Page:Final Report of the Northwest Territory Celebration Commission.pdf/31

 arrival about 2:00 p.m., parade 3:00 p.m., banquet or dinner at 6:00 p.m., and pageantry program 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. This was maintained six days per week. If a town wished its program on a Sunday, then either Saturday or Monday was the rest day.

From Ipswich to Marietta it must be remembered that these men were travelling afoot in midwinter, crossing the snow-clad Allegheny mountains in January.

They could not maintain their schedule of about twelve and up to twenty miles per day, do all the "extra curricular" duties required of them, and do their own cooking. They therefore purchased their meals except where banquets and dinners were given them by local people.

While at West Newton, Pennsylvania, after leaving Marietta for their trip through the states of Northwest Territory a cook was employed and meals were prepared in camp style. Even the cooking and table utensils were as near to those of a hundred and fifty years ago as could be procured.

It may be said that the men of the caravan were treated splendidly, not only by the committees along the route, but by many individuals. They were guests in many homes, and for them it should be said that they were a fine type of young men, who deported themselves as gentlemen.

Two factors need mention if this report is to be of value to any others contemplating similar activities: The element of girls attaching themselves to the members of the party, even to the point of surfeiting the men—if that could be possible, and that of many well-intentioned citizens believing that hospitality required serving of liquors in their homes or elsewhere. It was apparently not realized that these men were guests of one group after another each day for almost a year, and it is much to their credit that they came through these very human but tempting experiences without noticeable effect.

As to the itinerary of the caravan, the commission was fortunate in having the original diary which gave a clear outline of the stops to be made before he joined the party, and their daily experiences after he caught up with them at Swatara Creek. This, along with 's journals and other source material, permitted an almost precise following of the original pioneer's trail from Ipswich to Marietta.

Considerable difficulty was encountered in locating the old road through Connecticut and Eastern New York because diary references were in names of towns, which in that part of the country are townships and may embrace any number of settled communities. Many of the original towns have since been subdivided, thus adding to the confusion and the research necessary.

When pioneers travelled, they did not pay as much attention to grades as is common with present roads. Yet they had a wonderful sense for practical routes. In Connecticut there is a present stretch of eleven miles or more to get to the same destination, which the pioneers achieved in two and one-half miles; and up in the very top of the Allegheny mountains is now an overgrown pair of wagon ruts down over the precipitious mountain side. The ruts are worn six to eight inches deep in the solid stone. One