CAROLINE'S CORNER: COMING OF AGE ALONG THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE

News of the Trace has spread to the Midwest! In the 1995 January/February edition of The Midwest Motorist, a publication of AAA, is an article on the Natchez Trace."The 'devil's backbone' leads to heavenly homes and Southern history," the story is headed.

As a child growing up and playing on the devil's backbone, I had no inkling that I was playing on such previously dangerous territory and on such a future famous scenic road.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a unit of the National Park System. The 450-mile parkway roughly follows the route of the original Natchez Trace through the states of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, connecting the cities of Natchez, Jackson, Tupelo and Nashville.

The trail was first used as a footpath by the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian tribes.

By 1785, "Kaintucks," traders from the Ohio River Valley, were arriving in Natchez aboard heavily laden flatboats and rafts. Because it was impossible for them to return upriver against the currents, they sold their craft with their products. They then walked or rode horseback north on the Trace toward home. These Kaintucks trampled the Trace into a crude road.

Due to the use of the road by the post rider, an early version of the Pony Express mailman, in 1806 Congress appropriated $6,000 for improvements to the road and in a short time it became an important frontier road. From 1800 to 1820, this rough road was the most heavily traveled in the Old Southwest. Boatmen, soldiers, postmen, missionaries, Indians and pioneer settlers traveled along the road.

The arrival of steamboats, new roads and the passing of the frontier reduced the Trace to a quiet forest lane.

Danger lurked all along the wilderness road of the old Trace. Steaming swamps, floods, insects, accidents, sickness, unfriendly Indians and robbers plagued travelers on the trail.

Legends of outlaws on the road are numerous. The most notorious group was the Mason gang, led by Revolutionary War veteran Samuel Mason. The gang, which included Wiley "Little" Harp, terrorized the Trace until Mississippi Governor Claiborne offered a $2,000 reward for the capture of Mason. His head was delivered to authorities by Harp in disguise, who in turn was recognized, tried, and hanged for his crime.

One of the most famous travelers on the Trace was Andrew Jackson, who began making trips up and down the Trace after the Revolutionary War, negotiating with the Spanish, trading in slaves and dealing with Indian problems.

Meriwether Lewis, famous explorer and governor of the Louisiana Purchase territory, was shot along the Trace.

Today the Natchez Trace is a paved two-lane road that is quite safe if you follow the 50-mile per hour speed limit. The message at the visitors centers along the road is that it is one of the most accessible, unspoiled highways anywhere, giving an unobstructed view of nature because no commercial traffic or advertising is allowed.

I've had my adventure on the Trace. It didn't involve Indians or robbers, but for a while I imagined myself a statistic of the devil's backbone.

To be continued next week.