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Show i8oo] ROUTES OP TRAVEL 29 for example, the important Indian trail from the Connecticut to the St. Francis; that from the Kennebec and Dead River to the Chaudi& re, crossed by Arnold in 1775 ;* and several from the headwaters of the St. John northward. From the Atlantic coast to the Ohio Valley the main portages were from the Susquehanna to the Alleghany near Kittanning; from the Juniata to the Alleghany, the present route of the Pennsylvania Railroad; and from the Potomac to the Monongahela, via Wills Creek, the line of Braddock's march. Farther south the portage probably most used was from the headwaters of the James to the Greenbrier branch of the Kanawha. These southerly routes, though important Indian trails, were never much used by the whites, because the streams were not favorable to navigation by large boats; moreover, the trails were long and rough, and lay to one side of the main lines of travel. The more northern routes to the upper Ohio were also too long and difficult to be of much value for the transport of goods in colonial times. To the settler, with his household goods and farming implements, falls and rapids made the Appalachian streams practically impassable for his transportation, and wagon- roads were indispensable for his movements on land. Such roads are ordinarily not built until demanded by military opera- 1 Smith, " Arnold's Battle with the Wilderness/' in Century Magazine, LXV., 529. |
