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the life of thomas telford-第23章

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months; he immediately set to work with all despatch。



Nearly four hundred men were employed upon the work at six

different points; and their first operation was to cut a deep ditch

along either side of the intended road; and throw the excavated

stuff inwards so as to raise it to a circular form。  His greatest

difficulty was in getting the stones laid to make the drains; there

being no firm footing for a horse in the more boggy places。

The Yorkshire clothiers; who passed that way to Huddersfield market

by no means a soft…spoken raceridiculed Metcalf's proceedings;

and declared that he and his men would some day have to be dragged

out of the bog by the hair of their heads! Undeterred; however;

by sarcasm; he persistently pursued his plan of making the road

practicable for laden vehicles; but he strictly enjoined his men

for the present to keep his manner of proceeding; a secret。



His plan was this。  He ordered heather and ling to be pulled from

the adjacent ground; and after binding it together in little round

bundles; which could be grasped with the hand; these bundles were

placed close together in rows in the direction of the line of road;

after which other similar bundles were placed transversely over

them; and when all had been pressed well down; stone and gravel

were led on in broad…wheeled waggons; and spread over the bundles;

so as to make a firm and level way。  When the first load was

brought and laid on; and the horses reached the firm ground again

in safety; loud cheers were set up by the persons who had assembled

in the expectation of seeing both horses and waggons disappear in

the bog。  The whole length was finished in like manner; and it

proved one of the best; and even the driest; parts of the road;

standing in very little need of repair for nearly twelve years

after its construction。  The plan adopted by Metcalf; we need

scarcely point out; was precisely similar to that afterwards

adopted by George Stephenson; under like circumstances; when

constructing the railway across Chat Moss。  It consisted simply in a

large extension of the bearing surface; by which; in fact; the road

was made to float upon the surface of the bog; and the ingenuity of

the expedient proved the practical shrewdness and mother…wit of the

blind Metcalf; as it afterwards illustrated the promptitude as well

as skill of the clear…sighted George Stephenson。



Metcalf was upwards of seventy years old before he left off

road…making。  He was still hale and hearty; wonderfully active for

so old a man; and always full of enterprise。  Occupation was

absolutely  necessary for his comfort; and even to the last day of

his life he  could not bear to be idle。  While engaged on road…making

in Cheshire; he brought his wife to Stockport for a time;

and there she died; after thirty…nine years of happy married life。

One of Metcalf's daughters became married to a person engaged in

the cotton business at Stockport; and; as that trade was then very

brisk; Metcalf himself commenced it in a small way。 He began with

six spinning…jennies and a carding…engine; to which he afterwards

added looms for weaving calicoes; jeans; and velveteens。  But trade

was fickle; and finding that he could not sell his yarns except at

a loss; he made over his jennies to his son…in…law; and again went

on with his road…making。  The last line which he constructed was

one of the most difficult he had everundertaken; that between

Haslingden and Accrington; with a branch road to Bury。  Numerous

canals being under construction at the same time; employment was

abundant and wages rose; so that though he honourably fulfilled his

contract; and was paid for it the sum of 3500L。; he found himself a

loser of exactly 40L。 after two years' labour and anxiety。

He completed the road in 1792; when he was seventy…five years of age;

after which he retired to his farm at Spofforth; near Wetherby;

where for some years longer he continued to do a little business in

his old line; buying and selling hay and standing wood; and

superintending the operations of his little farm; During the later

years of his career he occupied himself in dictating to an

amanuensis an account of the incidents in his remarkable life;

and finally; in the year 1810; this strong…hearted and resolute man

his life's work overlaid down his staff and peacefully departed

in the ninety…third year of his age; leaving behind him four

children; twenty grand…children; and ninety great grand…children。



'Image' Metcalf's house at Spofforth。



The roads constructed by Metcalf and others had the effect of

greatly improving the communications of Yorkshire and Lancashire;

and opening up those counties to the trade then flowing into them

from all directions。  But the administration of the highways and

turnpikes being entirely local; their good or bad management

depending upon the public spirit and enterprise of the gentlemen of

the locality; it frequently happened that while the roads of one

county were exceedingly good; those of the adjoining county were

altogether execrable。



Even in the immediate vicinity of the metropolis the Surrey roads

remained comparatively unimproved。  Those through the interior of

Kent were wretched。  When Mr。 Rennie; the engineer; was engaged in

surveying the Weald with a view to the cutting of a canal through

it in 1802; he found the country almost destitute of practicable

roads; though so near to the metropolis on the one hand and to the

sea…coast on the other。  The interior of the county was then

comparatively untraversed; except by bands of smugglers; who kept

the inhabitants in a state of constant terror。  In an agricultural

report on the county of Northampton as late as the year 1813; it

was stated that the only way of getting along some of the main

lines of road in rainy weather; was by swimming!



In the neighbourhood of the city of Lincoln the communications were

little better; and there still stands upon what is called Lincoln

Heaththough a heath no longera curious memorial of the past in

the shape of Dunstan Pillar; a column seventy feet high; erected

about the middle of last century in the midst of the then dreary;

barren waste; for the purpose of serving as a mark to wayfarers by

day and a beacon to them by night。*'2'



'Image' Land Lighthouse on Lincoln Heath。



At that time the Heath was not only uncultivated; but it was also

unprovided with a road across it。  When the late Lady Robert

Manners  visited Lincoln from her residence at Bloxholm; she was

accustomed to send forward a groom to examine some track; that on

his return he might be able to report one that was practicable。

Travellers frequently lost themselves upon this heath。  Thus a

family; returning from a ball at Lincoln; strayed from the track

twice in one night; and they were obliged to remain there until

morning。  All this is now changed; and Lincoln Heath has become

covered with excellent roads and thriving farmsteads。

〃This Dunstan Pillar;〃 says Mr。 Pusey; in his review of the

agriculture of Lincolnshire; in 1843; 〃lighted up no longer time

ago for so singular a purpose; did appear to me a striking witness

of the spirit of industry which; in our own days; has reared the

thriving homesteads around it; and spread a mantle of teeming

vegetation to its very base。  And it was certainly surprising to

discover at once the finest farming I had ever seen and the only

land lighthouse ever raised。*'3'  Now that the pillar has ceased to

cheer the wayfarer; it may serve as a beacon to encourage other

landowners in converting their dreary moors into similar scenes of

thriving industry。〃*'4'  When the improvement of the high roads of

the country fairly set in; the progress made was very rapid。

This was greatly stimulated by the important inventions of tools;

machines; and engines; made towards the close of last century;

the products of whichmore especially of the steam…engine and

spinning…machineso largely increased the wealth of the nation。

Manufactures; commerce; and shipping; made unprecedented strides;

life became more active; persons and commodities circulated more

rapidly; every improvement in the internal communications being

followed by an increase of ease; rapidity; and economy in

locomotion。  Turnpike and post roads were speedily extended all

over the country; and even the rugged mountain districts of North

Wales and the Scotch  Highlands became as accessible as any English

county。  The riding postman was superseded by the smartly appointed

mail…coach; performing its journeys with remarkable regularity at

the average speed of ten miles an hour。  Slow stagecoaches gave

place to fast ones; splendidly horsed and 〃tooled;〃 until

travelling by road in England was pronounced almost perfect。



But all this was not enough。  The roads and canals; numerous and

perfect though they might be; were found altogether inadequate to

the accommodation of
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