Hi. She doesn't mention the "Pig Trail", but she does go into a little detail of the Indian trails and how they bent saplings to point to "live" water, i.e., springfed, and where some of these trees are today {1993}. There is a map that shows old Indian trails and their relative location to a few of the main motor routes today. I hadn't realized how many different tribes crossed Missouri from the north, west and south. Several head to St. Louis, but her map ends at the Mississippi, which makes it look like all the trails end there, too, all up and down the Mississippi, so, if they crossed the big river at almost any point, they were in Illinois. Sara Hi, sarah, sounds like the Wire road may have actually followed the old Indian "Pig Trail" , used to drive pigs from the Red River and Broken Bow to Mena to Fort Smith and on to Great Lakes Indian Traders. I suspect that John or Jesse Chisum of Broken Bow drove his Oklahoma cattle alone this route to Illinois, but did he drive to an Illinois Rail head or to a slaughterhouse which supplied the North Illinois market. He farmed in season and slowly turned to Trail driving for a time. This bears more research, but it may be after our reunion May 30 th. I had several Ancestors in Arkansas and Missouri. in Arkansas- james T. Stone of Flat Creek, Bedford, Tenn married Sarah Bateman in or near Batesville, arkansas and is buried in Bateman Cemetery. Others of his line are Carey, Copeland, Hipp,Ramage, Winn, and related families. From Missouri were Kings, Moxley, Fleming, Ogan, Crockett and kin. Gov. King was a Sevier cousin of Great Grandad. Crocketts were not kin to my knowledge, but they settled all over Erath County , 1866 to 1890' Take care, charles A. Wyly On Tue, 22 May 2001 16:58:24 -0500 "Sara D" <sara.d@townsqr.com> writes: > Hi, Armenta. I have a copy of "Down the Wire Road, In the Missouri > Ozarks" > by Fern Angus. > > Here is a paragraph from the book, "The Telegraph Road which passed > through > the Missouri Ozarks was a military project, and was designed to > improve > communications during the Civil War. The road began at Jefferson > Barracks, > St. Louis, Missouri and continued to Ft. Smith, Arkansas Territory." > I note > that present day Lincoln county is north of St. Louis and a little > west of > the Mississippi. > > In her research, Ms Angus found a letter from a Mr. Ruggles in the > Western > Union Telegraph Company's library. Western Union bought the lines > from The > Missouri & Western Telegraph Company who had the Missouri franchise, > 1859, > to build and operate lines [note the plural] west of the Mississippi > River > and who had strung lines to Springfield, Missouri. This Mr. Ruggles > talked > of the line work, which he had joined at Syracuse, crossed the Osage > River > at Warsaw, on to Jefferson City, to Springfield. Another gang went > from > there to work on the line to Ft. Smith. It is possible the military > wire > road just followed the Western Union Road. Because this is the > area of my > research, I haven't checked any other books that may cover other > lines. > > As an aside, she noted that after the Civil War, "Wounds, both real > and > imagined, were kept alive along the Missouri-Arkansas border longer > than at > any other place in the nation. It is estimated that 1,000 military > actions > took place in the area which became known as 'No-man's land'." > Your relatives passed through this area, possibly, at a still > hostile time. > > She also talks and traces Indian trails, the Trail of Tears and the > Butterfield Stage Route in that part of the country. There are a > few maps. > > I will do lookups. Please be sure to put WIRE ROAD in the subject > line or > your message could be deleted unread, 'cause I sometimes get in a > hurry. > > If you would like your own copy, you can get it direct from Fern > Angus, P.O. > Box 305, Marionville, MO. 65705. My copy is from the second > printing, > August, 1993, and I forget what it cost, but seems it was $10 or > $15. Hope > this is of some use to you. Sara > > > You wrote: <snipped> > > Could some one tell us a little about the WIRE ROAD that runs > through > Missouri. Where it began and where it ends? > > > > > ============================== > Shop Ancestry - Everything you need to Discover, Preserve & > Celebrate > your heritage! > http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog > ============================== Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp