Remembering Who We Are….17
Lincoln’s Log
•July 17, 2024•
by Janet Roney
“Can’t be!” “I don’t believe it!” “Never heard of it!”
That was the reaction of my brothers when I told them that French fur traders had used a trail through our neighborhood during the 1700s long before any pioneer settlers arrived in Moultrie. I wanted to prove to them that I was right. (Is there some sort of Little Sister with Three Older Brothers Syndrome? If so, I was afflicted with it for a time.)
There is absolutely no mention of the French Kaskaskia-Detroit Road in any published local histories. W. I. Martin, our neighbor who was born in 1869, and was the oldest man we knew when we were kids, never mentioned it during our visits. As I said before, our grandmother Shuman, who was born in 1880, and grew up right next to the trail, said nothing about it.