MEMORIAL

OF THE

COMMITTEE OF THE CONVENTION

TOUCHING THE

STAUNTON AND SCOTTSVILLE TURNPIKE ROAD.

To the General Assembly of Virginia:

The memorial of the undersigned, a committee appointed by a convention held in the City of Richmond, on the 2nd October, to confer upon the means of effecting an improved communication between Scottsville and Staunton, respectfully sheweth: That the object is one of great importance to the large district immediately interested in its accomplishment, and that it cannot fail, if attended to, to increase the revenue as well as the commerce of the state. There is not another improvement which would be attended by more immediate valuable results, nor from which more substantial advantages will accrue from a small expenditure. Nor is it recommended by these considerations only, weighty and influential as they are, the fact being, that a valuable and increasing portion of our trade is diverted to the markets of an adjoining state for the want of a proper

access to our own.

The importance of connecting Staunton with James river by a cheap and expeditious line of transportation, has been long manifest, and years ago the general assembly sought to effect it by means of a turnpike. It was seen that a large and productive district, for the want of an improved avenue to market, which could be effected at a cost that bore no comparison with the advantages to result from it, was unable to make those rich contributions to the general commerce of the state which it would otherwise do, so much to its own and the general benefit.

It was therefore that in 1826 the Staunton and Scottsville turnpike was constructed. The transportation upon the turnpike, imperfect as it was, and unsuited to the trade, soon became large, and was of itself enough to render certain that the revenue which might be collected on a better road, would more than pay the interest on the cost of its construction, besides its beneficial effects in developing the resources of the counties immediately interested in it. There was, as your memorialists learn, not less than $30,000 collected in tolls by the James river and Kanawha company, upon the Scottsville and Richmond trade, in the first year after opening the canal, and that trade consisted almost exclusively of articles transported over the road from Scottsville to Staunton; a fact of itself sufficient to shew how important and every way desirable it is to connect Staunton with Richmond by an easy and convenient line of transportation.

The counties of Bath, Pocahontas, Pendleton, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Augusta, Albemarle and Nelson, must forever experience oppressive inconvenience and loss, unless your honourable body shall cause a better road to be constructed. Not that the whole of those large and fertile counties are interested in the improvement to the same extent, but they are sufficiently so to make it important to them all, and to some of them it is necessary. It requires but a slight knowledge of the resources of the country referred to, to be satisfied that an improvement adapted to its commerce, cannot be otherwise than an object of concern, and important to the state at large, and of inestimable advantage to itself. To those of your honourable body representing the counties immediately interested, your memorialists appeal to set forth the high grounds upon which this application commends itself to your favour.

The transportation on the turnpike has of late years greatly declined-the consequence of its imperfections and unsuitableness as a highway; not, however, for that exclusively, but for the additional reason, that transportation upon the Macadamized road from Staunton to Winchester, and thence to Baltimore, notwithstanding the increase of distance has superseded, to a considerable extent, the route to Richmond. The diversion of the trade into that channel has operated with great severity against the rising fortunes of Scottsville, which had been built up, and become the abode of enterprising men, under the conviction that it was destined to be the deposite of a valuable commerce, and against the interests of the James river company. To the extent of the reduction of the revenue of the latter by the diversion, the commonwealth, as the principal member of the company, is a loser; and the case of those citizens, who have been disappointed in their just expectations by the Valley road, cannot but attract the sympathy of a paternal government. It surely could not have been contemplated that our own markets, and the great central improvement, would be injured by the Macadamized road from Staunton to Winchester; yet that has been the effect; and without the timely interposition of the general assembly, our commonwealth is exposed to irreparable injury by the diversion of a valuable commerce to another state, at the expense of our own.

In view, therefore, of the importance of the commercial results connected with the improvement; its bearings upon the fortunes of the James river and Kanawha company; the great claims of the country interested; the effect it must have upon the value and amount of its productions, and the certainty with which the investment may be expected to be profitable; your memorialists pray that your honourable body will authorize the construction of a Macadamized road from Scottsville to Staunton, and provide the means to have it constructed.

They beg to submit herewith the report of the engineer, Edwin M. Taylor, Esq. upon the construction of such road, and the considerations by which its claims to be regarded as an important state work, are established.

FLEMING JAMES, President

of the Convention, and in behalf of the Committee.

December 5th, 1844.

REPORT OF THE ENGINEER.

To Messrs. William H. Macfarland, George W. Randolph, John Tyler, Bernard Peyton, Thomas J. Michie, A. H. H. Stuart, R. B. Haxall, H. L. Brooke and Fleming James.

GENTLEMEN,

A meeting was held in Richmond some time during the past spring, for the purpose of considering the subject of improving the communication between Staunton and Scottsville by means of a metalled road; and at that meeting three committees, composed of persons representing the country interested in the matter, were appointed to promote the object of the convention.

In the month of September succeeding, I was selected by these committees to survey the region to be traversed, and report upon the practicability of realizing the project.

You being constituted at a more recent convention a committee to whom I should address my report, I beg leave herewith to submit it to you.

My appointment was not confirmed in time to enable me to commence operations before the middle of September, and the necessity for closing my field labours by the middle of the present month compelled me to a haste incompatible with as great minuteness of exploration as I would have preferred to have made. I have, however, collected information enough to enable me to furnish you with a very correct idea of the real value of the enterprise, and of the difficulties in the way of its accomplishment; and can assure the committee, that though, in my calculations I have not attained the accuracy desirable, I have been abundantly cautious to err on the safe side, in my estimates of the probable cost and revenue of the work.

MANNER OF CONDUCTING THE SURVEY.

Apprehending that the scarcity of rock suitable for metalling would present the chief obstacle to the carrying out of the scheme, I deemed it prudent to ascertain in the outset of my operations, whether this difficulty was formidable enough to render useless any further prosecution of the subject.

I therefore dispatched my assistant, Mr. R. H. Kinney, an engineer of intelligence and considerable experience, on the service of reconnoitering the entire distance between Staunton and Scottsville, and discovering the localities of rock, and what quantities they were capable of furnishing. His report satisfying me that on the score of metal we had nothing to fear, I proceeded at once to the regular survey.

It seemed desirable to adhere, if possible, entirely to the present turnpike connecting the two places; both because an old, much travelled, and consequently well beaten road forms the best foundation for a roofing of rock, and because changes in the location might involve the expense of land damages, create dissatisfaction on the part of proprietors of lands by disturbing the established improvements and arrangements of their grounds, and also increase the cost of the actual construction of the road. I therefore ran a line over the turnpike to obtain its longitudinal profile, and such notes of its other accidents as would enable me to determine the practicability of converting it to a M'Adamized road of the proper grade; but I found that the idea of making the new work identical with the turnpike throughout its entire length could not be entertained.

Accurate surveys of new lines were then made at those points where it was obviously expedient to abandon the turnpike; and a general inspection was taken of such places as seemed to promise better locations, but where the turnpike was not sufficiently objectionable to justify farther expenditure of my limited time in making instrumental examinations of them.

Accompanying this memoir is a map hastily prepared, and necessarily rough, but exhibiting with sufficient distinctness, the topographical features of the country passed over, the trace of the present turnpike, and the strictly necessary, as well as some of the merely advisable departures from it.

METAL.

Limestone, from its toughness and indisposition to disintegrate readily, is the best material known for a road covering: next and not much inferior to it is quartz, and indeed in point of durability this rock has the advan

tage over limestone; then come the minerals into whose composition silex enters as a large ingredient, such as granite, gneiss and sienite; and even some of the harder varieties of mica-slate are not entirely to be condemned, though, as a general rule, the micaceous minerals are too friable to be of much service.

There are some rocks in which is a slight admixture of lime, such as slaty limestone, which like some kinds of sandstone, may be used to advantage when mixed with a harder material.

Some varieties of trap rock, such for instance as that which appears on the canal a few miles below Scottsville, make an excellent metalling; and the basalt, commonly called iron stone, found in detached masses on the surface of the ground near Scottsville, would be admirable for the purpose, if the difficulty of breaking it will not preclude its use.

Limestone can be obtained for a distance of about 11 miles, or nearly one fourth of the whole length of the road. For the first 2 miles out of Staunton, it abounds immediately upon, and conveniently adjacent to the line: then it suddently disappears, and for a distance of about 4 miles, nothing but slate shews itself; though in some of this slate the presence of lime in a slight degree is perceptible, and as its structure is less laminal than usual, it breaks into pieces of available thickness. A considerable portion of this stone may be introduced into

the metalling.

After this, limestone reappears, and is visible in greater or less quantities along the line, until it enters Waynesborough. Here again it vanishes, and until the valley of South river is passed, and the western foot of the Blue Ridge is reached, being a distance of about 2 miles, but little good rock can be obtained in the immediate vicinity.

From the western base of the ridge until within a short distance of Brooksville, embracing the entire transit of the mountain, metalling rock of superior quality exists in various quantities; increasing in abundance as we advance towards the summit, and for the most part becoming more scarce as we approach the eastern foot; though near this base it frequently pierces the surface in large masses, and always shews in the secondary draughts, where the attrition of water has worn off the soil.

The rock on the mountain consists mainly of gneiss, quartz, occasional combinations of the two, and a hard tough stone, very frangible, and having a light green colour attributable to the presence of epidote.

Throughout the cismontane division of the road, extending from Brooksville to Scottsville, rock is for the most part scarce and inconvenient of access; though in many places it is found in great abundance, and directly upon the line of the road. Such as is obtainable, is however, generally of a quality well adapted for a road covering, consisting mainly of gneiss, quartz, sandstone, sienite and some slate, which mixed with a harder material will serve a good purpose.

The greatest scarcity occurs between Brooksville and a point near Batesville, in the vicinity of Green mountain, and for the few miles entering Scottsville.

In the vicinity of Batesville a quarry of a very superior kind appears. On Israel's mountain no difficulty in obtaining enough of the right character will be experienced; and the neighbourhood of Garland's store, about 12 miles from Scottsville, furnishes an ample supply.

About three fourths of the 3 miles just out of Scottsville, will depend for metal upon localities on the canal a few miles from the town-the cost of conveying it even for 8 or 10 miles by water to Scottsville being very inconsiderable.

At the plantation of Mr. Dyer, about 5 miles from Scottsville, and rather more than a mile from the route which the new location will take, is a mass of siliceous rock, nearly all quartz, lying upon the surface, and therefore not requiring the expense of blasting, which will furnish a covering for about 2 miles of the road immediately over against it.

Á regard for immediate economy may compel us to cover some 3 or 4 miles with a less durable stone than would be desired; but I am persuaded that true policy would not esteem this objection of sufficient magnitude to make proper, on account of it, an abandonment of the further prosecution of the enterprise.

The most perishable rock which we would use will last for two or three years, and it is almost certain, that by the time it is worn out, the affairs of the new company will be so flourishing as to justify the hauling of the best material from a distance to which now we would hesitate to go. Besides, wherever present expediency suggests the use of a softer and inferior metalling, an additional thickness can be laid down at a cost not exceeding that of the proper thickness for a capping of the best quality.

Again, in those places where there is a plenty of indifferent, and a scarcity of good material, a remedy consists in making a paved bottom road, with a thin superstructure of broken stone. This is an excellent arrangement for a road covering, and permits the use of a weaker rock for paving, provided that the quality of the top coating is strong and durable.

LOCATION..

In my examination for the best location for the proposed road, I assumed 3 degrees as its proper maximum grade. Experience has shewn that a M'Adamized road, with a steeper inclination than this, does not yield ac

commodation commensurate with its cost.

The grade adopted, gave a good crossing of the Blue Ridge, and permitted the use of much of the present turnpike in other places. At the same time however, if a lighter one, say 3 degrees, can be obtained, without a sacrifice of these advantages, and too great an increase of distance, I would recommend its adoption. At any rate it would be advisable, in the event that the construction of a M'Adamized road is decided upon, to make a survey for the purpose of ascertaining the cost of a road whose inclinations should no where exceed this limit.

A diminution of grade is attended with not only the obvious advantage of enabling the same power to draw up it a greater weight, but it also facilitates the holding back of the load on a descent; a consideration not generally attended to, but which is of the highest importance where the metalling has become compact and firm, and its surface so smooth that the resistance from friction is comparatively slight.

The following table exhibits the loads which the same power can draw up different grades on a metalled road, a horse power being assumed at the American standard, the weight of a large class wagon at 2200 pounds, and the force of traction at 70 pounds for one ton:

Immediately upon leaving Staunton, it becomes a question whether the present turnpike should be pursued, or a new location be made up a shallow hollow parallel to it, and distant to the left on an average 5 chains; the latter course is decidedly to be preferred. This choice is presented for a distance of about 2 miles, as far as Smith's hill, at which point it becomes necessary to adopt the bed of the turnpike, and keep in it as far as Christian's creek, 4 miles from Staunton.

At the creek, a choice of routes is again offered, either to bend around a hill which slopes steeply down to it, and presently re-entering the turnpike, follow the same to the base of the Blue Ridge; or to pass to the right, taking about the course of what is known as the old road to Waynesborough, up the valley of Goose run to Miller's plantation; thence running in an easterly direction towards the turnpike, and intersecting it at a point about nine miles from Staunton.

The route just described, offers the advantages of easy grades, light transverse slopes, better soil than the turnpike, greater abundance of and accessibility to rock, better exposure, and passes through a more populous neighbourhood. It will, however, be about one half mile longer than the turnpike to the same point, and may encounter the expense of land damages; but if a relinquishment of these can be obtained, I would not, upon a final location, hesitate to adopt it.

At the point of intersection last above mentioned, the turnpike is resumed and adhered to in its course through Waynesborough, and until a point distant about 13 miles from Staunton is reached. Here it is necessarily abandoned, and the ascent of the Blue Ridge is commenced; the new line diverging to the left, rises to the top of the ridge, with a grade never exceeding 3 degrees, and varying from it only where curves require its diminution, and where levels are left for the insertion of drains.

In the ascent of the mountain, the turnpike is twice crossed, and just touched again at Rockfish gap, on the summit.

Several experimental lines were run down the eastern side of the ridge, and that finally regarded as the best, leaves the turnpike on the top, and passes to the left of it; descending with a grade of 34 degrees, it arrives at what may be considered the base of the mountain at a point about opposite Wallace's house on the turnpike, and distant about 10 chains from it; thence falling for nearly a mile at an average grade of about 2 degrees, it strikes the turnpike at Brooksville, in front of Gamble's tavern.

It is to be regretted, that the steepness of the inclinations of the turnpike throughout its entire passage of the ridge, and their great irregularity, render it impossible to use any part of it to any advantage.

The difference of distance between the new location and the turnpike from the point of divergence at the western base of the mountain to that of convergence on the eastern side, is a fraction less than three fourths of a mile in favour of the latter.

From Brooksville to within about 62 miles of Scottsville, no instrumental surveys of new routes were made, but a general inspection of the topography of the country is sufficient to shew that in many places it would be advisable to put the projected road upon entirely different ground from that occupied by the turnpike; and even if it is adhered to as closely as possible, it will nevertheless be unavoidably necessary to make occasional short departures from it, in order to surmount the elevations which it overcomes by excessively high grades. From Brooksville to near Batesville, it is evident that a new location can be made to great advantage.