Wisconsin’s Rudimentary Roads: Part I
Paving the way for the frontier
The region’s American
Indians relied on lakes, rivers and streams for transportation, coupled with
overland routes that often followed earlier trails created by deer and other game.
The thin trails typically transversed moderate grades, meandered around steep
hills and obstructions, and offered advantageous views of surrounding areas in
order to spot enemies. They often paralleled waterways, which provided drinking
water and a means of escape if necessary.
Early European and
Canadian explorers, fur traders and missionaries made frequent use of the
natives’ extensive network of trails, and when settlers began arriving during
the first decades of the 19th century, they widened many of the trails to
accommodate their ox carts and wagons.
In 1835 the federal
government issued an official order to develop a system of military roads to
transport supplies and communication between forts that had been established
for frontier defense.
According to a
cooperative project developed by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the
Wisconsin Department of Transportation:
for the road to be 30 feet wide, with all trees less than 12inches wide to be cut to within 6
inches of the ground and those over 12inches
wide to be cut to within 1 foot of the ground. These stumps were left in the
ground to rot, rather than removed from the right-of-way, and posed a hazard to
anyone on the road who might collide with them and tip their wagon. Bridges
were to be constructed across substantial streams, and smaller streams would be
filled in with heavy logs and topped with a handrail. Causeways constructed of
poles and brush bundles (corduroy) were laid across the road in marshy and wet
areas and then covered with dirt from the side ditches that had been dug.”
These early military
roads were incredibly hazardous to travel on, not to mention uncomfortable.
They were subject to frequent flooding, making them impassable in bad weather.
Accidents were common because horses often were spooked and couldn’t be
controlled, and with no lighting, travel during darkness wasn’t undertaken
unless it was an absolute emergency.
If the Western frontier
was going to be settled, something had to be done to improve transportation, so
the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature authorized the creation of more than 240
territorial roads between 1836 and 1848.
To be continued with Wisconsin’s Rudimentary Roads: Part II