Whetzel Trace, the road to Indy and more - Ancient Traces and Roads on Waymarking.com

This is one of three markers denoting Whetzel's Trace. Some of the other markers seem to have questionable facts on them however this one seems to be fairly factual.


As taken from "The history of Whetzel's Trace" by George R. Wilson:

"A trace that at once sprung into use was the Whetzel trace through the New Purchase. It appears that in 1817, Jacob Whetzel selected a tract of land in the Harrison Purchase, about Worthington, at the mouth of Eel river (before the treaty of Saint Mary’s, October 2-6, 1818), and that his home was near Laurel, on the Whitewater river, in Franklin county. To go from his home to his Eel river location by water would require a long voyage, part of it up stream. To avoid this he resolved to cut a trace across the Indian lands then about to become the New Purchase. In doing so his trace covered a distance of over sixty miles through a pro- meval forest. He struck the west fork of White river at the site of Waverly five miles north of a point sixty miles west of Laurel, thus he traveled west on an angle of only 4° 45’ 48" from Laurel - a remarkable achievement for a woodsman in his day - provided he really intended to travel due west of Laurel.

Feature Discription: There is a marker here to document the traces crossing of the curent roadway Web address for the route: [Web Link] Beginning of the road: Laurel End of the road: Waverly Secondary Web Address: Not listed

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Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   01/26/2014 TheCatHerder visited it 06/28/2013 Chutch1035 visited it 08/11/2012 DnRseekers visited it

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