800 



TRAILS AND TRADE ROUTES 



[B. A. B. 



and that they traveled over the same 

 route in coming and going. The trader 

 was incUned to follow the water courses, 

 unloading his boat to pass obstructions 

 and transporting the canoe and its cargo 

 over short distances, called portages or 

 carries, between different waters. Sup- 

 plemental, however, to these open and in 

 time of war obviously dangerous routes, 

 were paths or trails, many of them orig- 

 inally made by the tracks of deer or buf- 

 falo in their seasonal migrations between 

 feeding grounds or in search of water or 

 salt licks. The constant j)assing over the 

 same path year after year and generation 

 after generation often so packed the soil 

 that in places, especially on hillsides, the 

 paths are still traceable by depressions 

 in the ground or by the absence of or 

 the difference in vegetation. Many of 

 them have been obliterated )jy the roads 

 and railways of modern times. The 

 Jesuit Relations (1658) indicate the sev- 

 eral routes followed from the St Lawrence 

 and the Great Lakes to Hudson bay for 

 trade, hunting, or fishing; one of these is 

 mentioned as having extended a distance 

 of 250 leagues. Many maps of the colo- 

 nial period, supplemented by other rec- 

 ords, indicate that these ways of commu- 

 nication extended with few breaks prac- 

 tically the entire length and breadth of 

 the continent. Wliile the streams an- 

 swered in certain instances as suitable 

 routes of travel, at times they had their 

 drawbacks, owing to snags, freshets, or 

 when the channel approached close to 

 the shore, thus exposing persons in boats 

 or on rafts to attack from enemies con- 

 cealed in the vegetation along the banks. 

 In many instances distant points were 

 connected by trails, or traces, the latter 

 word adopted from early French maps. 

 Owing to the Indian habit of marching 

 in single file, the Eastern trails seldom 

 exceeded 18 in. in width, yet these were 

 the ordinary roads of the country trav- 

 eled by hunters, migrating bands, traders, 

 eml)assies, and war parties. So long as 

 the trails led through friendly territory, 

 they followed the lines of least natural 

 resistance. War parties after leaving 

 friendly territory passed into the wilder- 

 ness over routes selected by scouts, which 

 routes they followed by significant marks, 

 natural or artificial. In some places the 

 paths of wild beasts were followed, in 

 others the beds of streams were chosen, 

 so that the footprints of the party would 

 be obliterated. Other things being equal, 

 the trail was not laid out along rough, 

 stony ground, because of the rapid wear- 

 ing away of footgear; nor through green- 

 brier, nor dense brush, nor laurel or other 

 thickets, because of the difficulty of mak- 

 ing rapid progress. These trails were 

 generally along high ground, where the 

 soil drieH quickly, where the underbrush 



was least dense, where the fewest and 

 shallowest streams were to be crossed; 

 and on journeys where mountains w'ere 

 encountered, the paths, with few excep- 

 tions, followed the lowest points, or 

 gaps, in many of which stone piles are 

 found. In the extreme S. W. these stone 

 heaps have resulted from the Indians 

 casting a stone when approaching a steep 

 ascent, in order, they say, to prevent 

 them from becoming fatigued. The nu- 

 merous and wide watercourses and the 

 dense forest growth along the coast of 

 New England made progress on foot al- 

 most impossible; consequently the birch- 

 bark canoe was almost the only means of 

 conveying the natives and their goods 

 from point to jsoint. Farther s. the dug- 

 out canoe was of such weight as to make 

 any but the shortest carries most diffi- 

 cult. In the Middle states the country 

 is more open and freer from under- 

 brush, and tlie use of paths became a 

 matter of necessity. Along the N. W. 

 coast travel was along the beach or off 

 shore in canoes. In the E. trails con- 

 sisted of footpaths, whereas those of the 

 plains in later times were wide roads 

 beaten down by large parties passing with 

 horses, dragging tipi poles and travois. 

 These trails were well marked, often lieing 

 depressed 2 ft below the surface, the dif- 

 ference in vegetable growth along them 

 showing distinctly for many years 

 where the path had l>een. In the S. W. 

 there were long trails by which the 

 Hopi and other Puel>lo Indians traveled 

 to and from the sources of supply of salt 

 from the Colorado r. and elsewhere; long 

 journeys were also made to ol)tain sup- 

 plies of shells or turquoise for ornaments, 

 clay for pottery, or stone to answer the 

 requirements of trade or domestic use. 

 The Iroquois of central New York were 

 familiar with the country as far w. as 

 the Black hills of Dakota, whence they 

 returned with prisoners; the same Indians 

 went from New York to South Carolina 

 to attack the Catawba and into Florida 

 against the Creeks. Western Indians 

 traveled hundreds of miles to obtain blan- 

 kets from the Pueblos, and some Plains 

 Indians are known to have traveled 2,000 

 m. on raids. The Santa Fe trail and the 

 Oregon trail were well-known routes 

 whose beginning was Indejiendence, 

 Mo., one ending in New Mexico, the 

 other at the Willamette. On early maps 

 many Indian trails and trade routes are 

 indicated, some along the streams and 

 others across country. The route from 

 Montreal up the Ottawa to L. Huron 

 and Green bay may readily be traced; 

 or from Montreal down to the Richelieu, 

 up the latter, through L. Champlain into 

 L. George, and by a portage to the Hud- 

 son. Another route went across country 

 from Albany, on the Hudson, to Rochester 



