There is a tradition in the Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, that slabs 

 of rock which have been found in an upright position, were used to 

 mark trails there. In other localities, it is thought that the various 

 trees whose limbs appear to have been forced into abnormal positions 

 in such a way as to attract attention, were intended by the red men to 

 serve as guide posts along their narrow and often tortuous ways. 



A good example of these "Indian Trail Trees" as they are called, 

 is the tall hickory at Madison, Wis., (on Cover) on the route of an old 

 trail, one of whose branches is conspicuously bent into a horizontal 

 position as if to indicate a certain direction. Another trail tree at 

 County Line, Glencoe, 111., by the side of the railroad, has an odd 

 appearance; perhaps fifteen feet above ground level its trunk is bent 

 downward to the earth and then upward again, forming a sharp elbow, 

 a few feet above which it forks and then continues up, its leafy 

 branches rising to a good height. Whether intentionally bent into this 

 position or owing it to a freak of nature, such a tree would of course 

 constitute a guide-post not easily overlooked or forgotten. 



"There are at various places along the North Shore (of Lake 

 Michigan) and following closely the line of several of the old Indian 

 trails some curious trees that apparently have been broken, or rather 

 bent and tied down with saplings by Indians to mark these trails," 

 says Frank E. Grover of the Chicago Historical Society. "That cus- 

 tom has been followed in other localities, among which, it is said, is 

 the Braddock Trail, several localities near Fox Lake, 111., also in the 

 vicinity of Mackinac, Mich., and it is entirely probably here. The 

 trees are invariably large and, if this convenient and plausible theory 

 is correct, some of this work of so marking the trails must have been 

 done a century and more ago, for many of the trees are white oaks of 

 considerable size. These trees and this theory present also a most 

 interesting field for inquiry and speculation. 



"But some six years ago, there were eleven of these trees in per- 

 fect alignment, leading from the site of the old Indian village at High- 

 land Park, 111., in a northwesterly direction for several miles, most of 

 them are still standing and can be easily identified, and what is partic- 

 ularly of interest is the fact that all of these trees are white oaks, while 

 another line of similar trees supposed to mark another old trail farther 

 to the south, near Willamette, 111., are without exception, white elms, 

 indicating system in the selection. These in the City of Evanston, 111., 

 were oaks and supposed by the supporters of this theory to lead to the 

 chipping stations or shops on the lake shore. Two or three of these 

 trees were also located on the North branch of the Chicago River, 111., 

 near the Glen View Golf Club, probably marking the trail to one of 

 the nearby villages. Another circumstance that gives color to this 

 contention is that where those trees were found was once a dense and 

 heavy forest, where it is probable that an Indian trail would be 

 marked, if marked at all." 



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