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Fort Pitt
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Forbes Road followed the "Raystown Traders Path," an Delaware-Shawnee Indian and fur trader pack trail connecting the Susquehanna (Harrisburg) and Ohio rivers via Raystown (modern Bedford).<ref>"Forbes Road (Raystown Path) #1" [road marker SW of Carlisle] as explained at ExplorePAhistory.com at http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=135 (accessed 20 December 2010).</ref> The construction part of the way from Harrisburg to Raystown (Bedford) was relatively easy because of the unfinished [[Burd's Road]] (1755) originally intended as a military supply route to connect to [[Braddock's Road]].<ref>"Col. James Burd" [road marker in Highspire] as explained at ExplorePAhistory.com at http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=130 (accessed 20 December 2010).</ref> At Raystown General Forbes had a choice of heading south to Fort Cumberland where he could follow Braddock's Road toward Fort Duquesne. Instead he picked the the more direct route, choosing to widen the older Raystown Traders Path even though it involved building switchbacks on several steep grades. It took six months to finish the Forbes military road west to Fort Duquesne. | Forbes Road followed the "Raystown Traders Path," an Delaware-Shawnee Indian and fur trader pack trail connecting the Susquehanna (Harrisburg) and Ohio rivers via Raystown (modern Bedford).<ref>"Forbes Road (Raystown Path) #1" [road marker SW of Carlisle] as explained at ExplorePAhistory.com at http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=135 (accessed 20 December 2010).</ref> The construction part of the way from Harrisburg to Raystown (Bedford) was relatively easy because of the unfinished [[Burd's Road]] (1755) originally intended as a military supply route to connect to [[Braddock's Road]].<ref>"Col. James Burd" [road marker in Highspire] as explained at ExplorePAhistory.com at http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=130 (accessed 20 December 2010).</ref> At Raystown General Forbes had a choice of heading south to Fort Cumberland where he could follow Braddock's Road toward Fort Duquesne. Instead he picked the the more direct route, choosing to widen the older Raystown Traders Path even though it involved building switchbacks on several steep grades. It took six months to finish the Forbes military road west to Fort Duquesne. | ||
After the French retreated, and the French and Indian War ended, Forbes Road and Braddock's Road became | After the French retreated, and the French and Indian War ended, the new British Fort Pitt immediately became a significant trading center. Forbes Road and Braddock's Road became important routes for British and American settlers to cross over the mountains to Pittsburgh, the Ohio Valley, and into what became the old Northwest Territory of the United States.<ref>"Forbes Road" in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_Road (accessed 18 December 2010).</ref> | ||
=== Trail Route === | === Trail Route === | ||