Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 2).djvu/32

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28
INDIAN THOROUGHFARES

dawned, his only thoroughfare. It answered all his needs, and he did nothing to improve it. If it became impenetrable because of the wind-strewn wreck of the forests, or by the action of the floods, he merely sought out another pathway and broke it open by continual use.

Nor did the Indian waste any energy in marking out his narrow roadways. In southwestern Pennsylvania, in the Alleghanies, the explorer will be shown whatare generally known as "Indian stones," thin rocks of considerable size which are found standing on edge as though having been placed in that position by human hand. A tradition exists that these "Indian stones" were placed beside the Indian trails either to mark out their course or for some other special purpose. Beyond the fact that there are several of these stones similarly placed, nothing can be learned, and there is perhaps no testimony extant in the literature of the earliest pioneer times which would give any reason for believing that the red man used anything to mark out his paths. This legend of Pennsylvania is, however, of interest and