Routes
The roads and waterways that were most used by early American migrating families
Families had a hard time getting places without roads or rivers and many of their migration choices are based on the route they had to take. Below are some resources showing early roads, waterways and trails:
General:
1700s > Kings Highway - the first road (built in the early 1700s) to stretch from the Boston area down the east coast to Charleston, SC.
1820s Navigable Rivers in the settled U.S.
1835: Principle Highways and Waterways about 1835 -
1851 RailRoad Map from Hargret
1840-1850 Principle Routs of Trade and Migration
1875 Trunk Line (main lines) Railway Systems
New England Colonies / States
Middle Colonies / States
New York:
Albany Post RoadCatskill Turnpike
Pennsylvania
Great Valley Road / Great Wagon Road stretched across the bottom of Pennsylvania till Gettysburg then went southward down the Valley of Virginia
Southern Colonies / States
Seneca Trail - a network of Native American pathways through the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky that would later be known by various names
Virginia
The Piedmont Road / Fall Line Road - started at Fredericksburg, VA and came down the back country all the way to Georgia
Great Valley Road / Great Wagon Road stretched across the bottom of Pennsylvania down the Valley of Virginia
Midwest:
Map of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota Territories 1832-1858
Illinois
Historical Maps of Illinois from Illinois.gov includes an 1818 and 1833 map that shows roads and an 1855 railway map.
Iowa
Lyman Dillon and the Military Road shows the first federal road in Iowa Territory from the Tri-County Historical Society.
The West
Oregon Trail map shows the old Oregon Trail, Whitman Trail, Applegate Trail, Lews & Clark Trail and Santa Fe Trail.
Trails West: A map of early western migration trails
South West
The Santa Fe Trail - from FamilySearch Wiki has overview and a great map
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro - began in New Mexico and went southward to Mexico City