From Buffaloes To Buses
We're having a hard time with
some of our cuiiiitr.v roads at the
present time*, hut just look ait what
North Carolina has hail to put up
with in the past!
ft;/ KATHERINE HOSKINS
WAR shortages and weather
have combined to create a
condition in our highway
system previously unknown to the
present generation. People have
been weatherbound, schools have
been suspended, and bus service
delayed. All this has caused a very
genuine inconvenience; but before
we dissolve in self-pity, or explode
in criticism of the Powers-That-Be.
it might be amusing to discover
what kind of highways North Caro¬
lina had before the present genera¬
tion, and what the people thought
of them.
It may be a surprise to know
that some of our best-known roads
had long been traveled before the
coming of the white men. They
had been traveled even before the
coming of the Indian. Centuries
ago. the woodlands and mcadowed
river valleys were thick with deer.
buffalo, and hordes of smaller ani¬
mals. These established well-de¬
veloped trails from one feeding
ground to another, according to
season, or according to general
forage conditions. If one of our
super-busses met a herd of buffalo
on a trans-state highway, the buf¬
falo could claim priority in that
their ancestors first established
these routes on their annual migra¬
tions. These buffalo trails were
often worn to a depth of a foot
or more, and extended like tunnels
through underbrush broken and
bent aside to shoulder height.
Parallel, and crossing them in all
directions, were hosts of fainter
but equally well-travelled paths
made by the smaller animals.
The Indians, too, were creatures
of the wild, dependent on game
for a living, just as the game was
dependent on forage for existence.
The Red Men followed the animal
trails, feasting upon fat deer and
buffalo, or sometimes just visiting
from tribe to tribe as impulse di¬
rected. Such was the origin of the
Great Trading Path, which ran
from Richmond. Virginia, through
what is now Raleigh, Hillsboro,
and Greensboro, due west to Cum¬
berland Gap. Another such path
ran across the state from Virginia
to Salisbury. Charlotte, and on
south. The Scenic Highway which
runs across western North Caro¬
lina, follows one of the longest and
most famous of these animal-Indian
travel routes. This extended from
New York to Georgia.
The first written mention of
roads in North Carolina was in
1704, when Rev. John Blair wrote
thus to the Earl of Halifax, refer¬
ring to the Edenton section of our
state:
—“There is no possibility for a
stranger to find a road if he go
astray from one of these trails.
It is a great hazard in which the
wayfarer may lose his life. I go
30 miles some days, and often
sleep in the woods." —
Trails widened more and more
as bushes and trees were hacked
down and pushed aside on the main
traveled routes. Travellers con¬
sidered the roads entirely adequate
if the passerby could get over or
around any obstacle he might en¬
counter. Even as late as the Ameri¬
can Revolution, wheeled vehicles
were so few as to be almost un¬
known in many areas. Supplies
were universally carried on men's
backs, or on pack-animals. The
diary of William Calk, on his
journey from Prince William to
Kentucky in 1775, mentions the
typical adventures on such a trip
any time during the 18th or early
19th centuries:
"April 13. I set out this day
twith pack-train) to travel to
Caintuck April 30. We git to Elk
Garden and there supplied our¬
selves with corn and Irish taters.
A little way on. I turned my horse
to drive before me. He got skecred
and run away. Throwed down the
saddle-bags and broke 3 powder
gourds. Abram’s beast bust open
a wallet of corn and made a tur-
rabel flusteration amongst the rest
of the animals. Drake’s mair run
agin a sapling and noct it down.
We finally ketch them all again.
We kilt 2 bofclos this evening."
The adventures of our ancestors
Thousands of miles of fine paved highways, similar to the one shown in
the above picture, now form a closely-meshed network through the
length and breadth of North Carolina.
to
THE STATE FBBRUARY 23. 1046
