Semi-Ceyitennial Volume, 203 



manders trusted in the strength of crags and precipices, and in the cen- 

 tral empire they trusted in the Alleghenies. When Braddock first came to 

 assume the offensive against the French he requested the governor of 

 Pennsylvania to construct a road to the Ohio river, while he would lead 

 his army over the road from Virginia, formerly used by Washington. The 

 road was cut twelve feet wide to allow his wagons and artillery to pass 

 through, and finally when he had all but won over his foe he was defeated 

 by the cunning of his Indian antagonists. As soon as the news of Brad- 

 dock's defeat was received by the men who were cutting the shorter road 

 across Pennsylvania, they immediately fled back to the eastern settle- 

 ments. This victory of the French and Indians aroused the colonists, who 

 before had given very little support to Braddock. In fact we might say 

 that the lack of cooperation on the part of colonists was largely re- 

 sponsible for the failure of Braddock's mission. 



Three years later Brigadier-General Forbes was assigned to the un- 

 finished task, and he led a more united army west over the road formerly 

 started by Governor Morris of Pennsylvania. This road was completed to 

 the present site of Pittsburg, and terminated in what is now Forbes ave- 

 nue of that city. Forbes built several forts, conquered the French and 

 Indians, and firmly established the English in the region of the Ohio 

 river, but like Braddock, he gave his life for the effort. This road was 

 much shorter than the Virginia road laid out by Braddock, and became 

 the military road to Ohio and the Western Empire. Over it also was 

 carried the trade between the east and the west. Pennsylvania improved 

 this road just after the Revolutionary War, and it became the connecting 

 link that bound the state together. 



What General Forbes accomplished for the settlement of Ohio by the 

 opening of the Pennsylvania road Boone did for Kentucky in the opening 

 of the famous Wilderness road. Boone was probably the first white man 

 to visit the fertile blue grass region of Kentucky, which was, even in the 

 wild condition, a second "Garden of Eden," as he described it. But a 

 veritable wilderness separated it from the country already settled, and 

 the hardships endured by the early pioneers who sought to reach this 

 favored location were almost unendurable. Finally Boone led a party 

 which blazed a new trail leading from the Virginia road, and also forti- 

 fied it at a few places. This road was the longest, blackest and hard- 

 est road of pioneer days, but it is the only one which has held the 

 oldtime name. The reason the name has been retained is the fact that 

 the road has also retained considerable of its ancient characteristics. 



The roads which have been described thus far were never improved to 

 any great extent. When first laid out they were merely paths cut through 

 the forest leading from one fording place to another, and generally 

 followed the high ground so as to miss the bogs. Most of them had 

 two roadways, a wet and a dry one being laid out at many places. A 

 wet road was one used during the wet season, and the dry road followed 

 the lower ground which could be traversed only during dry weather. 

 The term roadway is also quite misleading, since the only ones wide 

 enough for wagons were those constructed for military purposes, as 

 Braddock's Virginia road and Forbes' Pennsylvania road. The trails 



