30 The Forests of America 



So the early hunters and trappers, learning from 

 them, glided over the rivers and lakes in rude 

 log dugouts or light birch-bark canoes. In those 

 days, travel was quicker by water than through 

 the tangled wildwood; it was safer, too, for there 

 were enemies in the forest, and a boat left no 

 trail. 



The only roads then were really not roads at 

 all, but merely "blazed trails," which ran from 

 one house or village to another. The trail was 

 marked by chipping pieces of bark from the 

 trunks of trees which stood in its course. A 

 blaze, standing out clear and white in the dark 

 forest, could be seen for some distance. Later 

 the trails became paths and then well-followed 

 roads. Plank roads were sometimes made in the 

 older settlements; and over boggy places and 

 marshy lands, tree-trunks or logs were often laid 

 down side by side to form a corduroy road. 

 Bridges were needed to span deep streams, and 

 for these much timber was used. 



In the building of the first railroads, too, the 

 forests proved of value. Formerly, all cars were 

 made of wood, and the engines that drew them 

 used wood for fuel. For the tracks heavy pieces 



