UNIT II - TEACHER SHEET

Objectives:

Materials:

Background:

Construction of the 632 miles of the National Road, from Cumberland to Vandalia, Illinois, cost the American government almost 7 million dollars. Portions of the Road that ran through mountainous areas cost the most ($13,000 per mile between Cumberland and Wheeling).

Workers on the National Road, many of whom were Irish, were paid as little as $6.00 per month. They considered themselves lucky if they were paid fifty cents per day. Common "machinery" along the road included mules, oxen, hammers, shovels, axes, mattocks, picks, plows, wheelbarrows, and measuring rings.

Road construction involved several steps. First, a right of way was cleared, 66 feet wide in Pennsylvania and 80 feet wide in Ohio. Two methods were used to construct the actual road. On portions from Cumberland to Wheeling, a 32 foot roadbed was cleared and a 20 foot wide strip was dug down the center. In this strip, the road was laid in layers. A layer of broken stone that could be passed through a seven-inch ring was laid first. The second layer consisted of stones passed through a three-inch ring. Sometimes a layer of sand or gravel was added on top and compressed with a heavy log.

As soon as people started to use the road it began to deteriorate. It was decided to build the road west of Wheeling with a new method, the macadam system, named for the Scotsman John Louden McAdam who developed it. With this new method, the roadbed was raised above ground level to allow for drainage and to slow erosion. Several layers of crushed stone were laid and then compacted, creating a solid surface. Starting in 1834, the macadam method also was used to repair eastern portions of the National Road.

Supplemental Activities:

1. Make measuring rings with the students. Use clothes hangers to create 7-inch and 3-inch rings. Eliminate sharp edges with masking tape. Have the students bring in different sized rocks from home and then measure the rocks to see if they could have been used on the National Road.
   
2. Build a "road" with the students. Have students bring in bags of small rocks and pebbles from home. Build the "road" in dishpans or other shallow pans. In small groups, have students lay the larger rocks on the bottom and the smaller rocks on the top. They can use rolling pins to compact the surface. Discuss how difficult or easy it would be to travel on the "road".

Relevant Site Information:

Activity Answers:

Unit II A

Unit II B

1. Rake; wheelbarrow; shovel; hammer; people
2. Trees and plants
   Chopped down with axes; cleared with mattocks; carried away with wheelbarrows; pulled down by oxen, mules, and horses
3. Man raking: rake smooth the rocks on the road bed, make sure there are few gullies and high points in the road; blisters on hands (might need to wear gloves)
   Man dumping rocks: pick up loads of crushed rocks, transport over bumpy ground and dump the rocks; heavy loads and hard to move wheelbarrows.
   Man helping to lay rocks: get rocks out of the wheelbarrow and help spread them out; hot and dirty work
   Man shoveling: shovel up rocks to be put in wheelbarrows; hand blisters and heavy work
   Man breaking rocks: hammer rocks into small enough pieces; time-consuming work
   Man overseeing: make sure the rocks are of the correct size; pay the workers; responsible for the road being built correctly and lasting for a long time

Unit student information Activity A Activity B