Known by many names and by many routes, the trails through the dunes sought out the easiest routes. The first evidence of trails comes from Joseph Bailly in 1822, when he settled south of the Calumet Beach Trail.Berle Clemenson, Historic Resource Study, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana (Denver: National Park Service, Historic Preservation Division, 1979), 4–6 This route has also been referred to as the Lake Shore Trail. It had first come to the notice of the American government after the War of 1812. The U.S. government sought to establish a trail military road from Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit to Fort Dearborn, now in Chicago. It was not until 1827 that the route was identified and in use. It followed the Great Sauk Trail from Detroit to modern LaPorte, Indiana. Here the traveler had two options. The primary road continued to follow the Sauk Trail across Indiana through Porter and Lake Counties to Illinois. The other option was to go northwest to Trail Creek and follow the lake shore the last to Fort Dearborn. The military road became known as the Chicago Road.Albert C. Rose, Historic American Roads: From Frontier Trails to Superhighways (New York: Crown Publishers, 1976), 6; Milo Quaife, Chicago Highways, Old and New, from Indian Trail to Motor Road (Chicago: Keller, 1923), 37–47. By 1833, regular stagecoach service was provided between Detroit and Chicago.U.S., Federal Writers Project. The Calumet Region Historical Guide. East Chicago, 1939.
