Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 2).djvu/92

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86
INDIAN THOROUGHFARES

where the great boundary line between the northern colonies and the Six Nations (established at Fort Stanwix—Rome, New York—November 5, 1768) struck the Allegheny river. Kittanning, therefore, came at once into prominence as the most northernly village in the territory of the colonies, and the worn path thither came at once into a position of utmost importance.

Writes one who has studied the route of this old thoroughfare:

"Aughwick Valley is in the extreme southern part of Huntingdon county (Pennsylvania), and, if not a regular continuation of the Tuscarora Valley, it is at least one of the chain of valleys through whose entire length ran the celebrated Indian path from Kittanning to Philadelphia,—the great western highway for footmen and packhorses.

"This path, traces of which can yet (1856) be plainly seen in various places, and especially in the wilds of the mountains, must have been a famous road in its day. It commenced at Kittanning on the Allegheny River, and crossed the Alleghany Mountains in a southeastern direc-