Agricultural improvements came along, and with the limited number of slaves left in the states, the value of the slaves went up very quickly. Abolition societies and religious groups began to form, and they became active in helping slaves to freedom. Soon after, the Underground Railroad began to take shape. ATracks@ were formed to aide the slaves to freedom. These hiding places were known as Astations@ which were regular stops on the route to freedom. Along the way, there were depots and safe houses to stay in. These were houses of free whites or blacks where they could hide when they weren=t running. The people who owned these houses were often known as conductors. The conductors often left a number of signs for the slaves to follow so they didn=t go to houses that belonged to allies of the slave owners. For example, a quilt on the clothes line depicting a house with smoke coming out of the chimney was a sign of a safe station. A white ring of bricks around the top of a house=s chimney was another. Shops that were safe often had a silhouette of a fleeing man or woman on a sign. Other signs were used to guide the slaves as well. There were also specific knocks that slaves would use when approaching safety stations. When a slave was moving to the next house along the Railroad, it was called Acatching the next train.@ To help some of the slaves remember the routes, there were songs that were formed that they would sing to help with the directions. One of these songs was called AFollow the Drinking Gourd.@ The drinking gourd was the slaves terminology for the Big Dipper=s handle which points to the North Star, which they often used to find their way North. The songs also gave landmarks along the way, such as AThe dead trees will show you the way.@ Slaves had many possible directions to run, but the main idea was safety and speed. The slaves would often zigzag in their paths to avoid being caught. There were different forms of fleeing as w...
