Subject: Re: [OHIO] Wagon Roads - Here's #3 From: glenys@sonic.net To: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman 73777,25 Date: 10-Nov-98 16:10 Gateway to the West: The first census of 1790 revealed that the US had a population of 3,900,000 people. There was no enumeration for the Northwest Territory, but the entire white population was estimated to be about 4,300 people. Along with the settlements at Cincinnati and a few other Ohio River sites, there were already over a thousand families living near Rufas Putnam's Marietta land office on the Ohio River in 1790. Many of the earliest settlers came to the ohio River settlements by way of Forbes' Road or Braddock's Road, both leading to Pittsburgh, which was becoming known as "the gateway to the west". Pittsburgh in 1790 had nearly 400 houses, mostly brick, and was already an industrial center, where sawmills provided finished lumber, and where a small iron works was in operation. Pittsburgh had the basic necessities and the manufacturing capability for wagon wheels, barrels, horseshoes, and virtually any accessor a migrating family would need to continue a journey west. Upon reaching Pittsburgh, the migrating families would buy or build their own flatboats for floating down the Ohio River to the new settlements. A flatboat was essentially a large rectangular wooden box and was built to hold all of the family's possessions as well as livestock. A flatboat was built for a one-way trip down river. The boat itself would be disassembled at the end of the journey to provide some of the materials and nails needed for building a shelter. Someone reminded me of the movie "How the West was Won" - there is a flatboat scene shown that gives a very good idea of what river travel would have been like - including the hazards and tragedies. Glenys -- >>Glenys Rasmussen<< http://www.sonic.net/~glenys/ >>"My home lies wide a thousand miles, In the Never-Never Land." (Henry Lawson)<<