The following was posted to another surname list I belong to. I found it to be interesting and thought it was worthy to pass along to this list. My apologies if this has been duplicated elsewhere...I am behind on reading all the genealogy lists I am on! ******************************************************************************** *************************************** (originally posted by Jim Young to the Bradshaw-L) I have found a very interesting website entitled "Early American Trails and Roads" and it can be found at: http://members.aol.com/RoadTrails/roadtrai.html It lists 16 trails representing the most significant routes in pioneer America. I'm sending the contents of the website to this list in case the website is disabled in the future. This way the information will be archived forever. Please visit the website for future updates. Happy Huntin' Jim Young List Moderator and RootsWeb Donor ========================== Early American Trails and Roads ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beverly Whitaker, your Genealogy Tutor, is located in Kansas City, Missouri. My e-mail address is: [email protected] This page was last updated on February 10, 1998. Living here where major trails to the Far West began is what stirred my interest in this subject. My genealogical studies and research show me how important it is to try to determine the migration trails of our ancestors. So that's what led to this page! ~Introduction~ Expansion by Americans from the Atlantic to the Pacific took many years, often spanning generations. During the colonial years, travel was largely North-South. Following the Revolutionary War, citizens of the new nation began to forge westward and were often joined by newly arriving immigrants. Expansion occurred by different paths and a variety of transport means. Among the trails and roads of special interest to genealogists and historians are the sixteen described here in capsule form. These brief sketches are based on information contained in the author's set of "American Trails and Roads Reference Cards." Audiotapes have been prepared for a number of the trails and roads, along with one titled, "Leaving Home: Reasons for Migration." Recently, the author has made available a number of program kits which genealogical and historical societies are using to present programs at their meetings about some of the most significant migration routes in pioneer America. Here is a list of the trails for which I provide summary paragraphs on this web page: The Boston Post Road Braddock's Road The California Trail The Fall Line Road The Great Wagon Road The King's Highway The Mohawk (Iroquois) Trail The Mormon Trail The Natchez Trace The National Road The Oregon Trail The Pennsylvania Road The Santa Fe Trail The Upper Road The Wilderness Road Zane's Trace I welcome comments and suggestions for books and articles to read about early American migration routes, particularly the major ones. Or if you need information about one of the trails or roads (beyond what is shown on this page), send an e-mail inquiring about products on this subject. E-mail to Beverly Whitaker: [email protected] ~How to Cite References~ If you include any of the information here in your own compiled genealogy or history sketches, you should cite as your reference: "American Trails and Roads Reference Cards, Kansas City, Missouri: Genealogy Tutor, Beverly Whitaker, 1995." THE BOSTON POST ROAD A crude riding trail was created in 1673 to carry mail from New York to Boston. It became known as the Boston Post Road. The first postrider's round trip, a journey of over 250 miles, took four weeks, following the Upper Northern Route. The Middle Route was a bit shorter, the Southern Route a bit longer. All went from Boston to New York City. The first stagecoach in service (1772) made the trip in just one week. During the Revolutionary War, the King's Highway (which included the Boston Post Road) became the mustering point for several of the Revolutionary War battles, including the final battle at Yorktown. The Post Roads were used for maneuvering soldiers and equipment. Stagecoach service and the mail took second place. Following the War, the Post Roads became important links between the states of the new nation and sections were improved. BRADDOCK'S ROAD The predecessor of this military road was called Nemaolin's Path, named for the Delaware Indian who assisted Colonel Thomas Cresap in blazing a path from Cumberland, Maryland to a trading post of the Ohio Company of Virginia at present-day Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Soon after Virginia's governor sent Major George Washington in that direction to expel the French from British territory. To accommodate his supply wagons, it was necessary to widen the trail, and that portion became known as Washington's Road. Washington went with Britain's Major General Edward Braddock during the French and Indian War. A company of 600 soldiers set out from Ft. Cumberland to widen Washington's old road through Maryland, past the ruins of Fort Necessity on into western Pennsylvania, moving toward the French stronghold at the Forks of the Ohio, site of present-day Pittsburgh. Braddock's road was the first road to cross overland through the Appalachian Mountains. He insisted that the road be 12 feet wide so that horse-drawn wagons could travel on it to haul the necessary supplies for his advancing army. As the years advanced, Braddock's Road became impassable. Pioneers who trekked into western Pennsylvania usually preferred to depend on packhorse trails, traveling in caravans. When construction began on the new Cumberland Road, it roughly followed this old road. The Cumberland Road and its extension West became known as the National Road and now U.S. Highway 40. CALIFORNIA TRAIL Following the discovery of gold in California, President James Polk's Message to Congress on December 5, 1848, set off a raging epidemic of gold fever. 40,000 gold seekers came to California by sea. An almost equal number came overland on the California-Oregon Trail, making the 2000-mile journey by covered wagon, horseback, or on foot. Around 10,000 came by the Santa Fe Trail into southern California. The most frequently traveled overland route to the gold fields was the one that followed the Oregon Trail from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains, and from there down the California Trail to Sutter's Fort. St. Joseph, Independence, Council Bluffs, and other frontier towns were jumping-off points to start this main trail overland to California. The trail coincided with the Oregon Trail until it crossed the Rockies. Then, some went north of the Great Salt Lake, others south, before coming together at the Humboldt River. Gold-seekers heading for California included city people who were inexperienced with outdoor life. Many were without experience at handling mules or oxen; they couldn't fix wagons; they didn't know how to hunt. They didn't anticipate the dangers of the trail and relied too heavily on guidebooks which were frequently misleading. Those who failed to join companies with experienced outsdoorsmen ran great risk of being stranded or lost in the wilderness. Nevertheless, many preferred to travel on their own. Some rode horses or mules, used ox-drawn wagons, or walked. THE FALL LINE ROAD The Fall Line Road ran parallel to and between the King's Highway and the Upper Road. The road broke off from the King's Highway at the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia. By 1735, it carried traffic into the interior of Virginia and the Carolina and across into Georgia. The road followed the fall line, a geographical feature caused by erosion, a separation line stretching from Maryland all the way to Georgia, running between the river tidelands and inland elevations on the Atlantic coast--it defines an east and west division between the upper and lower elevations. Persons traveling from Pennsylvania to Maryland to the inland areas of Carolina before 1750 probably followed this road because it was an easier road to travel than the Piedmont road (called the Upper Road). The road was of particular importance to the Carolinas because it connected them to their neighbors. North Carolina's local laws called for building roads only "to the nearest landing," which created a haphazard system of major roadways which led only to water routes. The result had been that although the major towns in North Carolina soon had roads, they didn't lead to each other! The road saw heavy use during the Civil War and afterwards, and was gradually improved. THE GREAT WAGON ROAD including THE GREAT VALLEY ROAD Hordes of early German and Scotch-Irish settlers used what became known as the Great Wagon Road to move from Pennsylvania southward through the Shenandoah Valley through Virginia and the Carolinas to Georgia, a distance of about 800 miles. Beginning first as a buffalo trail, a great Indian Road (the Great Warrior Path) ran north and south through the Shenandoah Valley, extending from New York to the Carolinas. The mountain ranges to the West of the Valley are the Alleghenies, and the ones to the east constitute the Blue Ridge chain. The Second Treaty of Albany (1722) guaranteed use of the valley trail to the Indians. At Salisbury, North Carolina, the Great Warrior Path was joined by the Indian's "Great Trading Path." By the early 1740s, a road beginning in Philadelphia (sometimes referred to as the Lancaster Pike) connected the Pennsylvania communities of Lancaster, York, and Gettysburg. The road then continued on to Chambersburg and Greencastle and southward to Winchester. In 1744, the Indians agreed to relinquish the Valley route. Both German and Scotch-Irish immigrants had already been following the route into Virginia and on to South Carolina, and Georgia. After 1750 the Piedmont areas of North Carolina and Georgia attracted new settlers. From Winchester to Roanoke the Great Wagon Road and the Great Valley Road were the same road, but at Roanoke, the Wagon Road went through the Staunton Gap and on south to North Carolina and beyond whereas the Valley Pike continued southwest to the Long Island of the Holston, now Kingsport. The Boone Trail from the Shallow Ford of the Yadkin joined the road at the Long Island of the Holston. THE KING'S HIGHWAY >From Boston to Charleston on the King's Highway was about 1300 miles. It was possible to travel this road by wagon, averaging about 20-25 miles per day. A traveler making the entire journey would have taken at least two months. Conestoga freight wagons, drawn by four to six strudy horses, were especially designed for mud with iron-rimmed wheels nearly a foot wide. The road's origins are traced to the old Delaware Indian trail (across Jersey) which Peter Stuyvesant used to force out the Swedes in 1651. Then in 1673, in response to King Charles' wish that communication be established between his colonies, the first crude riding trail was created for mail service between Boston and New York. Named the "Boston Post Road," it eventually expanded into "the King's Highway." By 1750, a continuous road existed for stagecoach or wagon traffic from Boston to Charleston, linking all thirteen colonies, but the road was a difficult one to travel. During the Revolutionary War, the King's Highway as a link between the colonies helped them to coordinate their war efforts. However, the name was looked upon with such disfavor by American patriots that many began once again to use the name "Boston Post Road." ----------------See Part 2----------------------------