DANIEL STEENROD.
The average result of a stone breaker in a single day was eight perches, and the price paid was twelve and a half cents per perch. Tradition has it that Robert S. McDowell, still living in Dunbar, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, was the speediest stone breaker on the road. He is the eldest son of “Gate Bob,” elsewhere mentioned. In the year 1848, when Colonel Hopkins was commissioner, Robert S. McDowell broke in one day sixteen perches and two feet. This was done on a bet, and in a contest with Capt. Elias Gilmore. A string of stones one rod in length made two perches, under the gauge in use, and McDowell’s string measured eight rods and two feet. Captain Gilmore, who was one of the most vigorous men on the road, gave up the contest about the middle of the afternoon, and yielded the palm to McDowell. Peter Kelley, who lived at Searights, was one of the best and speediest stone breakers on the road. His occupation, for many years, was breaking stone on the pike, and near the close of his life he became an actor in a tragedy, which lost him his liberty, as well as his former good name. He was not a vicious man, but on occasions would indulge in immoderate drinking. On one of these occasions he killed William Thornton, father of the Hon. J. Russell Thornton, member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania for the county of Fayette. Kelley and Thornton were returning from Brownsville after nightfall, and quarrelled. When near the old Brubaker tavern, Thornton was struck by Kelley, and killed. Kelley was tried, convicted and sent to the penitentiary for a long term, and never thereafter returned to the familiar scenes of the old pike. Alexander Campbell, of Somerfield, was one of the fastest stone breakers on the road, and Robert Hogsett, the well known millionaire of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, broke stones on the road when a boy.
In the early work on the road, there was a requirement that stone for the lower stratum or bed should be broken so that the pieces would pass through a seven-inch ring, and for the upper stratum, which was six inches in thickness, would pass through a three-inch ring. Old contractors provided rings of these dimensions, respectively, and enforced a strict compliance with the regulation mentioned. Subsequently the rings fell into disuse, and were ultimately abandoned, but the stones spread over the surface of the road were always broken to small pieces. The hammer of the stone breaker was a very simple contrivance. It was of iron, round as an apple, weighing probably one pound, with a hole through the center for the insertion of a handle. The handle was of hickory wood, slender in the middle, with a thick end for the grasp of the hand. There was also a larger hammer, with a longer and stouter handle, used for breaking stones thrown into holes. In using this hammer the breaker stood on his feet, and in using the smaller one, sat on the stone pile, moving his position as his work advanced. In hot weather the stone breaker, in many instances, used a ready-made, movable bower, to ward off the scorching rays of the sun. About the year 1848, some person whose name is forgotten, supposing himself endowed with inventive genius, constructed a machine for breaking stones. It was operated by horse power, proved a failure, and was laid aside to rot on the summit of Laurel Hill.
The following table showing the heights of mountains and hills on the road is copied from the sketch by Mr. Veech, accompanying the map of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, before mentioned. It will be seen that it differs somewhat from the measurement of the Commissioners who ran the original lines of the road, but it will be remembered that their measurement was from a point in the Potomac, near Cumberland, whereas the table below gives heights above the Atlantic and above Cumberland. This table also gives heights of hills, west of Uniontown, and the heights furnished by the old Commissioners, are of mountains and hills between Cumberland and Uniontown. As to the accuracy of, and authority for, this table, the author of this volume is not informed, but it seems to have been sanctioned and adopted by Mr. Veech, whose reputation as a local historian is unimpeachable.
THE TABLE.
| Above the Atlantic. | Above Cumberland. | ||
| Cumberland | 537 | feet | |
| Wills Mountain | 1003 | ” | 466 |
| Frostburg | 1792 | ” | 1255 |
| Big Savage Mountain | 2580 | ” | 2043 |
| Little Savage Mountain | 2480 | ” | 1943 |
| Red Hill | 2437 | ” | 1900 |
| Meadow Mountain | 2550 | ” | 2013 |
| Little Crossings | 2000 | ” | 1463 |
| Negro Mountain | 2825 | ” | 2288 |
| Keyser’s Ridge | 2843 | ” | 2306 |
| Winding Ridge | 2534 | ” | 1997 |
| Smithfield | 1405 | ” | 868 |
| Barren Hill | 2450 | ” | 1813 |
| Woodcock Hill | 2500 | ” | 1963 |
| Laurel Hill | 2412 | ” | 1875 |
| Monroe | 1065 | ” | 528 |
| Uniontown Court House | 952 | ” | 415 |
| Colley’s Hill | 1274 | ” | 737 |
| Brownsville | 833 | ” | 296 |
| Krepps’’ Knob | 1040 | ” | 503 |
| Beallsville | 1010 | ” | 473 |
| Hillsboro | 1770 | ” | 1233 |
| Egg Nog Hill | 1532 | ” | 995 |
| Washington | 1406 | ” | 869 |
| West Alexander | 1792 | ” | 1255 |
| Wheeling Hill | 850 | ” | 313 |
| Wheeling City | 748 | ” | 211 |