The region’s AmericanIndians relied on lakes, rivers and streams for transportation, coupled withoverland routes that often followed earlier trails created by deer and other game.The thin trails typically transversed moderate grades, meandered around steephills and obstructions, and offered advantageous views of surrounding areas inorder to spot enemies. They often paralleled waterways, which provided drinkingwater and a means of escape if necessary.
Early European andCanadian explorers, fur traders and missionaries made frequent use of thenatives’ extensive network of trails, and when settlers began arriving duringthe first decades of the 19th century, they widened many of the trails toaccommodate their ox carts and wagons.
In 1835 the federalgovernment issued an official order to develop a system of military roads totransport supplies and communication between forts that had been establishedfor frontier defense.
According to acooperative project developed by the Wisconsin Historical Society and theWisconsin Department of Transportation:
“Specifications calledfor the road to be 30 feet wide, with all trees less than 12%uFFFDinches wide to be cut to within 6inches of the ground and those over 12%uFFFDincheswide to be cut to within 1 foot of the ground. These stumps were left in theground to rot, rather than removed from the right-of-way, and posed a hazard toanyone on the road who might collide with them and tip their wagon. Bridgeswere to be constructed across substantial streams, and smaller streams would befilled in with heavy logs and topped with a handrail. Causeways constructed ofpoles and brush bundles (corduroy) were laid across the road in marshy and wetareas and then covered with dirt from the side ditches that had been dug.”
These early militaryroads 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 becontrolled, and with no lighting, travel during darkness wasn’t undertakenunless it was an absolute emergency.
If the Western frontierwas going to be settled, something had to be done to improve transportation, sothe Wisconsin Territorial Legislature authorized the creation of more than 240territorial roads between 1836 and 1848.
To be continued with Wisconsin’s Rudimentary Roads: Part II
