In a message dated 6/15/2008 10:51:40 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: I'm going to try and get "The Great Wagon Road" here at the Altoona library or one of my friends in Williamsburg may have it. Yes, it's sold at Colonial Williamsburg. That is where I got my copy. He has written many books, but this one appealed to me because I enjoy reading migration histories. Honestly, I thought I was writing a private message or I wouldn't have been so, ah, wordy, Anyway, I neglected to tell about the British and French in Canada using the Great Lakes to travel to the interior of our land. Our Westmorelanders were frequently captured and taken to Canada using those routes. When the men escaped and returned, they could give details of the route to the map makers. Brave men crossed the boundaries set by the government treaties (with the natives) and reported on rich land and then set about destroying those treaties with settlements of their own. Dangerous, of course, to all, including the natives, but necessary in immigrants who desperately needed land. It's such a broad subject many books have been written on migration in this country. The rest is simply common sense. How would I have felt about this situation or how would my family have fared in that situation? Would we have selected the water way (NO, I don't like being on water) or the mountains? And what about the amount of baggage we would need to carry and which rate was more economically better for us? If our entire village moved, would we move with them? Or would we remain behind and acquire their land? Would we like the security of freedom from rules or would we run from freedom into social institutions? (Erich Fromm: "Escape From Freedom.") You can extrapolate much from your own experiences, but of course, times were different, experiences were different, their thoughts about religion and property and government were different. So research, research, research, not just the cold hard facts of this and that, but the philosophies of the different times, as well. Think of Mr. Gibbs, crossing the Cumberland Gap, seeing the lovely land stretching out and settling others on this land, returning and telling his family about the land beyond. Of course the natives were restless but land was worth the risk. We need to understand the immigrants thirst for land by studying the history of land ownership in Europe, the history of the common people. Still another subject but one that directly affected our history. It could be a lifetime study, learning about us and our families. Once I told my philosophy professor I need 7 lifetimes to learn what I want to know now--heaven knows what it would take if I did have 7 lifetimes. Shirley Maynard Hampton, VA **************Vote for your city's best dining and nightlife. City's Best 2008. (http://citysbest.aol.com?ncid=aolacg00050000000102)