subsidence were, the Goose Creek and Little River Turnpike, Loudoun
and Berlin (now Brunswick, Md.) Turnpike, Ashby's Gap Turnpike,
Leesburg Turnpike, Leesburg and Snicker's Gap Turnpike, Little River
Turnpike and Snicker's Gap Turnpike. Their combined authorized capital
stock was $637,325, of which amount more than two-thirds was
subscribed by individuals, the State assuming the balance.

The system did not originate solely in a local want or demand along
the lines contemplated. Other causes were also at the bottom of the
movement. The settlement of the County was necessarily by progressive
though, at times, apparently simultaneous steps. First came the
settlement and location of one or two towns, and the opening of
communication between them; then the advent of the trapper, hunter,
and scout into the unsettled portion; then came the land grants and
the settlement in isolated localities; then the blazed trail to the
parent towns and to the cabin of the pioneer or the outposts; then the
drift-ways, cart-ways, and the local roads winding from cabin to
cabin; then the town-ways and county roads, with here and there the
"provincial" highways.

Today, the public roads and turnpikes of Loudoun are unquestionably
better than those of most counties and, in obedience to a popular
demand, are kept in a fair state of repair. One or two of the
main-traveled thoroughfares would compare favorably with the best
rural roads in the country.

Long before the Civil War, Little River was rendered navigable from
its mouth to Aldie by means of a lock and dam system, this and more
far-reaching improvements having been undertaken by the "Goose Creek
and Little River Navigation Company" capitalized at $100,000. The dams