Indian Paths of Pennsylvania

With the advent of European settlement, the Indian foot trails that laced the Pennsylvania wilderness often became bridle paths, wagon roads, and eventually even motor highways. Most of the old paths were so well situated that there was little reason to forsake them until the age of the automobile. That the Indians, taking every advantage offered by the terrain, “kept the level” so well among Pennsylvania’s mountains is an engineering curiosity. Just as remarkable is the complexity of the system and its adaptability to changing seasons and weather. Colonial travelers and Indians met frequently on the trail. Whether traveling to hunt, trade, war, negotiate, or visit, Native Americans demonstrated in these chance encounters that they were not the fiends some thought them to be. Indian Paths of Pennsylvania traces the Indian routes, reveals historical associations, and guides the motorist in following them today.

Paul A. W. Wallace (d. 1967) was a noted anthropologist and historian who served on the staff of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission from 1957 to 1965. He was the author of numerous volumes on the history of the Indians in Pennsylvania during the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s.