County of marker: Fulton County
Location of marker: Main St. (IL-97) & Lincoln Ave., Courthouse Plaza, Lewistown
Marker erected: 1974
Marker erected by: Fulton County Historical Society and the Illinois Historical Society
Marker Text:
LEWISTON TRAIL
Lewistown Trail, from Springfield to Galena via Lewistown, was one of the main routes to the Galena Lead Mines from 1827 to 1837. The Trail crossed the Illinois River at Havana, where Ossian M. Ross, the founder of Lewistown, operated a ferry. He was one of three men who surveyed and marked out the Trail. The Springfield-Lewistown section was made a post road in 1834. At that time Abraham Lincoln was postmaster at New Salem, one of the towns on the road.
Link to book regarding Lewiston Trail:
- River Towns in the Great West