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Page 14 text:
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through central Pennsylvania. Each of the routes mentioned was broad enough to permit two pack-horses to pass each other without serious damage to their loans, fly 1 83, these routes had become so widened that freight trattic by means of wagons was firmly established; wagons pushed further and further west until they came down the western slope ot the Alleghenies. However, practically nothing was done toward what can really be called road building until alter the Revolutionary War, tor it was not until wheeled vehicles came into general use that the widened trail became a road. THE GENERAL WASHINGTON TAVERN KNOWN LAVEK AS Mil,I.KlfS TAVERN. LANCASTER. PENNSYLVANIA By the year 1790, wheeled vehicles were common, and another step in road improvement became necessary. Cars and wagons could use the roads only in good weather, as the mud at other seasons made them impassable, particularly in stretches through lower grounds. To improve this condition, about 1800, cordu- roying came into use. Corduroying is the process of laying logs close together to form a solid roadbed and then covering the surface with earth. The corduroy roads, however, soon proved unsatisfactory. The rains washed away the earth, and wagons and carriages were jolted to pieces over the rough surface of the ex- posed logs. Macadamizing was the next step in road building. The roads, built of layers of broken stone, were wider than any single track of any of the routes followed before, although thirty feet was the maximum breadth. The first and most interesting macadamized road in our state—in fact in the country—was the old Lancaster Turnpike, running from Philadelphia to Lan- caster, and completed in 1794. This road had a regular slope from side-ditch [10] • From Earle: Singe Poach and Tavern Days. Used l r permission of the Macmillan Co.
THE XPEGTATGD to center, and the stone was carefully broken into pieces small enough to pass through a two-inch ring. The first real improvement in road-building naturally began at the centers of population. Philadelphia was a center from which many roads radiated. These were among the first to be improved. Improvement throughout the state, how- ever, was slow. Lack of knowledge of road building and no effectively organized system for carrying out improvements, hindered progress. Then too the building of canals and railroads turned transportation from pack-horse and wagon to these THE HAT TAVERN AND SIGN BOARD LANCASTER COINTY. PHILADELPHIA HOAI • improved means of travel. Highways lost their importance. As late as 1900 conditions of travel by vehicle over highways, except near large centers of popula- tion. were far from satisfactory. With the coming of the motor car, however, a rapid change took place. T he establishing of the Department of Highways and the generous provision of public funds for road building, have resulted in the con- struction of eight thousand four hundred thirty-nine miles of splendid highways that give easy and swift communication between all parts of the state. The opening of roads through Pennsylvania was naturally followed by the opening of taverns for the accommodation of travelers. By the middle of the eighteenth century the taverns were of importance, not only to the traveler but as centers of life and news of the community in which they were situated. They kept horses and supplied passengers with accommodations. It is interesting to learn that there was a distinction between the taverns and wagon houses. The taverns were for the accommodation of travelers arriving by carriages or coach; I ] • From Earle: Stage Coach ami Tavern Days. Fseil liy permission of the Macmillan Co.
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