Lusk's Ferry Road was an early road in Illinois that provided an overland connection between the main settlement, Fort Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi River, and Lusk's Ferry, an important crossing point on the Ohio River.
Fort Massac is on the Ohio River, about 20 miles (overland) southwest of Lusk's Ferry.
In his conquest of Illinois in 1778 and 1789, George Rogers Clark, with the army of Virginia, crossed the Ohio River from Kentucky to Fort Massac.
From there he headed north to the Lusk's Ferry Road, which he followed at least part of the way to Fort Kaskaskia,[1] whose defenses were oriented toward repelling an assault coming up the Mississippi.
It ran east out of Kaskaskia mostly in segments that ran nearly due east, almost to modern DuQuoin, where it made a sharp turn to the southeast, running for miles on a very straight line directly toward Fort Massac and Lusk's Ferry.
The road then headed east to cross the Big Muddy River as far upstream as possible consistent with a direct route to the southeast.
After crossing the Big Muddy, the road seems to aim straight for the most direct pass over the Shawnee Hills.
Just west of DuQuoin, the Lusk Ferry Road turned toward the southeast, near the point where it entered T6S, R1W, running about six miles (10 km) toward Jackson County and the Big Muddy River.
The road entered the County about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of the corner, heading southeast.
It crossed the Little Muddy River, and exited the County about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the northeast corner.
The Lusk Ferry Road cut through the southwest corner of Franklin County, heading southeast.
Some sources describe this as an important early cross roads in this area, near the base of the Shawnee Hills.
[1] Beyond Bainbridge, the Lusk's Ferry Road is not marked on the old maps through the rest of Williamson County.
There is a line of disconnected diagonal road segments leading from Marion to Creal Springs, a small village in southeastern Williamson County.
The road from Creal Springs enters Johnson County a little to the east of Lake of Egypt.
On the original survey plats, a short segment of the Lusk's Ferry Road is labeled in Section 19, T11S, R4E.
Having reached the ridge overlooking Sugar Creek, it would have been far easier to go southwest toward Tunnel Hill, circling around the watershed back east toward Reynoldsburg.
Alternatively, it would have been much simpler to have gone in a zig zag from Creal Springs to New Burnside, through the gap along modern U.S. Route 45, and then back east to Reynoldsburg.
The original survey shows the Lusk's Ferry Road entering Pope County near the modern village of Robbs.