TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 237 



ing the swamp, and we had to spread down our 

 blankets and carry the wheat in pails and put it 

 on the blankets, and when we got the wagon out, 

 load up again." ^ The father of L. D. Watkins 

 of Manchester, that same year, required six days to 

 transport his family and effects the fifty-nine miles 

 to "Fairview Farm." ^ 



For the convenience of the first travelers, woods- 

 men and farmers, a remarkable network of paths 

 interlaced through the forests and prairies, wrought 

 by the feet of the deer, the Indians and their ponies. 

 Some of these well-marked routes bore special desig- 

 nations, as the Canada trail down the Huron Valley 

 to the Ontario shore of the Detroit Eiver, the "Nesh- 

 inguak" between Detroit and Saginaw, while other 

 foot-ways ran to the Grand Biver Valley, between 

 the Grand River and the Kalamazoo, even to far 

 away Mackinac, Joining lake with lake, stream with 

 stream, camp-site with camp-site. The pioneer soon 

 learned their utility, and, if he paused to note the 

 beauty of the physical environment through which 

 they passed on the line of least resistance, he also 

 was glad that he could so readily advance through 

 a wilderness that, without these primitive thorough- 

 fares, Avould have greatly restricted his movements 

 and have retarded the penetration by the whites of 

 the inner reaches of the country. 



However, the old trails were narrow and unsuited 

 for wagons and sleighs. The settler must almost at 



^Ibid., XVII, 412. 

 == Ibid., XXII, 262. 



