Breaking The Devil's Backbone

The Name: "Devil's Backbone" is a colloquial term for the Natchez Trace. "Breaking" means successfully completing a trip up or down the Trace. The Game: By 1769, frontiersmen loaded their flatboats with furs, tobacco, whiskey, coal, copper, livestock, etc. and floated down the Mississippi River to sell their goods in Natchez. Along the way they have to endure many hazards on the Mississippi River. After selling their goods in Natchez, they could not go back up the river (no steam boats yet), so they walked back to Nashville, on ancient Indian Trails. Travel the Natchez Trace as those frontiersmen did; endure the same hardships and privations they faced: the fevers, the thieves, the Indians, etc. Meet the famous men of the past: Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, Audubon and many, many others who also traveled the historic Indian trail between Natchez and Nashville. The Purpose: To endure the hazards of the Trace and get to Nashville, if you do, you will have Broken the Devil's Backbone. (taken from the game insert) Designed by Joe and Jean McConnell (Times Daily, Florence AL, dated 19 Jul 1990)