HISTORY OF BELL COUNTY KENTUCKY VOL 1

   
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Bell County Historical Museum
P O Box 1344
Middlesboro KY 40965
(606) 242-0005
 

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      I began this history while County Superintendent of Schools for Bell County, in 1907. At that time I wrote two chapters that appear in this book: "The Cumberland Ford Settlement" and "Cumberland Gap in the History of the State." These chapters appear practically as written at that time. A few additions have been made to the first one mentioned. The chapter on Cumberland Gap has been abridged and some few additions made.

      There has been no attempt to write a complete history of Bell County. Even if the attempt had been made, it would have been hard of fulfillment. I have tried to cover the main facts of the history of the county, and give some idea of its place in the history of the counties of the state, I have considered of first importance the early settlers of the county, and have given to this subject three chapters. These chapters form the background of the book and stand as a basis for all that is Bell County today.

      I am indebted to many people for information used in writing this book. To P. W. Woollum, former Superintendent of Schools of Bell County, for information about the people of Left Fork of Straight Creek; to Jasper Howard for information about the people of Right Fork of Straight Creek; to Simon Delph, former County Superintendent of Schools of Bell County, for information about this family and about the Asher and Kellems families; to C. G. Turner for information about the people of Yellow Creek and Clear Fork of Yellow Creek; to Rev. Joe H. Peace for information about the people of Clear Fork of Yellow Creek; to H. C. Chappell, editor of the THREE STATES, for information in general and encouragement to finish this history; to Howard Douglas, Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of Middlesborough, for the businessmen of Middlesborough; to Scott Partin, of South America, for information about the people of South America; to Rev. Hiram M. Frakes for information about the Henderson Settlement School; to Rev. W. T. Robbins for the chapter on "History of the Churches," which he wrote in its entirety; to Bob Hollingsworth for the names of the Circuit Court Clerks; to the late W. T. Rice, of Harlan, Kentucky, for information about the boundary and origin of Bell County, and information about the Rice family; to Judge M. J. Moss and Captain W. M. Bingham, in their lifetime, for information on the "The Cumberland Ford Settlement"; to William Lowe, in his lifetime, for information on "The Cumberland Ford Settlement" and Swift's Silver Mine; to Raleigh V. Trosper, County Agricultural Agent of Bell County, for "The Present Status of Agriculture in Bell County"; to the Filson Club, Louisville, Kentucky, for "The Building of Middlesborough-A Notable Epoch in Eastern Kentucky History" by Charles Blanton Roberts; to the late J. D. Tipton for his book, THE CUMBERLAND COAL FIELD AND ITS CREATORS; to Anna Walker Burns for information in the chapter on "Some Early Statistics of the County"; to the late Dickey Thompson for information about the people of Greasy Creek; to the late Shelton Evans, of Middlesborough, Kentucky, for information about the people of Little Clear Creek; to Robert Partin for information about the people of Big Clear Creek; to Joe Parsons for information about the people of
 

Upper Cumberland River; to Levi H. Lee, Gilmore Cox, and J. B. Cox for information about the poeple of Browney's Creek; to John M. Durham, J.C. Hoskins, and Rev. J.C. Buell for information about the people of Hances Creek; to Ben Risner for information about the people of Hances Creek; to Elmer Decker for some information on the early history of Bell County and Cumberland Ford; to Frank Durham for information in regard to the veterans of World War One and some facts about his father, Dr. C. C. Durham; to Herndon Evans for information about the newspaper and editors in Pineville and vicinity; to J. J. Howard, County Court Clerk of Bell County, for a list of county officers; to E. G. Asher, Louisville, Kentucky, for the chapter on "History of the Schools of Bell County, continued"; to Maurice Tribell for "The Present Status of the Bell County Schools"; to J. L. Lair, Superintendent of the Pineville Schools, for information on "The Present Status of the Pineville Schools"; to A. E. Lehman, Superintendent of the Red Bird Settlement School, for information in regard to the school; to W. M. Slusher, Superintendent of the Lone Jack High School, for information in regard to that school.

      I am especially indebted to H. C. Chappell, Editor of the THREE STATES in Middlesborough. He came to me about two years ago (1937) and asked me to complete this History of Bell County, and stated that he would aid in selling it through the press, if I did so. I told him, at the time, that I would consider it and let him know. The more I thought about it the more it appealed to me, and so I wrote him that I would undertake the task. The two years (1937-1939) work on the manuscript have been pleasant years, but the task has been laborious at times. It tried my persistence to the limit. I was tempted time and again, to give up the task; but interest in the work held me to it. After having gone over the field and having done what I reasonably could to write the history of the county, I realize how far short of what it should be, it is. However, the attempt will show something of the history of the county and will be a basis for future histories of this Gateway to the West.

      I feel that this is a debt I owe to my people, and, having performed it in the best way I could, under the circumstances, I am sure that they will accept it, with all of its short-comings, and will give me credit for having been faithful to my task. With a heart full of love for each individual in Bell County, with malice toward none, I send this history on its mission.

H. H. Fuson
Harlan, Kentucky August 30, 1939  
 

      During the Revolutionary War, and immediately after, a mighty impulse stirred the people of the Atlantic Coast region---an impulse to cross the mountain barrier that impeded their progress to the West. A vast wilderness lay across these mountains and beyond toward the Pacific Coast. It was an unknown country, a new country to be discovered and occupied. Its vagueness and vastness intrigued their imaginations. From time to time hunting parties penetrated eastern Kentucky through Cumberland Gap and gradually learned of the possibilities of the new country. Immigration began to flow into the region and the movement to settle the West had begun. Bell County stood at the very gateway to this movement and passed the moving hosts on into the mountain region of Kentucky, into the bluegrass, and on into the West.

      Speed says of this movement: "Less than two hundred miles inland, and parallel with the Atlantic Coast, were the mountains. Beyond these lay a wilderness of unknown extent, the occupation of which presented obstacles scarcely less formidable than those which attended the first planting of the colonies."

      "With the accomplishment of independence, however, the time came for passing the western barriers; the section of occupied territory was to widen from a narrow ribbon along the coast line to the whole extent of the continent. Space was to be cleared for the gigantic growth to the new Republic, and the coming wonders of railway and steam navigation.

      "It was in the far-distant region of Kentucky that the permanent occupation of the West began. In the heart of that region, full five hundred miles as the crow flies from the sea--coast, and more than three hundred miles beyond the crests of the mountains, population suddenly gathered and civilization suddenly bloomed.

      "It was not an adventure of bold men alone, but a movement of men, women and children. It is equally wonderful that from the first they were imbued with the idea of permanent settlement and residence in the far-west country. It was to be their home; return was not thought of. They carried with them all their possessions, and as the alter-fire for the distant colony they carried with them a clear perception of the prime necessity of stable government, of obedience to law, and the observance of order."
  

      From, Captain Imlay we get a very distinct statement of the two routes of travel: the one, down the Ohio River, which was made perilous on account of the number of fighting Indian tribes; the other, through the great wilderness by way of Cumberland Gap, which was freer from Indian warfare.

      William Brown, on his route to Kentucky in 1782, says: "From thence (from Cumberland Gap) until you pass Rockcastle River there is very little good road; this tract of country is very mountainous, and badly watered along the trace, especially for springs. There is some good land on the water-courses, and just on this side Cumberland River appears to be a good trace, and within a few years I expect to have a settlement on it. Some parts of the road is very miry in rainy weather. The fords of Cumberland and Rockcastle are both good unless the waters be too high."

      Bell County's line joints that of Virginia and Tennessee along the top of Cumberland Mountain and includes part of the Gap itself and the land on the side of Cumberland Mountain facing Middlesborough. The march of the pioneers, crossing through the Gap, trod the soil of Bell County in their movement into Kentucky and the West. Bell County was the first to receive these hosts and send them on to create an Empire of the West. Some tarried within her confines, settled and built homes. Thus was the territory of Bell County the earliest to feel the tread of these pioneers and the first to open the gates to the oncoming hosts of a new civilization, a civilization that was to people the new country from the mountains on the east to the Golden Gate on the west.

      Dr. Thomas Walker, Daniel Boone, Finlay and others were the advance guards of the new movement. Walker in 1750 came through the Gap and descended into the Yellow Creek Valley. There on a beech tree Ambrose Powell, one of Walker's party, carved his name and the date, "A. Powell 1750." This record became the cornerstone of the history of Bell County and of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Walker's Journal, which will be found in more detail in the chapter on "Cumberland Gap in the History of the State, "details his route through Bell County along the present highway between Middlesborough and Pineville and out of the county near Flat Lick. Walker camped on the Rufus Moss farm near the mouth of Clear Creek, went down the creek to where it empties into Cumberland River, saw Cumberland River for the first time and gave it the name Cumberland from the "Bloody Duke" of Cumberland in England. Walker tells in his Journal why he camped on the Moss farm. His moccasins had worn out and he made a new pair there. He named Clear Creek, "Clover Creek," because of the presence of so much wild clover growing there.

      Following Walker, came Daniel Boone in 1769, whose imagination had been fired by the accounts of Kentucky from Findlay who had preceded him. Later, in 1775, Boone, with others, had opened up the Wilderness Road, which passed through the Gap, down Yellow Creek, through the gap in Little Log Mountain, through Ferndale, up Moore's Branch, through the gap in Big Log Mountain, through the "Narrows" south of Pineville, through Cumberland Ford in Pineville, and down Cumberland River to Flat Lick, and on to Boonesborough.

      Very little is known of Findlay, who soon disappears after the pioneer movement began. He had been a trader with the Indians, and, in this way, had became acquainted with the Kentucky wilderness.

      Cumberland Ford is one of the important landmarks in the early history of Bell County and the state of Kentucky. An account of the Cumberland Ford Settlement will be found in a chapter under this title further on in this history. As a small boy, before the days of bridges in this county, I was familiar with this Ford, and it was in use some time after I was a grown man. In the fall of the year, when the water in the smaller streams was low, I was accustomed to leave our home on Little Clear Creek and go to Pogue's gristmill near Flat Lick in Knox County to get corn ground into meal. I passed through this Ford on these occasions. The town of Pineville was thus early known as Cumberland Ford.

      Probably the first white men to come to and through the Gap were some roving bands of hunters. They came in, no doubt, before 1750, the date of Doctor Walker's visit, or exploring expedition. Then came Doctor Walker's in 1750. He was followed by Swift in 1761, 1762, 1763, and in 1767. After the Treaty of Watauga, between Henderson and the Indians, in 1775; after our Independence had been declared in 1776;and after the break-up of the State of Franklin, under Sevier and others, in 1788, the influx of pioneers into southeastern Kentucky began in earnest. It was about this time that Bell County was settled.

      Thomas Fuson, the Kentucky pioneer of the family, came into this section with different hunting parties just before and just after 1800. His son John Fuson, under the name of John Fuston or Funston (which spelling was probably due to the enlistment officer who got the name wrong) was in the War of 1812 from Kentucky. This would indicate that Thomas Fuson and this son were in Kentucky at that time. Later, in 1826, Thomas Fuson settled near Chenoa, lived and died there. It is known that Thomas Fuson lived at the mouth of Brush Creek, opposite Artemus, Kentucky, prior to 1826, where he and his sons, in that pioneer day, raised a thousand bushels of corn with hand-made plows and shopmade hoes. It is barely possible that he was living here at the time John Fuson, his oldest son, joined the army.

      A large number of people had settled in Bell County prior to 1800. Abraham Buford took up the land at Cumberland Ford, now Pineville, on a Virginia Treasury Warrant, in 1781, and it is said that shortly thereafter he built a log house on the land near where the Indian Mound was located, on which, years afterwards, Dr. W. J. Hodges built his house. Thus Cumberland Ford, in all probability, was the first occupied land by whites in what is now Bell County.

      At a later date, June 28, 1799, it seems that Evan Shelby, father of Governor Isaac Shelby, took up some of this same land under a Military Warrant, and, shortly thereafter, built a brick house on the property at the Ford, or the house was built by his son Isaac Shelby. This brick house was the first brick house erected in the present
 

limits of Bell County, and was the first brick house erected in Southeastern Kentucky. Governor Shelby had some difficulties with the title of his father to this land, and cleared the title up by purchases from Abraham Buford in 1814 and James Johnson in 1816. Mr. Elmer Decker, of Barbourville, Kentucky, in delving in the old records of Knox County, has this to say, quoting from these old records in regard to this Shelby house:

      "Governor Shelby early acquired title to one hundred acres 'lying at the Ford of Cumberland, on the south side of said river, where the Wilderness Road crosses the same.' It was patented 'under a Military Warrant,' June 28, 1799, to Evan Shelby, father of the Governor. On December 16, 1816, Governor Shelby, in order to clear up a cloud on his title, bought the same tract from James Johnson 'for and in consideration of two likely negroes, a man and a woman, of the value of one thousand dollars, paid to him by the said Isaac Shelby on the 4th day of February, one thousand eight hundred, and for the further sum of one hundred and fifty dollars.'

      "Sometime between the date of the above patent and July 11, 1811, when 'Joseph Eve, assee of the County Court of Boone,' entered 'four acres of land in the County of Knox (now Bell) on Cumberland River to begin 6 1/2 poles north of the door of Shelby's brick house between the state road and said river.' The Governor erected the first brick house in southeastern Kentucky near the old Ford within the present city limits of Pineville.

      "I added the information about Morgan moving the house during the Civil War to the Gap, giving you credit for that information. I know the above land was said to have been patented by Buford much earlier. However, the date I give is taken from our deed and surveyor's books here."

      From these quotations from Mr. Decker, based upon these early Knox County records, we know that Shelby's brick house was there at the Ford in 1811, because the four acres taken up by Joseph Eve, between the road and the river, calls for Shelby's brick house; but, as to when it was built, it must have been some time between 1800 and 1811.

      This brick house was built upon the site of the present J. J. Gibson house there at the Ford. This brick house passed to the Renfros and then to the Gibsons, and was torn down during the Civil War by Gen. George W. Morgan, who used it as headquarters while stationed there at Pineville, and taken to Cumberland Gap, where the brick was used in building fortifications, when Morgan occupied the Gap with the Union forces.

      Thus it will be seen that Pineville was settled, in the name of Cumberland Ford, about 1781, and the names of Abraham Buford, Evan Shelby, Governor Isaac Shelby, son of Evan Shelby, James Johnson, Joseph Eve, and the Renfros were connected, in
 
 

one way or another, in this early settlement. For a long time after the settlement, it went by the name of Cumberland Ford, but, sometime prior to the establishment of the County of Bell, in 1867, the name of the place had been changed to Pineville, and has been known as Pineville ever since. Pineville was confined to the Narrows in the early days, and the entire town was lodged on either side of the road in the Narrows until about 1888, when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad reached Pineville. Then Fred Hull, as President of the Pineville Land & Lumber Company, purchased the bottom where Pineville is now located from J. J. Gibson, and the town was built around the square now occupied by the courthouse This part of the town then was known locally as new Pineville and that part of it in the Narrows was known as old Pineville. Pineville was designated as the county seat of Bell County upon its formation and has remained the county seat since, although in recent years Middlesborough shares a part of the Circuit Court term.                                                                 

      Middlesborough is the largest town in the county and is known as a new town. The foundations of the city of Middlesborough were laid around 1889 to 1890. An English company, headed by Arthur, laid out the town and promoted the building of it. In the chapter in this book on "Middlesborough," the founding and development of this town will be found adequately treated.

      The main points of historical interest for Bell County, aside from the people who compose the County itself, are: Cumberland Gap, because of it being the gateway for the early pioneers into Kentucky and the west; Cumberland Ford, which includes the history of Pineville, because it was one of the principal points on the Wilderness Road and the first place settled in the county; Middlesborough, because it is the largest town in the county and is directly connected with the industrial development of the county and grew out of that industrial development. These three points of interest, because of their significance, are adequately treated in this book, a chapter having been assigned to each of them.

      The settlement of the Yellow Creek Valley, in and around Middlesborough, was begun shortly after 1780, as was also the Cannon Creek region around Ferndale. Settlements began along the Wilderness Road in Bell County shortly after this road was built in 1775.

      The second brick house in the county was that of Rev. John C. Colson, Middlesborough. This house stands on the main highway leading into Middlesborough and near the bridge that spans the railroad tracks, just before you reach the grounds of the old iron furnace. The house is still standing. Rev. John C. Colson was father of D. G. Colson, who afterwards went to Congress from the old Eleventh District of Kentucky.

      The farming period of Bell County took its rise between 1780 and 1820, and was continued with increased force and efficiency until 1889, when the industrial period began. Farming has been carried on, more or less, in the county from the earliest    

pioneer day to the present, but, after 1889, it was carried on to a less extent than before that period, because many men left the farms, after this industrial era began, to work in the mines or around the mines. The greatest period of farming in the county was from 1840 to 1889. During that period the inhabitants depended almost entirely upon farming, with occasional logging jobs thrown in.

      The logging industry started up after the Civil War ended in 1865, and continued up into the industrial era of the county, to about the year 1900. Of course, the lumber industry is still going on. Mills are located in different parts of the county and are getting out a limited amount of lumber, but the most active years of the industry were between the years of 1865 and 1900.

      At first, logs were floated down the streams to the mills at Williamsburg, Kentucky. The Jones Lumber Company and the Kentucky Lumber Company held the logs with log-boams across Cumberland River, there to await their turn to be sawed into lumber. Most of the best poplar timber was taken out in this way.

      But, in the early '90's T. J. Asher and Sons erected a large sawmill on their property at Wasioto, and carried on a large lumber business until after 1900,  when the firm went out of the lumber business and went into the coal business. This mill was the largest that ever operated in the county.

      Then came the coal business after 1888. This was brought about when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company entered Bell County in that year. This railroad entered Bell County just south of Flat Lick and followed up Cumberland River, through Pineville, to a point just above Wasioto, where it left the river and went up Patterson's Branch to Ferndale, and from Fernadale, through the tunnel at Little Log Mountain, to Yellow Creek and up Yellow Creek and up Yellow Creek to Middlesborough and Cumberland Gap. Since that time, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company have built spur lines from, this main line to different points in the county. One branch extends up Four Mile Creek from Four Mile Station; another up Greasy Creek from just below the mouth of Four Mile Creek; another up Straight Creek from Pineville, which road divides at old Straight Creek Mines, one branch extending up the left Fork of Straight Creek and the other up the Right Fork of Straight Creek; another branch road leaves the main line just above Wasioto and goes up Big Clear Creek to Chenoa; another one extends up Yellow Creek, leaving the main line at the mouth of Yellow Creek; another extends up Pucketts Creek; another branches off to Cardinal near the Harlan County line; another line leaves the main line in Middlesborough and extends up Bennetts Fork, and, where Bennett's Fork and Stony Fork join, this road divides, one branch extending up Stony Fork. The Southern Railroad Campany has a Short line in Bell County on Clear Fork River across the mountain from Middlesborough, and the Southern enters Middlesborough, from the direction of Knoxville, through the Cumberland Gap Tunnel. This net of railroads have contributed more to the industrial development of Bell County than any other agency.    

      Mines opened, after 1889, with the coming of the L & N Railroad, in the following fields: on lower Greasy Creek in the Dean coal; on Four Mile Creek in the Straight Creek seam; on the two Straight Creeks in the Straight Creek seam; in the Chenoa field on Big Clear Creek; on Bennett's Fork and Stony Fork in the Middlesborough area; and later on Cumberland River between Pineville and the Harlan County line. Bell County reached its highest development in the coal business around 1915, and since that time, it has declined in output of coal.

      A few years ago, a new line of railroad was built up the Left Fork of Straight Creek, which opens up a new coal field. This will give a new impetus to the coal business in the county, and will tend to bring the output back to a higher level.

      Today, the inhabitants of Bell County depend for a livelihood upon a small amount of farming, and to a greater extend the coal and lumber business. County, state and governnent road work furnishes occupation for some of the inhabitants. The coal industry still furnishes more employment for the inhabitants of the county than any other one industry.  
 

      Bell County was the one hundred twelfth county formed in the state. It lies between the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh meridians north latitude, and between the parallels eighty-three and eighty-four west longitude. The Cumberland Valley Division of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad passes through its territory and the Southern Railroad enters the southern part of the county at Middlesborough and Fonde. The main highway south parallels the railroad through the county and passes out through Cumberland Gap. Both the Southern Railroad and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad pass out of the state through a tunnel under Cumberland Gap.

      Bell County is located in southeastern Kentucky, in the mountainous portion of the state. Its boundaries extend from the Knox County line on the west to the Harlan County line on the east, and from the Clay County line on the north to the Tennessee-Virginia line on the south. Bell County is bounded on the north by Clay, Leslie and Knox counties; on the south by Tennessee and Virginia; on the east by Harlan and Leslie counties; and on the west by Tennessee, and Whitley and Knox counties. It has an area of 384 square miles.

      Bell County is located in the Ninth Congressional District, Seventh Senatorial District, and the Twenty-sixth Judicial District.

      Bell County, known at the time of its formation as Josh Bell, was established by an act of the Legislature in 1867 from portions of Knox and Harlan counties. The act establishing the county and the description of the boundary of the county follow:

      BE IT ENACTED BY THE CENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY:

                                        Approved February 23, 1867

      1. That, from and after the Ist day of August, 1867, all parts of Harlan and Knox Counties lying within and included in the following boundary shall be, and the same is  
 

hereby, stricken from said counties and erected into a district or county, to be called and known as the county of Josh Bell, to-wit: Beginning at the Narrows on Cumberland River, in Harlan County, about one mile above C. J. Calloway's; thence crossing said river and running on the dividing ridge between William G. Howard and William S. Howard, crossing Puckett's Creek about half way between John W. Slusher's and Samuel Creech's; thence up the dividing ridge between the Pond Mill Branch and Bond Branch; thence with the same ridge dividing Puckett's Creek and Browning's Creek to the head of James Howard, Sr's, Mill Creek; thence straight to Browning's Creek, at the lower end of Isaac Ely's old farm; thence a straight line south to the Virginia line on top of Cumberland Mountain; thence with the Virginia and Kentucky line to the Tennessee line to the Whitley County line; thence with the line between Whitley and Knox counties to the head of Clear Creek; thence with the dividing ridge between Turkey Creek and Greasy Creek to Cumberland River, in Knox County, so as to include the Reuben Hendrickson farm; thence crossing the river to the top of the ridge west of Four Mile Creek; thence with said ridge to Mulberry Gap; thence with dividing ridge between Stinking and Straight creeks to the Clay County line; thence with the line between Clay and Harlan counties to the head of Big Run; thence down Big Run with its meanders to Straight Creek; thence a straight line to the beginning. 

      It occurs to me that the first survey of Bell County would be an interesting historical document, sufficiently interesting to find a place in this history. The survey was made by James B. Partin under the authority of the Legislature of Kentucky. The act follows:

      BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE COMMONWEATH OF KENTUCKY:

      Sec. 1. That the second section of an act, entitled 'An Act to amend an act to establish the County of Josh Bell,' be amended by striking out the name of William F. Westerfield, and inserting the name of James B. Partin, Surveyor of Josh Bell County.

      Sec. 2. This act to take effect from its passage.

                                            Approved January 28, 1870

(Acts of 1879, Ch. 185)

      William F. Westerfield was at first appointed by the Legislature to run this line, but, for some reason, he failed to perform the duties and James B. Partin was selected in his stead. The act which selected Westerfield to run the line of Bell County is given below because it contains the names of other men, as commissioners, who were to aid him in doing the work. The act follows:

      BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY:
   

      Sec. 1. That so much of the fifth section of an act, entitled 'An Act to establish the County of Josh Bell,' approved 28th February, 1867, as appoints Isaac Dean a commissioner to run and mark the boundary line of said county of Josh Bell, agreeably to the boundary designated in said Act, be, and the same is hereby repealed.

      Sec. 2. That William F. Westerfield be, and is, appointed a commissioner, in conjunction with Robert Howard and William North, and such assistants as they may employ, to do and perform all the duties required by the Act to which this is an amendment, so far as the running and marking of the said boundary line is concerned.

      Sec. 3. This Act to take effect from its passage.

                                              Approved March 4, 1869

(Acts of 1869 Ch. 1701)

      It will be noticed by this act that Isaac Dean was at first selected by the Legislature to run and mark the line, or limits, of Bell County, which selection was later changed to William F. Westerfield, and, when he did not accept, to James B. Partin, who ran the line.

      James B. Partin, 1844-1917, lived in the Big Clear Creek section of Bell County. He was a surveyor by profession, but lived on and cultivated a farm, as a side issue or occupation. I was well acquainted with him in his lifetime, since he lived to be an old man, and was, at the time he surveyed the boundary of Bell County, comparatively a young man. Along in the nineties sometime, he associated himself with some others in the promotion of a company to mine silver in the region of Chenoa, Kentucky, claiming to have located such a mine, either in the Pine Mountain or in Log Mountain; but nothing came of the project. However, the company was incorporated and some digging was done at the proposed mine. James B. Partin was an intelligent man, with but little education, and played an important part in the early history of Bell County. The fact that he was its first surveyor, the engineer who first ran its boundary line, places him as one of the first citizens of Bell County at the time of its formation.

      Following these paragraphs I am giving the survey of the boundary line of Josh Bell County, in metes and bounds, as surveyed by James B. Partin, and which was reported by Partin as the official survey of the boundary line for the first time.

STATE OF KENTUCKY
BELL COUNTY
September the 15th, 1873

      I, James B. Partin, being appointed by the Legislature of Kentucky to run the lines of Bell County (to wit)  
 

Beginning at a large rock and elm on the bank of Cumberland River at the narrowes, about one mile above C. J. Calaweyes (C. G. Calloway's); thence up said river, N 24 E 160 poles to two white oaks on top of Barnets Ridge between John and Green Howards near Cumberland River, thence S 70 E 140 poles to a black oak on top of a small ridge; thence S 51 # 390 poles to three chestnuts and chestnut oak on top of the ridge that divides Sale's (Saylor's) Creek and pides branch; thence with the same. S 33 E 188 poles to a saves (sarvis) and two small bushes on top of the hanging rock, thence due South 414 poles to Pucketts Creek above William R. Howards, and above the mouth of Black Snake Creek, course continued in all 482 poles to a poplar; thence S 21 W 120 poles to a Pine and Hickory on top of the Buzzard ridge; thence with the meanders of said ridge S 220 poles to three chestnuts on top of said ridge; thence with the meanders of said ridge, S 26 W 438 poles to four chestnut oaks on top of Buck Butt at the head of Black snake between Brownyes Creek and Pucketts Creek; thence S 30 E 600 poles to the top of the ridge at the head of James Howards Mill Creek; thence with the meanders of the ridge that divides Howards Creek and Browneys Creek, N 85 E 104 poles to two white oaks at the head waters of James Howards Mill Creek; thence S 20 E 500 poles to Brownyes Creek Road at two rocks at the lower end of Isaac Ealeys Old Farm on Browneys Creek; thence crossing said creek due South 196 poles to the top of the Brush Mountain, course continued in all 966 poles to the top of the Cumberland Mountain to a large rock and spotted oak tree in Bailes medders at the State line between Kentucky and Virginia; thence with the State line, N 88 W 330 poles to a forked Burch on top of some rocks; thence with the State line N 85 W 606 poles to Chadwells Gap on top of Cumberland Mountain course continued in all 4176 poles to Cumberland Gap; thence S 1 mile and a half and 12 poles to seven pines and three black oaks on top of Cumberland Mountain On Walkers line at the corner of the State of Kentucky; thence with Walkers line N 86 W 1600 poles to a stone erected on said line on the West bank of benets fork, course continued, in all 15 miles to a stone erected on Walkers line on the trace branch above George Teagues and at the County Road that leads from Kentucky to Tennessee; thence with the meanders of said Road, N 2 W 340 poles to Wilsons Gap, course continued in all 800 poles to a Hickory at Andy Lamdens; thence N 50 W 400 poles to a White Oak Tree at Laurel Fork Bridge; thence N 21 W 70 poles to a sign-post at the forks of the road at John Lamdens; thence N 50 W 320 poles to two poplars and hickory on top of the Pine Mountain at the Hesse Shoe Gap; thence with the top of Pine Mountain N 65 E. 7210 poles to the Henderson Gap on top of said mountain, course continued in all 1656 poles to the narrowes on top of the Pine Mountain at a large square rock and poplar and chestnut oak; thence N 15 W 180 poles to the divide between Greesey Creek and Poplar Creek; thence with the dividing ridge between Greesey Creek and Poplar Creek N 38 W 80 poles to the top of the first ridge; thence N 7 W 566 poles to a hickory and sassafras and three chestnuts on top of the dividing ridge that divides Greesey Creek and Harps Creek; thence with the meanders of said ridge, N 35 E 100 poles to a Peach Tree and Stone, including Arch legers Houses; thence N 60 E 58 poles to a stone on top of a ridge that divides Greesey Creek, Harps Creek and Brush Creek; thence W 49 E 286 poles to the Brush Creek Gap at the main head of Brush Creek where the Road crosses from Greesey Creek to

Brush Creek; thence with the meanders of the Brush Creek Ridge, N 65 E 174 poles to a chestnut and chestnut oak tree on top of the Brush Creek ridge; thence with the meanders of the same, N 35 E 341 poles to two chestnut oaks; thence N 5 W 562 poles to a locus and chestnut oak on top of a ridge dividing Greesey Creek and Brush Creek; thence N 85 E 282 poles to two lynns in a low gap of the mountain that divides Greesey Creek and Brush Creek; thence with the meanders of the same, N 48 E 68 poles to two buckeyes and spanish oak on top of said mountain; thence N 48, course continued in all 110 poles to an Ash tree and black gum tree on top of the ridge that divides Brush Creek and the Left Hand Fork of Locks Branch, the waters of Greesey Creek; thence N 27 W 70 poles to six chestnut oaks on top of the ridge that divides Greesey Creek and Brush Creek; thence with the meanders of the same, N 18 E 296 poles to a sugar tree and hickory on the ridge that divides Brush Creek and the left hand for of Goodins Branch, the waters of Greesey Creek; thence N 10 E 110 poles to a hickory and dogwood; thence N 40 E 62 poles to a dogwood and white oak; thence N 18 W 278 poles to two chestnut oaks on top of the ridge that divides the head of Marsees Branch of Greesey Creek and Brush Creek; thence N 42 W 46 poles to three white oaks; thence N 25 E 134 poles to the path on the Brush Creek ridge that crosses from Greesey Creek to Brush Creek, course continued N 25 E 60 poles to three chestnut oaks on top of the mountain at the head of Deens Branch, the waters of Greesey Creek; thence N 160 poles to an ash, spanish oak and hickory on top of the ridge at the head of opossum Branch that divides Greesey Creek and Brush Creek; thence N 21 E 30 poles to a chestnut oak and two hickories on top of the pinacle of the mountain that divides Greesey Creek and Brush Creek at the head of Deans Branch; thence N 87 E 350 poles to three hickories on top of a high pinacle and divides Parets Branch and Deens Branch, the waters of Greesey Creek; thence S 41 E 124 poles to a white oak; thence E 160 poles to a elum on the bank of Cumberland River, thence up said river S 6 E 120 poles to a hickory and maple on the bank of Cumberland River at the mouth of Greesey Creek; thence N 80 E 268 poles to two maples on the bank of Cumberland River at the divide between Hendrickson's farm and Tinsley's farm; thence crossing said river, N 20 E 260 poles to two chestnut oaks on top of the ridge that divides four mile Creek and Marks Branch; thence with the top of same, N 15 E.. 8.40 poles to a stone set up in the mulberry Gap at the head of Moores Creek and four mile Creek; thence N 280 poles to a black oak and chestnut oak on top of the ridge that divides Moores Creek and Four Mile Creek; thence S 76 E 286 poles to a large white oak on top of the ridge that divides the head of Four Mile Creek and Caney Fork of Strate Creek; thence N 40 E 692 poles to a black gum and chestnut oak on top of the mountain between Caney Flork and Strate Creek and Moores Creek; thence N 3 W 496 poles to a white oak and black gum on top of the mountain that divides the waters of Strate Creek and Stinking Creek; thence N 78 W 230 poles to the chestnut log gap; thence N 60 W 202 poles to three chestnut trees; thence N 11 W 264 poles to a white oak on top of the mountain that divides the head of Strate Creek and the waters of Stinking Creek, N 58 E 380 poles to a gap of the right hand fork of the head of the trace branch, course continues in all 658 poles to a beach and dogwood and three hickories, course continued in all 908 poles to a doqwood and three hickories at the gap of the mountain between Strait Creek and the

waters of Stinking Creek; thence N 70 E 580 poles to two white oaks at the minyard Gap near the head of Straight Creek; thence with the meanders of said mountain N 35 E 630 poles to a chestnut oak and poplar at a gap of the mountain that divided the main head of Stinking Creek and the waters of Red Bird; thence with the meanders of said mountain, N 50 E 260 poles to a forked chestnut in the gap of the mountain between the head waters of Stinking Creek and the head of Lock Fork; thence S 87 E 1108 poles to the mouth of the rich branch, where it empties into Red Bird; thence up said branch S 65 E 428 poles to four chestnut oaks on top of the mountain that divides rich branch and Phillips Branch; thence S 13 W with the top of said mountain, 1053 poles to the but of the ridge that divides the Dow Fork and Phillips Fork; thence S 85 W with the meanders of the ridge 1100 poles to two white oaks and a black gum on the top of the mountain that divides middle fork and Phillips fork; thence S 85 W 960 poles to the head of the Stoney Fork; thence S 30 E with the meanders of said mountain 960 poles to two hickories at the head of Big Run; thence down Bigrunn S 35 E 1048 poles to a white oak and maple at the mouth of Bigrunn where it empties into the right hand fork of Straight Creek; thence S 28 W, crossing the Pine Mountain----poles to a sugar tree and ash and horn beam at the beginning corner on the Cumberland River about one mile above C. J. Calaways.

                                  James B. Partin, S.B.C.
A. M. Goodin)
John Begley) Chaimian

William Begley) Marker  

State of Kentucky
County of Bell
 

      I, J. B. Knuckles, Surveyor of Bell County hereby certify that the foregoing is a correct and camplete copy of survey of Bell County as surveyed by James B. Partin, as appears of record in my office in Book No. I at Page 175 &c.

      Given under my official hand this the 18th day of June 1904.

                                     J. B. Knuckles, Surveyor of Bell
                                                     County

                                     By C. Hurst, Deputy Surveyor.

      Copied from and compared with certified copy on file in the office of Charles H. Davis, at South Yarmouth, Massachusetts.

This October 14, 1912                            George S. Ward

      It is interesting to note how Bell County, at the gateway to Kentucky and the West, came into being. I wish here to relate some of the details leading up to the formation of

Kentucky and the establishment of Bell County within the Commonwealth. A. B. Lipscomb, in his POLITICAL HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, says: "The territory now comprised within the boundaries of Kentucky was originally part of the grant from James I of England, in 1606, to the Virginia Colony, of all the land from the thirty-fourth to the forty-fifth parallels of latitude, and extending back from the coast westwardly to the South Sea, as the Pacific Ocean was then called, the distance between the two oceans being unknown or vaguely surmised."

      Kentucky County of Virginia originally embraced all of Kentucky and the Northwest Territory, including Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, and west to the South Sea as the Pacific was then called. In 1776 this Kentucky County was divided by the Virginia Assembly into three counties: (1) Montgomery, (2) Washington, (3) Kentucky. Then it was that Kentucky County was confined to the limits, or nearly so, it occupies today.

      Under boundaries with reference to Tennessee and Virginia, Chapter IX, Dembitz on KENTUCKY JURISPRUDENCE (1890 ed., p. 152 ff.) has the following to say on the approval of the boundary of Kentucky and how it originated:

      Section 51. Boundaries. In 1776 the county of Fincastle, of the newly arisen state of Virginia, comprised all of its wild western lands, and among them all the territory now known as Kentucky. By a Virginia Act of that year the county was divided into the new Counties of Montgomery, Washington, and Kentucky, the last named of which became afterwards the District, and a few years later the state of the same name.

      In 1776 Kentucky County was created out of part of Fincastle County, as shown in Littell's LAWS OF KENTUCKY (vol. I, p. 626, chap. 245, "Acts of Kentucky of 1797"). The act follows:

      AN ACT CONTAINING SO MUCH OF EVERY ACT OR ACTS AS ASCERTAINS THE BOUNDARY OF THE STATE, AND OF THE SEVERAL COUNTIES:

                                          Approved February 25, 1797

      From and after the last day of December ensuing, the said County of Fincastle shall be divided into three counties; that is to say, all that part thereof which lies to the south and westward of a line beginning on the Ohio, at the mouth of Great Sandy Creek, and running up the same and the main or northeasterly branch thereof to the Great Laurel Ridge, or Cumberland Mountain; thence south-westerly along the said mountain to the line of North Carolina, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Kentucky.

      In 1780 Kentucky County was divided by the Virginia Legislature into Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln counties, as shown by Littell's LAWS OF KENTUCKY (vol. I, p. 626, chap. 245, "Act of Kentucky of 1797").

                                         Approved February 25, 1797  

     The Act is as follows:

      From and after the first day of November next, the said County of Kentucky shall be divided into three counties, that is to say, all that part of the south side of Kentucky River, which lies west and north of a line beginning at the mouth of Benson's big creek, and running up the same and its main fork to the head; thence south to the nearest waters of Hammond's creek, and down the same to its junction with the town fork of Salt River; thence south to Green River, and down the same to its junction with the Ohio, shall be one distinct county, to be called and known by the name of Jefferson. And all that part of said County of Kentucky which lieth north of the line, beginning at the mouth of the Kentucky River, and up the same to its middle fork to the head; thence south-east to Washington line, shall be one other distinct county, and called by the name of Fayette. And all the residue of the said county of Fayette shall be one other distinct county, and called and known by the name of Lincoln.

      From and after the first day of January next, the county of Jefferson shall be divided into two distinct counties by Salt River, and all that part of said county lying south of said river, shall be called and known by the name of Nelson, and all the residue of the said county shall retain the name of Jefferson.

      From and after the first day of May, one thousand seven hundred and eight-six, the county of Fayette shall be divided into two distinct counties, that is to say, so much of the said county within the following lines: Beginning at the mouth of Upper Howards creek on Kentucky River, running up the main fork thereof to the head; thence with the dividing ridge between Kentucky and Licking creek, until it comes opposite to the head of Eagle Creek; from thence a direct line to the nearest part of Raven creek, a branch of Licking, down Raven Creek to the mouth thereof; thence with Licking to the Ohio; thence with the Ohio to the mouth of Sandy Creek, up Sandy Creek to the Cumberland Mountain; thence with the said mountain to the line of Lincoln County; thence with that line, and down the Kentucky River to the beginning, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Bourbon. And the residue of the said county shall retain the name of Fayette.

      From and after the first day of August next, the county of Lincoln shall be divided into three distinct counties, that is to say: so much of the said county bounded by a line beginning at the confluence of Sugar Creek, and Kentucky River; thence a direct line to the mouth of Clark's run; thence a straight line to Wilson's station in the fork of Clark's run: thence the same course continued to the line of Nelson County; thence with the said line to the line of Jefferson County; thence with that line to the Kentucky River; thence up the said river to the beginning, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Mercer; that such farther parts of said county within the following lines, to-wit: Beginning at the confluence of the Kentucky River and Sugar Creek: thence up the said creek to the fork James Thompson lives on; thence a straight line to where an east course from John Ellis's will intersect the top of the ridge

that divides the waters of Paint Lick from the waters of Dick's river; thence along the top of said ridge southwardly opposite to Hickman's lick; thence south forty-five degrees east to the main Rockcastle River; thence up the said river to the head thereof, thence with the ridge that divides the waters of Kentucky River from the waters of Cumberland River to the line of Washington County; thence along the said line to the main fork of Kentucky river that divides the county of Fayette from the county of Lincoln; thence down the said river to the beginning, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Madison. And all the residue of the said county shall retain the name of Lincoln.

      From and after the first day of May next, the county Fayette shall be divided into two distinct counties, that is to say; all that part of the said county lying westward of a line to begin one mile and half above Todd's ferry, on Kentucky River; thence a direct line to the eight mile tree, on the Lees-town road; thence a direct course crossing the north fork of Elkhorn, four miles on a straight line below William Russell's; thence the same course continued to the line of Bourbon County; thence with Bourbon County line to the mouth of Licking; thence down the Ohio to the mouth of Kentucky River; thence up the river to the beginning, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Woodford. And the residue of said county shall retain the name of Fayette.

      Between 1784 and 1792 the three counties of Lincoln, Jefferson and Fayette, were divided into nine counties, as follows: Jefferson, Nelson, Fayette, Bourbon, Woodford, Mason; Lincoln, Mercer, Madison. There were two counties of Jefferson; four counties of Fayette; and three counties of Lincoln. These nine counties comprised the Commonwealth of Kentucky when she formerly entered the sisterhood of states, on June 1792.

      The Virginia Legislature erected the district of Kentucky into an independent state. The act follows:

      1789. Compact with Virginia. See Carroll's Kentucky Statutes 1803 ed., page 43.

      An Act concerning the erection of the district of Kentucky into an Independent State.

                                 Passed the 18th day of December, 1780

      Whereas it is represented to this present General Assembly, that the act of last session entitles "an act concerning the erection of the district of Kentucky into an independent state," which contains terms materially different from those of the act of October session, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, are found incompatible with the real views of this commonwealth, as well as injurious to the good people of the said district:

     Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that in the month of May next, on the respective court days of the counties within the said district, and at the respective places of holding courts therein, Representatives to continue in appointment for one year, and to compose a convention, with powers, and for the purposes hereinafter mentioned shall be elected by the free male inhabitants of each county above the age of twenty-one years, in like manner as the delegates to the General Assembly have been elected within the said district, in the propositions following: In the county of Jefferson shall be elected five representatives; in the county of Nelson five representatives, in the county of Mercer five representatives; in the county of Lincoln five representatives, in the county of Madison five representatives, in the county of Fayette five representatives, in the county of Woodford five representatives, in the county of Bourbon five representatives, and in the county of Mason five representatives: Provided, that no free male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years, shall vote in any other county except that in which he resides, and that no person shall be capable of being elected unless he has been a resident within the said district at least one year.

      Sec. 2. That full opportunity may be given to the good people of exercising their right of suffrage on an occasion so interesting to them, each of the officers holding such elections, shall continue the same from day to day, passing over Sunday, for five days including the first day, and shall cause this act to be read on each day immediately preceding the opening of the election, at the door of the court house or other convenient place; each of said officers shall deliver to each person duly elected a representative, a certificate of his election, and shall transmit a general return to the clerk of the Supreme court, to be by him laid before the convention.

      Sec. 3. For every neglect of any of these duties hereby enjoined on such officer, he shall forfeit one hundred pounds, to be recovered by action of debt by any person suing for same.

      Sec. 4. The said convention shall be held at Danville on the twenty-sixth day of July next, and shall and may proceed, after choosing a president and other proper officers, and settling the proper rules of proceeding, to consider and determine whether it be expedient for, and the will of the good people of the said district, that the same be erected into an independent state, on the term and conditions following:

      Sec. 5. First, that the boundary between the proposed state and Virginia, shall remain the same as at present separates the district from the residue of this commonwealth.

      Sec. 6. Second, that the proposed state shall take upon itself a just proportion of the debt of the United States, and the payment of all the certificates granted on account of the several expeditions carried on from the Kentucky district against the Indians, since the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five.  

     Sec. 7. Third, that all private rights and interests of lands within the said district, derived from the laws of Virginia prior to such separation, shall remain valid and secure under the laws of the proposed state, and shall be determined by the laws now existing in this state.

      Sec. 8. Fourth, that the lands within the proposed state of non-resident proprietors, shall not in any case be taxed higher than the lands of residents, at any time prior to the admission of the proposed state to a vote by its delegates to congress, where such non-residents reside out of the United States, not at any time either before or after such admission, where such non-residents reside within this commonwealth, within which this stipulation shall be reciprocal; or where such non-residents reside within any other of the United States, which shall declare the same to be reciprocal within its limits; nor shall a neglect of cultivation or improvement of any land within either the proposed state or its commonwealth, belonging to non-residents, citizens of the other, subject such non-resident to forfeiture or other penalty, within the term of six years, after the admission of the said state into the federal union.

      Sec. 9. Fifth, that no grant of land or land warrant to be issued by the proposed state, shall interfere with any warrant heretofore issued from the land office of Virginia, which shall be located on land within the said district, now liable thereto, on or before the first day of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one.

      Sec. 10. Sixth, that the unlocated lands within the said district which stand appropriated to individuals or description of individuals, by the laws of this commonwealth, for military or other services, shall be exempt from the disposition of the proposed state, and shall remain subject to be disposed of by the Commonwealth of Virginia, according to such appropriation, until the first day of May, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two and no longer; thereafter the residue of all lands remaining within the limits of the said district, shall be subject to disposition of the proposed state.

      Sec. 11. Seventh, that the use and navigation of the river Ohio, so far as the territory of the proposed state, or territory which shall remain within the limits of this commonwealth lies thereon, shall be free and common to the citizens of the United States, and the respective jurisdiction of this commonwealth and the proposed state on the river as aforesaid, shall be concurrent only with the states which may possess the opposite shores of the said river.

      Sec. 12. Eighth, that in case of any complaint or dispute, shall at any time arise between the commonwealth of Virginia and the said district, after it shall be an independent state, concerning the meaning or execution of the foregoing articles, the same shall be determined by six commissioners, of whom two shall be chosen by each of the parties, and the remainder by the commissioners so first appointed. 

      Sec. 13. Provided, however, that five members assembled, shall be a sufficient number to adjourn from day to day, and to issue writs for supplying vacancies which may happen from death, resignations, or refusals to act; a majority of the whole shall be a sufficient number to choose a president, settle the proper rules of proceeding, authorize any number to summon a convention during a recess, and to act in all other instances where a greater number is not expressly required. Two thirds of the whole shall be sufficient number of determine on the expediency of forming the said district into an independent state on the aforesaid terms and conditions: Provided, that a majority of the whole number to be elected concur therein.

      Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, that if the said convention shall approve of the erection of the said district into an independent state on the foregoing terms and conditions, they shall and may proceed to fix a day posterior to the first day of November, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, on which the authority of this commonwealth, and of its laws, under the exceptions aforesaid, shall cease and determine forever over the proposed state, and the said articles become a solemn compact mutually binding of the parties, and unalterable by either without the consent of the other.

      Sec. 15. Provided, however, that prior to the first day of November, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, the general government of the United States shall assent to the erection of the said district into an independent state, shall release this commonwealth from all its federal obligations arising from the said district as being part thereof, and shall agree that the proposed state shall immediately after the day to be fixed as aforesaid, posterior to the first day of November, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, or at some convenient time future thereto, be admitted into the Federal Union.

      Sec. 16. And to the end that no period of anarchy may happen to the good people of the proposed state, it is to be understood that the said convention shall have authority to take the necessary provisional measures for the election and meeting of the convention, at some time prior to the day fixed for the determination of the authority of this commonwealth, and of its laws over said district, and posterior to the first day of November, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, with full power and authority to frame and establish a fundamental constitution of government for the proposed state, and to declare what laws shall be in force therein, until the same shall be abrogated or altered by the legislative authority acting under the constitution so to be framed and established.

      Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, that the electors going to, continuing at, and returning from an election of members to the said convention, shall be entitled to the same privileges from arrest, as are by law allowed at an election of members to the General Assembly; and each person returned to serve as a member in said convention, shall be entitled to the same privileges from arrest in going to, during his attendance on, and returning from said convention, as are by law allowed to the members of the General Assembly.  

      Sec. 18. This act shall be transmitted by the Executive, to the representatives of this commonwealth in Congress, who are hereby instructed to use their endeavors to obtain from Congress a speedy act to effect the above specified.

      Following this act of the Virginia General Assembly to make and establish the district of Kentucky into an independent state, the Congress of the United States proceeded to take Kentucky into the Federal Union. The action of Congress follows:

      1791. An Act admitting Kentucky into the Union, lst Congress, third session, February 4, 1791.

      An Act declaring the consent of Congress, that a new state be formed within the jurisdiction of the commonwealth of Virginia, and admitted into the Union by the name of the state of Kentucky.

                                         Approved February 4, 1791.

      Whereas the Legislature of the commonwealth of Virginia, by an act entitled "an act concerning the erection of the district of Kentucky, into an independent state," passed the 18th day of December, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, have consented that the district of Kentucky, within the jurisdiction of the said commonwealth, and according to its actual boundaries at the time of passing the act aforesaid, should be formed into a new state: And whereas a convention of delegates, chosen by the people of the said district of Kentucky, have petitioned Congress to consent, that on the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, the said district should be formed into a new state, and received into the Union, by the name of "The State of Kentucky."

      Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, of the United States of America in Congress assembled, and it is hereby enacted and declared, that the Congress doth consent that the said district of Kentucky, within the jurisdiction of the commonwealth of Virginia, and according to its actual boundaries on the eighteenth day of December, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, shall, upon the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, be formed into a new state, separate from and independent of, the said commonwealth of Virginia.

      Sec. 2. And be it further enacted and declared, that upon the aforesaid first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, the said new state, by the name and style of the state of Kentucky, shall be received and admitted into this Union, as a new and entire member of the United States of America.

      Knox County was created from a part of Lincoln, December 19, 1799; Whitley from Knox County in 1817; Harlan from Floyd and Knox in 1819; Jose Bell from Harlan and Knox in 1867; later changes were made between Knox and Josh Bell, between Whitley and Josh Bell, where the district known as South America was added to Jose Bell from 
 

Whitley, and the prefix Josh was cut off the name Josh Bell, leaving the name thereafter Bell County, a change of the line between Harlan and Bell, and numerous smaller changes so as to include certain farms of individuals. Finally, through all these changes, Bell County emerged into what it is today.

      The line between Harlan and Knox counties, prior to the formation of Bell County, ran as follows: Beginning at Cumberland Gap and running a straight line to the mouth of Straight Creek; thence north to the Knox County line. This line from Cumberland Gap to the mouth of Straight Creek passed through what is now Ferndale, and the north line from the mouth of Straight Creek passed up the ridge to the left of the Left Hand Fork of Straight Creek, so as to include all the waters draining into the Left Fork. All the territory east of this line from Cumberland Gap to the Knox County line, in what is now Bell County, originally was included in Harlan County, and all of the land west of this line was originally included in Knox County. The Cumberland River country above "The Narrows" at Pineville and the two Straight Creeks were in Harlan County, and most of Yellow Creek Valley, Cannon Creek, the two Clear Creeks, Greasy Creek and Four Mile Creek were in Knox county.  
 

      According to the geologists, long after the mountains in this region were formed, Pine Mountain was thrown up by a mighty upheavel across the path of the other mountains. Some parts of the other mountains, near the path of the Pine Mountain upheavel, were titled up in the upheavel. The upheavel of the mountain across the streams formed a vest lake over all the northern and most of the western portions of the county. This lake extended from Pineville up Cumberland River into Harlan County, up Yellow Creek to the Gap itself and the Log Mountain at the Heads of Bennett's Fork and Stony Fork of Yellow Creek, and up Big and Little Clear Creeks to Log Mountain and Cumberland Mountain systems on the south and east. This lake found outlet, at first, through Cumberland Mountain, hollowed out the Gap and flowed out through Powell's River. Later, as time went on the waters of this lake broke through Pine Mountain at the southern edge of what is now Pineville and cut Pine Mountain in two, forming what is know as "The Narrows," with walls of rock on either side some 1300 feet high. The waters drew off through Cumberland River and the lake was no more. I am told that even today, when drilling wells in this region, pieces of wood and even tree trunks and stumps are found at considerable depths below the level of the ground. I have heard depths of from 40 to 200 feet mentioned in this connection.

      Pine Mountain extends in almost a straight line from the Whitley County line in the Southwestern portion of the county, in a northeastern direction, to the Harlan County line between Molus and Cardinal. This mountain, 1000 to 1500 feet in height, divides Bell County into two parts: (1) a northwestern part and (2) a southeastern part. The northwestern part is drained by Cumberland River, the two Straight Creeks, and Greasy Creek. The southeastern and southern part is drained by Cumberland River, Puckett's Creek, Browney's Creek, Hance's Creek, Yellow Creek, and the two Clear Creeks.

      Pine Mountain is a rough, rugged mountain, with the coal broken up in it, and is good only for timber, grazing and scenic views. The south side of the mountain is smoother and more regular than the north side, where the break occurred. The mountain on the south side is a series of smooth ridges, with deep gorges between. Rugged cliffs, long cascades and waterfalls are to be found in the gorges. The north side, where the break occurred, is nearly all rough and rugged, lined along the top of the mountain with a huge stone wall many feet in height. The heavier timber grows on the north side of the mountain, where the limestone is thrown up, consisting of oak,

hickory, poplar, pine, etc., while on the south side pine is the principal growth, although there is some beech, oak, hickory and poplar.         

      There are numerous gaps in Pine Mountain, through which roads cross between the settlements. The principal gap is "The Narrows" at Pineville, where the mountain is cut completely in two. This gap is on the main highway and railroad through the county. The "Lee Gap," named after Philip Lee, grandfather of the author, lies between Big Clear Creek and Greasy Creek, and is one of the best known and most frequently traveled of any of the gaps, save "The Narrows." Then there is the gap in South America, on the Bell-Whitley border; the gap at Chenoa, between Big Clear Creek and Greasy Creek; and the gap near Tanyard Hill, between Cumberland River and Right Fork of Straight Creek. "Bear Wallow Gap" is located a few miles from "Lee Gap" and is so called because in the pioneer days bears came there to wallow in the watery mud and were killed by those in hiding. It is told, on good authority, that this wallow was keenly contested by some of the early pioneers, and that, on one occasion, when some of the hungers visited the place, they found two men in the trees over wallow, looking for bear, and they promptly shot the men out of the trees and waited for the bears themselves.

      Cumberland Mountain bounds a portion of the south and southeastern part of the county, on the border of Virginia and Tennessee. This is the highest mountain chain in the county. The Pinnacle at Cumberland Gap is the highest peak in this range, towering above the surrounding country at an elevation of sixteen hundred feet. The Gap is the lowest point in all the Cumberland Range and was the pioneer gateway into Kentucky and the west. The main highway south today passes through the Gap. Baptist Gap, in the region of Bennett's Fork of Yellow Creek, in this same mountain chain, has also been used as a highway or crossing. The southern wall of this mountain is a ledge of solid stone some three hundred to eight hundred feet high.

      Log Mountain lies in the southwestern part of the county, wedged in between the waters of Big and Little Clear Creeks, on the one side, and Yellow Creek, including Bennett's Fork and Stony Fork, and Laurel Fork and Clear Fork River, on the other side. The main Log Mountain extends from near Wasioto in a southwestwardly direction, between Yellow Creek Valley and the headwaters of Clear Fork River, on the one side, and Big and Little Clear Creeks, on the other side. One range leads off between Big and Little Clear Creeks and is known as Fork Ridge. Another range extends westward between the headwaters of Clear Fork River and Stony Fork of Yellow Creek. And another range extends northwestwardly between the headwaters of Big Clear Creek and Laurel Fork.

      Parallel with Cumberland Mountain, in the southeastern part of the county, is Brush Mountain, extending from the head of Shallalah Branch of Clear Fork of Yellow Creek to the headwaters of Browney's Creek. An extension of this mountain from the head of Shallalah, southwest, between the headwaters of Clear Fork of Yellow Creek and

Crane Creek of Yellow Creek, on the one side, and the headwaters of Black Snake of Browney's Creek, Hance's Creek and Williams's Branch, on the other side, is known as Black Mountain. A Range leads off between Hance's Creek and Browney's Creek and is known as Hance's Ridge. A range of Black Mountain system extends along the eastern border of the county between Path Fork and Brownley's Creek.

      The Kentucky Ridge Mountain System lies in the northern and northwestern part of the county. One chain of this system lies along the northwestern border of the county from near Ely's to the Clay County line. Another range of this same system lies between the Left Fork of Straight and the main Straight Creek, with Red Bird Creek rising on the northern side of this range flowing north. Another range lies along the northern border from Red Bird Creek to Big Run Creek of Straight Creek.

      According to Professional Paper No. 49, 1903 edition, Geological Survey of the United Stated Government, the elevations for Bell County, as shown on the map, accompanying this report, are as follows:

      For Pine Mountain 2000 to 2500 feet, with the elevation in Pine Mountain State Park of 2392, and Clear Creek Springs, which lies at the foot of Pine Mountain, at 1000. The three peaks surrounding Pineville are from 2306 to 2500 feet high.

      The Cumberland Mountain, on the Tennessee-Virginia state line, are shown to be on Shillaia Creek 2432, the Pinnacle 2510, Cumberland Gap 1649, Baptist Gap 1956, Butchers Gap 2800, and the highest point above Butchers Gap and at the head of Shillaia 3200, Hance's Ridge 1720 to 1753, Browney's Ridge 2500, Cubage 1135, Iaurel Hill 1600, Crane's Spur 2000, and Jackson Mountain (Tom's Creek) 2200. Rocky Face, near Ferndale, is shown to be 2400.

      The Log Mountain, which covers the most of Bell County, runs, in places, as follows: Stony Fork below Rocklick's Branch 1327, Fork Ridge between Stony Fork and Bennett's Fork 2800, Log Mountain between Stony Fork and Bear Creek 3000, Excelsior 1135, Middlesborough 1150, Ferndale 1172, Ralston 2140, Chenoa 1327, and the State Road opposite Moore's knob 1412.

      It will be seen that the highest point in the county, at the head of Shallaia in Cumberland Mountains, is 3200 feet. The next highest peak in the county is on the Log Mountain, 3000 feet.

      Numerous streams line the surface of Bell County. Cumberland River enters Bell County near Molus, Kentucky, and flows in a southwestern direction to the mouth of Clear Creek and from there it flows in a northwestern direction through Bell County and enters Knox County near Ely's, a distance of approximately 28 miles. Greasy Creek rises near the Whitley County line in the southwestern part of the county line in the southwestern part of the county and flows northeast for a distance of ten miles and enters Cumberland River between Ely's and Four-mile. Big Clear Creek rises in the

Log Mountain in the southwestern part of the county and flows fourteen miles parallel with the Pine Mountain, northeast, and joins Little Clear Creek at Clear Creek Springs, to form Clear Creek which empties into Cumberland River near Wasioto, Kentucky. Little Clear Creek rises in Log Mountain, flows in a northeastern direction for nine miles and joins Big Clear Creek at Clear Creek Springs. Laurel Fork Creek heads up in Log Mountain, flows west for about four miles and enters Whitley County. Back Branch, Sowders Creek, and Marcy's Branch all rise in Log Mountain and flow two to three miles south and enter Clear Fork River near the Tennessee border. Bennett's Fork rises in Tennessee, enters Bell County at Bosworth, Kentucky, flows for about five miles northeast and enters Yellow Creek near Middlesborough, Kentucky. Stony Fork rises in Log Mountain, flows east for about six miles and enters Yellow Creek just west of Middlesborough, Kentucky. Lick Branch rises in Log Mountain, flows south for four miles and enters Yellow Creek in Middlesborough, Kentucky. Yellow Creek, formed by the junction of Stony Fork and Bennett's Fork west of Middlesborough, flows through Middlesborough and north for fifteen miles and enters Cumberland River at Ponza, Kentucky. Clear Fork Creek rises in Brush Mountain, flows west for about eight miles and enters Yellow Creek. Cannon Creek rises in Log Mountain, flows east for about six miles and enters Yellow Creek one and a half miles below Ferndale, Kentucky. Hance's Creek rises in Hance's Ridge, flows northwest for four miles and enters Cumberland River near Page, Kentucky. Browney's Creek rises in Brush Mountain, one of the Cumberland ranges, flows southwest for fifteen miles and enters Cumberland River at Miracle. Puckett's Creek rises in Martin's Fork Range of Cumberland Mountain in Harlan County, enters Bell County below the mouth of Rocky Branch and flows for two and half miles west into Cumberland River near Hulen. Four Mile Creek rises in Kentucky Ridge, flows south three miles and enters Cumberland River at Fourmile. Straight Creek rises in Kentucky Ridge across the ridge from Bledsoe, Kentucky, in Harlan County, flows southwest for twenty-two miles, fourteen miles of which flows through Bell County, and enters Cumberland River in Pineville, two miles below its junction with the left Fork of Straight Creek. Left Fork of Straight Creek rises in Kentucky Ridge, flows southwest for twelve miles and joints Straight Creek two miles from its mouth. Stony Fork, six miles long, Mill Creek, two and a half miles long, are branches of Straight Creek. Symm's Fork, five miles long, and Caney Creek, three miles long, are branches of Left Fork of Straight Creek. Martin's Fork of Cumberland River rises in Brush Mountain in Bell County and flows east for three miles and enters Harlan County. Fern Lake, the water reservoir for Middlesborough, lies across, about half and half, the Tennessee-Bell County border in the southern part of the county and can easily be seen from the Pinnacle as it lies stretched out between the mountain ranges.

      The level land of Bell County consists of narrow river and creek bottoms along the streams. Middlesborough occupies the largest level area of the county. In the region of Pineville, including the mouths of Straight Creek and Clear Creek, is another level area. Down the river from Pinevile, including the mouth of Greasy Creek, to the Knox County line are some broad bottom lands. Along the Cumberland River, below the    

Harlan County line, down past the mouth of Puckett's Creek and Browney's Creek is to be found some more level land. Little Clear Creek, in the Fuson Settlement, is a good sized level tract of creek bottom land. Around the mouth of Clear Fork of Yellow Creek, in South America, and on Greasy Creek a other sections of level land. South America is largely a plateau section, partly level and rolling. Bell County is blest with many mountains, numerous streams, and a smaller amount of level land.

      Mr. R. V. Trosper, Agricultural Agent of Bell County, in a recent letter to the editor of the THREE STATES, says of the physical features of Bell County:

      "In round numbers there are 245,000 acres of land in Bell County. The U.S. Census data show 1,800 farmers owning a portion of these acres. The remainder belongs to corporations. Here are how these 245,000 acres are roughly classified: (1) About 10,000 acres of level lands; (2) About 10,000 acres of level lands occupied with buildings; (3) About 35,000 acres too steep to be plowed, but considered good pasture lands; (4) About 5,000 acres of upland occupied with buildings; (5) About 185,000 acres good for timber growing. Millions of dollars' worth of soil are lost by erosion annually. Only soils that are bare permit erosion. Grasses and legumes prevent erosion."

      Ashley and Glenn in "Geology and Mineral Resources of the Cumberland Gap Coal Field,, Kentucky,- in 1906, say of the geology of the Cumberland Mountain, Rocky Face fault, and the Pine Mountain:

      The structure of Cumberland Mountain presents two types. In one type the mountain is a simple monocline, and the rocks all dip about uniformly at angles of from 25 degrees to 50 degrees. In the other type the rocks are bent sharply upward at the north foot of the mountain at angles closely approaching a right angle, then they are fractured sharply or bent into a nearly horizontal position with a dip of 20 degrees or less. It is of interest that the second type coincides with that portion of the mountains that appears to have been pushed bodily to the north. Beginning at Cumberland Gap the valleys following the foot of the mountain lie a mile or more north of a line from the valley of Little Yellow Creek to the valley of Martin's Fork below the end of Brush Mountain. Over much of that distance there is a corresponding northward movement of the escarpment of the southern face. Furthermore, at the southwest end the change from the first type to the second comes sharply at Cumberland Gap and is closely associated with the fault at that point. At the summit of the gap on the west side the rocks are quartzitic sandstones that dip N. 55 degrees W. at an angle of 65 degrees and no trace of the Newman limestone is found until the limestone quarry is reached at the south foot of the hill, about 1,350 feet south of the gap. On the east side of the gap, the Newnan limestone outcrops 80 feet above the saddle, and dips N. 28 degrees W. at angles of from 18 degrees to 25 degrees. On the south side of the gap the line of fault, as shown by fragments of limestone on one side of it and none on the other, has a direction N. 23 degrees W. From the gap northward the fault appears to run out in the form of a nosing,

horizontal fold. On the west side of the Harlan Road the dip is N. 70 degrees to 85 degrees W. at angles of from 50 degrees to 55 degrees. On the east of that line the dip is N. 5 degrees E. to N. 25 degrees W. at angles of from 15 degrees to 32 degrees. Here then is consistent evidence, along several lines, of differential movement along the Cumberland Mountains; that is, that the part of the Cumberland Mountains between Cumberland Gap and the east end of Brush Mountain has yielded more to the thrust forces from the southeast than the adjacent regions and the Lee sandstone has there been carried a short distance farther north that to the northeast or southwest. In this case it should not be supposed that there has been an actual northward movement of a mile or more, for a slight elevations combined with the northward movement would throw the Hance shales which determined the line of the valleys well to the north, and, correspondingly, a higher elevation of the Lee sandstone in pre-Cretaceous times combined with the north dip would have allowed it to be eroded much farther to the north. In fact, a slight elevation of the northward-dipping rocks would tend to move the longitudinal valley and the escarpment northward as indicated without actual northward motion on the part of the rocks. The structure, however, indicates that there has been horizontal as well as vertical motion. In the neighborhood of Cumberland Gap it is evident that part of this movement has been by actual shearing along the Cumberland Gap fault. The shape of the escarpment for 2 or 3 miles southwest of Cumberland Gap suggests that that part of Cumberland Mountain was dragged forward at the same time. If so, the rocks just north must have been subjected to torsional stresses. That, it seems quite possible, may account for the highly folded and faulted condition of the shales in the hills immediately about Middlesborough. This folding would also seem to satisfy the demand for a shortening or buckling of the strata in that region to allow the northwestward movement of the Cumberland Mountain. It is quite possible that the folding of the shales that shows at the surface corresponds with a synclinal dip of the massive Lee sandstones, the sandstones being folded while the shales were crushed. Northeast of Cumberland Gap the necessary shortening seems to have been obtained in the main by the change in the shape of the fold. Part of this shortening may have been obtained by the faulted buckled of Rocky Face Mountain. Whether the fault of Rocky Face Mountain joins the Cumberland Gap fault could not be determined, but the evidence was rather against the theory that it does. It is probable, however, that if the two are not parts of a single fault they belong to one fault system and were produced at the same time and by the same force. The Rocky Face Mountain fault will be described below. At the west end of Brush Mountain occurs another interesting fault, or double fault. In this case the two faults appear to meet each other about at right angles, one extending along the strike in Brush Mountain, as though there were a break at the sharp fold where the rocks turn from nearly vertical to nearly horizontal at the top, while the Shillaly Creek fault that meets it at right angles to the strike is followed by Shillaly Creek. As nearly as could be determined the mass of rock occurring with the intersecting faults bad dropped down at the corner, the edges of the downthrown block gradually rising until they join the edges from which they were broken. In this case the downthrow has been sufficient to bring down and protect from    

erosion some rocks that appear to belong to the formations overlying the Lee.

      Near Hurst the rocks in places tend to buckle in horizontal planes, so that strata that on either side have dips of 45 degrees to 60 degrees locally are perpendicular or more or less overturned, as though lateral stresses, as well as the main traverse stress, had been induced.

      Rocky Face Mountain is a north-south ridge with unusually narrow crest and steep flanks. Structurally it is a faulted arch with downthrow on the west. The rocks involved are the massive Lee sandstones and conglomerates. The fault appears to become an anticline at each end and to nose out rapidly. At the north end the fold shows plainly on the north side of Cannon Creek, the west limb of the anticline being nearly perpendicular and the east limb dipping N. 82 degrees East at an angle of 30 degrees. The congolmerate appears in the bed of Cannon Creek and is slightly faulted. The faulting probably begins at the creek. The upthrust side rises rapidly, attaining an elevation of over 2,500 feet. The upthrust strata acquire a dip of from 80 degrees to 87 degrees, the change from a dip of 25 degrees to one of 80 degrees at the foot of the mountain taking place in a few feet. At the crest the rocks bend sharply almost to the horizontal and then are sharply cut off, presenting an almost perpendicular face several hundred feet high. At the south end the structure is not entirely clear, but apparently the fault changes to an anticline before the south end of the mountain is reached, and fairly low dips both southwest and southeast indicate a nosing out of the anticline. The disturbance crosses Yellow Creek, but does not appear to extend far into Dark Ridge .... It seems possible to estimate roughly the amount of north-south shortening that has taken place in the buckling or arching seen in Rocky Face Mountain. An estimate made by graphically plotting to scale the facts as known shows a shortening just along the line of fracture of from 1,200 to 2,000 feet. Such a fold probably does not extend to any great depth. Below the arching Lee Sandstone the Pennington shale has probably been folded up much as the Hance shales have been at Middlesborough. In the case of the Middlesborough area it would seem possible that there exists a local synclinal fold in the massive Lee sandstone corresponding in shape to the Rocky Face Mountain arch, but reversed.

      In Volume III, new series, of the reports of the Kentucky Geological Survey, Professor Shaler argues that the Pine Mountain and other faults of this region were formed recently, especially when compared with such features as the Powell Valley anticline. The basis for this argument is mainly the small amount or erosion that has taken place since the faults were formed. Thus, in the case of Pine Mountain, the fault scarp has retreated but little from the original plane of faulting while the Cumberland Mountain scarp has retreated several miles fram the axis of the Powell Valley anticline. In all this no account was taken of the Cumberland peneplain. This peneplain is believed to have been the last stage of a cycle whose end came near the close of the Cretaceous. With that in mind it is evident that the

present Pine mountain was below drainage from the Carboniferous nearly to the end of the Cretaceous. On the other hand the anticlinal structure carried the Lee sandstone east of Cumberland Mountain well above the level of the peneplain, where it was subject to erosion, and it is more than probably that a large share of the northwestward curring of the Lee Sandstone of Cumberland Mountain took place during the production of the peneplain. That the Pine Mountain fault has not been produced since Cretaceous time is evident from the fact that Pine Mountain, resulting from it, was leveled off in pre-Cretaceous time. For the same reason it is evident that no large movement along Pine Mountain fault has taken place in post-Cretaceous time, though small movement may well have have occurred. That such movements have taken place in the Yellow Creek Valley appears from the discussion of the Middlesborough plain in the section on geography. As stated there, if erosion below the 2,000 foot level did not begin here until nearly the end of Cretaceous time, erosion that reached down to the present drainage levels must have been comparatively recent. If, as stated above, there exists at Middlesborough a local synclinal fold in the Lee sandstone, it is possible that a slight further yielding would deepen it and might locally depress the land there, bringing the old drainage lines below their former level of outflow and allowing the silting up the basin thus formed. In this case, while sinking at Middlesborough is certain, there may also have been a movement along the fault face at Rocky Face Mountain. Such a movement would be closely related to a subsidence at Middlesborough, the two movements, if both occurred, being but two expressions of a single readjustment.

      There is slight evidence of a still more recent movement of similar character, though of slight amount in the dip of the Arthur Heights graduation plain from north and south. This dip amounts to about 20 feet to the mile. It cannot be asserted that this dip is not due to the differential effects of erosion, but it suggests that there has been at comparatively recent time a noticeable tilting of the rocks with sinking at the south or uplift to the north.   

      Less than a century and a half ago that intrepid leader, Daniel Boone, led a band of bold pioneers into the vast wilderness country beyond the Alleghany Mountains. Just why he, of all the men that came, and, too, at a time when a fearful war was being waged for independence, should be chosen the leader for the extension of a vast empire--an empire that in time was to extend from ocean to ocean--is one of the unexplainable facts of history. Destiny, in some way, seized on this unlettered child of the forest and used him to perform one of the greatest feats of all time.

      An intelligent historian has said: "Daniel Boone appears before us in these exciting times the central figure, towering like a colossus, amid that hardy band of pioneers who exposed their breasts to the shock of the struggle which gave a terrible significance and a crimson hue to the history of the dark and bloody ground."

                    No nobler undertaking ever came to man
                    Than came to Boone and his followers!
                    They extended mankind's plan
                    To a wider domain among the powers!
                    When time enough elapses
                    And history has been given her due,
                    The record of those great collapses
                    Will give place to records anew.
                    Then Boone's achievement will stand
                    On the pages of history as actor,
                    And mankind will read in grand
                    Pageant the record of the benefactor
                    To whom all mankind is debtor.
                    Long may his memory live in her annals!
                    Long may his deeds become the better
                    To shine in dark places like candles.

      As early as 1773, Boone, with his family, and some others were on their way to Kentucky by way of the famous Cumberland Gap route, and, just before they reached the Gap, a party of young men in the company, who had fallen in the rear with the cattle, were attached by the Indians in a narrow defile of the mountain. A number of them were killed, Boone's own son, seventeen years old, being among the number. After this incident, at the insistence of the other members of the party, they fell back to a point in southwestern Virginia. There they  

remained for a time, but in 1775, after Boone had completed the Wilderness Road and the Fort at Boonesborough had been built, or partially so, they made their way safely through Cumberland Gap to Boonesborough.

      Mr. Shaler says: "Almost every part of the surface (that of Kentucky) had been traversed by other explorers before this man, who passes into history as the typical pioneer, set foot upon its ground." This is doubtlessly true, and yet he possessed such dauntless courage, such rare persistence, such gentleness of nature, such a vivid imagination, such consummate skill and judgment, such lofty manhood, that he easily became the dauntless leader, the moving spirit, the very soul of the whole movement.

      Elmira Miller Slaughter, in her poem on "The Breaker of the Trail," has this to say of Daniel Boone:

                Here where the mighty mountains rise
                   through gleamy crests to heaven,
                Where pass the splendid nights and
                   days, red dawn and starry heaven
                Responsive to a silent call as one
                   who sought the Grail
                He came, the knightliest knight of
                   all, the breaker of the trail--

                Schooled only in his wild wood lore,
                   his trusty gun in hand
                He left the Yadkin's peaceful shore
                   to seek the promised land;
                His was a heart that knew no fear,
                   a soul that might not quail,
                Kentucky's dauntless pioneer, the
                   breaker of the trail.

      We owe much to Dr. Thomas Walker, the real discoverer of southeastern Kentucky. He, the learned explorer from Virginia, in company with some others, came through Cumberland Gap in 1750. Collins, in his HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, has this to say about them: "In 1750 a small party of Virginians from Orange and Culpeper counties-Dr. Thomas Walker, Ambrose Powell, and Colby Chew among them-entered what is now the state of Kentucky at Cumberland Gap, being the first white men to have visited the interior of eastern Kentucky for the purpose of exploration, in a scientific way, and the settlement of the country. The date was preserved by the distinct recollection and statement of Dr. Walker, the leader and most prominent man of the party, and by the carving upon the trees, those silent recorders of Kentucky's early history. Isaac Shelby, the first governor of the state, stated that in 1770 he was on Yellow Creek, a mile or two from Cumberland Mountain, in company with Dr. Walker and others, when Walker told him of having been upon the spot twenty years before, and 'yonder tree contains the record of it; Ambrose marked his name and year upon it, and you will

find it there now.' Colonel Shelby examined the tree and found upon it, in large, legible characters, 'A. Powell-175O.'"

      Walker gave the names to the important streams and mountains of the region: Cumberland Mountain, Cumberland River, Cumberland Gap, and other points. The Cumberland Mountains were called by the Indians "Waseoto," which name is retained by the present town of Wasioto, one mile south of Pineville.

      Walker and his party traveled through Cumberland Gap, down into Yellow Creek Valley, where Middlesborough is now located, down Yellow Creek to the Little Log Mountain Tunnel, through Little Log Mountain Gap, across Cannon Creek to Ferndale, up Moore's Branch to the Gap in Big Log Mountain, down to Clear Creek at the Moss Farm, down Clear Creek to the mouth, down Cumberland River on the south side to a point four miles below Barbourville, across the river to a point opposite the mouth of Swan Creek where his men built a house, 12 X 18 ft., the first building ever erected by white men in southeastern Kentucky.

      Dr. Walker was first married in 1741 to Mildred Merriwether, the widow of Nicholas Merriwether, a daughter of John Thornton. She was the mother of Dr. Walker's twelve children, and died in 1778. On January 14, 1781 he was married to Elizabeth Thornton, daughter of Francis Thornton, and first cousin of his first wife-both of them being second cousins of George Washington. The names of Dr. Walker's twelve children, were: (1) Mary Walker, who married Nicholas Lewis; (2) John Walker, who married Elizabeth Moore; (3) Susan Walker, who married Henry Fry; (4) Thomas Walker, Jr.; (5) Lucy Walker, who married Dr. George Gilmer; (6) Elizabeth Walker, who married Rev. Matthew Maury; (7) Mildred Walker, who married Joseph Hornsby; (8) Sarah Walker, who married Col. Reuben Lindsay; (9) Martha Walker, who married George Divers; (10) Reuben Walker, who died at the age of three years; (11) Francis Walker, who married John Byrd Nelson, daughter of Col. Hugh Nelson and granddaughter of Col. William Byrd, of Westover; (12) Peachy Walker, who married Joshua Fry, son of John Fry and grandson of Joshua Fry, Sr.

      "In 1779 it became necessary for Virginia and North Carolina to survey and define the dividing lines between those states far to the westward in order to settle controversies between those states and the settlers on the border. Dr. Thomas Walker and Daniel Smith were appointed Commissioners for that purpose by the state of Virginia, and met with Richard Henderson and W. B. Smith as Commissioners of North Carolina and entered upon that work in the later part of 1779." These Commissioners settled the line in Cumberland Gap between what is now the states of Virginia and Kentucky, and Tennessee and Kentucky.

      Dr. Walker's Journal is a very important document. It is the first written record of Bell County and Southeastern Kentucky. Doubtless, some white men visited this region prior to the time of Dr.

Walker's journey, but no written record was left behind. Hunters penetrated this region very early and probably before the time of Dr. Walker's visit, but they left no written record behind them.

      Dr. Walker says, in the introduction to his Journal: " Having, on the 12th of December last, been employed for a certain consideration to go to the Westward in order to discover a proper Place for a Settlement, I left my house on the Sixth day of March at ten o'clock, 1749-50, in Company with Ambrose Powell, William Tomlinson, Colby Chew, Henry Lawless and John Hughs. Each man had a horse and we had two to carry the baggage. I lodged this night at Col. Joshua Fry's in Albemarle, which County includes the Chief of the head branches of James River on the East side of Blue Ridge."

      Leaving out that part of his Journal which deals with the route to Clinch River, I begin the quotations from his Journal after he reaches Clinch River. The idea being to include that part of his Journal which directly affects Bell County.

      The Journal is as follows:

      (April) 9th. We travel to a river, which I suppose to be that which the Hunters call Clinches River from one Clinch a Hunter, who first found it. We marked several Beeches on the East Side. We could not find a ford Shallow enough to carry our Baggage over on our Horses. Ambrose Powell Forded over on one horse and we drove the others after him. We then made a raft and carried over one load of Baggage, but when the raft was brought back, it was so heavy that it would not carry anything more dry.

      April 10th. We waded and carried the remainder of our Baggage on our shoulders at two turns over the River, which is about one hundred and thirty yards wide, we went on about five miles and camped on a small branch.

      April 11th. Having traveled 5 miles to and over an High Mountain Cumberland Gap, we came to Turkey Creek, which we kept down 4 miles. It lies between two Ridges of Mountains, that to the Eastward being the highest.

      12th. We kept down the creek 2 miles further, where it meets with a large Branch coming from the South West and thence runs through the East Ridge making a very good pass; and a large Buffaloe Road goes from that Fork to the Creek over the west ridge, which we took and found the Ascent and Descent tollerby easie. From this Mountain we rode on four miles to Beargrass River. Small Cedar Trees are very plenty on the flat ground nigh the River, and some Barberry trees on the East side of the River, on the Banks is some Beargrass. We kept up the River 2 miles. I found small pieces of Coal and a great plenty of a very yellow flint. The water is the most transparent I ever saw. It is about 70 yds. wide.

April 13th. We went four miles to large Creek which we called Cedar Creek being a Branch of Bear-Grass, and from thence Six miles to Cave Gap, the land being Levil. On the North side of the Gap is a large Spring, which falls very fast, and just above the Spring is a Small Entrance to a Large Cave, which the spring runs through, and there is a constant Stream of Cool air issuing out. The Spring is sufficient to turn a Mill. Just at the Foot of the Hill is a Laurel Thicket and the spring Water runs through it. On the South side is a Plain Indian Road. On top of the Ridge are Laurel Trees marked with Crosses, others Blazed and several Figures on them. As I went down the other Side, I soon came to some Laurel in the head of the Branch. A Beech stands of the left hand, on which I cut my name. This Gap may be seen at a considerable distance, and there is no other, that I know of, except one about two miles to the North of it which does not appear to be so low as the other. The Mountain on the North Side of the Gap is very Steep and Rocky, but on the South side it is not so. We Called it Steep Ridge. At the foot of the hill on the North West side we came to a Branch, that made a great deal of flat land. We kept down it 2 miles, several other Branches Coming in to make it a large Creek, and we called it Flat Creek. We camped on the bank where we found very good coal. I did not See any Lime Stone beyond this ridge. We rode 13 miles this day.

      April 14th. We kept down the Creek 5 miles chiefly along the Indian Road.

      April 15th. Easter Sunday. Being in bad grounds for our Horses we moved 7 miles along the Indian Road, to Clover Creek. Clover and Hop vines are plenty here.

      April 16th. Rai(n). I made a pair of Indian Shoes, those I brought out being bad.

      17th. Still Rain. I went down the Creek a hunting and found that it went into a River about a mile below our camp. This, which is Flat Creek and some others join'd I called Cumberland River.

      18th. Still Cloudy. We kept down the Creek to the River along the Indian Road to where it crosses. Indians have lived about this Ford some years ago. We kept on down the South Side. After riding 5 miles from our Camp, we left the River, it being very crooked. In Riding 3 miles we came on it again. It is about 60 or 70 yds. Wide. We rode 8 (?) miles this day.

      The Flat Creek Walker speaks of is known as Yellow Creek today, and Clover Creek is known as Clear Creek. Walker saw for the first time and named Cumberland River at the mouth of Clear Creek, one mile South of Pineville. This was in 1750. 

      A man by the name of Cockrell, who lived in the town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, just under the Pinnacle on the Tennessee side of the mountain, collected in his lifetime, from all parts of the region around Cumberland Gap, a large number of Indian relics. These he sold to Lincoln Memorial University at Harrogate, Tennessee, only a short distance from the Gap.

      From these remains, in this collection, it would appear that there was more of an occupation of the Indians in this region than that of just hunting trips. In former times, long before the time of our earliest pioneers, there seems to have been an occupation of the Indians over a wide territory in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Afterwards, they either died altogether or which is more probably, moved to some other hunting ground, and made occasional excursions into Kentucky, as they were doing at the time of the coming of the white men.

      Early in the Civil War, Cumberland Gap was considered of strategic importance. Mr. Shaler is authority for the statement that President Lincoln planned to have a railroad constructed to Cumberland Gap, and to have the position strongly fortified, "so that an army there might give an element of security to Central Kentucky and threaten the Rebel lines of communication in Eastern Tennessee. His project, though excellent in its conception, was never carried out. This part of the state was never provided with any adequate defenses."

      Kentucky declared her neutrality early in the year 1861, but so determined were the Confederate forces to secure the state for their cause that Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, nephew of President Polk, and General Zollicoffer agreed on an invasion of the state, thereby breaking the very neutrality the state, had declared. Polk "took up a strong position on the bluffs that commanded the stream at Columbus and Hickman," while Zollicoffer moved through Cumberland Gap and took up his position on the foothills around Cumberland Ford in 1861. This occupation has been fully described in the chapter on the Cumberland Ford Settlement.

      General Johnston's Confederate Army was sorely pressed in Western Kentucky and Tennessee, and, wishing to divert attention from his perilous position, decided to make another attack in Eastern Kentucky. Gen. George B. Crittenden, who held an entrenched position on the north wide of Cumberland River, at Beech Grove, in Pulaski County, was ordered to make the attack. Gen. George H. Thomas, with his Federal forces, was moving against this position when General Crittenden decided to beat General Thomas to the attack. So, with 5,000 men, General Zollicoffer was sent against Thomas. The engagement was the most fiercely contested one in the Mississippi Valley up to that time. The receiving of reinforcements by Thomas and the death of General Zollicoffer by a pistol shot from Col. Speed Fry turned the tide of

battle, and the Confederates, with difficulty, fled across Cumberland River. "The Battle of Mills Spring, or Logan's Cross Roads, though the total killed and wounded did not exceed 600, was a remarkably well contested fight. The men of both sides were unused to war, yet they showed the endurance of veterans."

      The battle of Perryville was a draw, amid misconceptions on both sides. Sheridan, who was in charge of the action under Buell, who was at some distance from the conflict, thought he was in contact with the whole of Bragg's army, when, in fact, Bragg had only about one third of his army there. This made Sheridan very cautions. The Confederates, on the other hand, considered that they were dealing with an inferior force, only a fragment of Buell's army, and could wait their time for the men to rest till the next day for the engagement. Buell had a large army there, must larger than Bragg's, and, when Bragg came up in the midst of the fight and saw the situation, he retreated, and, by forced marches, outstripped Sheridan. Bragg then headed for Cumberland Gap, and, by felling trees across the roads in the rear, escaped to Tennessee beyond Cumberland Gap.

      General Stephenson, with his Confederate forces, had occupied Cumberland Gap. The present site of the town of Cumberland Gap, on the Tennessee side, was a tented field of warriors. Roads were constructed from Tennessee and Virginia up into the Gap, around the mountain by the Gap and beyond on the same side, and down into Yellow Creek Valley on the Kentucky side. Strong breastworks were thrown up on the rugged mountainsides in this Gap, and the pass was guarded on both sides for many miles around.

      Today braces of this occupation are visible all about the Gap. Just beneath the Pinnacle on the Kentucky side are great breastworks that have been thrown up and are now in fairly well preserved condition. Trees, with trunks much larger than a man's body, have grown up in and around them.

      On the low ridges back of Cumberland Gap town are long rows of pits from which the bodies of the soldier-dead were taken after the war. The hard ground of these hilltops has kept them in a pretty good state of preservation.

      Confederate Gen. Stephenson, by threat of invasion, was driven from this impregnable position by Gen. George W. Morgan, the Union general. He occupied the position for some time. But the Federal Government at Washington, in the press of the war, seemed to forget about the force in Cumberland Gap. Gen. Morgan found himself without provisions, and could obtain them only by foraging in the valleys of Virginia and Tennessee, which were held by the Confederates. Central Kentucky was also in the hands of the Confederates, and the mountain district could not be depended upon to furnish sufficient food to sustain his army. Gen. Morgan was in a perilous situation.

There are two other gaps, Baptist Gap and Big Creek Gap, west of Cumberland Gap, which it seems, Gen. Morgan did not know about, or knowing, failed to fortify. Gen. Kirby Smith, at this juncture, added another peril to his already perilous situation by entering the state through Big Creek Gap in the region of upper Clear Fork of Cumberland River. But some men under Colonel Mundy, who were at that time stationed behind breastworks thrown up in the bluffs overlooking the Phil Ford of Little Clear Creek near Clear Creek Springs, about a mile up from where Big and Little Clear creeks join, and some six month's Ohio troops, who were in the region, were dispatched against Gen. Smith at Big Creek Gap. The division, though cut to pieces, checked the movement of the confederates and enable Gen. Morgan to begin this retreat. He carried on a successful retreat for 200 miles across Kentucky, against a most carefully laid plan to trap him, to the Ohio River at Greenupsburg. It "was a long, running, starving fight, from which the force came out looking like an army of spectres, shoeless, their clothing in tatters, and their bodies wasted by scant food. This retreat deserves to be remembered as one of the great exploits of the war and one of the most successful movements of its kind in military history."

      The people of the mountains of Kentucky were strong for the union, they, who owned few or no slaves and cared nothing for the slavery questions, came into conflict with their neighbors in Central Kentucky and the bordering regions of Tennessee and Virginia. In fact, they, together with the other people of the Appalachian region around them, were caught between the contending armies of the North and the South. In the Federal armies, and on their own part in many instances, they began the extermination of the rebels in the region. The rebels had some sympathizers among the people, who retailiated by killing Federal soldiers. Thus, in this way, feuds grew out of the Civil War. The relatives of the people who were killed took it up after the war and soug