SPRINGS AS A GEOGRAPHIC INFLUENCE 



5°5 



and then built his log house. Others coming into the region made 

 similar locations. Settlement generally moved along streams, since in 

 the absence of roads valleys are more accessible. If the valley has been 

 developed in water-bearing formations, which are not much tilted, 

 springs border the bottom land on either side. Both topographic con- 

 venience and the presence of water tended to confine the earliest habita- 

 tions to the valleys. Later settlers spread over the intervalley areas, 

 building their houses in proximity to springs. 



Primarily the highways lead from house to house ; eventually, how- 

 ever, several factors become operative before the roads are permanently 

 fixed. In the case of a valley having a commodious floodplain, but not 

 extensive enough to warrant the maintenance of roads on each side, the 

 slope bearing the better springs was normally the decisive factor; the 

 homes on the opposite side would be approached by fords and lanes, or 

 by only the latter if located near a transverse highway. In the uplands 

 the permanent lines of traffic appear to take courses that will accom- 

 modate the greatest number without making too grent sacrifice in dis- 

 tance; even then some dwellings are isolated. The isolation may co 1 " 

 tinue but one generation, or until the desire to live on the highway 

 overcomes the convenience of water and the associations of the hearth; 

 the latter factors have prevailed wherever we see an isolated frame 

 house, whereas a deserted log cabin means the dominancy of the former. 



Moreover, the intervalley highways sometimes exhibit an economic 

 influence. When the area is heavily timbered, and lumbering rather 

 than agriculture is the initial occupation, the roads made in connection 

 with logging and milling may become permanent. For example: 

 ISTorth of Wilkins Corners (see map) the second highway leading west 

 ascends about 100 foot in one half mile; this road parallels a valley a 



The Iron Content of this Sharon Rock induces the " honeycomb" effects in weather- 

 ing, and also makes the springs less desirable. 



