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From: PHHGENE <>
Subject: [RHEA-L] Early American Trails and Roads: Part 2
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 00:29:03 EST


THE NATIONAL ROAD
The National Road was originally called the Cumberland Road because it
started
in Cumberland, Maryland. By 1825, it was referred to as the National Road
because of its federal funding. The enabling act for admission of Ohio to the
Union in 1803 contained provisions for construction of a road linking the
East
and West. Congress then passed "An Act to Regulate the Laying Out and Making
a
Road from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio." In
1811, contracts were signed for construction of the first ten miles west of
Cumberland. The road reached Wheeling in 1818. It entered Columbus in 1833,
and Congress made its last appropriation for the road in 1838. During the
1830s, Congress had begun to turn the road over to the states for
administration and maintenance. Construction was suspended in the early 1840s
because of lack of congressional appropriations. Indiana completed its
intrastate segment in 1850. The road then continued on to Vandalia, Illinois,
but it did not continue on to Jefferson City, Missouri, as had been planned,
the idea being that the road was to go through state capitals as it moved
westward. The old National Road became part of U.S. 40 in 1926.

THE OREGON TRAIL
The Oregon Trail extended from the Missouri River to the Willamette River. It
was used by nearly 400,000 people. The trail's starting points were
Independence, Westport, St. Joseph, and Ft. Leavenworth. Alternate routes
included Sublette's Cutoff and the Lander Cutoff. After 1846, there was also
a
choice at The Dalles between rafting down the Columbia River or taking the
new
Barlow Road across the Cascades. Each part of the journey had its set of
unique difficulties. During the first third of the journey, emigrants got
used
to the routine and work of travel. Approaching the steep ascent to the
Continental Divide, water, fuel, grass for the livestock, fresh meat, and
food
staples became scarce. The final third was the most difficult part of the
trail. The major fears of the pioneers following the trail were Indians,
disease, and the weather.

THE PENNSYLVANIA ROAD
The Great Conestoga Road, completed in 1741, and the later Lancaster Pike
(opened in 1794) went from Philadelphia to Lancaster. After the Lancaster
Pike
was completed, the Pennsylvania Legislature granted charters to extend it
westward to Pittsburgh, following closely the route of the Forbes Road. Faced
with the need to build a road to move troops during the French and Indian
War,
General Forbes' troops constructed a road from Harrisburg to Ft. Duquesne
which he renamed Fort Pitt, after his commanding general. Today, we know it
as
Pittsburgh. Years later, the Pennsylvania Legislature granted charters that
extended the Lancaster Pike on westward to Pittsburgh, subsidizing this
"Pennsylvania Road" by subscribing to stock in some of the companies.
Migration moved westward through Fort Pitt as settlers trekked from eastern
Pennsylvania and New England west to new lands and opportunities. The
river-canal system which opened in 1834 between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
reduced traffic on Pennsylvania's turnpike. Heavy freight traffic diverted to
the canals although stagecoach lines continued to prosper.

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