Barbour, James; MaComb, Alex; et al. National Road - Washington to New Orleans : Letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting A Report of the Chief Engineer, accompanied by A Report upon the Reconnoissance of a Route, across the Cumberland Mountain, of the National Road contemplated from Washington to New Orleans, with a Map of the Country between those two Cities. Washington: Printed by Gales & Seaton, 1828. First Edition. [11909]
Removed, newly stab-sewn, 8 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches, 19 pages of text plus 10 folding charts. Two of the charts have old stains. The map in the title is not present; it was issued separately. Good. Pamphlet.
20th Congress, 1st Session, Document No. 125, House of Representatives.
A detailed account of several possible routes for a national road connecting Washington with New Orleans. The folding charts are descriptions of terrain from point to point; their are four possibilities described, those of an Eastern Route, a Middle Route, a Western Route through East Tennessee and a Western Route through West Tennessee.
The information given includes 1. The successive stations travelled each day; 2. The general course of the section of road travelled each day; 3. The geological formation; 4. The face of the country; 5. The nature of the soil; 6. The kind of the natural products; 7. The nature of the growth of timber; 8. The water courses crossed by the road; 9. The length of bridges they will require; 10. The length of causeways across the valley, and those across swamps and low grounds; 11. The graduation of the roads travelled; 12. The designation of the States and Counties crossed by the road travelled by the Board; 13. The white, colored, and whole population of each county; 14. The successive distances from one station to another, and that from Washington City to each station.
