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Southeast Missouri had a key role in the road to Missouri statehood in 1817-1821. The events leading to statehood, and some of the events, people, and lifeways in the area may be unfamiliar to many modern-day Missourians. Currently, Missouri is celebrating its Bicentennial, and this program aims to summarize the events leading to statehood, some of the factors affecting Missouri’s entry into the Union, and how people lived and worked during that time 200 years ago.Every Friday morning at 6:42 and 8:42 a.m. and Saturday morning at 8:18 a.m., Bill Eddleman highlights the people, places, ways of life, and local events in Southeast Missouri in 1821.The theme music for the show ("The Missouri Waltz") is provided by Old-Time Missouri Fiddler Charlie Walden, host of the podcast "Possum’s Big Fiddle Show."

Missouri Bicentennial Minutes: Missouri Roads at Statehood

Roads of the territorial period in Missouri, from Early Roads of Missouri by Martha May Wood (1936). 1- Kingshighway, 2- Boonslick Road, 3- Salt River Road, 4- Potosi-Herculaneum Road, 5- Potosi-Boone’s Lick Road, 6- Field’s Trace, 7- St. Louis-Arkansas R";s:

Missouri had poor roads at statehood. Territorial authorities maintained some roads, and counties oversaw petitions for new local roads. County-level courts ordered those living along the routes of local roads to establish, then maintain them or face fines. Today’s gravel roads would have been super highways to early Missourians. Even state roads were two-track paths, requiring detours around rutted portions. Travelers crossed streams at shallow fords, or on ferries at larger streams.

A major road was the prehistoric Natchitoches Trace, along today’s Highway 67. Segments extended from St. Louis to Greenville, then to Missouri’s southern border at Harris Creek. A branch led from Cape Girardeau to Greenville. Other names included St. Louis-Arkansas Road, the Military Road, Arkansas Road, Texas or Southwest Trail. Colonial authorities established the King’s Highway, or El Camino Real, the route of today’s Highway 61 to New Madrid. The Three-Notch Road led from Ste. Genevieve to Mine la Motte, and followed a route traceable in county roads today.

Other major roads led from Potosi—one to Ste. Genevieve and one to Herculaneum, and were instrumental in moving lead. Principal roads outside southeast Missouri included the Boone’s Lick and Potosi to Boone’s Lick Roads.

Of those early roads, Rev. Timothy Flint observed, “There are as yet few roads … that are much wrought. [This country] is … gentle hills and easy slopes. …. If a person in a carriage is dissatisfied with the beaten [road], he selects one for himself; and can travel … through the untrodden forest. The roads are passable at all times of the year; and scarcely ever muddy more than two or three days at a time …”

Bill Eddleman was born in Cape Girardeau, and is an 8th-generation Cape Countian. His first Missouri ancestor came to the state in 1802. He attended SEMO for two years before transferring to the University of Missouri to study Fisheries and Wildlife Biology. He stayed at Mizzou to earn a master of science in Fisheries and Wildlife, and continued studies in Wildlife Ecology at Oklahoma State University.
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