The Washington herald., 1907-08-04


a half century old before roads were
opened between the settlements Already
Indians had made trails across mountain
and forest Some Of these were for hunt
ing. some for portage paths, and some
We're war paths. over which silent-shod
warriors filed into the country Of the
enemy. These Indian trails followed still
older ones made by buffaloes, and be
cause Of some instinct of direction with
which the Creator had endowed these red
men and their game. the paths were al
ways the most direct natural routes.
Usually they followed the higher Crests
Of watersheds, for there was less under
growth there. and in winter they were
swept clear of snow. When the white
man penetrated the wilderness the sure
footed pack ponies trod the Indian trails
and the first roads were made. Later
Ox-carts whose two wheels were cut
from solid sections of logs, beat the way
wider, and when the great Western mi
grations began, the settlers found it
practicable 10 make their journeys in
iron-tired wagons These trips would
seem impossible 70 men and women Of
to-day, the hardships beyond endurance,
the loneliness lntolerable. but hope and
courage were the keynotes of life in those
days, and Of this pioneer spirit was born
the independence Of the nation.
The short roads threading the various
States have their historic value, but it
1t is the great cross-country thorough
fares. neglected though they now are,
that link the great past with the greater
present. The Ohio Company. formed in
Virginia for the purpose Of eolonizing the
unknown lands to the West, was respon-
sible for the opening OF several paths
over the AlIeghenies In 1919 one Cresap,
an engineer in the employ Of this coa-
pany followed Nemacollns trail-so
named for a Delaware chief-and mapped
out the country between the MonongaS
hela and the Great Kanawha. Five years
later Gen. Braddock. grim. determined,
angry because the struggling colonies
could give him no more men and money
| 10 prosecute the war with the French,
| passed this same way as he came up
/ from his council IN Alexandria. He built
military road from Fort Cumberland,
/ Nd, 10 Fort Duquesne. now the site OF
PiJtsburg. Later a branch from this
/ followed the Great Trail Of the Indians,
and linked Detroit with Pittsbarg and
/ the East On the road he built, Brad
dock met his great defeat. Here he was
/ killed and his body was buried In the
rOad5ed, so that the passing wagons OF
/ his train might destroy all traces Of the
grave and so protect II from desecration.
I on the general line Of BTdddOck' 8
march was built the Cumberland road
said to be the longest straight road ever
/ built by any government going almost
/ due west. as II does. for about 700 miles.
I Running from Cumberland. Nd. it cross I'd
/ the Ohio az Wheeling. ". Va. and passed
through Pennsylvania. Ohio. Indiana, and
/ Illinois. with St Louis as its Western
| terminus. thus connecting the Potomac
and Mississippi by land route. In its
western portion II absorbed the old Zanes-
I vile trace The road had been thought
/ OF by Washington, urged by Albert Gala
tin and Thomas jefferson, fought for by
/ Henry Clay. and when completed became
tbs eventual cOnqueror OF the West. 1t
cost nearly S7,oa.eo0 In 1915 il was opened
all the way through and became a great
/ highway. over which went emigrants,
traders. teamsters. cattlemen, adventur-
ers. and foreign travellers. Sometimes
there would be twenty coaches in one
line on the road some nights there would
be a hundred horses tethered in one
wagon yard. Some morning there would
be seventy guests. drawn from all walks
of life. awaiting a democratic breakfast
In one Of the log inns. Dickens. Thack-
[ cray. and Harriet Martineau were among
those who braved its WEAKNESS in stage
coaches. Mail stages and expresses had
/ the right of way. and one company ran a
mail service from this road 10 Cincinnati
Louisville. and New Orleans by boat
To-day a few mile posts and some old
| stone bridges are about all that are left
Of our first and only national road.
Braddock's successor in command of
the troops for the French and Indian
sent West with his command he scorned
the Braddock road and built one OF his
own. This followed the old Kittanning
trail to Fort Duquesne. and over this
Forbes marched 10 victory Over this
Washington passed in command Of one
wing OF the army. and the Swiss general,
Bouquet. commanding the other wing.
led the first English army across
/ the Ohio. Warriors and soldiers for Pom
tiac's war trOd the roadbed more
| smoothly, and the soldiers who held the
4 frontier in the Revolution pressed for
ward on it, courageous and determined.
II was the shortest route from Lancaster,
Pa. to Pittsburg. going by way of Car
4cHa I'd ha
| of the Old Glade Road" soon became
another thoroughfare for emigrants and
traders. When peace had come many
soldiers Of the Revolution were given
land grants in the West and went out
over this road to their new homes. Put
nam and his pioneers being among the
first. Forbes paid a great price for his
road, for the exposure and work Of its
construction cost him his life. yet by
its means he put New England In touch
with the untried West, and where 1t ran
through Pittsburg Forbes street remains
as a perpetual memorial to him.
DoyEn a natural roadway between the
ranges of the Alleghenies lies the greatest
Of the Indian war traces. II was called
The War Trail of the Nations" because
It gave thoroughfare to the Five Nations
who came from the Mohawk Valley to
make war on the Cherokees. When Viz
ginia heard that Bionville was industri-
ously burying leaden plates at the mouth
of every river in the Mississippi Valley In
order to hold the land for the King of
France, she determined to hold il herself
by colonization. She sent Daniel Boone
to epen the way, and he passed down the
war trace and out the only possible
path, yet one that proved the toughest
and most trying of all east of the Mis-
sissippi-the wilderness road. This road
passed from the Shenandoah Valley, Vir-
| ginia. down the HOstOn Valley, in Ten