296 The Winning of the West 



to settle Kentucky, and therefore for Robertson to 

 settle Middle Tennessee, and for Clark to conquer 

 Illinois and the Northwest; it was the first in the 

 chain of causes that gave us for our Western fron- 

 tier in 1783 the Mississippi and not the Alleghanies. 

 As already mentioned, the speculative North Caro- 

 linian Henderson had for some time been planning 

 the establishment of a proprietary colony beyond the 

 mountains, as a bold stroke to re-establish his ruined 

 fortunes; and early in 1775, as the time seemed fa- 

 vorable, he proceeded to put his venturous scheme 

 into execution. For years he had been in close busi- 

 ness relations with Boone; and the latter had at- 

 tempted to lead a band of actual settlers to Ken- 

 tucky in 1773. Naturally, when Henderson wished 

 to fix on a place wherein to plant his colony, he chose 

 the beautiful land which the rumor of Boone's dis- 

 covery had rendered famous all along the border; 

 and equally naturally he chose the pioneer hunter 

 himself to act as his lieutenant and as the real leader 

 of the expedition. The result of the joint efforts of 

 these two men was to plant in Kentucky a colony 

 of picked settlers, backed by such moral and ma- 

 terial support as enabled them to maintain themselves 

 permanently in the land. Boone had not been the 

 first to discover Kentucky, nor was he the first to 

 found a settlement therein j 1 but it was his explora- 



1 The first permanent settlement was Harrodsburg, then 

 called Harrodstown, founded in 1774, but soon abandoned, 

 and only permanently occupied on March 18, 1775, a fortnight 

 before Boone began the erection of his fort. 



