like they thought the land might escape and it needed to be held down

Not an entirely frivolous thought.

In most of the US, the land was surveyed and essentially "platted" before it became available for settlement, and an orderly predetermination of "lots" was quite helpful in letting people know just what land was theirs and what belonged to the next neighbor.

In order that the roads not cut across individual properties, they were laid out along the edges, resulting in fairly square grids at mostly one mile intervals. Half of a "quarter section" (1/2 mile long x 1/4 mile wide = 80 acres?) was a common "homestead" in many parts of the country, although in populated farm areas in my vicinity now a quarter section probably is a more commmon farmstead size. (And isn't really enough land to make a living from.)

On the east coast, Boston is most notorious for breaking from the pattern, as the "Commons" was reserved for livestock quite early, and as the town grew they simply paved the cowpaths, resulting in streets that go "wherever the cows did." Many of them, to people from more orderly parts of the country, seem to not go anywhere in particular; especially as they don't take you to anywhere a cow would now want to be.

Washington DC is another notable exception, as some mad architect decided that the roads should be circles connected by radii that all lead to "downtown." Later buildup has obscured the pattern somewhat, but it should still be recognizable from the air.

In less populous areas, where there isn't really all that much need for many local roads, the cowpath philosophy is still quite apparent, although there does still tend to be a tendency toward north/south vs east/west routes in most places. This may be partly due to following the ridges and rivers, as they do tend to be "oriented" to some extent by the lie of the land - and in some places it's a big lot of land.

John