the map up come out on a limb erica pioneer america in the seventy's sixty's and seventy seven days looked like this there was little if any settlement west of the appalachian mountains and all the colonies situated along the eastern atlantic seaboard from massachusetts in the north to georgia in the south only occasionally did adventurous hunters and trappers and indian traders venture beyond the mountain barrier to the west it was an unknown wilderness immediately after the french and indian war which ended in seven hundred sixty free with the treaty of paris the appalachian mountain country west of the barrier previously controlled by the french was open the established eastern settlements and communities proper little opportunity for land ownership to newly arrived immigrants from westward in the seventeenth sixty's which continues until the twentieth century our own time the earliest settlement in southwestern pennsylvania western maryland and western virginia soon became d with stations which much from that into town it wasn't long before they went into the wide valleys of kentucky through the cumberland g little attention to the plans of colonial government to settle these areas north of the land speculators who influence them but struck by the thousands to take the land and settle no such journey could begin without the blessing of a minister regardless of their nationality or religion the county is in the latter part of the eighteenth century jungle a great increase in population from parts of western europe where people felt the pressures of political and religious prejudice even persecution the new world was both an escape as well as an opportunity to start a are trained to handle not only the plough but the gun and the knife the wilderness was not idle game it was rough and deadly serious they knew the danger and were prepared to m it is not easy to realize the challenge that moving westward meant to these people even though they knew the danger it was a complete routing of their lives bag and baggage to a strange and unknown land there was fear uncertainty and doubt because they were cutting their ties burning their bridges behind them but the love of liberty and freedom was stronger and the open country  the countryside through the valleys and far were written in wild game and black soil and the american pioneer knew how to use both once they had decided on the spot he wanted to settle but before he could reach the nation he would have to conquer the weather why swollen rivers high mountains protect himself his capital and with possession and fight hostile in the in the land he was invading making camp for the night was not easy with such large wagon trains their protection from the weather weather covered wagons their protection from wild life with their campfires and their rifles their protection tools and equipment were kept in good repair guards were posted in advance of the camp in order to warn of attack and they huddled around their own campfires in a lonely watch it was their job to signal any danger to the main camp there were times however when their care relax and sleep came upon them and the file an enemy crept without warning and then tragedy struck wi the good are taken back to its fortunate victim as the pioneers make another payment for their hard won land every loss was a serious one because each man lost a weakening of their strength for their common defense their safety depended upon their strength and their strength depended upon their number time couldn't white and the living had to go on to their chosen destiny wherever it might lead them once again they took to the trail to meet the known dangers that there enemies were not only the indian nature herself those dangers even more terrible the land itself with its rugged mountains and wide swept rivers were constant barriers and then the elements with lightning and thunder and wind and cloud birds which made quite meyer's of much of the un broken trail it took the courage and stamina of the time and then hardy people to meet these you despite all these difficulties the pioneers penetrated deep into the wilderness and found desirable sites for se activity became feverish homes had to be built the land had to be till and the fences had to be a stablished for their common protection time was important for they could not leave themselves unprotected not only against the always hostile in the end but against the coming winter men and women alike went to work to cut saw and build their crude cabins each helping the other in a spirit of cooperation building ploughing and working was done with what we would regard as crude to requiring back breaking labor they had to depend only on their own muscle power the raw materials came from the forest and the land that was there well that plus their will this is their heritage which is america and heritage drawn from many people all of whom had one purpose to build for themselves and their  when their job was done they're happy they're it's my celebration in the funk and dance of simple immigrant folk and even these songs and dances have become a part of our tradition but again and again the pioneers had to be on a sharp lookout for attack and news at the end the end were on the warpath electrified them into activity their struggle for survival against the indians was never just as hard as the in the end fought so that the pioneers who needed the land for their families and for freedom inevitable and absorbed with turned into a temporary hospital sometimes persepolis lost and whole communities were wiped out but more often they won and another mile was conquer in spite of the fact that many were wounded and some died while the pioneers fought for their lives and their hard won land speculators living in splendor in the eastern cities had their eyes on these rich areas and by political and financial power were able to seize or acquire legal rights to a land they had never seen even when the special representatives were sent by the pioneers to plead their cause and to protect their interests they were refused audience and greed overcame all consideration for their rights the shortsighted policy of colonial empire was to extract quick riches from these territories they failed to understand that people were well and that development of the land by free people created permanent well that such development would create a nation while the colonial rulers back east were playing politics and spec elating in western land their own emissaries armed with link westward to the new settlement to make their own cla told them they could destroy the hard work of the pioneer who had no recourse but to accept that the grain of their own government by such tactics that colonial governors drive the pioneers  settlers further westward beyond the reach of government the eastern cities and lands were already crowded and the rigid levels of society to some extent were rapidly becoming copies of european homeland it this that the movement westward began aided by the blindness of colonial govern and so with bitterness and disappointment they reloaded their why again once again with heart break but yet without thought the american pioneer overcame even the barriers erected by men and won