202 Kansas Academy of Science. 



place of abode. They made their chief habitations at the places where 

 it was better to winter, or to repel the attacks of their enemies, and as 

 the game would soon be almost wholly exterminated in that vicinity fre- 

 quent excursions would be necessary to the localities where there was 

 still an abundance of wild animals. When the tribes were at peace there 

 was a hunting ground for each tribe, and trails were made to these 

 regions. These trails were never more than mere paths, bordered by the 

 forest, and often made impassable by storms felling trees across them. 

 They were generally laid out so as to follow the high ground and missing 

 the numerous bogs which impede travel yet to-day on many ea.stern 

 roads, especially in the wet season. These trails were never improved by 

 the Indians, who merely shifted the trail if some difficult barrier de- 

 veloped. The only vehicle used by him was two poles, with a few cross 

 pieces, tied to a pony, and as the party always traveled single file, the 

 path was very narrow. The trails were never blazed, this being an in- 

 vention of the less instinctive white man. The war trails were often 

 broader and in better condition because of their almost constant use by 

 the larg'er parties of warriors. Many of these war trails became the 

 wagon roads for the brave and courageous pioneers, chief among them 

 being the "Connecticut Path," the "Iroquois Trail" and the "Virginia 

 Warriors' Path." The trader also followed these Indian trails because 

 they led him to the people with whom he wished to barter, and likewise 

 the missionaries and explorers who gave us the first knowledge of the 

 great fertile country separated from the coast settlement by the barriers 

 of mountains. 



Daniel Boone laid out the first road from Virginia to Kentucky for the 

 Transylvania Trading Company, and Captain Cresap acting for the 

 Ohio Company blazed the first trail from the Potomac to the Ohio. Both 

 of these roads followed Indian trails and buffalo traces most of the way. 

 Washington followed narrow Indian trails on his mission to Fort Neces- 

 sity. Braddock followed the same rough path next year, making a great 

 gorge of a road twelve feet wide still visible to the place of his defeat. 

 This road is also known as the Virginia Road. Few roads ever cost so 

 much, ever amounted to so little at first, and finally played such an im- 

 portant a part in the development of the continent. It was built by 

 Major-General Braddock in 1755 during the French and Indian war. The 

 Atlantic coast was settled largely by the English, who built towns and 

 villages, and developed the resources of the country. The Mississippi 

 valley was first discovered by the French who made lengthy voyages of 

 exploration along the navigable streams. They made friends with the 

 Indians and adopted many of the Indian habits and customs, but never 

 actually occupied the territory as did the English on the coast. Forts 

 were constructed at the mouths of rivers and at the principal portage 

 paths. The French believed in the strength of natural barriers. In 

 Europe, France was separated from both Spain and Italy by high moun- 

 tain ranges, and she had not been taught by a Napoleon that such bar- 

 riers while difficult to overcome are not unsurmountable. France lost 

 her empire in the New World because she trusted too much in natural 

 barriers and fortifications. At Louisbourg and Quebec the French com- 



