The Marietta Register, November 30, 1923
Building Roads From Beginning to Present Time
The evolution of the road and transportation question in Washington County is one covering many years and there are many angles to the story. From the unbroken, uncharted dirt road of the Pioneers in 1788 on down through the coming of the waterway age, the steam cars, the electric lines and then the hard surface highway, is told in the many stories that are told in this Good Roads edition of The Register and it is needless to tell them again in a recapitulation.
From all sections of the county we have been favored with sketches of the vicissitudes incident to road building from the time that the citizens worked out a road tax in a haphazard way with the result that the roads were impassable much of the year, to the opening of the new Marietta-Cleveland highway.
All along the route, covering more than a century and a quarter of time, the work has gone on and with every year there has come an approach nearer the goal - now one all-the-year-round road leading out of the city and connecting with the outside world. And work is well on its way to the road to the west which will lead to the state capital
It's a long, long story and it will require the reading of the entire paper to get even an inkling of just what it has taken in time and money to accomplish the work thus far acquired.
Oldest Paving in United States at Marietta
Marietta is a pioneer in the street paving business and well toward the first line of the cities in the nation that took to improving their public ways by giving them a real hard surface. And while it was among the first, it also soon dropped back into inactivity and other towns passed her as she pointed the way to the improvement of the county roads.
It is not generally known, a fact however, that the oldest piece of brick paving in the United States still laying as first put down is the Front Street paving from Greene to Putnam streets and the square on Greene to Second and the one on Putnam to Second.
This work was completed in 1891. J. P. Hulbert was the City Civil Engineer. Council, however, employed E. Frank Gates and A. F. Cole as his assistants, and it was these boys, each one of them now having arisen to high estates in the business world, that Marietta owes the honor of possessing a piece of street paving that has withstood the ravages of time and tide - many floods having covered it - and today points to the work with pride as the first step in the labors of pulling the city and the county out of the mud.
From step to step, street to street, the work was carried on till the city has today as good system of paved streets as is enjoyed by any in the nation.
And this was the forerunner of the paving that reached out into the country and from it the ceaseless work of getting the county roads in to an all year round condition the labors have continued.
The story of the county paving began with the year 1908 and the story is told in a most able way by County Surveyor C. M. Weeks in this issue of the paper.
County Paving as it Came With the Years
By Charles M. Weeks
When the pioneers made the first settlement in Ohio they selected the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, because these two large streams afforded ready means of transportation. As the settlers began to push out into the wilderness they made paths near the banks of the streams. These to begin with were mere trails blazed through the forest but were soon widened sufficiently to allow the passage of ox-cart and sled.
The first road of record in Washington County was surveyed in 1793 and followed the bank of the Ohio River through what is now the Village of Belpre. Others followed in rapid succession and by the year 1810 almost all parts of the county were accessible, at least by horseback. These early roads followed the banks or in may places the beds of streams and the dividing ridges between watersheds where little or no grading was required.
From the years 1830 to 1845 many so-called "State Roads" were established, any road passing through more than one county being so designated. During this period the public funds were insufficient to meet the demand and private companies were organized to build roads and bridges, the stockholders to be reimbursed from tolls collected from the traveling public. The Marietta and Newport Turnpike Company and the Marietta-National Road Plan Road Company were notable examples. These roads were eventually taken over by the county commissioners and the toll gates removed.
During the later years of the nineteenth century many miles of road, especially along the rivers, were graveled and much so-called "Stoned Road" was built. These roads were temporary, inexpensive affairs and there was no adequate system of maintenance but they helped to get the people out of the mud and some evidence of them still remain. Viewed from the present day, perhaps their chief value was educational.
As there developed in the people a desire for a better type of road and in a real sense paved the way for the present hard surface highway.
In 1904 the Ohio legislature created the State Highway Department and appropriated for salaries and running expenses $7,440 and for state aid in building roads $10,000 - which was to be apportioned among the counties making request for it before the following January.
It was not until the season of 1908 that Washington County received any part of the State Highway fund for road construction.
During that year the brick road from the north corporation line of Marietta, through the Rathbone Addition to the Mill Creek Road, was built. This was the first step in paving the main roads leading from the county seat to the rural communities. The same year the Newport Pike was paved to the Duck Creek bridge, and Virginia Street was extended to the railroad crossing at Mile Run. These two projects were financed by the County Commissioners, as was also the paving of 1.25 miles on the Watertown Road the following year.
The second state aid road which was also built in 1909 extended out Greene Street from Phillips Street to the upper Duck Creek bridge. This section is 1.14 miles in length and is also of brick; the contract price was $15,490.
The residents of Waterford Village and vicinity were the first outlying community to petition for an improvement, and in 1910 work was begun on one mile of brick and macadam pavement leading from the Muskingum River toward Watertown and the west end of the county. In 1911 the contract was let for 1.21 miles of brick on the Newport road beginning at the Duck Creek bridge. Up until this time the brick pavement was the only type given serious consideration. But in preparing plans for this section estimates were made for both brick and concrete. It was found that 1.57 miles of concrete would cost $500 less than 1.21 miles of brick, even though the brick was to be laid almost directly on the old roadbed. In the meeting of the commissioners when the type of pavement was to be selected, both the county and state engineers advised concrete but the brick association had representatives present who won the decision for their product.
Such was the power of the Brick Association in those days that soon after his stand in favor of concrete pavements, this representative of the Highway Department lost his position. However, the concrete road was soon to come to its own in Washington County, where both the Ohio and Muskingum rivers abound with excellent concrete materials. In 1912 one mile of this type of pavement was built south of New Matamoras. The contract price including grading - pavement and bituminous wearing surface was $12,125.
From this time concrete pavement has been the dominant type on state aid roads in Washington County, the only exception being the brick section through the Village of Beverly and the macadam sections above Beverly and at Bartlett.
In the year 1911 the State Highway Department in cooperation with the officials of the various counties designated a system of Inter-County Highways and from this on all state funds were expended on these roads. These highways are the most important routes from County Seat to County Seat and the plan was developed with the idea of finally getting a system of improved roads covering the whole state.
Even with this restriction on the location of improvements, the County Commissioners continued to pass out the state road improvements as sort of political plums or memorials to their terms of office. During the years from 1912 to 1918, sections of pavement, each one mile or a little more in length, were built at Newport, Grandview, Lowell, Beverly, Bartlett, and Belpre, while the Newport Pike was extended through Reno, the Lowell Road through Unionville to near the foot of March Run hill, and Pike Street to Westview.
Up to the close of 1918, miles of road had been improved by state aid, out of __ miles of the Inter-County System in this county and while the showing seemed small the educational stage was passed, the automobile had become well night universal and the people were ready to pay for good roads, even at prices three times the cost of ten years ago.
In the meantime, other section of the state with more funds available and level country to build over had built continuous roads and the demand in Washington County became insistent for a way out. The State Highway Department refused longer to permit its funds to be used on isolated sections, but insisted not only that each county build on one road until its completion, but that the adjoining counties should also build on the same main line. This policy adapted about 1918, together with the fact that Federal funds were available only on certain roads, tied Washington County up to the building of the Marietta-Caldwell-Cambridge Road to its county line.
Every effort was put forth to complete it in record time and those who have recognized the difficulties in the way are satisfied with the results attained.
Those in charge of this department of the county's activities have not been content to rest on the record thus made, but even before the completion of the Cambridge road, work was well underway on the Marietta-Athens road via of Barlow and Bartlett, and the grading and drainage structures on__ miles of this road is already under contract. While plans are being prepared for the remaining portions to the county line.
A Pioneer in Ranks of Local Road Boosters
By N. N. Thorniley
Being asked as a pioneer good road enthusiast to write a short article on the early road building in Washington County, I would say that the Valley Farmers' Club played an important part in the beginning of brick road building. Commissioners Ballentine and Cutter attended a club meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. T. O. Scott, April 21, 1906, and they had a proposition to offer regarding the building of a miles of macadam road.
Being president of the club at this time, and familiar with conditions in the location, I was very much opposed to a macadam road on account of high water and with the loyal support of the club pointed out clearly that such a road could not be a success on account of the cross currents caused by floods, as this was the lowest, boggiest piece of road in Washington County.
So at the next meeting of the county commissioners, arrangements were made for a levy sufficient to build a brick road from the westerly end of Duck Creek bridge to the corporation line, 1540 feet of this road to be 16 ft. wide and 1166 ft. along car line to corporation to be 24 ft. wide.
This road was build of Marietta brick on sand foundation and sand filler, at a cost of $16,781.10 or 90 cts. sq. yd. for paving and 30 cts. a foot for sand stone curb. It is the best piece of brick road in Washington County today and in seventeen years has not had one dollar repair.
This road was built of Marietta material, Washington County labor, under Washington County superintendency, with Washington County capital entirely, as it was built without state aid.
The next piece of road built was Virginia Street or Mile Run road, which was built of Marietta brick at a cost of $1.04 per sq. yd. and 32 cents for curbing.
This road was followed by the first mile of the Marietta-Watertown road, built in 1908, with Marietta brick with brick curb, and never proved satisfactory. These roads were followed by state aid roads, the Muskingum Drive, Beverly road, Watertown, and Newport-Matamoras roads, all partially built by state aid, and as these roads will be discussed by others, I will not dwell upon this feature.
In 1910 Capt. Cutter came to me and asked me to talk before the Good Roads Association on bonding the county for $1,000,000 for road building. I declined for two reasons - first, I am not a speech-maker, and second, I did not know which side of the subject I was on. But at the Good Roads meeting, Hon. C. C. Middleswart made an impressive speech on this subject showing that $1,000,000 would build 150 miles of hard surfaced road at this time and also showed by blackboard illustrations the different roads intersecting the county both north and south, east and west, that would be so improved. Before Mr. Middleswart was through with his talk, I was positively sure which side of the subject I was on and I still think it would have been a wonderful thing for Washington County if we had grasped the opportunity and built these roads at this time when material and labor were both cheap. But the good roads movement was then in its infancy and there was a great deal of opposition to this bond issue throughout the count, so the opportunity of building the maximum amount of roads for the minimum amount of money was lost.
Lower End of County Getting Out of the Mud
By H. P. Curtis
The main highway of Belpre loop which connects Marietta and Parkersburg with Athens is now being graded and gravelled by the combined efforts of the county and the State Highway department. This is an important and long-needed piece of work which will eliminated the stretch of mud from one of the main outlets of Ohio to the eastern states. It is the only mail road to carry traffic out of central and southern Ohio across the Ohio River between Wheeling and Portsmouth.
The Northwestern pike from Parkersburg to Clarksburg, W. Va., will soon be completed and then another route from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River and points west will be open for the use of autos, trucks, and bus lines that will be an important artery both for commercial work and touring purposes.
The improvement of this road will remove the mud stain from the lower end of Washington County for people wishing to come through this section of the state and will also mean that residents in this part of Washington County will be able to reach markets in Marietta and Parkersburg at all times of year with whatever products they may have to offer.
It is also a step nearer the completion of the proposed Cincinnati-East Liverpool road along the Ohio River..
This road now being gravelled joins the Athens County paving job from Coolville east to the county line. The culvert and bridge work on the Athens County job are now complete with the largest part of the grading done so that another winter should see the most of the brick in place and an additional four miles of good road open to travel
This Belpre Township road has meant a great deal to the development of the southwestern part of Washington County by providing a means of travel for the residents of the township back from the river as well as for the people living near it.
During the Indian war of 1791-92, the redskins doubtless followed the general location of this road through lower Rockland, keeping watch on the settlers gathered in "Farmers' Castle," located on the riverbank below. This same soil which served as a hunting ground for the white man and a hiding place for his foe now produces garden truck and vegetables in abundance and will become still more valuable property with the completion of the road improvement now underway. Later as the land was cleared and the danger from redskins removed, the oxcarts creaked along the road hauling material to erect houses - several of which were considered mansions in the early days - and some of which are still standing in good repair.
By this road travelled the pioneer men on their way to the salt springs south of Chillicothe to bring back this precious necessity in the early years of the nineteenth century and to visit the grist mill on the banks of the Little Hocking River which was completed at the close of the Indian war. This mill has long since disappeared and little grain of any kind is milled in this section, but the improvement of the highway will bring the delivery of food stuffs to the very door of those who live along the route with the same convenience and ease that places the groceries in the kitchen of the city housewife.
The footpath, the ox-car trail and the mud wagon road have all served their generation on this thoroughfare and the eternal wheels of progress demand some better form of roadbed upon which to carry the commerce of this part of Washington County.
Good roads spell economy and speed in transportation - whether by motor or horse power - and time of handling a given product is a large factor in determining the profit or loss of the transaction.
The gravel which is now being applied will not make a job as permanent as hard surface, but it is being put on at a moderate cost by using native material already on hand and will go a long ways toward making it passable winter and summer.
There is a little piece of work below Little Hocking that has surely stood the wear and tear of time. An impassable mud hole was repaired by using a foundation of large sandstone with a top covering of gravel, fifty years ago last spring. This piece is about fifty yards long and has carried the traffic high and dry without repair until torn up by the grading before the gravel was applied this summer.
The western half of Washington County has long floundered in the mud, while the eastern half has been more fortunate along the road line for some years past. The life and prosperity of any community is largely determined by the quality of the rods that pass through and connect that community with its outside neighbors. Good roads are worth all they coast - when economically constructed - and will more than pay for themselves, not only by increasing the value of the land along these highways, but also in the greater comfort of travel, the higher respect of a community for itself, and the ability to move larger loads both to and from market in less time. Poor roads are dear at any cost.
The start is made in the western part of Washington County and the improvement of more roads should be pushed as rapidly as possible.
Dudley Gap Was Closed Turkey Day
The finished hard-surfaced road between Marietta and Cambridge will be open for light automobile traffic December 13th, a week from next Thursday, according to the present plans of the contractors and those in charge of the work.
The last gap in the concrete between here and Caldwell was filled at 3:30 Thanksgiving afternoon after a stretch of thirty-six consecutive hours of work by the sturdy crew of men on the job. The light rain that fell practically all day Thursday did not hamper the work. They went right ahead and accomplished their objective - closing the gap on Thanksgiving Day. The joint was made just at South Olive.
Representatives of the civic clubs of both Marietta and Caldwell were present when the last foot was poured, but the honor of laying the final concrete went to the workers who had staid on the job through daylight and dark, rain or shine, to get the gap closed.
To Open in Two Weeks
While it is not customary to open a new concrete road for traffic for three weeks after the last concrete is poured, the contractors are planning to "hunch" a little bit and let pleasure cars through on this new bit two weeks after the finish instead of three. Heavy trucks will be barred until the full three weeks period has elapsed, but those in charge of the work are sure that no harm will be done to open the road earlier to lighter traffic.
The closing of this gap completes the hard-surface road to Cambridge with the exception of a short piece at Tunnel Hill beyond Caldwell in Noble County, which will be paved in the spring. The grading has been done and there will be a good surface to drive over during the winter months, however.
Workmen Deserve Credit
The achievement of linking Cambridge and Marietta within the past two days was made possible through the extraordinary efforts put forth by the State Construction Co., who worked ceaselessly to complete the job. Credit is also due the Marietta civic organizations, which at the last minute furnished the contracting company with two carloads of cement, when the supply ran low, in order that last of the concrete might be poured Thanksgiving Day.
It is probable that a program celebrating the event of completing the inter-county highway will be arranged as near as possible to the date set for the official opening.
Washington County Has Entered Road Building Epoch, Engineer Carr Says
By George E. Carr
Washington County just entered the road building epoch. This great movement started in a major way in 1918 with the award of the contract for the construction of three miles of hard surface highway known as the Second Creek road. This movement has been gaining momentum as the intervening years have passed and no one would care to predict just when the peak will be reached or what it will mean to the citizenship of the county when this epoch will have become history.
The coming of the automobile created the demand for a highway connection with the outside world. It was not a matter of the greatest importance, by just what route, this connection be made, or what type of pavement be used in its construction. The Marietta-Cambridge road, due to its geographical location, was during the late war, designated as a part of the Primary Federal System of Highways and was therefore eligible to receive Federal Aid money in its construction. It was also a main market as well as an Inter-County Highway. Since this was the only route in the county upon which the State Highway Department could appropriate funds from all three sources, namely: Federal, Main Market, and Inter-County Highway, it seemed logical that the county should spend her efforts along the route upon which she could receive the most support from the state.
Road Cost $920,000.00
The Marietta-Cambridge road in Washington County, approximately 21 miles in length, was built at a cost of approximately $920,000.00. This sum was divided as follows: $500,000.00 for pavement, $280,000.00 for grading, and $140,000.00 for bridges and drainage structures. Of this sum the federal government contributed $190,000.00, the state $270,000.00, and the county $460,000.00.
We realize that this is an enormous amount of money. But time and experience have proven the false economy in building a road for today which we expect to be using five years hence. Only those who are familiar with the enormous tonnage carried by our main arteries of travel can conceive the magnitude of travel on this main thoroughfare leading from Marietta and Washington County.
The highest type of construction has been used on this road because it was realized that this would be the one route which would carry the heavy tonnage to and from Marietta. The work in Washington County has been inspected by federal and state inspectors and is claimed to be the best piece of construction on the entire route from Marietta to Cambridge. Those in charge of the work took the attitude that only the best workmanship possible was good enough for Washington County and the results are self evident.
Enter Upon Second Project
This work completed, we have immediately engaged in a second project almost as great in magnitude, the Marietta-Bartlett-Athens road. Probably no highway leading into Marietta is of greater local importance than the Marietta-Athens road, since it taps the great agricultural and fruit growing section of the county, which has no other means of transportation except that provided by this public highway.
Since September 1st, 1923, 13 miles of this road have been placed under construction, and there is no reason to doubt that the remaining eight miles to the Washington-Athens county line will be under contract by April 1st, 1924. Placing under contract in the short space of a few months, 21 miles of continuous construction is an achievement of which the county and state may well feel proud. This route has been established as a secondary federal aid road, and may receive federal funds to the extent of $15,000 per mile. The Federal government is interested in just such projects as these, and there is every reason to believe that the county will receive liberal appropriations from federal funds. It is expected that the unimproved part of this route in Athens County will be under contract early in the coming year.
Monument to be Erected on Highway
Reno G. Hoag and his son, S. Durward Hoag, of Hotel Lafayette will erect a marker at point on Marietta-Cambridge Highway near Elba where Gap was closed, "Getting Us Out of the Mud."
Sentiment throbs often times among strange people and under peculiar circumstances. Even hotel men are not "immune" from the malady.
There has been chronicled in these columns how Reno G. Hoag had the honor and glory of shoveling in and smoothing down the last few shovels-full of concrete at the place where the gap was closed so far as Washington County is concerned upon the Marietta-Cambridge Highway.
Yesterday the two Hoags, father and son, made arrangements with Mrs. Amy Alban, who owns the farm property adjacent the spot where the event took place, and leased for a term of years, the privilege to erect there on the hillside a monument or marker, designating time and place.
The exact spot is in section 27, Aurelius township, about 1/2 mile this side of Elba, toward Marietta. The space is rather an open one upon the hillside, the road at that point running close to Duck Creek.
Here, upon the bank there will be erected some suitable design by the Hoags, with wording to the effect that it was here the great event in road building took place, with date, etc.
As yet the parties interested have not decided what style of marker or monument will be erected, but it goes without saying it will be in keeping with the idea. This will be perpetuated for a least ten years, and it is hoped to have some illumination at night so those "who run may read" at all times. Of course it will be natural to expect that the two hotel men will ring in the "Hotel Lafayette" thus mixing business with this sentiment, but even at that we consider the matter a very laudable one, along the lines of progressiveness which the father and son exhibit at all times for Marietta and the county.
