KENTUCKY AND HER CAYE MEN 



231 



uninhabited during all this tiiiie. The 

 Shawnee were found livintr in force 

 along the Ohio, the Cherokee were at 

 home directly on the south and south- 

 east, and the Chickasaw held the coun- 

 try to the west and southwest, near the 

 Mississippi. These and other tribes 

 are understood to have made hunting 

 excursions into the abandoned country, 

 and war parties also probably met here 

 at times, for traditions speak of the 

 territory as the "dark and bloody 

 ground." In other words, it was border 

 country or "no man's land," and to 

 whom it originally belonged is uncer- 

 tain. The tribes mentioned all seem to 

 have claimed it, because — if history is 

 to be believed — they sold their rights to 

 the white man no fewer than five differ- 

 ent times, receiving consideralile sums 

 of money in at least three of the trans- 

 actions. 



This singular fact of the uninhab- 

 ited condition of Kentucky, together 

 with her geographical position directly 

 fronting the main gateway through tlie 

 Alleghenies — the Cumberland Gap — 

 gives the state very great historical im- 

 portance in the winning of the West 

 for the American Union. Kentucky 

 herself has been called "the child of 

 Virginia" and as such was colonized by 

 people of English and Scotch ancestry, 

 the pure strains of which are still to 

 be found in the mountain districts. 

 Daniel Boone was one of the first to 

 bring his family into the country, and 

 the outpost Boonesborough, which he 

 founded and commanded, was located 

 on the Kentucky Eiver directly above 

 the caves visited by the American Mii- 

 seum Expedition. This happened about 

 the year 1775, and a short time later, 

 near the end of the American Kevolu- 

 tion. the immigration of landless sol- 

 diers and young women, as well as of 

 united families, became general. 



One of the prime necessities of life 

 for the early settlers in the far-away 

 wilderness was gunpowder; and as the 

 principal ingredient of this compound, 

 saltpeter, was known to occur in the 

 floor-earth of caves, it came about in a 

 very natural way that Kentucky soon 

 became world-renowned as the land of 

 caverns. The Mammoth Cave is said 

 to have been known as early as 1797, 

 and in 1812 saltpeter or niter was 

 being manufactured here on a large 

 scale. Some would have it that the 

 battle of New Orleans was won by 

 powder from this cave. However this 

 may be, saltpeter was in great demand 

 and consequently caverns were being 

 searched for. This soon resulted in the 

 discovery of a considerable body of ar- 

 chaeological data in the subterranean 

 chambers. Among other things sev- 

 eral "mummies," or desiccated human 

 bodies, were found, some, it is said, in 

 the Mammoth Cave itself. These were 

 accompanied by a great variety of well- 

 preserved articles, such as garments of 

 skin and of woven fabric, feathered 

 mantles, feather headdresses, hats, and 

 moccasins. Lively discussions were 

 precipitated. People for the first time 

 seem to have begun seriously to ask 

 who the original inhabitants really 

 were and when they came. It was gen- 

 erally concluded that these mummies 

 were not Indian, and the theory that 

 they represented some extinct Old 

 World stock is not dead yet. But the 

 discvission subsided after a while and 

 Avas not renewed until the late Profes- 

 sor F. W. Putnam, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, opened it again in 1870-75. 

 Professor Putnam went to Kentucky 

 as a young man to serve as naturalist 

 on the State Geological Survey of that 

 day. and while gathering faunistic ma- 

 terial in the Green River caves, he was 

 forciblv attracted bv the evidence of 



