The Paths of Inland Commerce A Chronicle of Trail, Road and Waterway Published 1921, 235 pages $9.99 + $1.99 shipping and handling http://cgi.ebay.com/Colonial-Trails-Paths-and-Waterways-Virginia-History_W0QQitemZ130217816362QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1e5196312a Any extended genealogy search will lead eventually to the stories of the migration of the people. This book helps in understanding the deterrents to, and enablers of, physical movement of the colonial North American populace. The original English settlements in the New World were along the Atlantic coast. The North American land forms were such natural barriers to travel that they prevented the westward movement of the colonies to the extent that after 150 years settlements had spread only 150 miles inland within the Atlantic Plain. – There were many imposing mountain ranges & wide and scattered waterways – examples are Alleghenies, Cumberlands, Blue Ridge, Catskills, Adirondacks, Green and White mountain ranges; St. Lawrence, Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehannah, Potomac, James, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Colorado, Columbia rivers. Because travel was difficult even within the settled areas, waterways were key to settlement, and old animal and Indian trails were essential to travel between them. Initially accommodating only foot traffic, these trails were eventually widened to successively permit horse and then wagon travel. New routes over and around the natural barriers were developed, eventually permitting access to the Great Plains and finally over the Continental Divide to the Pacific coast. Ultimately, the Indian trails would become the highways, interstates, and railroad routes that changed the nation by opening new lands to settlement and enabling the transport of all the materials required and desired for daily life. In this 1921 book, Archer B. Hulbert describes the physical barriers and defines the land features that made for easier land and water passage. He identifies the locations and names of the early Indian trails, villages and settlements along with the highways, railways, towns and cities that would gradually replace them. It also presents the technologies that enabled: Phase I -from canoes to sailing ships, to steam ships, to building of canals Phase II from foot travel to horseback travel, to wooden wagons, to iron wheels, to Conestega wagons. Phase III railroads. A very interesting read, and helpful in understanding the pioneer settlement patterns. For example: The Great Indian Warpath, Great Indian War and Trading Path, or Seneca Trail was that part of the network of trails in eastern North America developed and used by Native Americans which ran through the Great Appalachian Valley . The system of footpaths (the Warpath branched off in several places onto alternate routes and over time shifted westward in some regions) extended from what is now upper New York state to deep within Georgia. Various Indians traded and made war along the trails, including the Catawba, numerous Algonquian tribes, the Cherokee, and the Iroquois Confederacy. This path would later become the Great Wagon Road, and would be used by thousands of settlers migrating from New York and Philadelphia to Virginia and Georgia.