| OCR Text |
Show BASIS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1700 route followed the Ohio trail through Cumberland Gap. This way was first opened by Daniel Boone, and was variously known as " Boone's Trail," the " Kentucky Road," and the " Wilderness Road." 1 Beginning at the settlements on the upper Holston, it passed westward by openings in the valley ranges across Cumberland Gap to the Cumberland River, where it left the old Indian trail and followed a buffalo trace through Boone's Gap to Fort Boones-borough on the Kentucky River, and thence on to Lexington. This road, which until 1796 was only a pack- trail, opened up central Kentucky and Tennessee to the Virginia and Carolina settlers; and even those from Pennsylvania sometimes preferred this route. As the northern roads to the Ohio improved, however, they attracted most of the travellers, who, after striking the Ohio, descended that river by boat, knd followed up its branches to their various destinations. Access had thus been gained to the very heart of the Mississippi Valley, and after the Revolution immigration poured down the river and up its tributaries in a never- ending stream. Then the waterways became of less importance, since the generally level character of the country permitted the easy construction of wagon- roads. The influence of the streams was still potent, nevertheless, and the advancing wave of population presented a ragged front due to the more rapid progress along their courses. d, Wilderness Road; Hulbert, Boone's Wilderness Road. |
