(The following story appeared on the front page of the July 30, 1914 edition of The Monroe Journal newspaper and was written by Journal editor, Q. Salter.)
STATE HIGHWAY OFFICIALS VIEW OLD FEDERAL ROAD
Strong Movement Inaugurated for Its Designation as Link in
Birmingham-to-Gulf Roadway
Large and Enthusiastic Party of Citizens Accompanies Highway
Commission on Trip of Inspection – Burnt Corn Performs Office of Host on the
Occasion and Does the Honors in Characteristic Style – Trip Notes
That the movement recently inaugurated for the
rehabilitation and perpetuation of the historic Old Federal Road – the highway
that played so important a part in the early settlement of all Southern Alabama
by the whites – is rapidly growing in popular favor was unmistakably evinced by
the enthusiasm manifested by hundreds of representative citizens of Conecuh and
Monroe counties on the occasion of the automobile trip of inspection by members
of the State Highway Commission on July 22, as well as by numerous prominent
citizens of other counties whose interests will be materially affected should
this commendable undertaking meet with success.
The natural advantages possessed by this route encourages
the hope that the next legislature may by induced to adopt the road as a link
in the proposed state trunk highway from Birmingham to Mobile and give
substantial aid by appropriation from the public treasury in promotion of the
undertaking. As a preliminary step in this direction leading good roads
advocates held a conference with the Highway Commission in Montgomery and an
inspection trip over the old roadway was arranged for Wednesday, July 22.
Large Party Forms Escort
Notwithstanding the brief notice given of the proposed trip,
more than 30 automobiles loaded to capacity with enthusiastic good roads
advocates were ready on the appointed date to accompany the Highway Commission over
a considerable portion of the trip. Dr. W.G. Hairston, Dr. H.C. Fountain and
Messrs. J.F.B. Lowrey and Robert Mosley of Burnt Corn met the Commission at
Fort Deposit and piloted the members over the entire route, a distance of 118
miles. The official party was composed of W.S. Keller, state highway engineer;
Prof. G.C. Mitcham of the faculty of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn,
and Capt. John Craft of Mobile, president of the Alabama Good Roads
Association. These were accompanied by Probate Judge Wood of Lowndes County,
and Mr. Coker, a leading business man of Ft. Deposit, both of whom are keenly
interested in the construction of the state highway. The main party of local
citizens assembled at Midway – the celebrated half-way point between Mobile and
Montgomery in the days of stagecoaching – to await the arrival of the official
scouting party. To this party Monroeville contributed eight automobiles with 31
representatives, viz: B.H. Stallworth, J.I. Bizelle, G.A. Harris, A.J. Kempton,
D.D. Mims, J.B. Barnett, G.W. Salter, J.L. Holloway, L.A. Hixon, I.B.
Slaughter, M.M. Fountain, Stephen Hixon, S.H. Tucker, A.T. Sowell, J.M. Sowell,
Mr. Turner, J.E. Lazenby, F.W. Hare, J.R. Lyon, J.D. Ratcliffe, Dr. W.T.
Bayles, B.B. Finklea, T.W. Russell, Q. Salter, H.J. Coxwell, J.M. Coxwell, R.L.
Coxwell, L.J. Bugg, W.G. McCorvey. One car from Tunnel Springs with Dr. F.S.
Dailey, C.J. Jackson, J.J. Dailey and – Dailey; two cars from Peterman with Dr.
D.R. Nettles, Dr. Robbins Nettles, E.A. Thompson, Dr. Isaac Betts; three cars
from Repton with 11 representatives, viz: Mayor G.W. Gaston, Banker C.S. Kelly,
Dr. E.L. Kelly, H.L. Dees, J.W. Warr, Rev. J.M. Munn, J.C. Long, C.H. Moorer,
M.C. Dunn, Mr. Booker, Wilton Warr; two cars from Evergreen with Judge F.J.
Dean, E.E. Newton, Esq., J.H. Jones of Century, Fla. and perhaps others; one
car from Midway with Dr. Stacey.
The arrival of Engineer Keller and party from Ft. Deposit
was greeted with enthusiastic demonstrations, the vocal welcome being largely
drowned in the medley of tooting auto horns.
An Imposing Procession
The processions from Midway to Burnt Corn was imposing and
impressive, such perhaps as was never before witnessed by residents along the
route, stretching as it did over more than half a mile, and affording an
earnest of conditions that will become commonplace when the road becomes an
important link in the great state highway from Birmingham to the Gulf.
Burnt Corn Does the Honors
The largely augmented party arrived at Burnt Corn at 1:30 to
find ever facility for appeasing the keenest hunger and quenching their burning
thirst bountifully provided by the generous and hospitable citizens of the
community, and Mr. James K. Kyser and his watchful and efficient corps of
assistants saw to it that no one lacked for anything requisite for the
refreshment of the inner man. The dinner was spread picnic style beneath the
grateful shade of a beautiful grove, plenteous in quantity, superb in quality
and most daintily served. The ladies of Burnt Corn are unexcelled in these
matters, and the simple statement that they presided in person over the feast
is to express a volume in a few words.
The Journey Resumed
After enjoying to the full the brief stop at Burnt Corn, the
Pathfinders again took to the road for the next lap. Various cars with their
occupants gradually dropped out at points most convenient to their homes,
leaving only seven cars to complete the journey as originally planned. Those
remaining in to the finish, in addition to the members of the Highway Commission,
were Judge Wood of Hayneville, Mr. Coker of Ft. Deposit, Drs. Hairston and
Fountain, and Messrs. Lowrey and Mosley of Burnt Corn, Drs. D.R. and Robbins
Nettles of Peterman, J.H. Jones of Century, Messrs. Bugg, Fountain, Russell,
L.A. and Stephen Hixon of Monroeville and the editor of The Journal.
Trip Completed Without Incident
With the exception of a “blow out” in case of one of the
cars, the remainder of the trip was without noteworthy incident and the entire
party arrived safe and sound at the capital city of Baldwin a few minutes after
eight o’clock. Mr. J.U. Blacksher and Dr. Baumhauer of Maros, joined the party
at Hadley and manifested their interest in the project by accompanying it to
Local, at which point five cars occupied by 15 or 20 prominent citizens of
Atmore were in waiting to extend cordial greetings and a pressing invitation
for the entire party to accept the free hospitality of that thriving city over
night. In consequence of being somewhat behind schedule already the invitation
was reluctantly but of necessity declined.
At Lottie an escort of five cars and perhaps a score of
leading citizens of Bay Minette awaited the party and accompanied it to town.
IMPRESSIONS OF THE ROUTE
That portion of the Old Federal Road over which the writer
traveled, that is to say, from Midway to the point of its nearest approach to
Bay Minette, follows strictly the watershed dividing the streams that flow into
the Alabama River and those that empty into the Gulf, and we were somewhat
astonished to find the road in such good condition and so few physical
difficulties in the way of building at moderate cost and economically
maintaining a first class permanent highway. There are few streams that cross
the roadway and none that are subject to dangerous overflow. With the present
travel over the road only two bridges are deemed necessary between Ft. Deposit
and Bay Minette, a distance of 118 miles. Excellent road building material,
such as sand, gravel and clay, abound all along the way in close proximity and in
reasonably equable proportion. The grades are not difficult even under existing
conditions. The distance between Ft. Deposit and Bay Minette by the Old Federal
Road is only two miles greater than that by railroad, and this distance could
be materially decreased by relocation at various points and the straightening
out of unnecessary curves. There are stretches of level country on the lower
reaches where the road could be laid out for miles as straight as a line where
at present it follows a zigzag course without apparent reason.
Most Practical and Economical
Our traveling companion, Mr. T.W. Russell (to whom we are
indebted for a seat in his auto throughout the trip) who has traveled
extensively and is familiar with conditions throughout a wide area, is
convinced that this is the most practical of any route yet suggested for a
trunk highway both from the standpoint of minimum mileage and conditions
favorable to construction and maintenance.
The road traverses fertile and prosperous farming sections
in Lowndes, Butler, Conecuh, Monroe, Escambia and Baldwin counties and its
adoption and improvement by the state would do more to advertise to the world
these somewhat isolated sections and promote their development than anything of
which we can conceive. It therefore behooves the citizens of these counties to
support heartily the efforts being made to this end.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
A brief sketch of the history of this ancient road may prove
not uninteresting to many readers of The Journal, now that it is about to be
brought again into prominence.
For the main facts of the sketch we have drawn freely from
the contributions of Hon. Peter J. Hamilton of the Alabama Historical Society.
Road Provided by Indian Treaty
After the Revolution, when the tide of emigration began to
drift westward various roads connected the Atlantic states with the country
west of the Alleghanies. Natchez and St. Stephens, making up the best part of
the Mississippi Territory, long remained isolated advance guards of
civilization. Natchez communicated with the outside world by the Mississippi
River, while the settlement on the Tombigbee was separated by the Choctaw
Indians from the Mississippi, by the Creeks from Georgia, by the Cherokees from
Tennessee and by the Spaniards from the Gulf. The United States made peace with
the southern Indians at the close of the Revolution, and in 1801 concluded
further treaties with them providing for wagon roads from the Nashville country
to the Natchez district and a little later from Georgia to the Tombigbee
settlement. Immigrants traveling by land from Columbus, Ga. to the Mobile River
in those days before railroads and towns would go west to a point a little
below the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, thence southwest, on the
watershed following an old Indian trail. On examination of any good map of the
state it will be found that this ridge extends from Fort Mitchell in Russell
County, via Forts Bainbridge and Hull in Macon County, Mt. Meigs in Montgomery
County, Ft. Deposit in Lowndes, Burnt Corn in Monroe and on to Ft. Montgomery
in Baldwin County.
In accordance with the terms of the Indian treaty referred
to, concluded at Washington Nov. 14, 1805, between Harry Dearborn, secretary of
war as United States commissioner, and William McIntosh and other chiefs, this
road was opened by the United States authorities from the Ocmulgee River in
Georgia, by way of Mims Ferry to St. Stephens then the capital of the
Mississippi Territory. Two years later Harry Toulmin, James Caller and Lemuel
Henry as territorial commissioners extended it westward from St. Stephens to
Natchez, opening a ferry across the Alabama above Little River and another
across the Tombigbee above St. Stephens. Causeways were laid over boggy ravines
and branches. It acquired in local parlance the alternate name “Three-Notch
Way” from the three blazes which uniformly marked it from Georgia to Natchez.
Expansion Into Great Thoroughfare
This rough way, at first little more than a bridle path and
used principally by horsemen and packhorses, gradually expanded with increasing
immigration from the older settlements and by 1811 it had become the great
highway from the South Atlantic seaboard and the interior of Georgia and South
Carolina to the whole of south and middle Alabama and south Mississippi. But
for the Federal Road with its forts, affording protection to immigrants and
inspiring wholesome fear in the minds of the “noble red men” who little
relished the rapid encroachment of the whites upon their native soil, the work
of laying the foundation for our present great state would have been a much
more dilatory and difficult process than it proved. As population increased and
intercommunication became more essential, the road was adopted as a United
States post road, forming a link in the great overland thoroughfare between
Mobile and New York. Stage coach lines were operated regularly over the road
for many years, even down to a date easily within the recollection of many
citizens now living. Back in the forties, when the Morse system was yet a
novelty, a telegraph line stretched along this road from the City by the Bay to
the state capital and even yet cleats to which the line was insulated can be
seen attached to stately pines that have escaped the woodman’s devastating axe.
Celebrated Travelers
Over this road passed the noted Methodist preacher of
pioneer days, Lorenzo Dow and his wife Peggy Dow, on their long and tedious
missionary trips to the Tombigbee settlement; Vice President Aaron Burr in his
flight after the bloody duel in which he slew his antagonist, Alexander
Hamilton, and as a prisoner after his arrest on the charge of treason; General
Lafayette, the French nobleman who played so conspicuous a part in the
achievement of American independence, and many other characters justly
celebrated in the early history of our country.
TRIP NOTES
Of the more than 50 citizens constituting the party that
accompanied the State Highway Commission on the inspection trip, only two,
Messrs. Geo. W. Salter Sr. and J.I. Bizelle of Monroeville, ever had the
experience of making a journey by stage coach over this or possibly any other
road. It is needless to remark that both these gentlemen were very much younger
in years on those occasions than they are now.
On the return trip the party diverged from the direct route
enticed by the prospect of a joy ride over the excellent roadway constructed by
Mr. J.U. Blacksher at his personal expense. The pleasure of this experience
fully compensated for all the jolts and tedium of the journey to that point.
Even the insensate machines seemed to experience the thrill of exhilaration as
they merrily sped over the way to the rhythmic pulsation of their ingenious
mechanism. This road demonstrates what can be accomplished in any community by
the exercise of a little enterprise and the expenditure of a moderate amount of
money and energy. It will stand as a lasting monument to the public spirit of
Mr. Blacksher.
Crop conditions all along the route were found to be far
better than expected. The recent rains have wrought wonders in the appearance
of the farms, and inquiry elicited the gratifying information that fair yields
of both cotton and corn are practically assured between Midway and Burnt Corn.
From Burnt Corn southward the condition steadily improved, attaining its
maximum of excellence in the vicinity of Local. There is a world of velvet
beans and other legumes growing throughout the three counties traversed.
The Journal has but one criticism to indulge regarding the
road system of our sister counties to the south, and that is with reference to
the absence of finger boards at road crossings. A stranger traveling without a
competent guide is liable to take any one of a dozen roads seemingly tending in
the right direction and the chances are that he will go wrong in each instance.
Mr. T.W. Russell is an expert chauffeur for an amateur. No
sandbed was heavy enough or hill so steep as to balk his faithful Ford, and as
for speed, no Overland, Flanders or Buick in the party was swift enough to
distance “Sarah.”
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