Post by UKarchaeology on Nov 24, 2015 1:01:36 GMT
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- An unlabeled, nearly 200-year-old map, stored in the Missouri State Archives, became the starting point to discovering the earliest roads in Southeast Missouri, specifically ones the Cherokee may have followed on the Trail of Tears.
Earlier work on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail plotted a course through the Bootheel, which was covered in swamps and thick with cypress trees.
Finding that unlikely, Missouri Department of Transportation archaeologist Rusty Weisman began to look for accounts of the earliest roads, the ones likely used for centuries by the indigenous people long before the first Europeans arrived.
Using early travel accounts through personal journals and correspondence, Weisman re-created the road's likely path by landscape descriptions and property owner names.
For example, the Stephen Long expedition, the first scientific exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, began in 1819 and returned through Arkansas, Greenville and Cape Girardeau.
But the road changed alignments between that expedition and the 1837 map he found in the state archive, he said.
Then, in the Cape Girardeau County Archive, Weisman found the state legislation to build the first state road in Southeast Missouri.
With his pieced-together information, Weisman used a computer-aided mapping program that allowed him to overlay the old maps and locations onto a modern map.
Although some of the 19th-century measurements came up short, Weisman was surprised at the accuracy, he said.
Armed with a likely location, the archaeologist met with a colleague to investigate in the Mark Twain National Forest.
"It was stunning; the historic road was still on the ground, and you could follow it," Weisman said.
Full story: www.semissourian.com/story/2252805.html
Earlier work on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail plotted a course through the Bootheel, which was covered in swamps and thick with cypress trees.
Finding that unlikely, Missouri Department of Transportation archaeologist Rusty Weisman began to look for accounts of the earliest roads, the ones likely used for centuries by the indigenous people long before the first Europeans arrived.
Using early travel accounts through personal journals and correspondence, Weisman re-created the road's likely path by landscape descriptions and property owner names.
For example, the Stephen Long expedition, the first scientific exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, began in 1819 and returned through Arkansas, Greenville and Cape Girardeau.
But the road changed alignments between that expedition and the 1837 map he found in the state archive, he said.
Then, in the Cape Girardeau County Archive, Weisman found the state legislation to build the first state road in Southeast Missouri.
With his pieced-together information, Weisman used a computer-aided mapping program that allowed him to overlay the old maps and locations onto a modern map.
Although some of the 19th-century measurements came up short, Weisman was surprised at the accuracy, he said.
Armed with a likely location, the archaeologist met with a colleague to investigate in the Mark Twain National Forest.
"It was stunning; the historic road was still on the ground, and you could follow it," Weisman said.
Full story: www.semissourian.com/story/2252805.html