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CHAPTER II
BUILDING THE ROAD IN THE WEST
THE tales of those who knew the road in the West and those who knew it in the East are much alike. It is probable that there was one important distinction—the passenger traffic of the road between the Potomac and Ohio, which gave life on that portion of the road a peculiar flavor, was doubtless not equaled on the western division.
For many years the center of western population was in the Ohio Valley, and good steamers were plying the Ohio when the Cumberland Road was first opened. Indeed the road was originally intended for the accommodation of the lower Ohio Valley.[1] Still, as the century grew old
- ↑ The early official correspondence concerning the route of the road shows plainly that it was really built for the benefit of the Chillicothe and Cincinnati settlements, which embraced a large portion of Ohio's popu-
