The Forest and Man 49 



the first invaders of the wilderness, and were com- 

 pelled to rely for many necessaries on their own 

 skill with the axe. From the forests they obtained 

 all the material for the construction of their cabins, 

 from the puncheon floor to the shingles on the roof, 

 and the moss that calked the crevices of the wall. 

 All this, together with the rude furniture, they cut 

 themselves from the trees on their homesteads. 

 The forests also supplied them with meat to vary- 

 the monotony of salt pork, itself made from hogs 

 that found every bit of nutriment in the spontane- 

 ous products of the forest. When the first high- 

 ways, or " plank roads," were laid out, they were 

 hailed with delight. Yet what poor substitutes for 

 real roads these were ; rough, sometimes studded 

 with sharp rocks, as they ascended a steep hillside, 

 or, again, composed of equally rough logs laid cross- 

 wise, called corduroy, where a wet place had to be 

 passed. Yet these were superior accommodations 

 of travel, and most of the journeying through the 

 woods had to be done by boat or on Indian trails. 



A correct conception of what is meant by a trail 

 in the forest has largely been lost by the descend- 

 ants of those who a hundred years ago toiled along 

 them into the western country. The fact that trails 

 are laid down on some maps issued in pioneer days 

 is apt to give the inexperienced an idea that they 

 were some sort of rude attempts at roads, made arti- 

 ficially by the Indians. They were far from that. 

 In places more than ordinarily frequented a faint 

 trace of foot-path worn into the ground might be 



