Breckinridge County KyArchives News.....Hardinsburg-Cloverport Toll Road December 15, 2021 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 March 17, 2022, 8:37 pm The Herald News Newpaper December 15, 2021 HARDINSBURG-CLOVERPORT TOLL ROAD BY LESLIE GALLOWAY HAYCRAFT THE HERALD NEWS NEWSPAPER 12/15/2021 EDITION In 1836 the Acts of General Assembly of Commonwealth of Kentucky gave authority to construct a turnpike from Cloverport to Hardinsburg and approved a budget of $20,000. At this time, Cloverport was a growing steamboat town with all sorts of demands put upon it, including roads needed for the merchandise being brought to and from the boats on the Ohio River. The route that was being taken was following an old river path to Stephensport and then turning inland to follow another dirt road which was originally an old buffalo trail on to Hardinsburg. The amount of allotted money only allowed budget for a narrow path of 10-miles long so the toll road followed Old Hwy 60 near current day Powers’ Express, or at the end of what was then called Stage Coach Road to Hardinsburg, with a toll house on each end. Hardinsburg’s end of the road followed closely along what we would now call Old Hwy 60. In researching I came across an advertisement in the Evansville Daily Journal from 1860 which was taking bids for road builders for the turnpike to finally begin. Unfortunately when it did begin The Civil War disrupted its completion and finally resumed construction in 1868. Although turnpikes were not popular, money allotted was most often not enough to complete a road and turnpike companies were financed through private funding selling shares. Tolls collected helped to pay for the expense of building the road, upkeep and possible profit. One known shareholder of the Hardinsburg-Cloverport Toll Road was John S. Lightfoot, who was at that time City Marshall of Cloverport (also of the Lightfoot article from last week). An application would be made by a company to subscribe to stock on the part of the state for any road work or improvements on turnpikes. Then engineers came to examine the land and plan for the road that the road company had designed. Many roads ended up being totally financed privately in this manner. To begin construction where there was not ever a road, first a path for a road was “grubbed” out and men had to move rocks, flatten the hilltops, cut trees and clear obstacles. They used local quarries to supply gravel and leveled it, laying gravel tow and a half inches thick. This new process was called macadamization and heavy metal sieves helped workers size the rock down to gravel. Several layers of gravel were packed down in this new system. Along the edges was a sort of raised curb normally and some roads had stone walls alongside to protect drivers and riders from going over the edge. Side ditches caught the flow of water that ran off the roads which were actually designed to be rounded or tallest in the center point. General Assembly set the prices of the tolls to be uniform statewide and the toll keeper at the booth was responsible for collecting and determining how much was due from each person coming through the gate. Examples of early toll gate prices were: horse and rider 5 cents, carriage or wagon 10 cents, 2 cents per hog, 3 cents per head of cattle, stage coach w/6 seats 35 cents, wagon or coach pulled by 6 horses 75 cents. One name known to be a very early toll keeper on the Cloverport end of the road was Coleman Blake. Charles Jennings held the same job later on the road for many years. There are many references to him in antique newspapers printed in Cloverport, The Breckenridge News, from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. He was from Hites Run and was the last toll keeper before the road became a free county road in 1912, and later Hwy 60 in 1922. -------------------------- Mr. Jennings Dies. Mr. Charles Jennings died at his home on the Pike Friday, after a serious illness. He was sixty-one years of age and for many years was the keeper of the toll gate. He leaves one daughter, Miss Annie Jennings. -------------------------- Interestingly the road is continued to be called “the pike” and “the turnpike” for years, as I have seen referenced in addresses and again the old Breckinridge News, even after it is no longer a toll road. Slowly it became called the “new Hwy 60” and the days of “the pike” faded away. Remnants of the road and bridges are now on citizen’s farms and traces of what used to be are mostly unknown to the youth of today. Travel was hard then and road improvements much bettered their lives and ability to provide for their families. Sources: The Breckinridge News archives, Breckinridge County Archives, Journal of the State of the Commonwealth of Kentucky 1837 Additional Comments: Copied from original article, with permission from Leslie Galloway Haycraft (reporter) and the Herald News newspaper, from their 12/15/2021 edition. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/breckinridge/newspapers/hardinsb570gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/