The path is made up of a "series of path alternatives" that pass through seasonally or directionally more or less difficult notches— the gaps were among only five places that could be crossed by animal power from east to west across the Appalachian Mountains west of New England. The Kittanny path (by other names) would also come to be used first by Dutch, then English and British colonial fur traders, as well as Amerindian emigrants moving westwards before and after the French and Indian War and in the post-1780 settlers migrations west of the Mountain as the American Revolution entered its final years.