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 PREFACE

HE brave missionaries in Canada called the Indian trails of the North "Roads of Iron" because they were so difficult to follow. Holland, writing of the famous Bay Path in Massachusetts, gave them the name "Threads of Soil." They were all that these names imply and much more. They opened a new continent to its explorers, conquerors, and pioneers.

This monograph purposes to show the routes of the more important Indian thoroughfares of America, to suggest the importance of study of them, to prove that the courses can be identified and followed today, and to induce readers whom this subject may attract to do some work along these lines. To one who is imaginative the old days will come back: the trail and forest are again peopled, border armies hurry by, and the long stream of immigration floods the land. The subject is of