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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 1999-02 > 0919818289


From: Thomas Smith <>
Subject: Re: Scots-Irish/Appalachia
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 17:04:49 -0800


Dick wrote:
>
> Lisa,
>
> I live near the Natchez Trace which is/was an ancient Native American
> path that ran from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS. The white migrants
> eventually began using the Trace but to my knowledge it was never part
> of the National Trail. The Trace is a part of the National Park Service
> and they should have a web page. There's also a highway that follows
> along a large portion of the Trace.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Dick H.

Dick, I've read a few things about the Natchez Trace and remember one
of its main reasons for being there was that it provided a good return
route for rivermen when they would take a cargo to New Orleans on their
rafts and keel boats. These boats only went one way and the crews had
to make their way back north on foot or the ones who traded and got
plenty of money for their goods in New Orleans were able to buy a
horse. That was before the age of steamboats which of course went both
ways on the rivers. My wife's family traveled from southern Ohio to
southern Illinois on a flatboat in 1843. The old grandfather clock that
they brought down river is still in the family and still working. The
boat was probably sold to someone taking a cargo on down the Misissippi.

Regards, Tom in Illinois

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