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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.

CHAPTER I.

The geographical position of Kentucky to the United States.

Its physical surface and navigable river drainage.

Latitude and longitude.
Superficial area.

Its climatic and hygienic conditions. Importance to England, France, and Spain, as a key to internal navigation. Mystery and romance of its earliest history.

Origin of the name, Kentucky.

Kentucky lies centrally in the broad union of States, bordered on the west by the Mississippi river, and north by the Ohio. Its Virginia boundary line on the east, and its Tennessee line on the south, have their intersection at a point in the extreme south-east, where the Cumberland mountains reach an altitude of sixteen hundred feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico. The two great river-mains mentioned receive from this territorial surface the tributary waters of Big Sandy, Licking, Kentucky, Salt, Green, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers. From the lofty apex and slopes of this mountain range, which crosses south-eastern Kentucky, begin the sources of these tributary rivers which go to form the internal-drainage system of the State. Diverging from the region of their common origin, but each finding a northwesterly course, all finally empty into the gentle and beautiful Ohio, and are borne southward by the channel of the great and turbid Mississippi.

The physical map of Kentucky, therefore, presents to the eye a picture of rugged mountains in the East and South-east, gradually subsiding westward into hills and knobs, and these fading out within one hundred miles into the undulating lands and plains of Central and West Kentucky; and the latter bordered at last by the fertile valleys of the Mississippi and lower Ohio rivers, which lie at an altitude of but three hundred feet above the gulf level. From the highest mountain apex of East Kentucky, therefore, there is a steady decline of altitude for four hundred miles, to the valleys of lowest depression on the extreme west, of over thirteen hundred feet.

This territorial area lies within latitude 36° 30′ to 39° 6′ north, and longitude 82° 2' to 89° 40' west. With unequal sides and irregular boundaries, it is most difficult to reduce or define its superficial contents with accuracy. It embraces about forty thousand square miles. It possesses that mean of climate which is mild and temperate, without being enervating, while its atmosphere is usually healthy and inspiring.

In its earliest history, when the title to the great valley of the Mississippi was mainly in question between Spain, France, and England, the position of Kentucky derived unusual importance from the fact that its shores commanded the navigation of the Mississippi river for over fifty miles, and of the Ohio for seven hundred. Each of the seven tributary rivers mentioned before is also navigable for a greater or less distance; and altogether this area contains a navigable river frontage of over four thousand miles, exceeding that of any other State within the Union.

Whether we speculate and wonder amid the numerous remains of a prehistoric people who dwelt here in fabled mystery during the silent centuries of an unwritten epoch; or contemplate the traditions and destinies of the aboriginal savages who were found with title and possession; or recount the attending perils and heroic achievements through which the white race have, in a single century, wrought a mighty State and civilization out of the chaos of wild and exuberant nature, the story of this land, in thrilling adventure and romantic incident, is not surpassed by that of any other, of ancient or modern times.

Through the midst of the famed Bluegrass region, one of the tributary rivers of which we have spoken had cut its channel deep in the rocky bed over which it flowed, and left the cliffs towering in perpendicular lines four hundred feet above. On either side, amid the undulating pastures of wild clover, bluegrass, and cane, game most abounded, and here lay the favorite and most frequented hunting-grounds of the red men. The Indians called this river, which meandered through the wild Eden of their sports and adventures, by the weird name "Kan-tuck-ee," expressive of its traditional memo ries; and from this poetic title the white men borrowed and gave, both to the river and country, the name-Kentucky.

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The chain of mountains called the Appalachian by the Southern Indian tribes, and the Alleghany by the Northern, which stretches across the continent on the eastern side, from Alabama to Pennsylvania, and the Cumberland range in the rear, stood like forbidding barriers between the colonial settlements on the Atlantic slope, and the mysterious wilderness lying far away toward the sunset. Little was known of the latter, even by tradition. Yet, from 1543 to 1750, it was viewed at long intervals by white men in navigating the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and in transient visits of exploration through the forests. The roving Spaniard, in his first search for gold and empire, cast lustful eye on it in passing; the intrusive Frenchman, a century later, ventured from his frontier posts at Pittsburgh and Vincennes, to penetrate its forests from time to time; while the enterprising Englishman from the colonies was found occasionally wandering upon its borders, or amid its forests, from the visit of Colonel Wood, in 1654, until the first visit of Doctor Walker and that of James McBride, one hundred years later.

In

In 1751, Captain Christopher Gist led an exploring party as far as the valley of Kentucky river, and up the same on his way to North Carolina, in the interest of the Ohio Land Company.1 Lewis Evans, of Philadelphia, published a map of the middle colonies of North America in 1749, including this territory, which he revised in 1755, copies of which are yet extant. 1750, Doctor Walker, a prominent Virginian, in company with several others, made a visit to Kentucky, entering by way of Powell's valley and a gap in Laurel mountain. Descending the mountain, they found a river flowing south-westerly, on the other side. The doctor gave the name Cumberland to both the mountain and the river, which they yet bear, in honor of England's "Bloody Duke" of Cumberland. In 1758, his party made a second visit, coming in by the same route. Journeying to the waters of Dick's river, and then turning a north-easterly course to find the Ohio river,

1 Gist's Journal in Pownall's Topography of North America, p. 14.

they traversed the mountainous region to the Big Sandy, and finally returned to Virginia with very unsatisfactory views of the country.1

But the truer aspects of Kentucky were viewed by John Finley and a party of comrades in 1767. They passed the mountainous region, and for months traversed and hunted through the interior forests and cane-brakes, with sensations of wonder and delight at the fertility of the soil, the luxu riant growth of vegetation, and the boundless supply of wild game for the hunter's spoils.

Late in the same year, Finley and his party returned to North Carolina with trophies of their hunt, and to spread abroad among the people stories of the wonderful land they had seen. Enough was now known to picture to the restless pioneer mind the great wilderness beyond the mountains as a new land of promise, more attractive than the comforts of home and the safe repose of civilization. The awakened interest intensified, and the spirit of adventure soon found heroic votaries among the settlers, who were trained to Indian warfare, to hunting, and to all the perils of border life.

In 1769, some of the same party, with John Finley to pilot them, banded together under the lead of the celebrated Daniel Boone, from the valley of the Yadkin river, North Carolina, for a better defined excursion into the heart of the great trans-montane wilderness. These hunters reached the foothills of the mountains in June, and constructed a permanent camp on Red river, some fifteen miles above where it empties into the Kentucky, very near the junction of Estill, Clark, and Powell counties. This frail and hasty structure was their only and rude home-like shelter. From this rendezvous, from June until December, the parties sallied forth to the hunt. and to explore the country far and wide, and at intervals to return, and, around the camp fires, to relate new stories of marvelous scenes and episodes. which were remembered of their ventures. 2

The hunter's camp was so much a part of the earliest backwoodsman's life, that we must not omit to describe it here. It was called a "half faced cabin." At the north or west side, from whence the chill winds blow, the body of a large fallen tree was chosen for the rear end. Ten feet in front on the south or south-east side, and ten feet apart, two double sets of stakes were firmly planted a few inches apart in the ground, and standing about eight feet high, for the four corners. Between the double stakes the ends of poles were inserted, while the other ends rested against, or on top of, the fallen tree, thus forming a frame-work for the side of the camp-cabin. Poles. were cut and laid across the top, and the frame-work was finished. The roof and sides were next covered with bark stripped from adjacent trees, or with blankets and the skins of wild beasts slain. The shelter was now complete at top and on three sides. With an ax only, it was the work of a single day. The southerly and sunny front was left open, and here the camp-fire was built and kindled for the comfort of the stalwart household, 1 Marshall, Vol. I., p. 6.

2 Boone's Autobiography.

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