Historic Highways of America/Volume 2/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI
THE EVOLUTION OF HIGHWAYS
THE practical importance of the study of early thoroughfares is appreciated when the historical evolution of land travel in America is clearly understood.
As the study of this evolution is to be the subject of this series of volumes, it will be presented here only in outline, to form a fitting and practical conclusion to the subject in hand.
For instance, the evolution of Indian thoroughfares to military roads is seen in the following charts:
| Trails. | Military Roads. | Remarks. |
| Venango Trail. | Route of Marin's military road from Fort Presque Isle (Erie, Pa.) to Fort La Bœuf (Watertown, Pa.) on French creek. | Road over which troops and armament and supplies for the French forts in the Allegheny valley passed. |
| Nemacolin's Path. | Washington's Road from Wills Creek to Fort Necessity and Mt. Braddock in 1754. Route of Braddock's Road from Wills Creek to "Braddock's Field," 1755. | First English military road to the Ohio Basin. |
| The Great Trail. | Course of Colonel Henry Bouquet's road from Fort Pitt to the "Crossing-place of the Muskingum" (Bolivar, Ohio), in 1764, in Pontiac's rebellion. | First English military road opened west of the Ohio river. |
| Scioto Trail (Kanawha branch). | Route followed by Gen. Andrew Lewis to mouth of Great Kanawha (Point Pleasant, W. Va.), in 1774, during Dunmore's war. | The course of this first English army into the territory south of the Ohio river. |
| Miami Trail. | Route pursued by Generals Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne in the campaigns of the Indian war (1790–1795). | Course of the first military invasions into northern Indiana. |
| Trail from Muskingum to "Mingo Bottoms." | Course of a portion of St. Clair's army which in 1792 opened the famous "Federal Trail" westward. | |
| The Great Trail (west of the Muskingum). | Partly the course of Crawford's campaign to Sandusky (1782). Route of McIntosh's proposed attack on Detroit, 1779. | |
| Muskingum Trail. | Route of various minor campaigns into the country of the Delawares from Fort Pitt, 1775–1783. | Connecting at the "Crossing-place of the Muskingum" with the Great Trail. |
| Kittanning Trail. | Route of Armstrong's campaign against the Indian town Kittanning in 1756. The Ohio branch was the route of General Forbes's road from Philadelphia to Fort Duquesne, 1758. |
After opening the country to its conquerors these old highways became, then, the pathways of immigration and intercourse.
The following charts show the evolution of the old trails into public roads:
| Trails. | Military Roads. | Public Roads. |
| Venango Trail. | Marin's Road to French creek. | Present highway between Erie, Pa., and Watertown, or "Shun Pike." |
| Nemacolin's Path. | Washington's and Braddock's roads. | The Cumberland or old National Road, from Cumberland, Pa., to near Uniontown, Pa. |
| Virginia Warriors' Path. | Route of Boone's Wilderness Road to Kentucky. | |
| Iroquois Trail. | Route of the "Great State Road from Lake Erie to the Hudson river." | |
| Miami Trail. | Harmar's, St. Clair's, and Wayne's routes. | Old "Hamilton" and "Eaton" roads. |
| Mahoning Trail. | Early traders' route from Pittsburg to Detroit, as described by Col. Hilman. | |
| Portage paths. | Lake Erie-French creek. Cuyahoga-Tuscarawas. Maumee-Wabash. Pennsylvania. St. Joseph-Kankakee. Clinch-New. Potomac-Youghiogheny. |
"Shun Pike." Present-day road. Wabash railway. Pennsylvania railway. Present-day road. Present-day road. Cumberland Road. |
The story of these various highways, their building and their fortune, is the story of the people who have and who do now inhabit the land. The study of them is an important story; it has already been too long neglected.
Will not those who desire out-door occupation and are interested in local history reconsider the story of the county in which they live as it may be read in the highways that are known, or those which have been forgotten?