Buffalo Trace (road)
The Buffalo Trace was a trackway running through what are now the American states of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Originally formed by migrating bison, the trace crossed the Ohio River near the Falls of the Ohio and the Wabash River near Vincennes. It later became an important land route for settlers in Indiana. U.S. Route 150 between Vincennes and Louisville follows the path of the Trace.
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The Trace was created by millions of migrating bison that were numerous in the region, and was part of a greater buffalo route, that went from present-day Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky, through Bullitt's Lick south of present-day Louisville, across the Falls, and eventually ending in the prairies of southern Illinois. Due to the number of buffalo that used the trace, the road was sometimes twenty feet wide. In Indiana the trace had a few divergent points which gathered together again north of Jasper near several large ponds for buffalo to wallow. The Trace crossed the White River at points, near present-day Petersburg and Portersville, Indiana.[1][2]
The trace served as a road through early Indiana and was very important to the development of the state. The first stagecoach service along the length of the trace from New Albany to Vincennes was started in 1820. The Trace was so well known that in 1804 Indiana Territorial governor William Henry Harrison used it as a treaty boundary with Indians.[3] Harrison had recommended in 1802 that the Trace be improved into a road fit for wagons, with inns for travelers every thirty to forty miles.[4]
The Buffalo Trace was the primary travel route between the Louisville area and Vincennes; two-thirds of settlers coming from the Louisville area into the interior of Indiana used the trace.[5] Rangers were hired to protect travelers using the road, eventually doing so on horseback in 1812.[6] It was due to this that, shortly after statehood in 1816, the Indiana legislature had the Trace paved from New Albany to Vincennes as part of its internal improvements program. It was paved all the way to Paoli, Indiana, when the state of Indiana had to turn over operation of the road to a private organization as part of their negotiations to avoid bankruptcy, who made it a turnpike, calling it the New Albany-Paoli Turnpike. The 1820 stagecoach serving the route was the first stagecoach service in Indiana. It also served the population of Floyd County, Indiana, particularly Greenville, Galena, and Floyds Knobs.[7]
Other names for the Trace through its history have been Clarksville Trace, Harrison's Road, Kentucky Road, Vincennes Trace, and Lan-an-zo-ki-mi-wi (an Indian name meaning "buffalo road").[8][9]
US-150 from Vincennes to New Albany, follows the path of the Trace. A large section of the original trace can be seen south of French Lick in Orange County, Indiana, along the Springs Valley Trail System.[10][11] There is an attempt to make it a National Scenic Byway.[12] In total, driving US-150 to coincide with the Buffalo Trace has a length of 112 miles.[13]
Parts of the trace are now protected, including sections in the Hoosier National Forest and a small tract within Buffalo Trace Park, a preserve maintained by Harrison County, Indiana.
- ^ Wilson, George. Early Indiana Trails and Surveys (Indiana Historical Society, 1919) pg.349
- ^ McCafferty, Michael. Native American Place Names of Indiana. (University of Illinois Press, 2008) pg.172
- ^ Wilson pg.349
- ^ Cayton, Andrew. Frontier Indiana (Indiana University Press, 1998) pg.184
- ^ Robinson, Mona. Who's Your Hoosier Ancestor? (Indiana University Press, 1992) pg.38,39
- ^ Robinson, Mona. Who's Your Hoosier Ancestor? (Indiana University Press, 1992) pg.38,39
- ^ Kleber, John E. Encyclopedia of Louisville. (University Press of Kentucky, 2001). pg.302.
- ^ Wilson pg.349
- ^ Robinson pg.38
- ^ McCafferty pg.172
- ^ Robinson pg.39
- ^ The Buffalo Trace United States Forest Service, accessed September 2, 2008
- ^ Wissing, Douglas. Scenic Driving Indiana (Globe Pequot, 2001) pg.1
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