-According to a stagecoach schedule the time
between
- Cambridge
and Washington was one hour. The Good Intent Line
advertised
- that
its coaches would leave Columbus for Wheeling daily, at
one P.M.,
- through
in twenty hours, reaching Wheeling in time to connect
with the
- stages
for Baltimore and Philadelphia. This was not a continuous
run, as
- time
was taken out for repose.
-
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