Crossroads: Descriptions of Western Pennsylvania 1720–1829

by John W. Harpster

Crossroads is a collection of thirty-seven colorful and perceptive writings left by early travelers and settlers who ventured west of the Allegheny Mountains. Traders, surveyors, soldiers, preachers, and immigrants, some of them well known and some obscure, tell of the loneliness, terror, and beauty of the frontier.

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 1960

Reviews

[Thom DeLair]

I've never read a book with historical letters and journals, so that was a good learning experience for me. The general theme of traveling to Western Pennsylvania in the 18th and early 19th century was that one would be hungry, get rained on and fall into a river at some point and manage to not die of hypothermia.