Historical encyclopedia of Illinois . athsor trails, ami as they approached the IllinoisRiver they grew less distinct, and when SchuylerCounty was reached they had disappeared alto-gether. Here the trail of the settler ended and,to the north as far as the Hudson Bay countryand west to the Pocky Mountains, there werenone of the familiar signs to mark the path of theadventurous homeseeker. Following the trail was not as easy as thename suggests, and to do it successfully thesettler had to exercise the keen knowledge ofwoodcraft that he bad gained by observation andexperience. Animals and Indians
Historical encyclopedia of Illinois . athsor trails, ami as they approached the IllinoisRiver they grew less distinct, and when SchuylerCounty was reached they had disappeared alto-gether. Here the trail of the settler ended and,to the north as far as the Hudson Bay countryand west to the Pocky Mountains, there werenone of the familiar signs to mark the path of theadventurous homeseeker. Following the trail was not as easy as thename suggests, and to do it successfully thesettler had to exercise the keen knowledge ofwoodcraft that he bad gained by observation andexperience. Animals and Indians had locatedthe fords in many instances before the comingof the white man. and thus had outlined a gen-eral line of travel, and the emigrants, follow-ing the line of least resistance, made a wellbeaten path through the trackless forests andacross the wide expanse of prairie which, intime and through constant travel, became a welldefined highway. When the first settlers who located in Schuylermade their journey north from the southern. HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY. 679 part of Indiana, they found only a rude trail thathere and there had been roughly corduroyedover the worst sloughs. The trees along theroute had been Mazed to mark the trail, andin many instances those who had gone before badwritten their names on the smooth barked trees,telling where they were from and where they weregoing, a message that was often read with wel-come by friends who came after them. Whensome one had found a better road leading offfrom the trail, it was marked by setting a row ofstakes at the points of digression, which was asign well understood by the pioneers of the roads thus improvised by the frontiersmenwere laid out without reference to section linesand. as necessity arose, they were straightened,but the first rude trail very often determinedthe destiny of what are now flourishing citiesand. in a manner, affected the greater lines ofcommerce when railroad building began. In this conn
Size: 1256px × 1990px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherchicagomunsellpubl
