“This country was the home of the
red men, a home from which they were loth to part. God had given them
this beautiful valley of the Scioto for their home. It was a
migratory field for the restless buffalo; the elk and the bear roamed
its wooded hills; the deer and wild turkey made it their home; the
valleys and the upland were filled with small game; fish sported in
the cool and pellucid (translucently clear) waters of its rivers and
creeks, and in shadowy nooks, near bubbling springs and crystal
fountains, the aborigines built their wigwams. It was a paradise for
the hunter, and the Indians liad roamed lord of all.
“In 1795 the valley of the Scioto,
with its wealth of forest and stream, with its high and rolling
upland, bold bluffs and nestling valleys, became the property of the
palefaces, and that which stood for centuries in its wild and rugged
grandeur was, ere long, to assume a prominent place in the future of
our State.”
– History of Lower
Scioto Valley, Ohio. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884
Too often we overlook the grandeur of
the land which we call home. Becoming so accustomed to our
surroundings, we fail to uphold the natural gifts that bless our
being. Thousands of years ago, Native Americans began peopling this
valley and here lived in harmony with Mother Earth as they carefully
nurtured the land they so loved. It is left to us to be good
stewards of our surroundings.
One way which we can do that is to
study the annals of the footsteps of those who came before. The very
paths of old can reveal much about the significance of our natural
history. The original traces or paths through the dense forests of
Ohio were created by animals – such as buffalo and deer – in
search of food, water, and salt licks. These narrow, well-worn trails
were often just wide enough to allow passage in single file. They
were ideally far enough from streams to avoid swamps and lowlands,
and they sometimes followed the ridges, and became known as
“high-ways.” Ravines and their attendant creeks made travel
difficult as well.
Along these trails the aboriginal Ohio
peoples traveled whether engaged in warfare, the hunt, trade and
barter, or migration. Later the trails served, together with navigable
streams, as the only means of entrance for the white traders and
settlers who pushed their way into the country west and north on the
Ohio River. Thus the trails in great measure determined the course of
improved highways and in this way strongly influenced the location of early settlers' communities and towns.
Such is the case with our very own
Scioto Trail. This trail has long been of striking importance,
running north and south through the state, between Sandusky Bay and
mouth of the Scioto River. Ascending the Sandusky River, crossing the
portage and descending the Scioto to its juncture with the Ohio River, the
Scioto Trail crossed the Ohio and joined the famous
"Warriors' Path," leading far into the southland. Surely
the likes of Boone, Tecumseh, and scores of other famous frontier figures employed the old Scioto Trail.
The Scioto Trail's link with the Warriors' Path was crucial for Native Americans. For centuries, the Cherokee and the
Shawnee traveled through the Cumberland Gap along a game trail known
by the Shawnee as Athiamiowee, translated
as “path of the armed ones.” Both tribes traveled the path
in and out of Kentucky, using it as a hunting ground. Bitter enemies,
these two tribes regularly attacked one another. As pioneers began to
come through Cumberland Gap in the late 1700's, the trail became part
of what was known as the Wilderness Road.
Together these trails – the Scioto
and the Warriors Path – constituted one of the greatest passages of
the western country. The principal towns were the Sandusky towns near
the bay ; the Pipe's towns, Half King's town, Wyandot's town, in the
vicinity of the upper rapids of the Sandusky river; Mingo and
Delaware towns in Delaware county ; Old Salt Lick town and Mingo town
in Franklin county; Maguck and the Chil- lieothe towns in Pickaway
and Ross; Hurrican Tom's town and Wanduchale's town further south and
Chillicothe on the Ohio, or Lower Shawnee town, at the mouth of the
Scioto.
Thus, the Scioto Trail was the walkway
of the Shawnee from the neutral hunting ground of Kentucky to the
fishing grounds of Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie. It was used for
predatory raids upon the early settlements of Kentucky and the
flatboatmen of the Ohio.
The local segment of the trail lies
upon the second bottom of the broad flats (U.S. 23) and leads up past
the loops of the Scioto, until the narrower valley through the gap in
the Pike County hills causes it to rise from the river and cross the
ridge. Much of the old trail is covered today by U.S. Route 23 and is
easily recognized.
The path leads through Wakefield over
the hills northeastward , descends into the flats at Waverly to rise
again over billowing hill tops, and descends northeasterly to the
flats below Chillicothe.
Mound City testifies to its antiquity.
From the heights to the south of Chillicothe is the triple ridge of
Mount Logan, and beyond it Rattlesnake Knob standing above the
Pickaway Plains to the north. Passing directly through the meadows,
after crossing the river at the north edge of the present town, the
trail touches Mound City in the Camp Sherman area and moves over the
rolling prairie, with retreating hills to the right and willowy loops
of the river on the left.
It passes the famous view of Mount
Logan, where the sun rises over the three peaks, a scene which
suggested the Seal of Ohio. After crossing Kinnickinnick Creek it
entered a region replete with Indian history. It reaches into the
Pickaway Plains proper where the rolling prairies studded with
ancient isolated trees grow as they did in Indian days. Once among
them, one mile east of Nash Corners, was the famous Logan Elm, where
the great Indian made his tragic and eloquent address to the Royal
Governor Dunmore and the victorious Colonel Lewis. This point lay
upon the trail circling the plains that bound the bordering Indian
Villages.
Many natural landmarks still stand in
the Pickaway Plains to recall Indian habitation. Among the
prehistoric mounds is the Burning Mound of the Shawnees, southeast of
Circleville. There are several large elms adjacent to the
aforementioned site of the Logan Elm that are probably almost as old.
Beyond Congo Creek, on the southern bank of which stood the Logan
Elm, and over Scippo Creek, the trail leads past the lookout hill in
the center of the Plains known as the Black Mountain. Up Scippo Creek
a short distance lay Cornstalk's Town and the town of the Grenadier
Squaw.
Signal Tree Near Richmondale
* A Note of Special Interest
An amateur historian named Tom O'Grady
tells of his recent discovery of a “signal tree” on Weddington
Hill, south of Richmondale, Ohio. Do you know what a signal tree is?
In order to live and work efficiently,
these tribes needed a way to navigate their land and communicate with
one another. Called "marker trees," or "trail trees,"
saplings were carefully bent by a local Native American tribe,
forcing them to grow in unnatural shapes. They became guideposts
essential to the Indians' way of life. The shapes of the signal trees
varied depending upon the tribe and the message being relayed. The
trees are typically made from those of the hardwood family, such as
oak, maple, and elm.
These unique formations communicated a
special message to the tribe members. Some of them stood as a
geographical divide said to mark the boundary between two local
tribes. Others, like highway exit signs, pointed tribespeople to
water sources, medicinal plants, and special burial sites. They were
also used to indicate safe-crossing points at rivers, rock or mineral
deposits for tool-making, and the burial sites of their ancestors.
Tecumseh and His Pan-Indian Campaign
Tecumseh, himself, made epic journeys
on many Native American trails arguing the need for inter-tribal
peace and unity to counter the land hunger of the United States. He
and his brother, the Prophet Lalawethika, with the help of runners
and riders, used established Indian trails and waterways to organize
the so-called “Pan-Indian Campaign.”
All present-day residents of the Scioto
Valley should be mindful of Tecumseh's allegiance, a great heritage
that continually challenges us to honor and be ever appreciative of
the land on which we live. Largely without conscious recognition, we
tread upon the same pathways once taken by native inhabitants.
In
1811, Tecumseh warned of the fate the American Indians would suffer
unless they united to resist the white man. Do we properly respect
what we once usurped? It is not without anguish that we better
understand the obligations of our settlement. From the words of the great Shawnee leader
...
“... but what need is there to
speak of the past? It speaks for itself and asks, Where is the
Pequod? Where the Narragansetts, the Mohawks, Pacanokets, and many
other once powerful tribes of our race? They have vanished before the
avarice and oppression of the white men, as snow before a summer sun.
In the vain hope of alone defending their ancient possessions they
have fallen in the wars with the white men.
“Look abroad over their once
beautiful country, and what see you now? Naught but the ravages of
the pale face destroyers meet our eyes. So it will be with you
Choctaws and Chickasaws! Soon your mighty forest trees under the
shade of whose wide spreading branches you have played in infancy,
sported in boyhood, and now rest your wearied limbs after the fatigue
of the chase, will be cut down to fence in the land which the white
intruders dare to call their own.
“Soon their broad roads will pass
over the graves of your fathers, and the place of their rest will be
blotted out forever. The annihilation of our race is at hand unless
we unite in one common cause against the common danger, and thus
escape the common fate.”
“Your people, too, will soon be as
falling leaves and scattering clouds before their blighting breath.
You, too, will be driven away from your native land and ancient
domains as leaves are driven before the wintry storms.”
Sources:
“The Ancient Ohio Trail.”
http://www.ancientohiotrail.org/routes/lower-scioto-valley.
Emmit A. Conway, Sr. “Trail Signal
Trees.” http://www.oldeforester.com/Sigtree.html.
“Historic American Indian Tribes
of Ohio.” Ohio Historical Society. www.ohiohistory.org.
History of Lower Scioto Valley of
Ohio
“Indian Trails and Towns in Ohio.”
http://ohiomounds.com/?page_id=28
Cassandra Lewis. “These Trees Have
Secret Native American Codes. Their Meaning? Brilliant!”
https://www.littlethings.com/native-american-trees/.
“Remarkable
Ohio: Scioto Trail.” The Ohio Channel.
https://www.ohiochannel.org/video/remarkable-ohio-scioto-trail.
“Warriors' Path.” Cumberland Gap
National Historical Park.
https://www.nps.gov/cuga/learn/historyculture/warriors-path.htm.
Frank Wilcox, William McGill, Richard
S. Grimes. “The Scioto Trail or Warriors' Trail.” Ohio Indian
Trails.
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