ANewWOItIIJcentralPenn sylvani a. cutt ing do wnforestso f oak
treesto m akehi llyfarms. T hey spreadwestwar d
along the rivervalleys in Virg inia,theC aroli nasand
Georgia.T heym o vednort h along theferti levalley
ofrhc Mohav v·kRivero fNewYork.
M aking a new settlementalwaysbegan in th e same
w ay.The sett lersclearedth e landoft rees, then cu t
the treesintologsandplanks.Theyusedthes eto
buildAho useand a barn .Theyth enploughed
betweenth e tre estumps.sowedth eirseeds,andfo ur
months laterharvestedthecropsofcom ami whe at.
If their soil was fertile th e sett lers lived well.ButIf
theso il was rocky.o r poorinplantfoods.life could
behard and disappoin ting. Settlers with poorsoil
o ftenleft th eirfarms andmovedwestwa rd,totr y
againonmoreferti le lan d .As th eytrave ledinland
they passedfewerandfewer f ar m sandvillages.At
lasrth erewere no ne atall.Thisarea.whereEuropean
set tlementcarneto anend andthefo rest homelan ds
o f the Amerindiansbegan,wascalledthefrontier.
Freshwav esofsettlers pushedth e frontiersteadily
westwa rds in their searchfo r fertileso il. Th eywould
o ftenpassby landth atseem edun suitab lefor
farming .Becau seofrhis, fro nt ier farm sand v illages
wereoften separated by milt'So f unse tt led land.A
fam ilym ig htbe a day'sjourneyfromits nearest
n eigh bors.Fo r suchreasons thepeoplecffron ticr
rom muniticshad torelyupo n them selvesfo ralmost
every th ing th eyneed ed .They grewth eirown food
and builttheirownhouses.Theym adeth e clot hing
th eyworeandthetool sth eyused .Theyd eveloped
theirownkindsofmusic,cntcrrainm cn r. art and
forms o f relig iousworsh ip.
A specialspiri t,oratt itude,grewoutofth is frontier
way o flife. Peo ple neededtobe to ugh,independent
andself-reliant .Yet they alson ee d edtowork
to geth er ,helpingeach o therwithsuch tasksJS
d earinglandand building hou sesandbarns.The
com b ina tio noftheseew eidcas c-a stro ngbeliefthat
individuals hadtohelpthemselvesandJ needfo r
th emtocooperatewithaile anorhcr--csrrengrhcnc d
th e feeling thatpeoplewereequal andth at n o bod y
sho u ldhavespecialrig hts and p rivileges.
The frontierwayoflifeh elped democratic ideasto
flo uri shin Am eri ca.T oday's Ameri cansliketothink
rhar manyofthebest valuesand att itu desofth e
modernUnitedStatesCJn be tracedbacktoth e
frontierexperienceso f theirpion eer ancestors.
22
DanielBooneandthe
WildernessRoad
In the 1760sland-hungryAmericansettle rs mo v-
lIlgwestwardsw erestoppedbyamajor obstacle,
th e Appalachian M ountains.This thicklyforested
mountain tJnge runs roughl y parall elto the
Atlanticco astofNorthAmerica and stretc hesfor
h und redsofmiles.Whensett lersreached the fo othillsofth e Appal-
achiansthe yfoundwaterfallsandrapid sb loc king
theriverstheyhadbeen followin g westwards. In
In sa hunterandexp lo rer namedD an ielBoone
led apartyofsettlers mroth emountains.Booneis
said tohaveclaimedthathe had been" o rda ined by
God tosettlethe wilderness;" With a partyo f
thirtyax mcn hecu tA trackcalledthe Wilderness
Road through the forestedCumberland GAp, a
naturalpassin theAppalachians.
Beyo nd the Cumberland Gap lay rich. rolling
grasslands. In the yearswhichfollowed, Boone's
WildernessRoadena bledthousandsofsettle rsto
movewithhorses,w agons. an dcattle inrothese
fertile:lands. Theynow m ak eup theAmerican
statesofKentuckyandTennessee.Danit/&>""t tMoni".IlMI/en" "Ih tlI'i/J,.",tuR....J