Before numbered state and federal highways came into existence in the mid-1920s, getting from town to town involved a drive, buggy ride or horse ride on dirt or gravel roads. Small signs with arrows on them often pointed people to the right direction, and if they weren’t lucky to have a paper map with them, asking for directions was a common sight.
Take, for example, going from Mount Carroll, Illinois to Peoria – a nearly 130-mile trek between two county seats. Today, it’s as easy as driving the entire length of Illinois Route 40. However, in the 1910s and early 1920s, the journey wasn’t as simple.
One of the first ways that easier navigation methods were made was the establishment of named motor trails. Nearly 100 were in existence in Illinois before the numbering system began, each with a different name for a unique reason. These routes were marked on hard roads that had been improved from the muck of dirt and gravel, and connected important towns. As more cars arrived on the road in the 1910s, the need for better roads was important.
The Lincoln Highway was the most prominent of these early trails, spanning Chicago’s south suburbs to Fulton within Illinois – crossing the Mississippi River (another important navigational route since the days of Pere Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673) to Clinton, Iowa. This became a national route spanning coast to coast.
Two of Illinois’ most important early settlements were Peoria and Galena. Peoria began as a gathering place for Native Americans in the late 1600s, and Galena was where an abundant amount of lead was mined, even before the Marquette-Jolliet expedition. The prominences of Peoria and Galena held up even into the early 1900s, and the two towns became connected during the mid-1800s on a busy stagecoach trail.
Northern Illinois was the last region of the state to be settled by the White man, with tribes as reluctant as the Sauk, led by chief Black Hawk, resisting removal up until 1832. Because of the Natives’ continued presence in the area, their history is perhaps more prominent to the locals than in, say, the rest of the state. Early White settlement in northwest Illinois came as people arrived from areas along the Illinois River, such as Peoria and La Salle-Peru.
When a motor trail between Peoria and Galena was hatched, it was given the name Indian Head Trail. The signs were orange and red.
As numbered highways became the norm, most of the old motor trails faded into obscurity – minus the Lincoln Highway, obviously. Northern Illinois also had routes such as the Keway Trail and the Diamond Trail, but there isn’t anything left along those paths today that remind travelers of what they once were. The Indian Head Trail has just one: a county road in Lee County named after it going south from the tiny community of Van Petten (population: somewhere between 1 and 4).
The preservation of early state maps, especially by the Secretary of State’s office, has given novice researchers an education on what was the norm before numbered highways. The image at the top of the page was taken from a state-based archive of the 1924 highway map. I have outlined in red where the former Indian Head Trail ran between Galena and Peoria (it is numbered as 31 in the dark box).
The Indian Head Trail connected Galena, Savanna, Mt. Carroll, Milledgeville, Sterling-Rock Falls, Walnut, Princeton, Tiskilwa, Chillicothe and Peoria – along with smaller towns between all of them.
In July, I took a drive along the path from Sterling to Peoria. As of the writing of this introduction, I will later take a drive along the path from Sterling to Galena. In this series about the Indian Head Trail, I will highlight some interesting sights along the way and help people navigate its former path.
It’s a scenic drive to take if time isn’t of the essence.
It also is worthy to note than the Indian Head Trail runs concurrently with the former 1800s Peoria to Galena stagecoach trail from north of Chillicothe to a point north of Princeton.
Part I goes from Peoria to Princeton
Part II goes from Princeton to Rock Falls
Part III goes from Rock Falls to Galena
(Parts II and III are coming soon, and will be linked here when published)
Cody’s Road Trips 