While the routes to Kentucky were being developed, the people in New England and New York were seeking an outlet to the West. The best east-west route across New York followed the Mohawk River, a tributary of the Hudson River. Since the Hudson permitted river travel up to Albany, development in this area was early. Road extensions along the Mohawk River permitted a western outlet toward Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and the state of Ohio. Development was fairly rapid because the bounty land for soldiers of the Revolutionary War lay to the west, especially in Kentucky and Ohio. The development of these lands became a national priority, encouraged by the Federal government.
After the French and Indian War and before the Revolutionary War, the English crown had forbidden the colonials to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. After the Revolution, the American policy became one of "Manifest Destiny", the self-proclaimed right to take possession of the continent by whatever means possible. The loser in this was the Native American. As a part of this policy, the seaboard colonies gave up their claims to western lands. There was a selfish motivation in this. The new Federal government had no established source of revenue except contributions from the states. The sale of western lands gave it some income. Land speculators bought the claims of soldiers to "western lands", which were combined into large tracts in Ohio.
In 1790, the gateway to the west was Pittsburgh, a thriving town of 400 homes with an industrial base. People arrived via Forbes' Road and Braddock's Road. At Pittsburgh, flatboats were built for travel as far as the falls of the Ohio (Louisville). At the destination, the flatboats were taken apart and used for building shelters. During the dry season, the Ohio River was often too low from Pittsburgh to Wheeling for the flatboats. As a consequence, Wheeling grew in importance as the point of departure down the Ohio. To reach Wheeling, an extension of Braddock's Road was created to go directly to Wheeling, bypassing Pittsburgh. In 1796, Ebenezer Zane agreed to construct a road from Wheeling to Zanesville, in Ohio, and then south to Maysville on the Ohio River. Already there was a road from Lexington up Maysville.
The first expansion across the mountains was to Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. In the South, westward expansion was inhibited by the presence of the Indians, and by the reluctance of Georgia to yield her western lands to the Federal government. In the middle area, the Nashville Road was built by the militia by 1788, to link Knoxville and Nashville. In this region, this road became the primary route of east-west travel.
The lands in Ohio were extremely popular for their ability to grow grains of all types. Many second generation citizens of Tennessee and Kentucky chose to cross the Ohio River to seek their lands. People were definitely on the move, sometimes for considerable distances.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.