CHAPTER I
INDIAN THOROUGHFARES
A KNOWLEDGE of the Indian thoroughfares of the United States forms a most valuable key to the pioneer history of any and all portions of it. To a larger degree than has ever been realized, the explorers, conquerors, and settlers of any portion of this country were indebted to the narrow trail of the Indian. The explorers were, largely, compelled to travel by land rather than by water, and when they took to their canoes for a plunge down the swift rivers they almost invariably retraced their course on Indian trails in preference to stemming the swift tide which brought them down. Moreover, all who attempted water travel in early times found themselves the slaves of circumstances. For many weeks in winter the lesser streams were frozen and the greater streams filled with running ice. Wash-
