I have been asked so often to cover the other old historic trails and roads, even though they were not in Kentucky proper. If it didn't get the Kentuckian in, it possibly got them out. My sources are many with the greatest amount of information taken from an old Collier's Encyclopedia published in 1979. BRADDOCK'S ROAD. This road ran for 115 miles from Fort Cumberland (now Cumberland, Maryland) to Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh, PA). Part of this road was originally part of Nemacolin's Path which was the first trail over the Appalachians in this area. Nemacolin Path was named for a Delaware Indiana employed by Colonel Thomas Cresap, an agent of the Ohio Company, to make a horseback trail across the mountains to the first point on the Monongahela River. From their navigation could continued to Fort Duquesne, Wheeling and on west. Braddock's Road was often also known as Cresap's Road. Washington used this route with a message from Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia for the French stationed at Fort Duquesne. This caused the road to be also know as Washington's Road for a period of time. During the campaign against Fort Duquesne in 1775, during the French and Indian War, General Edward Braddock's men changed the course of the trail somewhat by widening it to allow for wagon travel. It later became part of the Cumberland Road. CHISOLM TRAIL. This was a cattle route almost 800 miles long and several hundred yards wide which ran from near Austin, Texas to Abilene, Kansas. It was used after the Civil War for driving cattle north to connect with a railroad. It continued in usage until about 1889 by which time the railroad connection was located at Caldwell near the southern border of Kansas. The current U.S. Route 81 runs parallel to and a little west of the northern part of this trail. CUMBERLAND ROAD. This was also known as the National Pike and the National Road. It was a wagon trail constructed by the U. S. Government westward from Cumberland, MD where it connected with a road extending east to Baltimore, MD. By 1818, the road reached the Ohio River at Wheeling, WV. The road was heavily used by settlers between the east and the area west of the Allegheny Mountains. A sharp increase in travel is recorded lead to heavier settlement in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In 1838 it stretched to Vandalia, IL (which was the original capitol of Illinois), but the road here was primarily dirt. It followed what is today a part of U. S. Route 40. IROQUOIS TRAIL. This trail was an overland route of early colonial days. It began where now the city of Albany on the Hudson River is located; followed the Mohawk west, crossed the continental watershed, passed through central New York and ended on the Niagara River - for a distance of 300 miles. It went through the only major break in the Appalachian Mountains between Maine and Georgia and passed through the Iroquois Confederacy Territory. A fur trade developed along this trail and was also used by the Dutch, English and other settles of Colonial America. New York Route 5 closely follows this route. NATCHEZ TRACE. This Indian trail ran for 550 miles, extending southwest from Nashville, TN to the lower Mississippi River at Natchez, MS. It was used by Andrew Jackson and his soldiers in the War of 1812 and also by settlers moving southwest. Farmers and riverboaters also used this route; the riverboaters would float their produce down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, would scrap their flatboats (selling the lumber as well as the produce), and then head back north on foot or horseback. The route normally used was the Natchez Trace. This was a dangerous route due to the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians in the area, along with outlaws who were on the look-out for these weary travelers returning home with large sums of money. In 1801 a treaty was entered into with the two Indian tribes giving the U. S. Government right to widen the trail into a wagon trail. Laws were enacted against the outlaws and the route became safer. With the opening of regular steamboat service on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in 1817, the trail came into less usage. It was however, used by both the North and the South in the Civil War. The federal government began working on this trail and created the Natchez Trace Parkway with some parts of this following the exact original trail. OREGON TRAIL. This was a long trail of over 2,000 miles carrying wagons and those on foot and horseback from Independence, and Westport (Kansas City area), to Oregon City and Portland, OR. Many miles passed through open country and was a general route. The first wagon train emigrated to Oregon in 1842 over this trail and it soon became a great highway of pioneer emigration for those going northwest. It is estimated that over 500,000 people used this trail before the railroad in 1869 made the trail obsolete. This was an extremely difficult route. Not only was it a long one, but it traversed mountains sometimes rising to over 8,000 feet. Indians were a constant threat. Trading posts were soon established along the route, among which was Fort Laramie, WY. Wagons could be repaired here; Fort Bridge, WY was on the other side of the South Pass where it crossed the Continental Divide; Fort Hall, ID was another. Later, many of the 49'rs would use this trail to reach California. SANTA FE TRAIL: This was the first land route which developed regular trade between the Middle West and the Far West. It ran from the vicinity of Independence, MO to Santa Fe, NM. This route was an old one, in existence while Santa Fe still belonged to Mexico - with Mexico belonging to Spain. Spain absolutely forbade any trade with the United States. As soon as Mexico gained its freedom from Spain, the road was in use. It was originally just for pack horses but these were later replaced by wagons. The main cargo was American goods, cloth and utensils sent out to be sold in Santa Fe. Sometimes the traders even sold their wagons there as the cargo was sold. It is noted that in some years over 3000 wagons traveled per year; caravans of wagons grew as large as 100 wagons each. The trail ran for 770 miles if one cutoff in the western section, or 900miles if the circuitous branch were chosen. Again, this was a dangerous trail - there was a 58-mile stretch of waterless desert and 150 miles through the lands of the Commanche Indians. There was an outpost at Bent's Fork. The route was heavily used until approximately 1880 when the railroads reached the area. Sections of U.S. 56, 156, 50, 350 and 64 follow this trail. SPANISH TRAIL. This was also known as the Old Spanish Trail and ran for 1,200 miles from Santa Fe, NM to Los Angeles, CA. It has been called "the longest, crookedest, most arduous pack mule route in the history of America." No recorded wagon ever made it the full route. The Spanish Trail reached its highest usage in the 1830's and 1840's, not used as much for settlement as for trade. VENANGO TRAIL. This was an Indian path that started in the Shawnee village of Logstown, on the Ohio River, below Pittsburgh. It led to the French trading post and fort at Venango on the Allegheny River. It was used primarily by the French explorers and the armies that followed during the French and Indian War. Washington used this route in 1753 on his mission to warn the French to stop trespassing on British soil. After the French were expulsed in 1763, the road was seldom used. I have covered the Wilderness Road in previous tips. (c) Copyright 17 June 1999, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Colonel Sandi Gorin 205 Clements,Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 or E-fax (707)222-1210 Gorin Genealogical Publishing: http://members.delphi.com/gorin1/index.html TIPS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Tips KYBIOS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Bios ARCHIVES: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl