Page:The Milestones and the Old Post Road.djvu/7

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The associations of highways and milestones is so intimate that a few words may be said of milestones in general. These stones, which now call forth a merely sentimental interest, were considered by our forefathers a necessity. In 1788 the State of New York passed the following: "As milestones are a great public convenience, removing or damaging any milestone is punishable by a fine of three pounds for such damage, part to go to the informant, part to be applied to the repair of the damage, and a third part to be paid to the overseers of the town in which the offence shall be committed." If unable to pay a fine, the party was to suffer thirty days' imprisonment. This law still remains in effect except that a term of imprisonment of two years may be imposed.

No less person than Benjamin Franklin selected the positions for many milestones along the highways, when as Postmaster General, in a specially contrived wagon, he measured off the miles at which the stones should be erected. Some of these so-called Franklin Milestones are still standing, one of them being on the Milford Road in Stratford, Conn.

The first two or three milestones in Manhattan are of white stone, then a brown stone is used the rest of the way up the river until Red Hook is reached, when again a white stone is used. While mostly Arabic numerals are used in milestone inscriptions, occasionally we find the Roman numbers, as on the XXIV milestone at Scarsdale, N. Y.

In early days the people of New Amsterdam felt the need of communication with the outer world, especially with their neighbors and kinspeople at Fort Orange. In the winter when the river was frozen over, it was a comparatively easy matter to arrange this communication, although the post carrier's task was anything but a pleasant one as he skirted the shores of the wilderness and rounded the points through the gorges against the cold north wind, while skating his lonely way to Albany, with Indians often lurking along the route. Something more permanent was needed, and in 1669, the Albany