Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/55

Rh its source, descended the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, and ascertained with accuracy the geography of that interesting communication across .”

While only a few daring explorers and adventurous hunters penetrated the immense wilderness beyond the Mississippi, a steady stream of emigration from the Atlantic States, reinforced by new-comers from the old world, poured into the fertile region stretching from the Appalachian Mountains to the great river. They found their way either through Pennsylvania across the mountain ridges to Pittsburgh, and then by flat or keel boat down the Ohio, or through northern New York to the Great Lakes, and then on by water. The building of the famous Cumberland Road farther south had then only been just begun. Great were the difficulties and hardships of the journey. While the swift stage-coach reached Pittsburgh in six days from Philadelphia, the heavy carrier cart, or the emigrant wagon, had a jolt of three weeks to traverse the same distance. The roads were indescribable, and the traveler on the river found his course impeded by snags, sand-bars, and dangerous rapids. It was, therefore, not enough to have the great country; it must be made accessible. Nothing could have been more natural than that, as the West hove in sight larger and richer, the cry for better means of communication between the East and the West should have grown louder and more incessant.