Routes to the West for American Settlers
Americans who heeded the call to "go west, young man" tended to follow well-traveled paths which had been marked, or in some cases, constructed specifically to accommodate settlers.
Before 1800 the mountains to the west of the Atlantic seaboard created a natural obstacle to the interior of the North American continent. And, of course, few people even knew what lands existed beyond those mountains.
In the early decades of the 1800s that all began to change as very well-traveled routes were followed by many thousands of settlers.
Canals had proven their worth in Europe, where cargo and people traveled on them, and some Americans realized that canals could bring great improvement to the United States.
Citizens of New York State invested in a project which was often mocked as folly. But when the Erie Canal opened in 1825 it was considered a marvel.
The canal connected the Hudson River, and New York City, with the Great Lakes. As a simple route into the interior of North America, it carried thousands of settlers westward in the first half of the 19th century.
And the canal was such a commercial success that soon New York was being called "The Empire State."More »
A land route westward was needed in the early 1800s, a fact made evident when Ohio became a state and there was no road that went there. And so the National Road was proposed as the first federal highway.
Construction began in western Maryland in 1811. Workers started building the road going westward, and other work crews began heading east, toward Washington, D.C.
It was eventually possible to take the road from Washington all the way to Indiana. And the road was made to last. Constructed with a new system called "macadam," the road was amazingly durable. Parts of it actually became an early interstate highway.More »
In the 1840s the way westward for thousands of settlers was the Oregon Trail, which began in Independence, Missouri.
The Oregon Trail stretched for 2,000 miles. After traversing prairies and the Rocky Mountains, the end of the trail was in Willamette Valley of Oregon.
While the Oregon Trail became known for westward travel in the mid-1800s, it was actually discovered decades earlier by men traveling eastward. Employees of John Jacob Astor, who had established his fur trading outpost in Oregon blazed what became known as the Oregon Trail while carrying dispatches back east to Astor's headquarters.More »
Before 1800 the mountains to the west of the Atlantic seaboard created a natural obstacle to the interior of the North American continent. And, of course, few people even knew what lands existed beyond those mountains.
In the early decades of the 1800s that all began to change as very well-traveled routes were followed by many thousands of settlers.
•The Erie Canal
Canals had proven their worth in Europe, where cargo and people traveled on them, and some Americans realized that canals could bring great improvement to the United States.
Citizens of New York State invested in a project which was often mocked as folly. But when the Erie Canal opened in 1825 it was considered a marvel.
The canal connected the Hudson River, and New York City, with the Great Lakes. As a simple route into the interior of North America, it carried thousands of settlers westward in the first half of the 19th century.
And the canal was such a commercial success that soon New York was being called "The Empire State."More »
•The National Road
A land route westward was needed in the early 1800s, a fact made evident when Ohio became a state and there was no road that went there. And so the National Road was proposed as the first federal highway.
Construction began in western Maryland in 1811. Workers started building the road going westward, and other work crews began heading east, toward Washington, D.C.
It was eventually possible to take the road from Washington all the way to Indiana. And the road was made to last. Constructed with a new system called "macadam," the road was amazingly durable. Parts of it actually became an early interstate highway.More »
•The Oregon Trail
In the 1840s the way westward for thousands of settlers was the Oregon Trail, which began in Independence, Missouri.
The Oregon Trail stretched for 2,000 miles. After traversing prairies and the Rocky Mountains, the end of the trail was in Willamette Valley of Oregon.
While the Oregon Trail became known for westward travel in the mid-1800s, it was actually discovered decades earlier by men traveling eastward. Employees of John Jacob Astor, who had established his fur trading outpost in Oregon blazed what became known as the Oregon Trail while carrying dispatches back east to Astor's headquarters.More »
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