In the early days it was essential to establish means of communication between points. Where there were no navigable rivers the legislatures, and even congress, passed certain acts establishing roads. The Territorial legislature which met in Burlington in 1838 and 1839 among many other road laws approved the following passed January 25, 1839: "That Isaac [Israel] Mitchell, of Linn county, Iowa, John G. Fay, of Cedar county, and Jonathan Pettibone, of Muscatine county, be and are hereby appointed commissioners to lay out a road commencing at Bloomington, Muscatine county, thence to Rochester and Cedar county and thence to the county seat of Linn county. That said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Burlington on the first Monday of May next to discharge their duties."--Section 3, p. 461, Laws of Iowa. "It is further enacted that Alfred Carter, Warren Stiles and A. F. Russell, of Scott county, be and are hereby appointed commissioners to lay out a territorial road commencing at Davenport, Scott county, thence to Hickory Grove, thence to Poston's Grove, thence to Red Oak Grove, thence to Pioneer Grove, thence to Big Linn Grove, thence to the seat of justice of Linn county, said commissioners to meet, or a majority of them, to discharge their duties at Davenport on the first Monday of May next."--Section 8, p. 462, Laws of Iowa. A number of these laws were passed laying out what were known as "territorial and state roads." For example, there was the well known Dubuque-Iowa City road passing through Anamosa, Springville, and Mount Vernon. Then there were the two well known roads passing through Marion, one known as the Toledo road running nearly directly west of Cedar Rapids to Toledo, and a road much travelled in the early day; the other road branched from the Toledo road about four miles west of the city and was an angling road known in this county as the Marengo road, the State road, as well as the Des Moines road, which also was laid out over high ground in nearly a straight angling line to Marengo, and then west through Brooklyn, Grinnell, and Newton to Des Moines. This road was used much by the forty-niners crossing the state for the gold fields of California, and now and then some farmer has picked out of his field where the old road has been changed little horse shoes, shoes used for oxen, hammers and hatchets, and other utensils which had been left or lost by the early gold seekers. There were two roads between Cedar Rapids and Marion well known in the early days, one called the old Marion road and the other running about where the street railway now runs. Another road which was much used in the early days was known as the Cedar Rapids and Center Point road. It was much travelled by all people from the north part of the county.