Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 8).djvu/27

Rh the prairie country as soon as possible. This road was called the old Massac road by the Americans."

The second route circled the Massac County lakes to the westward, cutting in between them and the canyons of the Cache River, near what is familiarly known as Indian Point (section 33, township 13, range 3E, Massac County), or one mile south of the northwest corner of Massac County; thence, running north of northwest, it crossed the Little Cache (Dutchman's Creek) one and one-half miles north of Forman. Thence the route is up the east side of the Cache and through Buffalo Gap, section 25, township 11, range 2E, Johnson County, to the prairie land beyond. The third route follows the second through Massac County.

It is important to note here that the Illinois of Clark's day—as is partly true now—was composed of three kinds of land: swampy or "drowned" lands, prairie land, and timber land. Being practically a level country, the forests became as prominent landmarks as mountains and hills are in rugged districts. Routes of travel clung