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ways, especially through difficult terrain. These trails usually led to campsites,
food, and water.
Roads developed from pathways were haphazard and bore little resemblance
to roads as we know them. As countries developed, road systems were part of
the government structure. The elaborate road system of the Roman Empire is a
good example of early road development to facilitate travel and communication of
information.
In North America, trade routes initiated roads that opened the West for settle-
ment. An example is the Santa Fe Trail that linked the Missouri towns of St. Joseph
and Independence to Santa Fe, New Mexico. This trail and the Oregon Trail were
used extensively until the establishment of railroad routes in the second half of the
19th century. As the nation moved west, so did the need for communication of in-
formation.
The Land Ordinance Act of 1785 divided land outside established cities into
36-mile squares, which were divided into 36 square-mile units. The squares were
quartered into farms, and each farm was required to allocate a 33-foot strip of land
to create a 66-foot roadway that followed the property boundaries at a one-mile
spacing. Hence, plans were laid for a national road system. Following World War
II, the U.S. government established a long-term plan for implementing an interstate
road system that speeded the transport of people, goods, and mail to all parts of
the country.
Waterways
From ancient times, rivers, lakes, and seas have served to transport goods
and passengers. These waterways were often augmented with the construction
of canals. In the United States, the canal served as a transition between animal-
powered vehicles and steam-driven railroad cars. During the early 19th century,
about 3,700 miles of canal were constructed, mostly in New York, Pennsylvania,
and Ohio (Grant, 51). These canals served as an inexpensive, reliable means of
transporting goods, augmenting navigable rivers and lakes. As railways were built
and better locomotives were built, the canal was superseded as an efficient mode
of transportation, although some canals are still used regularly in the twenty-first
century.
Ships
Humans' venture onto water is obscured in history. Evidence found in illustra-
tions in tombs and on decorated pots suggest that where there was timber, float-
ing logs may have been the inspiration for shaping logs, hollowing them out, and
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