OCR Text |
Show i8oo] ROUTES OP TRAVEL 31 chance, in every case they followed more or less closely the line of an Indian trail. 1 In crossing the divides and mountain- ranges the trails followed the gentlest slopes and traversed the lowest gaps; but elsewhere they kept to the higher levels, following the ridges and uplands between the valleys in order to avoid swamps and streams. As the Indians travelled in single file their trails were merely narrow runways through the forest, often worn to a depth of a foot or more and winding about to avoid obstacles. In addition to the trails of the Indian there were also the tracks of the buffalo, thdugh the two often followed the same path, especially across the mountain passes. The Indians at times travelled great distances, and many of their trails connected widely separated regions. Some of the more extensive of these primitive lines of communication became widely known under special names. In New England important trails led from different points of the coast up to and beyond the Connecticut Valley, one of the best- known being the Old Connecticut Path from Boston, by way of Grafton, Oxford, and Springfield, to Albany. The most famous Indian thoroughfare in New York was the great Iroquois war- trail from the Hudson up the Mohawk Valley and westward along the water- shed to the Niagara River. It was the great highway connecting the different tribes 1 Hulbert, Indian Thoroughfar$ s. |