Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1903-08-15
0LD fnDIAR TRAILS.
War, Hunting and Trading by the
Intsans Their Origin.
TdE PED !'hN'S HIGHWAY.
The Trail, Like the indian, is Fast
Disappearing-Faint Traces Yet to


in Pennsylvania and ONO the Indian
iG a mere tradition. This region in
which the final struggles for mastery
We're E~irht between white men and
red now, after so short a time. has
been swept bare of even the last rem
nants of the great tribes and cOnfed
eracies which once dcfiantly took up
the hatchet to drive back the advanc
ing army Of white settlement. His
tory as it is taught in our schools
gives scant letail concerning the once
proud forest warriors, and the red
man himself has vanished like a
morning vapor. so that the present
masters of the ground once rOame1
by Mingo, Delaware and Shawanese
know little of the former race and for
the most part have never sccn a real
Indian.
But this yreat race in disappearing
has left memorials of its former own.
ership. The names of many of our
states. rivers and towns will ever call
to remembrance those whose rugged
and savage thoughts were expressed
in such flowing language. Not a few
WORDS and phrases which the early
white settlers picked up from their
rcd neGhbOrs have won a permanent
piece in our everyday speech. But
not alone in these matters has the In
dian left his memorials. There are
yet visible the unmistakable traces
of his great hunting and war trails az
many places in the Pennsylvania and
Ohio country. Strange though it may
seem, the narrow threads of soil" as
Hawthorne called them. which were
worn through the otherwise trackless
forests by many generations of In
dian travellers, may even yet be fol-
lowed in many places, especially along
tho ridges.
Where these traces yet remain in
the unchanged forests they are mark
ed by narrow lane in which even at
this day the absence of big trees and
the comparative openness OF the
thicket point ont the path even to
somewhat nnskilled eyes. Almost al
ways these old paths sought out high
and dry grOuhd. Hence they followed
as nearly as possible the prominent
ridges along their course. On many
such high places their traces can YET
be found Here they are generally
noticeable by well-defined furrow in
the soil, about a foot to a foot and
half wide and frequently foot deep.
A careful observer may follow these
burrows sometimes for miles over the
Ohio hills or through the Pennsylva-
MIA mountains.
While these old roads were used for
various purposes they generally hal
their origin in one OF the three great
pursuits of the Indian-war. hunting
or trading. the Older trails are OF
the first two kinds. The trading
paths were worn in later times when
tho vanguard Of the white mans busi-
ness army set up its frontier trading
posts. Then the Indian broke these
newer roads that he might most
quickly reach these bartering places.
1t was on these ways he travelled to
trade away his native riches for the
vices of white civilization. and back
along them he carried the germs OF
his own destruction. or the older
paths. the war trails struck with saw
age directneSs to the heart of tho
enemy's country The red man was
o being whose hatred never died. and
1t kept the great war trails worn deep
and smooth. The war trail was mark
ed by two features. the many hidden
coverts for ambushing an advancing
foe, and The widely cleared open spots
about the springs. furnishing to war
parties camping places free from dan
ger of surprise. The hunting trails
led from the permanent habitatiOns
of the tribes to their hunting grounds.
Thither they sought the chase, and
gave themselves to this luxurious
period of their existence during sum-
mer, fall and squaw winter. The early
storms of cold warned them that they
must seek the villages OF their faith.
ers for the long. hard winter OF suf-
fering and privation. Then the Good
Spirit sent them the boon of the In
dian summer, that. amidst its mellow
haze. they might seek the securer
shelter of their settled towns
Many day has the writer spent in
tracing out he beaten paths of the
former lords of the forest. Through
dense thicket and over cleared up
land he has followed these old ways
While thus engaged imagination has
had no hard task to reconstruct the
thoroughfares which gave movement
In the Indians barbaric social life
Again along the narrow way defiled
tho painted warriors bearing bloody
tomahawks and matted scalps. Again
the despairing prisoner was hurried
over hill and through vale in terror
or the uplifted blade or. tagging, was
butchered, scalped and cast into the
thicket. Once again came the hardy
picket of civilization. hunter or
trader. Then followed the scout.
Soon with swinging axe and martial
music the first feeble armies marched
widening the old paths and with mus
ket and cannon sounding the knell o.
Indian power. There is mine of ro-
nance hidden along these old Indian
trails, and he who delves in 1t will
find riches To his hand.
C. l.. SMITH.
Calculating the Risk.
Shn-If yOu kicS mo I'll nrv