Springfield Township (part 44 of 69)

A local writer says: "In newspapers, Springfield has always had its full share. They have been devoted to politics, to agriculture, to temperance and to religion. They have been agencies in helping to fight the great civic and moral battles which are incident to the life and development of a growing and prosperous city. Their influence has not been confined to mere local bounds, but it has gone out to the broader fields of human life, and has been favorable to the best statesmanship, the best religious development, and to the highest type of everyday life. Our newspapers have, therefore, been useful, progressive and helpful," and what Clifton M. Nichols said of the Springfield papers in the Centennial History of Springfield, describes the New Carlisle and South Charleston publications in their respective communities.

The old newspaper on file in the rooms of the Clark County Historical Society is a copy of The Farmer, bearing date: April 21, 1819, the subscription price being $2 when paid within four weeks, or $3 when paid in six months. There were fifty-two issues in the year, and when delivered in Springfield produce was taken on subscriptions. A penciled note says : "The date of issue of the first newspaper is clouded, but The Springfield News, the logical successor of The Farmer, states that it had its beginning in 1817," making it as old as Clark County itself.

"Printing is the art preservative," and one account says: "The year 1820 marked an important point in the history of Springfield ; the printing press was established then. It is the greatest instrument in spreading light and knowledge, when wielded by proper hands. The first press was owned by George Smith, and the first publication was The Farmer." Through the process of evolution, a century later it is the Springfield Daily News. In reviewing its own history, The News says it absorbed the following papers: Pioneer, Farmer, Nonpareil, News, Penny Telegram, Advertiser, Citizen, Expositor, Times, Democrat, Republic, Globe, Globe-Republic, showing that at one time or another there have been many publishing adventures in Springfield.

The Springfield Sun in an advertisement says: "September 11, 1894, saw the birth of The Sun. It was located on East Main Street. In 1907 we removed to our present location, 21 North Limestone Street. It seems to have had an honored ancestry, coming out of the various combinations: The Gazette, Republic, Commercial Gazette. Evening Telegram, American Ruralist, Daily Times, Daily Advertiser, Press- Republic, Champion City Times, and then appeared The Sun, a writer saying: "The paper is now with us, demonstrating its strong qualifies daily." While The Sun is issued. every morning, The News is an evening paper except for its Sunday morning edition.

The Tribune, official organ of the Springfield Trades and Labor Assembly, is published every Friday. It is devoted to the interests of wage earners, and has been published the last twelve years.

A copy of The Bud, issued September 14, 1901, is on file at the Historical Society, Volume 1, No. 8, and it is described as the smallest newspaper issued locally ; it was 50 cents a year.

The Sentinel, published in South Charleston, is in Volume XLIII, and since it was owned by the Houston Estate, it has been under litigation, and was sold to Albert W. Dyer. One report said the paper had been in existence eighty-two years, and that it has been The Banner, and The Clark County Republican. At one time Whitelaw Reid and C. F. Browne, who was known by the pseudonym of Artemus Ward, had The Sentinel and failed to make it a success. The population of South Charleston was only 300, and the youthful editors left nothing but debts behind them. Years later both had better success, and they took care of their indebtedness. They were unable to pay their board in the South Charleston Hotel, but when happier days came they settled with Mrs. Gilbert Peirce, who had accommodated them.

The New Carlisle Sun is issued every Thursday; it uses the slogan: "Let the Sun shine in your home." and it is in Volume XXII, and owned and published by Edward W. Williams. His father was once connected with the paper. A Springfield editorial writer says: "We venture to say that few counties in the state have any better village newspapers than has Clark County; the South Charleston Sentinel and the New Carlisle Sun are conducted by conscientious, competent men who serve their special constituents constantly and well. The influence of the country newspaper goes far beyond the community in which it is printed; it carries to its readers the joys and sorrows of their friends and neighbors, and keeps the hearts of the people beating in unison."

In a resume of local newspapers in 1901, C. M. Nichols says the first newspaper was called The Farmer, as were others of the period, because none but farmers lived in the community. While it was small, and did not carry much news, its appearance was the event of each week. "Its news from across the water, and from remote portions of this country, if only six weeks old was considered quite fresh. European kingdoms might tumble down and be reconstructed while the special advices were coming on the sailing vessels to our shores. The printer was the proprietor, publisher and editor. The paper was a one-man power, and the Ben Franklin wooden press worked by the editor had the ink applied by the office boy. Now we have our news in as many mimjtes, as our journalistic forefathers had theirs in weeks; indeed, we have our London reports of foreign events nominally four hours ahead of their occurrence," and in connection with the Springfield Centennial Mr. Nichols mentioned all the papers that have been absorbed by the two dailies - The News and The Sun.

While printing was discovered in China, and was first used in Europe in spreading the teachings of the Bible, it has found its way into all parts of the world. While the first paper in Springfield was published in a log house, newspapers now occupy commodious buildings designed for the publishing business. For twenty years - 1870-90, Springfield supported a German newspaper, but most Germans read English, and in a panic it suspended publication. When the Springfield News dedicated its new home, April 11, 1915, it issued a special edition, having collated much data in refiew, and the public was invited to witness the starting of the press: Ex-Governor J. M. Cox of Dayton who owns the paper had arranged with President Woodrow Wilson to press the button in Washington, and set the press into motion in Springfield.

Visitors who consulted their watches knew the President was on time in starting the special edition, and as the flag mounted the staff a band played "Star Spangled Banner"; it was an electrifying spectacle; that spark over the Western Union Telegraph wire was a memorable thing in Springfield history; many publishers were present, and seldom is a newspaper located in new quarters with so much ceremony. Many copies of the edition of the Springfield News were laid away as souvenirs ; they had been given fresh from the press into the hands of the visitors. For many years the only local news carried by Springfield papers was gleaned from advertisements and marriage or death notices; nothing less thrilling than murder or suicide was ever mentioned in the news columns. While advertisements are still read with interest, the news column creates the demand for the paper. Sometimes an old paper is exhibited, and the changed makeup is noticeable to the most casual reader. The Springfield Republic of August 10, 1880, begins the story: Clark County's Centennial, on an inside page and ends it on the first page of the paper - an arrangement not seen today.

In April, 1847, J. P. Brace, an enterprising newsdealer, introduced Cincinnati daily papers in Springfield; train service was established in 1846, and The Cincinnati Gazette was sold in Springfield at ten cents a week; it had twenty-six daily subscribers. Mr. Brace sold the business to John D. Nichols who increased it. While Springfield people continue to read Cincinnati papers, The Gazette no longer reaches them. Since 1849, Springfield newspapers have had telegraph news service, and local papers cover the commercial centers, leaving little incentive for reading outside papers. Local readers knew as much about the League of Nations or the Disarmament Conference as was carried in the metropolitan sheets. The News and Sun have the same telegraph service enjoyed by larger cities. When a riot happens in Springfield, it is breakfast table talk all around the world in less than twenty-four hours ; the annihilation of distance shrinks the world, and news goes round it and back again as quickly as it is known fifty miles, from where it happened ; the capitals of the world know when an unusual thing happens in Springfield as soon as it is known in Columbus.

While the hurried newspaper reader never gets beyond the first page headlines, conservative readers like to know the policy of the sheet which is reflected in its editorials ; with the passing of Henry Watterson of The Louisville Courier- Journal, the editorial writers who gained recognition in the formative period of the newspaper business were numbered with the past - Watterson, Dana, Greeley. Today the newspaper is the forum, but the editorials do not reflect the personality of the editors; they are too often the expression of the business office, or are syndicated features. Scissors and paste, and not always a wide knowledge of conditions, reflect modern editorials. It is the news rather than the policy that interests most readers.

Why are there so few platform orators? The newspapers have robbed them of their orations. When a man delivers a keynote address, through the syndicated news service the whole country reads it, and he cannot reach a point where the people want to hear it again. When a speech has been flashed to every daily paper in Christendom, and the people have read it they have no. further interest in it. The newspaper reader scans the printed page, and does not accept all that is before him ; he is inclined to think for himself, and the "spell-binder" of the past no longer sways immense audiences the second time with an address. However, "It is the province of the editorial page to crystallize and reflect public opinion."

While Springfield papers are metropolitan, and carry the general news, the papers from other Ohio cities and from New York and Chicago, are found in local reading rooms: among the factors of civilization - the forces that make for righteousness, none is more potent than the great American daily newspaper. The press controls the destiny of the republic; it makes presidents, senators, representatives, judges; it inaugurates national policies and solves problems of international law. Indeed, it was fortunate for one Ohio printer that his birthday was the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1920, because the whole United States honored him with its highest gift - the presidency. He was an Ohio publisher - Warren G. Harding, and the "also ran," Gov. James M. Cox, was a Springfield publisher, and thus the newspaper is a force in the political world.

Half a century ago many publishers were politicians; they would acquire the ownership of a paper, and when they had accomplished their purpose with it they would dispose of it. When a newspaper becomes trading stock, its readers shut their eyes and long for changed conditions. When a campaign is ended the paper is on the market again. However, The Marion Star is said to be the one Harding possession that is not on the market. The dean of recent American publishers, the late Henry Watterson, phrased it thus: "The daily newspaper is a necessity which isn't necessary, unless you are intelligent enough to know that it is a necessity." It is one side of the triangle - the press, the church and the school, and when some persons have read a statement in a newspaper, it settles the question.

The prime purpose of the newspaper is the collection and dissemination of news; there is responsibility connected with it, and competent performance has been the study of specialists for many years. The dissemination of news is one of the most important functions to civilized society ; it is one of the principal factors in human progress. Advertising is regarded as more than news ; it is salesmanship as well, and the market reports - why, "There are gentlemen who wear spats and who never saw a farm in their lives, but who read the news from the corn belt more eagerly than the farmers themselves; a cent a bushel one way or the other may mean five or ten thousand dollars to them." While discriminating readers follow the editorials, Springfield and Clark County buyers are interested in knowing about bargains, and thus Springfield dealers utilize the local papers.

While special local and syndicated articles supply a wide range of general information, the first and last purpose of the publisher is to supply the n-e-w-s from the four corners - from the north, east, west and south, anything that happens is news. Talk about old-fashioned sociability and friendly visiting - with the newspaper available, why visit a neighbor to learn the news ? There was a time when men and women went among their friends to learn what was going on in the community. While some people think they were more sociable than their posterity, it was because they wanted the news of the world. They would have settled down to a newspaper and remained at home.

In a paper read before the Springfield Newspaper Women's Club, Miss May Ferrenz mentioned other inventions, but described the linotype which has revolutionized the printing industry. "Type-setting by machinery has done more to advance the cause of universal education than any other one factor since the art of printing was invented; mechanical composition has reduced the cost of printing books, newspapers and magazines, and thus placed within the reach of the masses the means of education. The brains of many skillful inventors, and vast fortunes have been employed in the work of developing an acceptable substitute for hand composition." Miss Ferrenz states that in the '80s came the best results from the Mergenthaler type-setting machine, and that improvements are frequently made in the use of it.

Although the daily newspaper represents the best value for the money of any commodity delivered in the home, the average individual knows less about its production than anything else so essential to his existence. Who knows how the white stock is obtained on which the news is printed? Who realizes the expense connected with it? The working organization of a newspaper naturally separates itself as follows : The business office closely allied with which is the department of advertising ; the editorial department reflecting policy ; the news-gathering department which renders the business office a possibility ; the press room where the paper is printed and folded, and the circulation department - none of the other departments effective, unless the paper reaches its readers. In the matter of departments, useless each without the other. While smaller papers are not so complicated, and an all-round man may be of service in any department, on a metropolitan paper one man remains in one department. At The News and The Sun each man fills his particular assignment, and leaves other departments alone.

The public is familiar with the business office and with the circulation department, but it is the editorial department that is the "eternal mystery." Its function is to gather and tabulate the news ; the reporter gets the facts - "the story," as it is universally known in newspaper parlance, and he writes it. The editor, who is responsible for what appears in the paper, censors all "stories," the success of the sheet hinging upon the ability and fidelity of its reporters. While a man may become an editor through training, the reporter must have a "nose for news," must be able to "scent" a story, and have the courage to encounter difficulties in obtaining it. He must be trustworthy and conscientious in using facts; he must have a liberal comprehension and a sane understanding. As a final reqyisite, in this day and age of newspaper making, the efficient reporter must be able to use a typewriter at the rate of fifty words a minute - otherwise he does not measure up to the requirements.

The editor usually serves an apprenticeship as a reporter; he must know the community. He must be inventive - have executive ability, and know what to do in emergencies. The man is lost who hesitates - the atmosphere of a newspaper office is heavy with emergencies, and the editor must be equal to them. He must be able, intuitively, to detect the truth and separate it from non-essential details. Unless it is a commercialized sheet, and ruled from the business office, the editor directs the trend of thought in the community. A good newspaper man is sometimes unpopular; in estimating legitimate news he treads on somebody's toes, and he dare not have intimate friends ; he may be called upon to publish a story reflecting upon them.

"To err is human/' and sometimes the doings of humanity do not read to their credit when written in the newspaper; while fights, thefts, divorces - innumerable transactions embarrass one's friends, "news is news," and they suffer the consequences. Few men possess the peculiar temperament that fits them for effective reportorial work and, therefore, reporters are - long live the competent, conscientious newswriter. A daily newspaper is different from the average manufactured product, since it is made outright in virtually eight hours ; were the time extended to more than twenty-four hours, it would not be issued daily. Every department works at high tension, "hurry" being the middle name of each employe, and when copy leaves the typewriter it reaches the linotype - human in its capabilities.

The casual visitor at a newspaper plant is well repaid for his time, and he goes away with a wholesome respect for it. When he sees a modern press in operation, and sees the papers printed from one continuous roll of white stock; when he sees the completed papers, folded, counted and ready for delivery - well, they usually give him one, and he lays it away as a souvenir. The modern newspaper is the history of today and yesterday ; discerning publishers study the features that attract most readers, and they cater to the wants of the majority ; thus its readers are responsible for its attitude on all questions.

The newspaper is a great institution - swift winged, and everywhere present, flying over the fence from the hand of some belated newsboy, tossed into the counting room or store, shoved under the door of the surburban home, laid on the work bench in the busy shop, delivered by carrier to rural patrons, and read wherever it is sold - the newspaper adds character and luster - shapes the family history. It is such an integral factor in community life, and people have become so dependent upon it that a delayed paper demoralizes the whole household, and every family knows the feeling of impatience while awaiting the coming of the paper. If you would understand the strong hold the press has on the community, just answer a few of the inquiries by telephone when subscribers have been overlooked, or the paper is later than usual ; when they have looked on the porch roof and behind all the shrubbery, they begin a systematic inquiry; they want the paper.

Sometimes a mail pouch is carried by; simply an oversight on the part of the railway- mail clerk, but it is a real misfortune to those who miss the paper; after all, human life is but a book with the passing years for its chapters; the gliding months are its paragraphs; the days are the sentences, but the punctuation and the proof - usually, others attend to such details. One's doubts are the interrogation; imitation of others are the quotation marks, and any attempt at display is a dash - the final period being death, and from the cradle to the grave the greatest influence is the printed page.

The newspaper is the most potent agency of education - the advance guard of civilization. "We the people" are shaping its policy - we are responsible for it, even though silent about it. It has been said : "Keep young by associating with young things ; the newspapers are the youngest - born every day."

Chapter Xxv

It would require careful watching to see a stump in a highway today, but there was a time when the caption: "It's a poor driver who can't hit a stump," had its place in Clark County road history. The boast has been made there are more turnpikes in Clark than any other Ohio County, although corduroy may still be found under Limestone Street in Springfield.

Some one defines roads as the arteries through which pulse the agriculture and social waif are of the people ; in Clark County frequent inspection trips are made, and it seems that road building is being reduced to a science; there is a Good Roads Council composed of Clark County road builders. In 1801, Griffith Foos made the first wagon tracks into Springfield from the east, and in 1803, David Lowry and others surveyed a wagon road between Springfield and Dayton; simultaneously a road was surveyed east to Franklinton, now Columbus, thus giving to Springfield a direct highway east and west, and bringing many settlers into the community.

In 1804, when the National Road was under consideration in the United States Congress, President Thomas Jefferson foresaw calamity; he said it would disorganize the economic measures of the country. The Thirteenth American Good Roads Congress held in Chicago in 1921, registered an attendance of 21,000 delegates, and the average daily sales of road building machinery was more than $2,000,000, showing that President Jefferson was unable to forecast the future. Although Demint's second plat of Springfield made in 1804 did not become a matter of record until 1815, it shows that in passing through Springfield this artery of travel connecting the east and the west was surveyed to connect with South Street, because it required less grading and in order to conform to it street names were changed, Main Street once having been South Street - all the streets shifted far enough south to allow the road connecting Springfield with the outside world on Main Street.

In the Ohio Archaeological and Historical publications is much data about the beginning of the highways. It is possible to believe that in the earliest times the Indians traveled only on rivers and lakes; when they turned inland they found, ready made and deeply worn, the very routes of travel which have since borne their name. The beginning of the history of road making in the central west dates back to the time when the buffalo, urged by the need of change of climate, newer feeding grounds and fresher salt licks, first found his way through the forests.

Even if the first thoroughfares were made by the mastodon and the Moundbuilders, they first came to the white man's knowledge as buffalo traces, later being known as Indian trails. In Kentucky, from whence came so many Clark County settlers, the Indians use the word trace instead of trail, the term used exclusively north of the Ohio. It is said the routes of the plunging buffalo, weighing 1,000 pounds and capable of covering 200 miles a day, were well suited to the needs of the Indians. Another story is told that the wild animal, the dog and th$ hunter established the trail, the animal pursued by -the dog and the hunter following the dog, and another version is that the highest points of land were the routes of travel. One who has any conception of the west of the long ago, who can see the valleys filled with the plunder of the floods, can realize that there was but one practicable passageway across the land, for either man or beast - the summit of the hills.

The argument is summed up in these words: Here on the hilltops mounting on the longest ascending ridges, lay the tawny paths of the buffalo and Indian; they were not only highways, but they were the highest ways, and chosen for the best reasons : The hilltops offered the driest courses; from them water was shed most quickly, and least damage was caused by erosion. The hilltops were windswept; the snow of winter and the leaves of summer were alike driven away, leaving little or nothing to block or obscure the pathway. The hilltops were coigns of vantage for outlook and signalling. However, an Ohio legislator and champion of good roads takes exception to the theory that the first clearings and farms were along the old highways on the hilltops; the question refers to clearings and not to settlements and towns.

A number of writers speak of early clearings on the hilltops, and it seems that the first farms were on the hills. In 1900, Archer Butler Hulbert wrote with reference to the geological and topographical maps, saying it is not difficult to determine the course of the old highways; among the several guiding principles he mentions one, saying that the trails kept to the summit of the water-sheds; even the valley trails as distinct from cross-country trails, kept well away from the river courses, often a mile or more back on the highlands, and the idea obtains that roads have been coming down hill ever since statehood in Ohio; the first towns as well as the first roads were on the hilltops, and like the roads the towns have come down into the valleys. The need of power furnished by the streams led to the building of mills in the valleys, and about the mills sprang up the villages ; the shrill whistle of the locomotive finally sounded the knell of the old thoroughfares on the hills. Harking back to the stories of the moraines, time has worked many changes.

Wheeled traffic developed with the Roman empire; the Appian way in Italy led 300 miles from Rome, and it was as durable as time itself. However, when the first such road was built is unknown; it was long before the beginning of authentic history. From prehistoric days when man and mammal trod the paths to the ancient watering places, petrified bones were found which have gradually risen to the civilized scale, and as man's wants increased the path no longer served his requirements; roads became a necessity. Not only the Romans, but the Egyptians and Carthagenians employed similar material to that in use today; they used a mineral cement. The Appian Way reflects the National road, con- . necting the east and west and penetrating many of the best inland cities. "The decay of civilization is apparent in the decline of its roads," but that condition does not prevail in Clark County.

Students of local conditions maintain that Clark County is crossed by the principal trails between the salt springs on the Scioto and the Miami Indian towns in western Ohio, the trails later developed into traveled highways ; portions of the early trails are still visible along some of the bridle paths in the county. These trails were the main traveled highways between the salt springs along the Scioto to the Shawnee headquarters on Mad River; however, the occupancy of Clark County by the white settlers and their descendants for more than a century has wrought such decided changes, that there is now little trace of the trails. The Indians walked single file and made the paths sooner than if they had walked two abreast, but at a point in Harmony Township twenty-three and twenty-nine there is an unimpaired portion of an Indian trail. W. H. Raynor who studied the question relates that there is a marked depression, and that the surface had become packed so solid that shrubs growing wild have failed to take root in this ancient pathway.

The footfall of the ages is as lasting as time itself ; these few faint traces of the Miami trails indicate a once busy highway among the aborigines; it does not require much stretch of the imagination to think of the Shawnees crossing the country from village to village, and later they traveled in reduced numbers and finally they were extinct. Mr. Rayner exclaims : "What tragedies have been enacted ; what achievements have been gained by those who have traveled over this gateway to the Northwest, may never be written in history, but their footprints have left the mark that has outlived a century."

In early road building it was no uncommon thing to find human bones or stone implements in gravel pits in Clark County, supporting the theory that the Moundbuilders had been ahead of the Indians in the country. An old account says of the roads about South Charleston, that they were made solely as avenues of travel, and that they mark no boundaries of farms or sections ; along the Little Miami the land is undulating, and the water course intersections of the roads present a scene of confusion. "Through the wilds of the then new state of Ohio," is descriptive language applied to 1813, when a settler was prospecting for a home in the wilderness - that early, an "emigrant family struck a blazed trail near South Charleston," and the proximity of the Little Miami supports the theory that streams and springs always attracted settlers.

When the settler found thin ice on a stream he would break it, allowing the pieces to gorge and he would duck them under to strengthen the ice, thus forming a bridge on which to cross it. When the ice gorge rested on gravel, a team would be driven across it, and Albert Reeder says that is the way the first family reached South Charleston. The Dayton and Bellefontaine road was opened through New Carlisle in 1810, really connecting Fort Washington (Cincinnati), and Fort Meigs (Toledo), and in the War of 1812, it was a much traveled thoroughfare. It is conjectured that Hull marched his army, numbering 1300 Kentuckians, over this wilderness thoroughfare, and that in the bush-whacking days connected with the second war with England, he camped on the site of New Carlisle.

"O bless you," said W. H. Sterrett, an aged citizen of New Carlisle, "bless you, yes, the Dayton and Bellefontaine road is older than the National road - bless you, yes, it was built before the National road was thought of, and there was heavy traffic between Cincinnati and Toledo." Strange to say, even Henry Howe fails to tell about it. When the United

States Government established this military road connecting Fort Washington and Fort Meigs, and General Hull traversed it - that put New Carlisle on the map of the world. This was all Greene County then, and it was though New Carlisle would become the county seat, and when the town was incorporated in 1830, it was still ambitious about its future. When this road was built in 1810. it was the short line between two important military posts; while it went round the swamps and followed the high ground, as farms were developed the owners put the road on the section lines, but stretches of it still follow the original survey; they cut down the big trees and filled the swamps alortg the road, and sometimes timber is still dug up along this - the first improved road in Clark County. Sometimes it has been called the Dayton and Mad River Valley turnpike, and when Bayard Taylor who in his day was the United States' greatest traveler and raconteur was traveling over it, he said the beauty of the Mad River Valley was unsurpassed in American scenery.

Along in the period when it required seven days to "wagon" from Springfield to Cincinnati and return, the farmer who hauled ten barrels of flour with four horses, had to carry along his feed or come back in debt to himself, and that presages that there were not always hard surface roads connecting the Champion City and the Queen City. The descriptive term "belly deep to a horse" is now as meaningless as that about hitting stumps. A frontier poet once penned the lines: and that is what happened in Clark County. Near South Charleston on the Cincinnati-Columbus road, there was a corduroy road through a maple swamp over 100 yards in length that was made by poles and logs ; by felling trees into the swamp, that "would have broken the heart of the modern auto tourist - it would have eliminated the necessity of any speed legislation," but the "pioneers in jolt-wagons knew nothing about shock-absorbers, now a necessity on automobiles."

Before much had been done in the way of grading and improving the roadways, the settlers had their mede of adventure. It is related that when Mrs. Pierson Spinning was a Springfield bride, that after the birth of her first child in 1813, she mounted a horse with her sixweeks' old babe and went on a visit to her people near Cincinnati. She had an irresistible desire to see her parents, and crossing swollen streams was no terror to her. When the Jarboes came from Kentucky, a dozen years earlier, Elizabeth Jarboe and her mother coming alone with their few necessities in a wagon, they had sufficient adventure. Philip Jarboe had located in Ohio, and the fair Elizabeth despairing of the return of her father, who had gone back to Maryland, came with the few household treasures to Mad River ; they made the journey unattended only as they encountered hunters and trappers, and since their nearest neighbor was five miles away, they knew how to depend upon themselves in emergencies. When Griffith Foos was bringing his family from Franklinton, the high waters caused him trouble; the Big Darby was crossed by -a man swimming at the side of the wagon.

While the National Road was begun early in the nineteenth century, the development was only along its eastern end; in 1832, a charter was granted the turnpike road between Springfield and Dayton, the development from the Dayton end and in 1833 it was completed to Springfield. It was about this time that the approach to Mill Run alone Main Street in Springfield received attention. At that time the hope of the future was the turnpike, and in 1839 the survey was completed from Columbus to South Charleston and Xenia en route to Cincinnati. Samuel Harvey and Robert Houston of South Charleston had much to do with promoting this road. In 1842 they completed it. In the years when travel and traffic was all by wagon and stage, South Charleston had its share, being on the way between Columbus and Cincinnati. When the sound of the driver's horn was heard excitement commenced, and a trip of fifty miles was a big undertaking. However, many Clark County merchants made the longer trips to the eastern markets on horseback, being gone from a month to six weeks at a time. The traveling salesman was unknown, but the improved methods of travel brought him to the towns in Clark County.

The Ohio Gazetteer of 1839 says : "The National Road runs through the center of the county east and west, and is in such a state of forwardness that a year or two will probably complete it," and in 1841 from the same source is gleaned the prophesy : "When these two great works of internal improvement (National Road and Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad) shall have been completed, Clark County will possess advantages equal to any other inland county of Ohio, and for the extent of her territory will probably be the richest," and in dealing with developments "Watch your step" seems a timely admonition.

On December 22, 1911, The Springfield News carried a reminiscent article written by Mary Bertha Thompson, saying: "Few of the hundreds who enjoy the many beautiful drives about Springfield, or who pass swiftly through the country on the way to Urbana by the method of travel in use today, have any knowledge of the historic significance of the locality or bestow a thought upon the old stage that a few short years ago rocked and creaked its way over the rugged corduroy roads, bearing its load of passengers. Heavy and cumbersome of construction, swung on straps instead of springs, this vanished conveyance presented a picturesque sight, winding through the virgin forest and along the banks of streams. Following the line of Indian trails, selecting high ground and dry ground, through passageways cleared of obstructions, these old roads were, as a matter of course, irregular. If there was a bog or marshy place, timber was cut and dragged to the mud hole and placed in it, crosswise: hence the name corduroy; none too smooth to ride over even with careful driving, which was not one of the stage driver's accomplishments, perched upon his seat high above his horses' backs, twirling the long lash to flick the ears of his leaders."

Local students of pioneer conditions say it was the National Road that brought the cosmopolitan population into Clark County so early; it was built by the United States Government under the supervision of the War Department, and was under control of commissioners appointed by the President of the United States, the state legislators or governors. The project conceived in the brain of Albert Gallatin had its inception in 1806, although work on the eastern end had been started two years earlier; it was Gallatin's idea to extend the road from the Potomac to the Mississippi, through Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio. Indiana and Illinois, and commissioners to report on the undertaking were appointed by President Jefferson. While the road had been built to Cumberland, in 1811 a contract was let for building the road ten miles further, and thus it came slowly toward the Mississippi.

The National road entered Ohio across the river from Wheeling, West Virginia, and its course is through the following counties : Belmont, Guernsey, Muskingum, Licking, Franklin, Madison, Clark, Montgomery and Preble, and since it is maintained in excellent condition a Lutheran minister removing from Wheeling to Springfield, A. D. 1922, was only out of his own home twenty- four hours; his household goods came in a truck, an experience quite different from that of the pioneer minister who came through the mud to Clark County. In its early history, many families reached Clark County over this highway from Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York and from the New England states, and while for a time there were distinguishing characteristics, in the lapse of more than a century amalgamation has obliterated them ; the sons have departed from the traditions of the fathers - have adopted local methods, and the passerby is no longer able to say from the style of improvements that one man is from Pennsylvania and another from Virginia ; the stamp of Clark County is everywhere apparent, the third, fourth and even the fifth generation controlling the situation today.

The story of some wasted fortunes in Springfield is in support of the statement that this great American highway - the National Road, was never a self-supporting institution. The annual expense of repair through Ohio was $100,000, and the greatest amount of tolls collected in its most prosperous year, which was 1839, amounted to only $62,496.10, and investigation revealed similiar conditions in other states; as early as 1832, the governor of Ohio was authorized to borrow money for repairs, and the auditor's reports show that all earnings were thus expended. Pierson Spinning, who was a Springfield merchant making annual trips to eastern cities on horseback, welcomed the improvement and was one of the guarantors. When he became involved, financially, his Puritanical conscience dictated his own ruin by turning all of his accumulated property to his creditors, but his wife did not share his conviction, and since she did not join him in the transfers, she had an income from her dowery that made her comfortable in her old age. While Mr. Spinning was thinking of his creditors, his wife was thinking of herself and her family, and self-preservation is said to be human.

The first coaches run on the National Road were long, awkward affairs; they were without braces or springs, and the seats were placed crosswise in them. The door was in front, and passengers had to climb over the seats ; they were made at Little Crossing, Pennsylvania, as the Conestoga wagon was made at Conestoga. An old account says: "To know what the old coaches really were, one should see and ride in them ; it is doubtful if a single one now remains. Here and there inquiry will raise the rumor of an old coach still standing on wheels, but if the rumor is traced to its source it will be found that the chariot was sold to a

"These old coaches were handsome affairs in their day, painted and decorated profusely and lined with soft white plush ; there were ordinarily three seats inside, each capable of holding three passengers, and upon . the driver's high outer seat was room for one more passenger, a fortunate position in good weather. The best stage coaches like their counterparts on railways of today were named; they had names of states, warriors, statesmen, generals, nations and cities, besides fanciful names : "Jewess," "Ivanhoe," "Sultana," and "Loch Lomond," sentiment being the same among stage coach passengers as among those who control the transcontinental transportation lines today, some very euphonious names being seen on passenger trains. There were stage coach time tables and the fare between Springfield and Columbus was $2, while it was $3 to Cincinnati.

While there were relays of horses, through passengers had long rides in the same coach; the stages through Springfield were as elaborate as along any part of the road, some of them going the entire distance ; their cost was between $400 and $600, and the harness used on the road was of mammoth proportions, the backhands fifteen and the hipbands ten -inches wide; the trace chains were heavy with short, thick links. An act of the Legislature of Ohio required that every stage coach used for the conveyance of passengers in the night should have two good lamps affixed in the usual manner, subjecting the owner to a fine of fi:om $10 to $30 for every forty-eight hours the coach was not so provided; drivers of coaches who should drive in the night when the track could not be distinctly seen without having the lamps lighted, were subject to a forfeiture of from $5 to $10 for each offense, and there were restrictions about intoxication, and about drivers leaving their horses without fastening them.

When a passenger purchased a ticket at the office of the stage company, a way bill was made out by the agent and given to the driver ; he delivered this to the landlord upon the arrival of the coach; it contained the names and destinations of the passengers, and the money paid, there being blank squares in which the landlord registered the time of arrival and departure of the stage. There were no telegraph or telephone stations, and these reports were the only information on which to base a schedule. Toll-gate keepers were part of the show along the National Road, but persons making long trips could pay for their entire distance, receiving certificates guaranteeing them the privilege of the road without paying again. The toll-gates were at frequent intervals, the man a mile from town being unable to escape paying toll.

In the early days, the toll-gate keeper was appointed by the governor of the state or by the commissioners of the county, and in 1836, $200,000 was paid toll-gate keepers in Ohio, their salaries being deducted from their collections; they made their reports on the first Monday in each month. Those exempted from toll were persons going to or returning from public worship, muster, common place of business, or farm or woodland, funeral, mill, place of election or commonplace of trading or marketing within the county. No toll was charged for clergymen or school children, or for the passage of the stage and horses carrying U. S. mail, or any wagon or carriage laden with United States property, or cavalry, troops, arms or military stores, or for persons on duty in the military service of the United States, or the militia of any state.

Many curious attempts were made to .evade paying toll, and laws were passed inflicting heavy fines for it ; in Ohio, toll-gate keepers were empowered to arrest those guilty of such attempts, and when fines were collected they were added to the road fund. Passengers were counted and the company operating the stage was charged per capita, and at the end of each month the stage companies settled with the authorities. Conditions along the National Road were very different from those on shorter roads and controlled by local authorities. The building of the road was hailed with delight by hundreds of contractors and thousands of laborers. Old papers and letters speak of the enthusiasm awakened among the laboring classes by the building of the great road, and of the lively scenes witnessed in those busy years ; contractors followed the road taking up one contract after another as opportunity offered, and when not busy in their fields farmers engaged in the work with their teams, and laws were passed for the preservation of the road ; there were penalties for breaking or defacing the milestones, culverts, parapet walls and bridges.

The patent lock on the stage has become known as a brake on an ordinary wagon, the handle of the lock being managed by the driver; there was dignity about the stage coach, and its great length and weight with six horses attached, made it as unwieldly to turn or steer as a steam boat ; the driver used a single line fastened to the bridle rein of the near lead horse, while the near wheel horse carried a saddle; he could ride or walk in driving the team, but he always flourished a blacksnake whip; the teams were usually owned by their drivers who took care of them themselves, and since they passed frequently every farm boy in the field knew them. When the roads were heavy, they never made more than fifteen or twenty miles, the drivers stopping in time to groom their horses while they had daylight for it. They were turned around to feed boxes on the wagon, and stood out of doors all night.

There were great wagon yards around the wayside taverns, and sometimes half a dozen "ships of travel" were over night at the same place, just as today tourist camps accommodate travelers along the National Road either side of Springfield. While the National Road through Springfield is Main Street, there was rivalry between the north and south ends in Columbus as to what street would be traversed by it; the matter was compromised by allowing it to come in on Friend now East Main Street, and traversing High Street a few blocks, it quits the city through West Broad Street, but Dayton is not penetrated by the great highway ; it crosses Montgomery County north of the city. Bridges were the most formidable item of expense in road construction, and for many years a ferry boat was used in crossing the Ohio at Wheeling, and the bridges were not built until 1837 across Buck Creek and Mad River; while there were two forks of the road west from Springfield, New Carlisle was missed although the road was an advantage.

While the National Road did not go to already established towns some of the towns came to it, there being a number of villages either way from Springfield that grew up along it. There is a stretch of 300 miles of the National Road in Ohio. The only restriction as to the course of the road was that it should go west on the straightest possible line through the capital of each state, and in July, 1830, work began west from Columbus. In 1826, the preliminary survey was completed as far as Indianapolis, the road passing through Richmond, Indiana, along Main Street and through Indianapolis on Washington Street; however, it was not completed under Government contract. The eight miles of road immediately west of Springfield was advertised, the work to be completed on or before January 1, 1838, the specifications requiring that the trees and growth be entirely cleared away to the distance of forty feet on each side of the central axis of the road, and all trees impending over the space to be cut down ; all stumps and roots were to be carefully grubbed out to the distance of twenty feet on each side of the axis.

All the timber, brush, stumps and roots were to be entirely removed from the space eighty feet in width, and the earth excavated in grubbing was to be thrown back into the hollows formed by removing the stumps and roots. The proposals will state the price per lineal rod or mile, and the offers of competent or responsible individuals only will be accepted. Notice is hereby given to the proprietors of the land on that part of the line of the National Road lying between Springfield and the Miami River, to remove all fences and other barriers now across the line, a reasonable time being allowed them to secure that portion of their present crops which may lie upon the location of the road. The communication was signed by G. Dutton. August 2, 1837. and issued by him as Lieutenant U. S. Engineers, Superintendent of the National Road office in Springfield.

When the National Road was completed through Ohio its momentum had been spent ; it did not mean so much to the Government because canals and railroads were its rivals, and no further appropriations were made for it. In 1850, when the road entered Indiana, the Wayne County Turnpike Company financed it through Richmond, and grading and the building of bridges as far as Vandalia, then the capital of Illinois, was all the assistance Indiana and Illinois had from the Government toward financing it. When the National Road reached the Ohio it improved the river traffic, but by the time it had crossed the state a number of internal improvement bills had authorized rival institutions - canals and railways - a railroad from Madison bringing river traffic from the Ohio to Indianapolis cheaper than completing the National Road. Instead of crossing Ohio passengers went down the river to Madison and then by rail to Indianapolis. It was an unforeseen complication, and a hardship to the road builders.

While the public highway was in the background for a time because of rival transportation methods, the automobile has restored it to its prestige in the days of the stage coach. A new bridge across the Scioto in Columbus rendered necessary by the 1913 flood, has been completed and the stretch of road west from Springfield has had attention, making the National Road the great cross-country route that it was when it was first placed on the map of the world. While it allows egress for Springfield and Clark County people, many pilgrims follow this ancient route of travel and it will always retain its identity - the National Road connecting the Potomac and the Mississippi. From Donnelsville west the road has been widened, and the covered bridges over Jackson Creek and Mud Run have been replaced by concrete arches, and farmers along the way are planning to beautify the boulevard connecting Springfield and Dayton. It is said that Gen. U. S. Grant, whose centenary has just

While President Thomas Jefferson was opposed to the construction of the National Road, the man who would "rather be right than be President/' Henry Clay of Kentucky, was unremitting in his efforts toward building it. The asphalted road toward Columbus has been made too narrow to suit motorists, there being only a narrow space between passing cars, and speeders are a menace to more careful drivers. While there was a lapse of a good many years between the stage coach and the automobile, the public highways seemingly abandoned upon the advent of the railway passenger service, is again used by the automobiles, and the era of road building since 1900 would alarm Thomas Jefferson.

and the sentiment seems to be apropos of the beginning of the National Road, an old account saying : "lna moment's time an army of emigrants and pioneers were en route to the West over the great highway, regiment foltowing regiment as the years advanced ; squalid cabins where the hunter had lived beside the primeval thoroughfare were pressed into service as taverns. Indian fords, where the water had often run red with blood in border days, were spanned with solid bridges; ancient towns, comparatively unknown, becames cities of consequence in the world. As the century ran into its second and third decades, the National Road carried along an increasingly heterogeneous population/' and that aids in understanding the variety that came early to Clark County.

"Wagons of all descriptions, from the smallest to the great 'mountain ships1 which creaked down the mountain sides, and groaned off into the setting sun, formed a marvelous frieze upon it ; fast expresses, too rea~ listicatly perhaps called 'shakeguts,' tore along through valley and over hill with important messages. Here the broad highway was blocked with herds of cattle trudging eastward to the markets, or westward to the meadow lands beyond the mountains. Gay coaches of four and six horses, whose worthy drivers were known by name, even to the statesmen who were often their passengers, rolled on to the hospitable taverns where the company reveled. At night, along the roadway, Gypsy fires nickered in the darkness, where wandering minstrels and jugglers crept to show their art, while in the background crowded traders, hucksters, peddlers, soldiery, showmen and beggars- - all picturesque pilgrims on the Nation's great highway," and those who have passed the "dead line" of threescore and ten years fully understand about it.

Chapter Xxvi

The Clark County Good Roads Council is one of the departments of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce activities. It has had special recognition from the State Good Roads Department because of its effectiveness ; it includes all road building organizations in the county. Each township has three trustees, making thirty members, and being affiliated with the Ohio Good Roads Federation, it has knowledge of state and national highway matters. An effort was recently made by the Ohio Good Roads Federation, the Ohio State Grange and the Ohio Farm Bureau to launch a cooperative movement in behalf of better roads, the longest durability with the least possible cost of construction entering into the consideration, and the Clark County Council was active in the meeting.

Charles L. Bauer, who was the first president of the Clark County Good Roads Council, is a member of the State Central Committee Ohio Good Roads Council, and chairman of District No. 7 which includes eight counties: Clark, Darke, Preble, Montgomery, Miami, Champaign, Greene and Fayette. Arthur R. Altick, secretary of the local organization, has been invited to assist in the organization of Good Roads Councils in other counties. The meetings of the Seventh District Council are frequently held in Springfield, and minutes of local meetings are asked for as guides in other counties; thus Clark County is recognized as a foremost road building county. As a stimulant to effort, the Clark County Good Roads Council offers a loving cup to the township making the best showing and it went first to Mad River. The township winning the cup three times consecutively holds it permanently. Since the Springfield Chamber of Commerce made the Good Roads Council a branch of its activities, other cities have adopted the plan, and thus town and country cooperate in a vital question.

The current organization - Floyd A. Johnson, president; B. F. Kaufman, vice president, and A. R. Altick, secretary - controls 878 miles of public road, there being 264 miles of turnpike, 573 miles of township road only drawing local money, and forty-one miles of inter-county highway. The Good Roads Council holds monthly meetings, and it has the confidence and cooperation of all road builders. It favors the purchase of sufficient machinery for the care and upkeep of the roads, and recommends the opening of gravel pits near them to avoid long hauls. An editorial in The Sun says : "There is one organization which in quiet and systematic manner is doing a considerable amount of good for the people of this community, and it isn't costing them a penny; the Clark County Good Roads Council - a creation of the Chamber of Commerce - is a common sense organization. It includes the members of the Board of County Commissioners and the surveyor, the trustees from each of the townships, the country road supervisors, and representatives of various local organizations. They do not ride hobbies; they talk roads.

"Each township reports on the road improvement progress of the past month ; the county officials are quizzed on the progress of the county and state building projects ; crossings and curves which are dangerous are reported. There is a general interchange of ideas, and they are getting results from the drainage of hillside springs ; they discuss the quality of gravel, and the time for scraping the roads." The Good Roads Council has caused the removal of objectionable signs and billboards obstructing highways; some local advertisers have thought of personal rather than public welfare in placing signs that cut off the view, and the Chamber of Commerce, through the Good Roads Council, has instituted a warfare against it. There are information signs for the benefit of travelers, and drivers see them without pausing ; it is the signs of local advertisers that obstruct the highway at times. The Young Men's Business Club of Springfield is agitating the question of fruit trees planted along the highways, in the interest of both beauty and fruit production, and memorial shade trees are being planted in some parts of the country.

On the National Road west of Springfield is the Golden Arch spanning Rock Run that has an unusual history. An old account says : The deep cuts and great fill over Rock Creek where Col. Peter Sintz afterward made his residence were expensive, but of immense value. The rocky ravine was mean to pass through with an empty wagon, and when repairs were made recently the cost was estimated at $85,000, but through the efforts of the Good Roads Council the bill was reduced to $59,000, a direct saving to the taxpayers of Clark County. While the passerby crosses the Golden Arch without seeing it, the problem of draining Aberfelda and contiguous territory is solved by an arch allowing Rock Run to carry its waters undisturbed, although at enormous expense.

While there are several main roads leading into Springfield, there are many short roads that necessitate back-driving because they do not lead to town. There is no checkerboard regularity about the roads in Clark County. Judge Golden C. Davis of Springfield says: "People who drive horses expect those who use automobiles to obey the traffic laws," in assessing costs against a man who had left a horse unhitched in the street, thereby causing a congestion of traffic. A Springfield man said: "If you want to know how many automobiles are on the road just try blocking traffic ; just have tire trouble in a narrow place, and you will find that everybody is out that day/' and when there is a block they all find themselves in a hurry.

The Goodrich Rubber Company of Akron made a survey showing that the total traffic had increased forty-five per cent with good roads, and the truck business had increased 171 per cent in a specified time. The passenger automobile traffic had increased twenty-seven per cent, and when 2,891 vehicles had passed a given point there were only fortysix horse-drawn vehicles among them. On a December day in 1921, it was reported that 1,128 automobiles passed a given point on the National Road west from Springfield, and not all the automobiles in town that day were counted. Many families have two or more cars, and 7,000 license plates are issued in Clark County, the tags distributed through the Springfield Automobile Club. One report estimates 7,500 passenger automobiles while another says 10,000 automobilies in Clark County, some of the tags being obtained from the State Department. It is estimated that there are 1,200 trucks in the county.

The automobile club is effective advertising for Springfield, visiting motorists thus knowing about the community. With its office in Hotel Shawnee it serves the traveling public, many stopping in town because of it. While license numbers must be secured each year, the same number may be retained by asking in advance for it, L. E. Bauer having had No. 5 continuously, and James M. Cox, whose automobiles are seen in Spring- field frequently, retains the two numbers 99,998 and 99,999, by asking in time for them. The license tax helps to maintain the roads in good condition. While there are many accidents, approximately 9,000 persons having been killed in 1921, it is said that reckless joy-riding is a thing of the past, and while it has been said: "Lock up every motor car in the country and we will have good times," not all the community accept the assertion. Every family that owns a car would object to locking it up, modern society demanding its service.

While farmers used to object to walking half way to town in leading their horses past automobiles, the horses are educated now and pass them without difficulty, the farmers themselves owning cars. They were prejudiced against them, but ownership makes the greatest difference in the world. It is said that a greater percentage of farmers use telephones and automobiles than any other class. While the improved roads lead up to more highway robberies, road building goes along uninterrupted; the highway constabulary installed in many parts of the country was unknown in the days of daring stage robberies. While thieves once stole horses and escaped with them, they now steal automobiles and are sometimes overtaken by the "strong arm of the law." The rural constabulary is a mighty force in curbing automobile thefts. When thieves used to content themselves with stealing horses, farmers were often sore perplexed in crop times, but the loss of an automobile may be communicated about the country through the use of the telephone, and stolen cars are sometimes located by their owners; however, changed license numbers render them difficult of identification.

Years ago automobile clubs did much to encourage road building all over the country, but the National Road through Clark County always has been an incentive. It brought the emigrants, and it still brings the tourists, and camping places, along with bungalow trailers, indicate future activities. The National Road has long been an asset to Clark County. The Good Roads Council regulates the weight and speed of trucks. The roads are disintegrated under the burdens they are forced to bear, and the manufacturers of trucks encourage a better foundation in roadbuilding. "The intolerable automobile ruins the roads," but when speeding is regulated, and the law against over-loading is enforced, the roads will be more durable. The Ohio Motorist, June, 1920, carried an article : "Automobiles Help Drained Road," with a sub-title: "System of Drainage Well Worked Out Has Proved Successful in Clark County." It is called the Mellinger Plan, and the article was written by the Clark County Good Roads Council secretary, A. R. Altick.

The drift of the article is that what drainage will do for highways has been demonstrated by Clark County Commissioner Harry S. Mellinger, a local exponent of highway drainage, the experiment tried out on the Yellow Spring pike; by the use of side ditches the water level is below the frost line; when the improvement started, the water stood in chuck holes and the roads were almost impassable, and the Mellinger idea of drainage has been widely copied. After completing the drain, Mr. Mellinger used ninety yards of gravel to the half mile of road surface, and it was ready for traffic. He drags the road frequently, maintaining an eight-inch crown, and thus the water escapes at the sides, the ditches serving two purposes - draining both the road and the fields along it. When the traffic is heavy, Mr. Mellinger maintains the grade by adding a light coat of coarse sand with plenty of grit, using about one yard to fifty running feet, and he finds the automobiles an advantage to the road; the pneumatic tires iron out and compress the surface into a resisting mass, and one machine following another soon spreads it.

While automobile traffic has a tendency to wear down the crown, and scatter the material to the side of the road, a well constructed berm prevents loss, and the material is scraped to the center again. It acts as a cement in binding and uniting all road materials, this worn gravel mixing well with macadam or crushed stone. The state and county share the expense, and the fifty per cent borne by the county is subdivided, twenty-five per cent to the county at large, fifteen per cent to the township through which the road passes, and ten percent to the abutting property owners, the road costing the land owners approximately $3,000 a mile, the entire cost being $30,000, while under the Mellinger plan roads may be built to cost from $400 to $1,000 per mile, the drainage being the economy. The Fairchild road is another example of the Mellinger plan, the surface becoming better every year. Before gravel was used extensively, farmers used to work the roads by scraping from the edge to the middle, and the advantage was the drainage offered at the side by the removal of the dirt, although nothing was said about it.

People who have lived fifty years and longer, remember the covered wagons going over the National road with movers from eastern points to Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. In the 70s there were few buggies or carriages in use in Clark County; when the Cincinnati buggy was on the market it enlarged the neighborhood for many families, and it was enlarged again by the automobile. When the wagon was the only vehicle of travel, the trips were to town and home again, and when carriages were first introduced they were heavy, cumbersome affairs; the family with a two-horse carriage attracted unlimited attention. Those who speed through the country in high geared automobiles go faster, but they cannot enjoy themselves better than did the families who were first to have buggies and carriages.

In the Albert Reeder booklet dealing with South Charleston, he tells of the fat cattle driven over the Cincinnati-Columbus road and over the mountains to eastern markets, and he says the meat market of those days was on wheels - Armour's in miniature, before the days of the meat trust and refrigerator cars. While every community had its meat peddler with a one-horse wagon, Mr. Reeder says: "Uncle Obie Davisson enjoyed a monopoly on this trade ; he drove Old Jack, a little brown string-halt horse, and many was the pound of meat they delivered. I remember Old Jack distinctly, his color and other peculiarities," but the children of today have no conception of such a thing; the meat peddler travels faster, and they use ice when necessary. The flies used to follow the one-horse wagon meat markets about the country.

While there is a road building schedule, and the Good Roads Council looks after extensions, it is the policy of the county commissioners who furnish the funds that roads bearing the heaviest traffic will be apportioned the most money for repairs; the funds are distributed according to the amount of traffic. Each supervisor is allotted certain roads, and he is responsible to the commissioners. In order to secure the money from the state, County Surveyor W. H. Sieverling, and County Auditor William Mills accompanied the board of commissioners to Columbus, to present the Clark County needs to the state highway commissioner. When a county fails to claim its road money within a prescribed time limit, it reverts to other counties. The county commissioners make an annual tour of road inspection, and when mistakes are discovered they plan to remedy them; sometimes they tour other parts of the country for road building suggestions.

Floyd Johnson, chairman of the Good Roads Council, after seeing results in other places, agrees with the Mellinger plan - the important thing in road building is drainage; good roads can be built and maintained economically from gravel and right materials when properly drained. When the crown of a road is too high the traffic is at the edge, and there is a sentiment against the high center; it was reported that 865 miles of roads were paved in Ohio in 1921, and the state is lifting itself out of the mud in such well planned, practical fashion, that within a few years all sections will be reached by graded, hardsurfaced highways. While foot and horseback travel were the only known methods once upon a time, the wheel age came along and improved roads rendered it a possibility, and the sentiment is: "Let the good work continue until every community is tied to every other community by a road which defies all of the elements."

While there were taverns all along the National Road when it was the only line of transportation, the Werden Hotel was the recognized headquarters in Springfield. The arrival and departure of the stage was the event of the day, and there were admiring crowds of spectators. The stage-drivers were a "swaggering" set of fellows dressed in fetching clothes, and they swore like pirates ; they would drive up to the hotel in full speed, crack long-lashed whips and yell at the horses; sometimes there was a bugler on the box with the driver, and all of the boys in Springfield wanted to be stage drivers. They were ready to expatiate upon the points of interest along the way, filling the intervals with a flow of general information, but "Them days is gone forever," because the daily newspaper now supplies the need; however, as the driver discoursed to those gathered about him, he shifted his quid of tobacco and spat to punctuate his remarks.

The National Road was not the only stage coach line into Springfield, the one to Urbana passing down Limestone Street to the ford across Buck Creek, and up the hill past the one-story tavern with its low roof line outlined against the sky; its one chimney rising above the center, and its quaint door-way inviting the imaginative passerby, and R. C. Woodward tells about going over this line in 1832, when Simon Kenton and his wife were passengers as far as Urbana, the road to New Moorefield marking the same route of travel. In 1844, the old road to Urbana was straightened and made into a turnpike, twenty-five cents toll being charged from Springfield to the county line; the toll gate was near McCright Avenue and T. R. May was the keeper ; he was a man with a cheery word for all travelers, typical of other toll collectors of the period. Had they kept dairies, they were in position to know the history of development; they saw the world go by:

Chapter Xxvii

If there are two community interests that depend upon each other, they are the carrier system and the factory ; useless each without the other. Why invest capital in manufacturing enterprises, unless there is a market for the finished product? The common carrier gives the producer an outlet to the markets of the world. ' Through its Chamber of Commerce every inducement to manufacturers is offered, and since "Springfield is without national boundaries, it has numerous manufacturing sites; its railroads enter the city from all directions," and thus transportation facilities are the boast of the community.

In the beginning the natural highways for travel were the Ohio River on the south, and Lake Erie on the north, but through Mad River and the Great Miami the first settlers in Clark County had egress to the Ohio. David Lowry, who located on Mad ftiver in 1796, built the first scow or flat boat "that ever navigated the Great Miami from Dayton down," it being understood that it was built in 1800 along Mad River. While it seems like a fairy tale, a scow built in Clark County finally reached New Orleans by water. Mr. Lowry was assisted in the enterprise by William Ross.

Mr. Lowry and his neighbor who came with him to Mad River, Jonathan Donnel, were deer hunters and when Mr. Lowry had accumulated 500 venison hams, he wanted to reach a market; he had come direct to Mad River with a surveying party from Cincinnati, and he did not shrink from adventure. While the boat was constructed, and the venison hams secured along Mad River - the first shipment of provision from the vicinity of Springfield to the outside world, it was before Springfield had come into existence, and the scow was worked down stream to Dayton where barrels for pickled pork and bacon were waiting them.

While the barrels were made in Dayton, owing to the difficulty of navigation on the Miami where there was driftwood, the hogs were driven to Cincinnati; there they were butchered, and the fresh pork was packed in barrels for shipping to New Orleans. Meat is shipped in refrigerator cars today, and it is easily understood that the consignment of fresh pork was slightly damaged when it reached the southern market. However, Mr. Lowry received $12 a hundred, which was less than he expected in New Orleans. While he lived to be an old man, he did not try water-way shipping again. Since he was the first local man to reach the outside world with a local product, the venison hams - a tablet should perpetuate the story. In 1825, John Jackson, whose wife was Nellie Lowry, covered part of the distance by water, removing from Clark County to Tennessee.

While no artificial water-way has ever penetrated Clark County when Governor DeWitt of New York, who was the great water-way man of the age, was en route to Hamilton, Ohio, to throw out the first shovelful of dirt from the Erie canal, a delegation of Springfield business men met him at the Little Miami and escorted him the remainder of the distance. The Ohio Gazetteer of 1841 says : "As yet Clark County has no outlet to market save the common roads of the country," but at that time the National Road was bringing everything to Springfield. The efforts in Congress in the late '30s to substitute a railway for this great highway were a failure ; at that time the cost of a complete trainway exceeded the required appropriations to complete it.

In 1825, there was a salt famine widespread in the country, and settlers who "wagoned" to Cincinnati hauled down twelve barrels of flour for which they received $12, and they paid $10 for a barrel of salt to haul back to Springfield. They had $2 for other expenses, but the "back haul of merchandise for Dayton or Springfield helped them to make a profit from the trip." Cincinnati was the great business center, but in 1829, the Miami Canal was finished to Dayton, and the long hauls to Cincinnati were no longer ' necessary ; the settlers had always gone in groups so that when their wheels would not turn in the mud, they could assist each other. While Dayton grew rapidly after the canal was finished connecting the Great Lakes and the Ohio, and was soon a rival of Cincinnati, Springfield had the National Road and even now only Cincinnati and Dayton are larger markets in southwestern Ohio.

While goods from the eastern markets were hauled over the mountains to the Ohio, Cincinnati and Dayton both had shipping facilities while Springfield only had the National Road; however, passenger traffic sustained the same relation to the freight business then as it did later on the steam railway lines; from the standpoint of revenue, it was a small item. It remained for the heavy wagons to distribute throughout the West the product of mill and factory, and the rich harvests of the fields. This great freight traffic along the National Road created a race of its own; men strong and daring and the fact that the teamsters of these "mountain ships" had taverns or "wagon houses" of their own where they stopped, tended to separate them into a class by themselves. The automobile with its "bungalow trailer" simply patterns after the moving vans of the long ago.

While some of the National Road description distinctively belongs farther east, many of those mountain ships that at night were converted into wagon houses, came as far as Springfield ; they went to Dayton and to Cincinnati. There were many deflecting lines of the stage, and travel was as much diversion as it has been in later years. In the '40s the droves of fat steers weht through Clark County toward the eastern markets. "They 'hoofed' it, and we boys never failed to ask how many; the drovers would say 150 to 300," and the next day the same thing happened again; however, in the '40s the National Road had a rival in Springfield. In that decade two railroads penetrated into Clark County. The different generations have the same human instinct, and a local writer tells about when Paist and Company packed pork in South Charleston.

The pork packing industry ceased in 1850, but prior to that time Nat Moss with his big wagon drawn by six horses hauled between Cincinnati and Columbus, and South Charleston merchants depended on him for everything. He would take away pork and bring back merchandise. He had great pride in his outfit, and everything was kept in spick and span condition. The horses were equipped with bells over the hames, and they gave a cheerful warning that Nat Moss was approaching the town. The boys flocked to the street to see the handsome team and the big wagon; to them the hubs in the wheels were as big as flour barrels, and the items of merchandise : New Orleans molasses, brown sugar, with staple groceries and dry goods, but human nature is unchanged; let a medicine vender with an ox team, or a bungalow trailer of a different pattern appear, and every man and boy in Springfield sees the novelty.

In the old coaching days the passenger and mail coaches were operated very much like the railways of today; a vast network covered the land and competition extended into every phase ; fast horses, comfortable coaches - every appeal for patronage. Some of the stage lines were operated in sections, the different sections having different proprietors, and they were all inclined to speculation. Neil, Moore & Company of Columbus operated hundreds of stages, the Neil fortune coming from that source; there were trusts in the "good old days" of stage coaches, and graft still manifests itself in utility operations. About 1850, portions of the National Road were leased, and in 1854 the stage line from Springfield to the Ohio River was leased for a term of ten years, $6,105 being the annual rental, but the competition of the railroads was being felt, and a new order of things was apparent.

Clark County is not far from the center of population in the United States, and today Ohio is traversed by all of the transcontinental railways ; the trunk lines go through the state, and where people intermingle trade results from it. Transportation is fundamental in community building; it was necessary to the settler, and the evolution of the trail - the path through the wilderness; the corduroy bridge over a swamp, to the hard surface road and the railroad - it all reflects the spirit of transportation and the National Road is only an incident along the highway of progress. Today the busy man in Springfield has an important engagement in some other city; he inquires when a train leaves, and in all human probability he arrives on time at his destination ; he is guaranteed exact regularity of performance, but such efficiency of service is not an over night development. One time transportation depended on the weather, the wind and the tide - antiquity remote, and then no passenger trains stopped in Springfield.

But the dawning of a new era in transportation had already been heralded in the national hall of legislation ; in 1832, the House Committee on Railroads and Canals had discussed in their report the question of the relative cost of various means of intercommunication, including railways. Each report of the committee for the next five years mentioned the same subject, until in 1836, the matter of substituting a railway for the National Road between Columbus and the Mississippi was very seriously considered. In 1836, the first railroad west of New York State - the Erie and Kalamazoo, operated with horsepower - was opened between Toledo and Adrian, Michigan, and in July, 1837, a locomotive was installed upon it. The next railroad in Ohio was the Mad River and Lake Erie; it was incorporated in 1832, with a prospective route from Dayton via Springfield to Sandusky, but the Little Miami was ahead of it in Clark County, entering Springfield in 1846, while the Mad River and Lake Erie road was two years later.

locomotive Ohio arrived, drawing two flat cars from Xenia. When the train stopped west of Center Street that summer afternoon, the engineer blew the whistle and everybody came out to see it. When the engineer blew the whistle again, there was a stampede among the spectators; they were afraid of an explosion. It was five days after the locomotive arrived and Springfield people heard the first whistle until on August 11 the first train came from Cincinnati to Springfield. When the first locomotive drawing two flat cars was leaving, Springfield boys followed it along Factory now Wittenberg Avenue through the deep cut, warning each other of the danger of suction; it was backing out on a badly ballasted track, and there was not enough speed to create aerial commotion. No one was swallowed up by it, and finally boys were less cautious; they ride out of town on freights without thought of danger.

Finally, when the first passenger train arrived it was met by visitors from every direction; there was great gusto. Talk about frontier hospitality; the citizens of Springfield gave a dinner in the warehouse, and the guests were welcomed by Gen. Charles Anthony, one of the most distinguished townsmen of his day. It was the 'beginning of the end of the stage coach, although for a few years there were both stage and railway time tables posted in Springfield. The first agent of the company was Zimmerman and the second was Wright, but not much data has been left by any of them. The first locomotive on the Little Miami to reach South Charleston was called the Brooks; they were all wood burners, and farmers hauled wood to the railroad while clearing their land ; free rides were given stockholders, and some of them almost froze on the first trip over the Little Miami to Xenia.

While construction was begun on the Mad River and Lake Erie in 1835, it was not until 1848 that it reached Springfield. The Ohio Gazetteer of 1841, says: "The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, the speedy completion of which there is now no doubt, will enter Clark County on the north about midway from east to west, and thence pursue a southerly course to Springfield, thence taking a southwest direction will follow the general course of Mad River to Dayton," and speaking further of the National Road and the railroads - "When these great works or internal improvement shall have been completed, Clark County will possess advantages equal to any other inland county of the state, and for the extent of her territory, will probably be the richest; its exports embody every variety of agricultural products: cattle, horses, hogs and sheep," and while water power was being utilized and factory wheels were turning, no mention was made of manufactured articles for export As yet there was no outlet only the common roads, but much of the land was under a high state of cultivation.

The Mad River and Lake Erie - the father of Western railways, reached Springfield September 2, 1848; the first engineer was Peter Thomas and Seneca was the name of the engine ; it was from the Great Lakes, and it was another glad day in Springfield; the lakes and the Ohio were connected, and it gave an impetus to the growth of the town. The first local agent was A. Cheesebrough, and he was followed by J. B. Norris. In 1848, Springfield had two railroad trains and two stage coaches daily, but the stage coach is a thing of the past, although "the chariot of fire" arrives whenever one out of every fourteen citizens is returning to town. In connection with the arrival of the Mad River and Lake Erie, the Springfield Tri-Weekly Republic carried the headline:

"Arrival Extraordinary. Mad River Railroad Finished," with the information: "This morning at half past ten an engine with several cars attached came into town, and was received with shouts of joy by large crowds of citizens. We could scarcely believe our ears when we heard the strange sound of the whistle in the northwest, nor our eyes when we saw the engine coming ; yet it is a reality. The Mad River Railroad is completed to Springfield, and the river and the lakes have shaken hands," and a few days later the same paper announced a letter from officials of the road, saying that the line between Springfield and Dayton will be put under contract without delay, eastern stockholders having concurred in the necessary arrangements. When there were but two roads they used the same station, but since then there has been no Union Railway Station in Springfield.

Hiram W. Williams of Springfield who since March, 1921, has been pensioned by the Big Four Railway Company, has investigated things for himself and he reports that the Mad River and Lake Erie became known as Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland line before it was finally absorbed by the Big Four; for fifty-one years Mr. Williams was a locomotive engineer, and for forty-six years he ran trains out of Springfield. Theodore Good is another pensioned engineer, and John C. Penders is pensioned by the Pennsylvania line as a baggage master, having held different positions in his term of service. In describing the development of the Mad River and Lake Erie line, Mr. Williams has the idea that construction was begun at Dayton, and met the improvement from the other way at Bowlusville near the north line of Clark County. Captain Bowlus had a store at the point of intersection, and that was the beginning of Bowlusville.

The junction was along Mad River in excellent farming country, and for a time Bowlusville was an important business center; both the soil and the railroad attracted settlers, and when the iron bands came together the settlers planned a barbecue; the governors of Ohio and Indiana were there, and notables from many points along the way. The ends came together in Clark County, and from that on it made rapid progress; the Erie Canal carried much freight to Dayton, and this railway opened up an eastern market. The country was now connected with the outside world in each direction. In 1852 an emigrant train brought the cholera to Springfield.

Mr. Williams says that the stretch of Big Four Railroad from Springfield to London was built by popular subscription, Clark County taking the initiative in the '50s; it wanted a direct line to Columbus. At London it connected with the Miami now the Pennsylvania, continuing to the capital city ; however, the road was a failure and did not pay the taxes till 1872, when it was sold to the company controlling the Sandusky road, the purchase price of $1 making it within the law. When the line was finally extended to Columbus it proved an excellent investment. It was operated in connection with the Sandusky road until both were absorbed by the Big Four.

George H. Knight who has known the railroad situation in Springfield since 1876, and who in 1882 became local agent of the Big Four - the C. C. C. & I., known as the Bee Line, was with the road when it absorbed some other local lines, first being the Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland, then the Bee Line and finally the I. B. & W., all accomplished within three years and merged into the Big Four. Mr. Knight regrets that he did not make written note of much that happened then, now only available in the files of local newspapers. What used to be regarded as three separate roads are now under one management, and it is proving an economical arrangement. While the Big Four and I. B. & W. roads used the Arcade as an office, the Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland line used the old station until after the consolidation, and after the fire in the Arcade in 1893, the office was removed to the old station across the track where it remained until the present passenger station was built at the foot of Spring Street. When the roads were merged, Mr. Knight was fortunate in being with the road taking over the others; he continued his job, while many lost their positions.

While the Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland road was secured through a tax voted in the '40s, Clark County subscribing $20,000 toward it, many counties sold out at a sacrifice, thereby losing their stock, but Clark County was more fortunate; it finally realized on the investment made by its pioneer citizens who had a vision of the future. While the Big Four is the only through train service east and west, a spur line connects Springfield with the Pennsylvania at Xenia, and a lateral line also connects with the Pennsylvania at Urbana, and thus a passenger may go to bed in Springfield aboard a sleeper and waken in Chicago or New York. It was expensive building railroads through the limestone bluffs about Springfield, and early construction entailed a great deal of engineering to enter Springfield without the expense of tunneling^ In 1855, when the Erie came along it missed the town to avoid the limestone hills. It was known as the Great Western, and while its objective point was Cincinnati, it anticipated that Springfield would build in that direction; the station is Durbin, and it is reached from Springfield by interurban cars.

When the D. T. & I. road was built by the Whitelys in the '80s, it was a narrow gauge and used as a coal route from Ironton; when in the '90s it became standard gauge, passenger service was installed and now that it is the property of Henry Ford, it is a good freight and passenger line. While there is no belt road, the Erie uses the D. T. & I. tracks in reaching local shippers. Springfield never expanded greatly in the direction of the Erie station at Durbin. Through its system of spurs and siding, Springfield shippers easily reach the markets of the world. "Springfield is without natural boundaries," and through its steam and electric roads and its "chariots of fire," when an order is secured the shipping is a matter of choice with manufacturers. It is said that the automobile with its counterpart of truck has given to the individual an advantage equivalent to owning a private railroad with a train ready to start in any direction at any time.

A local writer says: "With the establishment of motor truck lines, and their increasing use as common carriers, we shall see a revival of traffic on our public highways which will result in a virtual revolution in transportation ih a short time. Indeed, there are many students of the transportation problem who think that is the way out of our perplexity ; the entire highway proposition is a rising one in this country ; the person who allies himself with the good roads idea is in harmony with the progress of events, and is in the vanguard of modern civilization." Since the days of war time freight shortage automobiles are again shipped by railroad; for several months they were driven from the factories, even women driving new cars when labor was the problem in the days of the war. Convoys of new automobiles were frequently seen along the National road and through Springfield.

In this age of steam, electricity, gasoline and air transportation, the sons and grandsons have enlarged neighborhood limitations; the third, fourth, fifth and sixth generations in Clark County are living under changed conditions. They frequently whirl through space in adjacent counties, aye, through neighboring states and spend the evening at home again, while the generations before them seldom left the bounds of the county. While it is said the railroads speeded up the nineteenth century and the automobile has done the same for the twentieth century, the airplane in the infancy of its development surpasses both of them, and as the telegraph service is allied with manufacturing and transportation, along comes the wireless system with possibilities unlimited and unquestioned. The community owes everything to steam, electricity, the automobile, the airplane and to wireless; they have revolutionized conditions since the days of the pioneers.

With the methods of travel now in vogue, the world is becoming so small that isolation which was the bugbear of the pioneer is wholly eliminated ; the Creator isolated the United States of America by placing it between two oceans, and away from the haunts of man, but now he flies over it and sails through it, and while the word isolation is still in the dictionary, it no longer describes conditions in Clark County. The Springfield Engineering Club is on record as favoring a budget from the U. S. Congress for the extension of aviation, the newest form of transportation. It is a step in advance of conditions reported in 1838, at Lancaster, Ohio, when a board of education refused the use of the school house to a group of young men who wished to discuss the feasibility of the railroad and telegraph.