The making of the American nation; a history for elementary schools . eighteen in number; the national area had grownfronr less than one million to more than two millions of squaremiles. Nevertheless, in about four fifths of this immense territorythere was scarcely a white man. But when these fertile landswere thrown open to settlement and ^ sold at one dollar r^^~^ per acre, a tide ofemigration fromthe East sweptwestward to oc-cupy them. Anadded attraction lay in the pros- , p T . Emigrants on the Road, pect 01 producing food-stuffs which were sure to bring good prices if they could be gotten
The making of the American nation; a history for elementary schools . eighteen in number; the national area had grownfronr less than one million to more than two millions of squaremiles. Nevertheless, in about four fifths of this immense territorythere was scarcely a white man. But when these fertile landswere thrown open to settlement and ^ sold at one dollar r^^~^ per acre, a tide ofemigration fromthe East sweptwestward to oc-cupy them. Anadded attraction lay in the pros- , p T . Emigrants on the Road, pect 01 producing food-stuffs which were sure to bring good prices if they could be gotten to the Eastern markets. One good crop would sometimes pay for the land. As a result, three great streams of emigration started about 1815. From New England and New York, the old Indian trails along the Mohawk and thence westward were followed. From Buffalo, the emigrants diverged ^•^f «* travel through northern Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illi-nois. The emigrants from the Middle states usually followedthe Susquehanna River and thence across the Alleghany Range. 238 THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAN NATION to Pittsburg. From that point down the Ohio River and npits various branches, tlie way was comparatively easy. A thirdroute lay from the Southern states westward into Kentucky andTennessee. It is estimated that in fifteen years not far from one millionpeople traversed one or another of these routes. The northernroute, in time, became one of the worlds great traffic ways — thatof the New York Central Kailroad. The middle route also becamea commercial highway of tremendous importance, and is practi-cally the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The routes from theSouthern states were not so well-defined, but one of them becamethe line of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The selection ofthese routes, even at that time, by the emigrants traveling inwagons, demonstrated that commerce must move along lineshaving the fewest obstacles — practically over the grades mosteasily surmount
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