The Influence American Indian Pathways had on Connecticut Transportation Systems & Settlements

1. TheInfluence American Indian Pathways had on Connecticut Transportation Systems & Settlements

2. How this all got started… • “For many years before Connecticut was settled, there was a traveled way leading up from the shores of the sound east of the Norwalk River. Passing through Georgetown then heading due North to the land of Pah-quio-que (Danbury) the dwelling place of the southern tribe of the Schaticoke Indians…” ~Wilbur F. Thompson, April 1919 “The Old Indian Trail”

5. How this all got started…Looking deeper • “The first Connecticut highway was, so far as we know, the Indian Trail…” ~Lewis E. Stanton, “History of Highways in Connecticut” • “While the water courses may be aptly termed the primary Indian Highways in New England, there were also many economically important overland trails throughout the area.” ~Leaman F. Hallett, “Indian Trails and Their Importance to Early Colonists”

6. And these are only the main foot paths!!

7. Laid & developed through ages of Indian use with an eye to the easiest & quickest topographical [route], many of these ancient Indian foot paths were [later] adopted and enlarged into the bridle paths [by] the early pioneers, and eventually [became] the modern highways of today. ~Leaman F. Hallett, “Indian Trails and Their Importance to Early Colonists Indian Foot Paths

8. Seasonal rotations from planting grounds to fishing & hunting grounds were made over these paths … with inter-tribal communication along the way. Ordinarily there were two main paths running perpendicular to each other: North-South, East-West, quartering each tract. ~Leaman F. Hallett, “Indian Trails and Their Importance to Early Colonists Indian Foot Paths

9. East-West Path Routes 112, 182, 183, 20, 219, 190 North-South Path Routes 7, 202, 126 East-West Path Routes 6, 317, 67 North-South Path Route 5 Albany Turnpike

10. Access to our State…Englishmen of Boston Asked to Travel to Connecticut via Indian Pathways

11. On April 4, 1631, John Winthrop, Jr. recorded in his Journal that “Wahginnacut, a Podunk Sachem on the River Quonehtacut…came to Boston with John Sagamore and Jack Straw (his interpreter) and said he was very desirous to have some Englishmen come plant (settle) in his country…which is not above 5 days journey from us by land.” ~Winthrop Journal, I: 223 Paths to Connecticut

12. In 1633 trader John Oldham & three companions traveled to CT and came home to MA with a positive report: “The Sachem used them kindly…they traded for beaver, hemp and black lead (graphite)…they lodged in Indian towns the whole way.” This report followed by a treaty offer from the Pequots led Roger Ludlow overland to present day Greater Hartford Area in June of 1635 with his Dorchester Association members. Ludlow followed the Connecticut path of the Indians, now Routes 44, 197, 198. Roger Ludlow Settles the CT River Valley

13. Springfield, MA Ludlow’s Route Routes 44, 197, 198 Hartford

14. Indian Paths become modern highways Springfield, MA Route 190 Route 197 Route 5 Route 140 Route 198 I-84 Route 44 384 Route 6 Hartford Route 2

15. Pequot War Results in Coastal Settlements

16. In 1636 trader John Oldham was killed on Block Island. To avenge his death the Bay Colony set out to attack the Narragansetts for the murder and the Pequots for their lands. The Pequots had nothing to do with the murder. By this time there were two settlement areas in CT, Hartford & Saybrook. In response to the Bay Colony’s attack, the Pequots attacked Saybrook & Wethersfield, killing settlers in Wethersfield. Thus began the Pequot War. Pequot War opens Coastal Settlements

17. Pequot retaliation starts a war Wethersfield Saybrook

18. Ludlow declared an “offensive war” on the Pequots & with the help of Uncas’ Mohegans and soldiers from Massachusetts Bay they chased the Pequots all over CT, until they finally cornered them in a swamp at modern day Southport where it all ended horribly for the Pequot tribe. Pequot War opens Coastal Settlements

19. 1639 1639 Coastal Settlements Quickly follow the Pequot War 1639 1649 1650 1641 1640 *Roger Ludlow purchased land in Saugatuck & Norwalk (1640) but it wasn’t settled until later.

20. Indians Pushed Inland as Settlers Take Over Their Coastal Villages

21. European settlers continually ignored important text in the Indian‘s portion of the deeds: "Reserving in the whole of the same, liberty for myself and my heirs to hunt, fish, and fowl upon the land and in the waters, and further reserving for myself, my children, and grand children…the use of so much land by my present dwelling house or wigwam as the General Assembly of the Colony … shall judge necessary for my or their personal improvement...” Land Sales… Oversight or Misunderstanding?

22. Indians did not understand land ownership the way the English and their future generations viewed it: in their culture, no tribe nor Indian had exclusive, permanent rights to specific parcels of land, "different groups of people could have different claims on the same tract of land depending on how they used it." By ignoring the Indian’s provisions within the land deeds, the settlers were exceeding the usage rights the Indians were granting them. Different Viewpoints

23. “What the Indians owned or had claim to- was not the land but the things that were on the land during various seasons of the year…In nothing is this more clear than in the names they attached to their landscape, the great bulk of which related to usage not possession.”~William Cronon, Changes in the Land Different Viewpoints

24. Pok-a-no-ket: “at or near the cleared lands.” A-bess-ah: “clam bake place” Mitt-in-eag: “abandoned fields” Eack-honk: “the end of the fishing place” Simpaug: “beaver pond” Aspetuck: “at the high place.” Ousatonic: “land beyond the mountains” Waramaug: “good fishing place” Pequonnock: “a small plantation” Mash-an-tucket: “in the little place of much wood” Meanings of Indian Names

25. Oyster Shell Pile! You can see why coastal tribes would not want to leave their lands!!

26. American Indian Pathways & Early Access to the Interior Lands

27. Derby is settled in 1651. Indian Trails and a Ford where the Naugatuck meets the Housatonic. Woodbury is settled in 1672. Indian Trails lead these coastal settlers to the interior. Settlers make their way from Norwalk to Danbury in 1684 to establish a town. Indian Trails lead these coastal settlers to the interior. Early Interior Settlement From 1639 to 1651 there are no English settlements in the Western interior of Connecticut…at least that I am aware of…That changes once Derby, Woodbury & Danbury are settled.

28. 1672 1651 1684 Indian trails used in all these migrations

29. Why Indian Paths were important

30. In finding their way inland, settlers needed Indian guides to find where the Indian paths were and where they went. One writer noted: “they (the English) sadly search up and down for a known way, the Indian paths not being above a one foot road. So that a man may travel many days and never find one.”The use of guides would continue into the 1800’s. i.e. Lewis and Clark Expedition. Indian Guides Were Essential

33. Derby Waterways = Early Indian North/South Trails.

34. 34 Naugatuck R. meets Housatonic R Fording place.

35. Ford

37. From these Pathways Begins the Progression of our Transportation Systems

38. The simplest early roads were described as “paths cut out” i.e. brush was cut out along the Indian pathways and trees were marked with an ax…

40. Later these paths were made “passable for horses” by cutting tree limbs high enough to permit the passage of a horse and rider. For many years this was the method of travel throughout our state. Pack horses became common and goods were often transported by packhorse trains…

42. The next progression, which proves to be an important one, was the widening of bridle paths to accommodate Ox Carts. Oxen were strong and capable of travel over terrain that would be impassable for a horse-drawn cart…

44. Packhorse lobbyists protested heavily, claiming the construction of wider roads was a waste of taxpayers’ money but they lost and as a direct result of these new Ox Cart paths, inland settlements in our State increased quickly.

45. Ox Carts headed to a Ferry…no bridges back then!

46. Ox Cart Paths Improve Travel & Access to the Interior Lands This Assembly doth free the town of Danbury from paying country rates this present year (1702), They paying their deputies salary and all other Public charges amongst themselves, and they making a sufficient cart-way from their town and through their bounds and the country lands, for transportation of what they raise to the sea (i.e. the ports of Fairfield and Norwalk).

47. Woodbury Waterbury New Milford Southbury Naugatuck Brookfield Seymour Danbury Newtown Pioneer Settlement Ansonia Settlements resulting from success of & improvements by pioneer towns Derby Bethel Redding Ridgefield

48. American Indian Pathways as Post Roads

49. Indian Paths played a major role in the establishment of the postal system in this country. The first colonial postal route was started by a single rider, in the winter of 1673, who rode between New York and Boston with a horse change in Hartford, his route traveled was over the old Indian trails between these points. Travel time? 3 weeks! Colonial Postal Route

50. The three major alignments of this “The Boston Post Road”were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Route 1 along the shore and through Providence, Rhode Island), the Upper Post Road (now US 5 and US 20 from New Haven, Connecticut via Springfield, Massachusetts), and the Middle Post Road (now Route 44 which split from Hartford, Connecticut, and ran diagonally to Boston via Pomfret, Connecticut). Colonial Postal Route