294 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM tol. 86 



traveled up the Cumberland River in canoes to the region between 

 Caney Fork and Flyims Lick Creek [Smith, Putnam, and Jackson 

 Counties], where they killed more than 80 deer during the winter of 

 1782 (Ramsey, 1853, p. 450). Deer were likewise plentiful along 

 the wagon road between Clinch River and Nashville when it was 

 opened in 1783 (Ramsey, 1853, p. 501). 



John Lipscomb (Williams, 1928, p. 277) reports that he saw sev- 

 eral deer on July 1, 1784, in Macon County. 



Deer were listed by Andre Michaux (Williams, 1928, p. 335) as 

 being present in the vicinity of Nashville in 1795. Abraham Steiner 

 and Christian Frederic de Schweinitz, after arriving at Camp Sta- 

 tion [Sumner County] on their journey from Nashville to Knoxville, 

 noted in their journal (Williams, 1928, p. 516) on December 8, 1799, 

 that deer were present in the Cumberland settlements in the vicinity 

 of Nashville. These same travelers refer (Williams, 1928, p. 519) 

 to the great number of deer in the wilderness near the Caney Fork 

 road [Smith or Putnam County]. Deer appear to have been plenti- 

 ful in the region of the Cumberland settlements for many years, 

 Putnam, writing in 1859 (p. 127), mentions that 200 deer were then 

 kept in a woodland tract of several thousand acres at Belle Meade 

 [Davidson County]. 



Relatively few records are available for the region around Chatta- 

 nooga before 1800. During the Chickaniauga expedition commanded 

 by Evan Shelby, one party of troops in 1779 captured a great quan- 

 tity of deer skins owned by the trader McDonald at Little Owl's 

 town on the Tennessee River (Ramsey, 1853, p. 188) . Francis Baily 

 (Williams, 1928, p. 402) while traveling during July 1797 through 

 the wilderness east of the Tennessee River reported that deer were 

 plentiful in the region between Muscle Shoals and Duck River. 



Western Tennessee was visited by traders from the Carolinas before 

 1700. According to Williams (1928, p. 94) several were with the 

 Cliickasaw Indians in 1699. trading for toe-buckskins and Indian 

 slaves. Father James Gravier mentions (Williams, 1928, p. 69) that 

 his party killed four does on October 25, 1700, near the present site 

 of Memphis. 



Forked Deer River, which separates Dyer and Lauderdale Coun- 

 ties, received its name from a buck with peculiar antlers that was 

 killed in 1785 by a surveying party organized by James Robertson, 

 Henry Rutherford, and Edward Harris (Williams, 1930. p. 43). This 

 party depended for subsistence on deer, elk, and bears, while surveying 

 in Lauderdale County. 



According to S. C. Williams (1930, p. 180) an English visitor, 

 S. A. Farrell, described the deer hunts in the vicinity of Memphis in 

 1830 as follows : Hunting was done on horseback with dogs. When 

 the dogs came on fresh deer tracks, the hunters were posted and 



