Norwich bulletin., 1909-07-03
HISTORY OF TRANSPORTATION
Water and Land Routes or Trails Methods of Travel by Land and Wa ter-The Road to New London.

| New England settlement one is con
 stantly brought face to face with the
 question Of. methods of transportation.
 The many inventions of the past two hundred and fifty years have com
 pletely altered our methods of nov
 ing from place to place. Civilization depends. in large measure upon rapid
 and easy transportation of our goods and persons.
 The Indians at the time of the set tlement of Norwich had only the rudi- ments of civilization. and had but lit-
 tie need of methods of more rapid
 transportation than could be accom-
 plished by q swift footed runner. De-
 pending very larkely upon the products
 of hunting for subsistence and cloth ing, they had very little need for any
 rapid method of transportation of
 goods from place 10 place.. As their
 comnlunica dons were limited largely
 to matters of peace and war their let
 ters could all be committed to the tab
 lets Of memory Of the runners who
 carried the messages from time to
 time. In travelling by water only the simplest methods of water transporta- tion by canoe and dugout were use,L
 and on the land light packs were used.
 The Thames, YaEtic, Shetucket and
 Quinebaug rivers were routes used by
 the Indians with their canoes. and eNSAR7' tAAt Actifh lHQldtl lldllS tX- isted in 1869. which were doubtless followed more or less closely by the
 early settlers in their ,Ievelopment Of
 trails and horseback routes, and the , later cart paths.
 The method of arrival of the early
 settlers from Saybrook is a question
 of much interest. Undoubtedly some of the men had come over from Say
 brook by the Indian trail extending from the Connecticut to the Thames, and had been much impressed by the broad eXpanse of the East Great Plain. This name came from the fact tha5
 the plain lay east of Saybrook It is hardly probable. however. that 'this trail was used as a method of trans
 portation when the families and house.
 hold goods of the original proprietors were transferred from Saybrook to | Norwich
 The water route down the Connec- ticut. through Long Island Sound, and up the Thames to the landing place at | the head of the cove where the Falls Mill now stands is the more natural
 method of transportation used in 1889
 and 1860. From this old Indian land ! ing the Indian trail. afterwards called | Mill Lane and now known as Lafay-
 ette street. brought them through No-
 Mans Acre, along the banks of the IO the corner near the William W. Backus Hospital now stands. Here upon the meadows lying between the river on ihe one hand
 and the shsltering hills on the. other
 was formed the new settlement.
 The methods of transportation of the early settlers were undoubtedly limited
 to occasional horseback trips to Say
 brook, Hartford, and Boston. These trips must have been undertaken only in cases of great urgency, as they
 must of necessity have been fraught with many difficulties and dangers. IL l is probable that the main route of trans portation for many years was the water route on the Thames to New
 London where a settlement had been established fourteen years earlier. This
 path to New London" was a rough and winding road with number ot | break-neck pitches. The path to Connecticut" ran westward through Colchester toward Hartford and Wcth-
 ersfield.
 At first these trails were mere foot paths, scarcely more than two or three i feet broad, but with the increase in population they widened to bridel paths. cart-tracks. carriage roads. be- coming at last the post roads. along l which clustered the homes of the set
 tiers. One of these. the Nipmuck Path or Trail. starting from Norwich met possibly at Woodstock. the old Connecticut Road or Path leading from
 Cambridge to Albany.
 Horses were few, and so valuable
 for work at home that travellers must
 needs go by water or on foot. The absence of bridges. co, made horse back travel dangerous and difficult. | But foot-passengers could cross the streams by means sof the lords, or on the trunks of trees thrown across at tn proper places; or. in the case of
 the broader rivers by canoe ferries. We read of one dignifed New England governor being borne across the lords
 on the shoulders of his Indian guide.
 But gradually the settlers increased | their stock of horses, both by importn- | ton and by breeding. until finally nearly everyone was at home in the saddle. the women and girls as well as the men, Horses were often made to
 carry double" the women riding on billions behind the men.
 The road to New London dates from about 1670 but what with the rough ness of these carly roads and the ab-
 sence of bridges there was little en- | coura cement to- the use of wheeled l vehicles outside the towns. In 1873