These ancient, Native American trails connected in Northwest Louisiana

NATCHITOCHES, La. ( KTAL/KMSS ) – A trail leading from near St. Louis, Missouri to Natchitoches, Louisiana , teaches us about a race that ruled “the new world” long before people from “the old world” arrived.

The Natchitoches Trace , also known in part as the Southwest Trail and/or the Old Military Road, is one of the oldest roads in the state of Arkansas. It is an ancient Native American trail that winds through Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana before connecting with another series of trails that extended outward from Natchitoches, Louisiana.

And at least one scholar believes a series of interconnected, ancient footpaths once led from near Cahokia Mounds (near modern-day St. Louis) to Natchitoches in Louisiana, over the Mississippi River to Natchez and on to Nashville, and from Natchitoches to the old capital of the Aztec empire–Mexico City.

Is it possible that Natchitoches, Louisiana was one centerpoint for well-worn trails that once helped morphing hunter/gatherer and later agricultural civilizations in the Americas navigate through the natural world before the Columbian Exchange ?

Natchitoches to Tenochtitlan

By 1780, Spain was in control of the majority of the New World. Tenochtitlan, the old capital of the Aztecs, had been turned into Mexico City by the Spaniards and was basically grand central station for Spanish rule.

Many ancient roads in Native America were used by early European explorers, and then used by governments who were attempting to gain control of sections of land in the New World. To the Spaniards, who had control of much of South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and North America, using ancient footpaths was easier than blazing new trails.

Many of the old trails created by natives of the Americas were used by Europeans as international trials to reach and control their claims in the New World , and today, these ancient paths are infrequently celebrated.

But these old foot trails are an important piece of mankind’s history.

Dr. Gary Joiner, Professor of History at LSU Shreveport , said the old “Royal Road,” now called the El Camino Real de los Tejas, is one of the most famous Native American roads that reached Natchitoches.

“It was a native American Trade Route that became the Spanish Royal Road,” he told KTAL.

And Joiner said the Royal Road was part of a system of Native American roads that led from Northern America to Central America.

“The system included the Natchez Trace and the Natchitoches Trace. Think of it as a North American, early form of a highway.”

Joiner said in the days just before the Spaniards and French arrived in what is now Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, Native American paths were everywhere because these were Native American lands.

“And those paths followed animal trails. Natives followed the animal paths for food, clothing, and supplies all the way up to Canada.”

But finding historic maps of the trail systems that existed before Spain claimed the New World is impossible.

“Buffalo didn’t have maps,” said Joiner with a laugh. “Why would they? They’re buffalo.”

Joiner also said that as North America began to be settled, at times the Spanish controlled the old Native American trails and at other times the French controlled the trails.

Highway 6 and U.S. 84

“Highway 6, according to the state of Louisiana, is called the Colonial Road . It went from Natchitoches to Natchez on the Mississippi River, which picks up the Natchez Trace and goes all the way up into Tennessee,” Joiner told KTAL.

And there was a portion of a trail the French used that went from Robeline to Natchitoches.

Another Native American trail, which is now called Highway 6, cuts across Louisiana horizontally. Highway 6 still goes between Natchitoches, Robeline, down to Many, and crosses what was once called No Man’s Land .

“From Natchitoches, you see two different things with these old trails,” said Joiner. “One trail goes in a giant curve and is now U.S. 84. 84 goes through Winnfield, Jonesville, Ferriday, crosses the Mississippi River and goes to Natchez. It’s an old Native American road that goes up into Tennessee,” Joiner said.

Natchez Trace Parkway

One old Native American roads that leads from Natches, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee is a buffalo trail turned Native American path turned explorer path turned early settler path. It’s called the Natchez Trace Parkway , and it’s one of the most beautiful drives in the Deep South.

This road was connected to Natchitoches, Louisiana by a Native American trail that connected the village to Natchez, another Native American village.

Meriweather Lewis, of Lewis and Clark, is buried on the Natchez Trace. Some say he was murdered , and others believe he committed suicide. But regardless of what happened, Lewis was on one of the most used Native American trails in the American South when he died.

Joiner said many of the earliest roads that were called “American” actually date to Native American times, though they were later used by Americans to get soldiers and supplies ready to invade Mexico.

The Southwest Trail

A large portion of The Natchitoches Trace is now known as The Southwest Trail , a trail that was used for generations by the Caddo Nation and other tribes who lived in or passed through northwestern Louisiana.

Some sources say the Natchitoches Trace ended in modern-day Natchitoches, Louisiana and connected the Red River Basin to the Missouri River Basin.

But Joiner said the Natchitoches Trace didn’t necessarily end in Natchitoches. It might actually be another section of the El Camino Real .

Spanish territories in the New World

After Columbus “discovered” the New World for France and Spain, they conquered the Aztec Empire. The capital of the Aztec Empire, known as Tenochtitlan, became the Spanish capital that is still called Mexico City.

Tenochtitlan was an impressive place, similar in a way to watery Venice in Italy. In Tenochtitlan, fresh fruits and vegetables were hauled by canoe from floating gardens to a great market known as Tlatelolco. There were two-story houses with rooftop gardens, and busy markets .

After the Spaniards took Tenochtitlan from the native peoples that had built it, the Spaniards covered historic Aztec sites with European-stylized palaces, houses, and churches. They also confiscated the road system that spanned out from the old Aztec capital . These roadways were in place long before the Spaniards arrived in the New World, and the trails became the basis of the road system used by Spanish settlers, rulers, traders, treasure hunters, soldiers, and clergymen of New Spain.

New Spain then ruled over the New World at Mexico City, or old Tenochtitlan, for hundreds of years.

But even today, some road sections around Mexico City are “highly related to ancient routes in the Aztec Empire,” according to a paper written by Igor Lugo and Carlos Gershenson .

Longest Road in the Americas

Today, the concept of a road that links together both North and South America sounds implausible. But the world’s longest “motorable road,” according to the Guiness World Records, links Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to the top of Chile.

The road was built between WWI and WWII, and the first stretch of the journey was built between Laredo, Texas and Mexico City. The second stretch of roadway built for the people of the Americans led to Panama City.

The 2400-mile route is called the Pan-American Highway , known today as “the lost highway.”

The history of the Pan American Highway proves that once upon a time, not so very long ago, the United States was determined to connect citizens of North, Central, and South America to one another.

And it also shows us how quickly historic roads can fade from cultural memory.

The Pan American Highway was once a very big deal, but now it is mostly forgotten by those in North America.

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt once said that “the volume of our trade with South America will soon grow to large proportions… It is not impossible that, following such development, the magnificent conception of an international railroad connecting the United States with the remotest parts of South America may at last be realized.”

That was in 1901.

Jefferson and Lincoln Highways in U.S. history

Other almost-forgotten roadways from modern times surround us in the United States, too.

A trail system for automobiles called the Jefferson Highway was built in the early 1900s and named after U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. It also goes through Natchitoches as it stretches north and south from New Orleans to Canada. It also passes through Kansas City and Minneapolis, St. Paul and Des Moines.

And though it doesn’t pass through Natchitoche, another historic trail named after a U.S. President is the old Lincoln Highway .

The Lincoln Highway spread east to west from San Francisco to New York, going through Salt Lake City, Omaha, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia on the way to New York.

It was one of the first transcontinental highways for automobiles in the United States. It was also one of the first highways designed specifically for cars.

But even the earliest roads built by the U.S. are quite young compared to the series of Native American footpaths that once led to and from Natchitoches, Louisiana.

The Natchitoches Trace

The Natchitoches Trace is a prehistoric road because its creation predates written history. It begins (or perhaps ends) at the mouth of the Missouri River and crawls through the Ozarks before connecting with a sharp corner in the path of the Red River of the South. Settlers came down the old trail in their wagons on the way to settle in Texas.

And it is a part of the system of trails that eventually earned the nickname “the Trail of Tears .” Many Native Americans living in Louisiana were forced to walk The Natchitoches Trace (and other pathways) and settle on reservations in Oklahoma.

The Natchitoches Trace trailscape also served as one of the South’s first military roads.

Sections of it still exist today.

The old trail once stretched from Natchitoches in Northwest Louisiana through modern-day Hot Springs, Little Rock and Searcy in Arkansas.

When French and Spanish explorers first began exploring what is now Arkansas, they probably used parts of the trail.

A persistent place

Several sites along the Natchitoches Trace have been labeled as a persistent place , which is to say a place that has been used repeatedly during the long-term occupation of a region .

Mexico City is a persistent place.

So is Natchitoches, Louisiana. And Natchez, Mississippi. And Nagodgoches, Texas.

Historic trails tend to bind together, like a string of freshwater pearls, historic “persistent places” in the Americas. Many of these places were once inhabited by Native Americans and eventually conquered by Old World nations.

But for those who love history, “persistent places” are a reminder that we are not the first people or nations to live on the ancient lands called the New World.

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