ioneer planters 



It was the settlers from Virginia and North Carolina 

 who once again made the "west" a tobacco-producing 

 land. Just when they first came into the territory is a 

 matter of speculation. Some historians set the date in the 

 late 1660's. That is probably too early. Yet, in view of 

 tlie colonizing spirit of the period and economic condi- 

 tions in the older colonies, it may well be that restless 

 men and their families found a way into Kentucky be- 

 fore 1700. There could not have been many of them. 

 One thing is certain: as soon as tliey had cleared trees 

 from a little tract, they did what many other American 

 pioneers did — set aside a patch of the best soil near their 

 vegetable plots for tobacco. 



T 



he Wilderness Road" 



Entree to the rich new land became easier after Dr. 

 Thomas Walker discovered the Cumberland Gap in 

 1750. He had been engaged, as surveyor and agent, to 

 head an expedition to the west on behalf of the Loyal 

 Land Company of Charlottesville, Virginia, which had 

 obtained a huge land grant in the western territory. The 

 Indian trader, John Finley (or Findley), who reached 

 present Louisville by canoe via the Ohio River, in 1752, 

 encouraged settlement by his glowing description of the 

 land. His account encouraged Daniel Boone of Yadkin 

 County, North Carolina, who made his first visit to 

 Kentucky in 1767 shortly after meeting Finley. There- 

 after, when leading pioneer families into the "Garden 

 Spot of the World," at each camp site Boone carved on 

 the nearest big tree, "This is the way to Kentucke." 



Travelers regularly brought back the good news to 

 inhabitants of the southeastern tobacco-growing colonies 



22 



