rants from more northern States found other serviceable routes.
Until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, New Englanders reached
the West by three main avenues. Some followed the Mohawk and Genesee
turnpikes across central New York to Lake Erie. This route led directly,
of course, to the Western Reserve. Some traveled along the Catskill
turnpike from the Hudson to the headwaters of the Allegheny, and thence
descended the Ohio. Still others went by boat from Boston to New York,
Philadelphia, or Baltimore, in order to approach the Ohio by a more
southerly course.

The natural outlet from Pennsylvania was the Ohio River. Emigrants from
the western parts of the State floated down the Allegheny or Monongahela
to the main stream. Those from farther east, including settlers from New
Jersey, made the journey overland by one of several well-known roads.
The best of these was a turnpike following the line that General Forbes
had cut during the French and Indian War from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh
by way of Lancaster and Bedford. Baltimore was a favorite point of
departure, and from it the route lay almost invariably along a turnpike
to Cumberland on the upper Potomac, and thence by the National Road
across the mountains to Wheeling. In later days this was the route
chiefly taken from Virginia, although more southerly passes through the
Blue Ridge were used as outlets to the Great Kanawha, the Big Sandy, and
other streams flowing into the Ohio farther down.

Thus the lines of westward travel which in the East spread fan-shape
from Maine to Georgia converged on the Ohio; and that stream became, and
for half a century remained, the great pathway of empire. Most of the
emigrants had to cover long distances in overland travel before they
reached the hospitable waterway; some, especially in earlier times,
made the entire journey by land. Hundreds of the very poor went afoot,
carrying all their earthly possessions on their backs, or dragging
them in rude carts. But the usual conveyance was the canvas-covered
wagon--ancestor of the "prairie schooner" of the western plains--drawn
over the rough and muddy roads by four, or even six, horses. In this
vehicle the emigrants stowed their provisions, household furniture and
utensils, agricultural implements, looms, seeds, medicines, and every
sort of thing that the prudent householder expected to need, and for
which he could find space. Extra horses or oxen sometimes drew an
additional load;