The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1937-05-20

within the bounds of what is now
Garrett county, but the red men estab-
lished small towns or villages further
down the Potomac and on the Ohio
and its branches, whence they came
in spring and summer to hunt in the
glades and mountains, raising in the
meantime little corn and a few veg
etables, returning to the lowlands in
autumn.
Probably the first human beings to
explore and camp in our mountains
were the Mound Builders, who inhab-
tied the Ohio Valley before the coming
of the later-day Indians. This ancient
people left numerous burial mounds of
earth and stones in that valley, one Of
the most noted of which is the mound
at the mouth of Graves Creek Mounds
vile, West Va.) on the Ohio.
Indian Camps and Trails; Early Roads
Our knowledge of the Indian camps
and trails in Garrett county is mea-
gre, but we here give some account
of the important trails and Of few
of the camps.
The only story of white men here
visiting Indians in their camp is the
story of the Friend brothers, who
stopped with the red men at their
camp on the Youghiogheny, now
Friendsville. We can only locate other
camps by the remains left, such as flint
arrow heads, stone axes, graves, etc.
General Washington noted in his
journal that the Mccullough Pack
Horse Path, over which he crossed
this county in 1854, was originally a
buffalo "trace," trodden by those ami
mails in their annual migrations to and
from the glade grasslands where they
grazed in summer, returning to the
low lands on the Ohio, and perhaps the
Potomac, in autumn. All of the trails
to and across this county were proba-
bly, buffalo "traces" except Nemacol-
ms Path in the north, which traversed
densely wooded mountains, not at
tractive to the buffalos.
The old buffalo "traces," near which
the Indians usually camped, kept up
on the ridges or high ground, avoiding
as much as practicable the wet glades,
laurel thickets and brushy valleys
along the streams, except at the nee
essary Crossings"
The Shawnee was the Indian tribe
which most frequently travelled and
hunted in these mountains during his
torical times. They had several villages
on or near the Potomas from Shawnee
Old Town, or Opessa's Town, up to
near Western Port, including the viii
lage called "Caiuctucus," meaning
the meeting of the waters of many
fishes" This village was later known
as Wills Town, fro mthe Indian called
Will, and was up Wills Greek, where
the Tomlinsons first settled.
About 1730 the Shawnees moved
west into the Ohio Valley, where they
established numerous towns" prob
ably the nearest one to our county
being located just above the "Great
Crossings" at Somerfield, Pa.
The important early trails and the
roads which succeeded them crossed
the mountains from east to west. They
were Nemacolin's Path in the north;
the Glades Path in the center; the
Great Warpath in the south, and the
Northwestern Trail across the extreme
southern tip of our county. There was
also the Bear Camp trail connecting
Nemacolin's Trail thru Shelby's Port
and the Sandy Creek settlement, with
McCullough's Path, and other minor
connecting trails.
Nemacolin's Path
This trail from Wills Creek to the
Ohio was doubtless purely an old In
dian path through our county.
When the Maryland, Virginia and
Pennsylvania traders began operations
with the Indians on the Ohio, perhaps
prior to TAO, they procured Indians
to show them the best route and this
was the one they adopted. So says
Washington. And when the Ohio Com
pany was organized in 1748, preparing
to 90 into the Ohio Indian trade on
large scale, it employed Col. Thomas
Chesap, of Old Town, to engage some
trusty Indians to mark and clear the
pathway. For this purpose he engaged
Nemacolin, well-known Delaware
Indian, who resided at the mouth OF
Nemacolin's (Dunlap's) Creek in Penn
sylvania. Cresap and his Indian engi-
neer, with the aid of other Indinas, ex-
ecuted the work in 1850 by blazing
trees and and by cutting away and re-
moving the bushes and fallen trees so
as to make the old trail a good pack
horse path. Washington wrote:
"In 1854 the troops which I had the
honor to command, greatly repaired it
as far as Gist's Plantation (WilPs
Creek to the Monongahela), and in
1855 it was widened and completed by