A succinct, illustrated article about the KCT was published in Tourism Times (the magazine of the “Discover Downstate Illinois” visitors bureau) in the Fall/Winter 2024 issue. Read it here. Further information is provided by the Kaskaskia-Cahokia Trail Coalition on their website. In sum, French colonists called the Kaskaskia-Cahokia Trail (KCT) the “King’s Road” in the early 1700s. It traversed today’s southwestern Illinois in the region where the Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Kaskaskia and Meramec rivers converge with the Mississippi. For the French, the rivers enabled exploration, settlement and trade, with overland trails – such as the Kaskaskia-Cahokia Trail – being used to access interior lands and the territory between the rivers. 

But this overland route – the KCT – already existed when the French arrived. Native Americans peoples had migrated and traveled along it for economic trade and other necessities of social life. The first French explorers and colonists already saw the route in action in the late 1600s. 

The French established permanent settlements along the trail, the most important of which they called Kaskaskia and Cahokia — named after the local Illini people. From there, over the following 18th century, the French created more villages as well as forts.

As the Kaskaskia-Cahokia Trail Coalition explains “this first road spawned many routes for expanded growth.” 

The map below was created by Kaskaskia-Cahokia Trail Coalition, a wonderful group of history enthusiasts that is promoting a tourism effort to link historic towns and significant scenery in Monroe, Randolph and St. Clair counties.

source: https://www.kctrailillinois.org/membership

source: KCTrailIllinois.org  In this modern era of cars, the KCT is a 60-mile long route.