Local farmers, sick of paying tolls in 1907, take matters into their own hands

Cape Girardeau faced an economic disadvantage in the early 1900s. People coming from Jackson or Scott County had to travel on toll roads, a costly impediment for local business.

The Cape Girardeau McAdamized and Plank Road Company was chartered in 1851 to operate a road connecting Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Bollinger Mill. Another firm, the Cape Girardeau and Scott County McAdamized Road Company, was created in 1853 to build a road to the south.

A Missouri law passed in 1901 required private road companies stop collecting tolls as soon as their charters expired. This law was effective at ending toll roads elsewhere in Missouri, but the two local companies refused to die. Louis Houck, who had control of the Scott County company, tried to argue in court the law was unconstitutional.

Local residents, however, were sick of paying tolls to travel on mediocre roads. In 1906, the Jackson Herald newspaper argued, "If you want people to come to your town, you must not charge them to enter. Let us do away with the toll gates in this county."

An unfortunate accident in November 1906 didn't help matters: G.W. Ray, heading north from Scott County while seated on a load of hay, was killed when he hit his head on an iron pole used for a toll gate.

In June 1907, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled the charters for the two companies had indeed expired. The companies appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court -- and continued to collect that sweet toll revenue in the meantime.

Soon after, the Jackson Herald published a statement from county prosecuting attorney H.E. Alexander. The Cape-Jackson toll road, he wrote, "has had no charter and no legal right to collect toll since about the year 1871." He added if the company interfered with the free passage of people or vehicles, "any person has the legal right to remove or tear down any toll gate or other obstruction..."

That's exactly what happened. That same day, farmer George Rayburn chopped down a wooden toll gate outside of Cape using an axe he had bought for the purpose. When that gate was replaced by an iron pike, Charles Vogelsang hitched his mules to it and dragged it away. A few days later, Jack Ross hitched his team to the gate at Burfordville, dragged it two miles down the road, and dumped it in Cane Creek.

The companies tried to fight back against the toll evaders, but their attempts to sue for damages did not go far. In 1909, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the companies, and the toll gates came down once and for all.

Today, a few vestiges of these toll roads can be found. The last tollhouse still stands on Old Cape Road in Jackson. Old Toll Road marks a part of the route in Jackson, while Burfordville Covered Bridge stands at the road's western terminus. Rock Levee Road represents a segment of the Scott County road.