Historic Highways of America Volume I Part 2

If the settlements along the two Miamis and Scioto were overrun at the same time before they had become weakened, it would have required such an army as only a civilized or semi-civilized nation could send into the field. It is plausible to a.s.sume that a predatory warfare was carried on at first, and on account of this the many fortifications were gradually built. During a warfare such as this, the regular parties of miners would go to the mines, for the roads could be kept open, even should an enemy cross the well-beaten paths."[13] Here a scholar of reputation gives the strongest kind of evidence in a belief that overland routes of travel were in existence and were employed in prehistoric times--by incidentally referring to them while discussing another question. It is difficult to think of any possible alternative. The verdict of history is all against another.

a.s.suming, then, that overland routes of travel were used by this earliest of American races of which we have any real knowledge, it is to the purpose of our study to consider where such routes were laid.

The one law which has governed land travel throughout history is the law of least resistance, or least elevation. "An easy trail to high ground"

is a colloquial expression common in the Far West, but there has been a time when it was as common to Pennsylvania and Ohio as it is common today along the great stretches of the Platte. The watersheds have been the highways and highestways of the world's travel. The farther back we go in our history, the more conclusive does the evidence become that the first ways were the highestways. Our first roads were ridge roads and their day is not altogether past in many parts of the land. These first roads were "run," or built, along the general alignment of the first pioneer roads, which, in turn, were nothing more than "blazed" paths of the Indian and buffalo. A single glance at one of the maps of the Central West of Revolutionary times, for instance, will show how closely the first routes clung to the heights of the watersheds. And for good reason: here the ground suffered least from erosion; here the forests were thinnest; here a pathway would be swept clear of snow in winter and of leaves in summer by the swift, clean brooms of the winds. For the Indians, too, the high lands were points of vantage both in hunting and in times of war.

In every state there were strategic heights of land, generally running westward; in Ohio, for example, the strategic watershed was that between the heads of the lake rivers and the heads of those flowing southward into the Ohio. Across this divide ran the Great Trail toward Detroit and the lake country. In western Virginia a strategic watershed was that formed between the heads of streams flowing northward into the Ohio and southward into the Kanawha. And in a remarkable degree the strategic points of a century and a half ago are the strategic points today, a fact attested by the courses of the more important trunk railway lines. The steady rise and importance of such a city as Akron, Ohio, is due to a strategic situation at the junction of both an important portage path and of a great watershed highway.

With all these facts in mind it is not presumptuous then to inquire whether the mound-building Indians did not find the high lands and mark out on them these first highways of America.

CHAPTER IV

HIGHLAND LOCATION OF ARCHaeOLOGICAL REMAINS

In examining the standard work on the exploration of the American mounds, the _Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_ of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, by Dr. Cyrus Thomas, it is plain that the mound-building Indians were well acquainted with the watersheds and high lands in the regions which they occupied. As a general rule it can be said that they cultivated the lowlands and built their forts and mounds upon the adjacent heights; but, so widespread are their works over the counties which they occupied, that it seems evident that they were at least well acquainted with all the surrounding territory. Whatever may have been the significance of their works, it is reasonable to believe that they were erected to be seen and visited; it is sane to believe that they were erected near the highways traveled, as has been the case with all other races of history. It is now in point to show that their mounds and effigies were not only on high ground, but often on the ranges of hills.

Examining Crawford county, Wisconsin, we find the mound-builders' works "on the main road from Prairie du Chien to Eastman," which "follows chiefly the old trail along the crest of the divide between the drainage of the Kickapoo and Mississippi rivers.... The group is, in fact, a series or chain of low, small, circular tumuli extending in a nearly straight line northwest and southeast, connected together by embankments.... They are on the top of the ridge."[14]

"About 2 miles from Eastman, ... just east of the Black River Road, ...

are three effigy mounds and one long mound.... They are situated in a little strip of woods near the crest, but on the western slope of the watershed and near the head of a coulee or ravine."[15]

"In the same section ... are the remains of two bird-shaped mounds, both on top of the watershed."[16]

"The next group surveyed ... are on the crest of the ridge heretofore mentioned and on both sides of the Black River Road."[17]

"Mound No. 23 ... is also in the form of a bird with outstretched wings.

It lies ... on top of the ridge, with the head lying crosswise of the highest point."[18]

"Mound No. 24 is close to the right or east, on the high part of the ridge, extending in the same direction as 23."[19]

"Northward of this group some 400 yards, there is a mound in the form of a quadruped, probably a fox, ... partly in the woods and partly in the field on the west side of the road. It is built on the crest of the ridge with the head to the south."[20]

"About a mile southward of Hazen Corners ... is a group.... They are all situated on the northern slope of the ridge not far from the top."[21]

"... A small group ... situated west of the Black River Road, ... on the top of the ridge in the woods. The ridge slopes from them to the east and west."[22]

"Some 10 or 12 miles southwest of the battle-field of Belmont [Missouri]

is one of the peculiar sand ridges of this swampy region, called Pin Hook ridge. This extends 5 or 6 miles north and south, and is less than a mile in width.... There is abundant evidence here that the entire ridge was long inhabited by a somewhat agricultural people, with stationary houses, who constructed numerous and high mounds, which are now the only place of refuge for the present inhabitants and their stock from the frequent overflows of the Mississippi."[23]

"These ... are situated on the county road from Cairo, Illinois....

They are the highest ground in that immediate section" (Missouri).[24]

Crowley's Ridge, running through Green, Craighead, Poinsett, and St.

Francis counties (Arkansas) forms the divide between the waters of White and St. Francis rivers, and terminates in Phillips county just below the city of Helena. Most of the bottom lands are overflowed during high water. There are some evidences of archaeological remains throughout the length of this ridge.[25]

"The works ... one mile northeast of Dublin [Franklin county, Ohio] ...

are on a nearly level area of the higher lands of the section."[26]

"The group shown ... is on a high hill near the Arnheim pike, Brown county [Ohio]."[27]

"On nearly every prominent hill in the neighborhood of Ripley [Brown county, Ohio] are stone graves."[28]

"Just east of Col. Metham's residence, on a high point overlooking the valley ... was a mound."[29]

"... A group ... located 2 miles southwest of the village of Brownsville [Licking county, Ohio] and half a mile south of the National Road, on a high hill, from which the surrounding country is in view for several miles."[30]

In the _Catalogue of Prehistoric Works_ issued by the Bureau of Ethnology almost every page gives proof that the mound-builders were occupants of the highlands. Some quotations will be in place:

"Inclosures, hut-rings, and mounds on a sandy ridge between the Mississippi River and Old Town Lake at the point where they make their nearest approach to each other, and near the ancient outlet of Old Town Lake" (Phillips county, Arkansas).[31]

"... Remains of an Indian fort on the summit of a precipitous ridge near Lake Simcoe."[32]

"Stone cairn ... on ridge between Anawaka and Sweet.w.a.ter creeks"

(Dougla.s.s county, Georgia).[33]

"Stone cairn on a ridge" (Habersham county, Georgia).[34]

"Stone mound on a ridge" (Hanc.o.c.k county, Georgia).[35]

"Deposit ... on a ridge half a mile south of Clear Creek" (Ca.s.s county, Illinois).[36]

"Mounds on the spur of a ridge, midway between the Welsh group [Brown county] and Chambersburg, in the extreme northeastern part of the county" (Pike county, Illinois).[37]

"Group of mounds on a ridge in Skillet Fork bottom" (Wayne county, Illinois).[38]

"Mounds on several high hills" (Franklin county, Indiana).[39]

"Four mounds on top of a ridge near Sparksville" (Jackson county, Indiana).[40]

"Stone enclosure known as Fort Ridge" (Caldwell county, Kentucky).[41]

"Indian mounds ... on 'Indian Hill'" (Hanc.o.c.k county, Kentucky).[42]

"A group of circular mounds scattered along a ridge between Fox river and Sugar Creek" (Clark county, Missouri).[43]

"Two parallel embankments stretching across a hog-back between two ravines" (Livingston county, New York).[44]

"Embankments on Ridge road ... along the edge of the bluff overlooking the Ridge road" (Niagara county, New York).[45]

"Cairns on ridges" (Caldwell county, North Carolina).[46]

"Stone cairns ... on trail crossing ridge between Tuckasegee river and Alarka Creek" (Swain county, North Carolina).[47]

Flint Ridge in Coshocton and Licking counties, Ohio, contained stone and earth mounds and quarries; "Indian trail from Grave Creek mound, West Virginia, to the lakes, pa.s.sing over Flint Ridge."[48]