party of forty men descended the Ohio River, stopped for a time at the mouth of Licking River, and felled some trees on the present site of Cincinnati. Not being satisfied with the location of the settlement, they followed the Ohio to the mouth of the Kentucky River and ascended the Kentucky to a spot now known as Oregon Landing. Being fatigued [pg 8]from their long and difficult voyage, they left their boats and took a course from the river and found a big spring at which they built a stockade on the present site of Harrodsburg.

The large flowing spring one mile west of the present town of Stanford, Lincoln County, was made the site of a third settlement. Capt. Benjamin Logan headed this party of pioneers, and the station was, for a time, known as Logan’s Fort. Afterward, because of the fact that the fort was made by planting logs on end, it was called Standing Fort, and in later years the town was called Stanford. In the Logan party was a priest who was a musician of rare ability. In his daily walks, he was accustomed to sit, meditating, at the mouth of the cave from which ran the water of this great spring. The ripple of the stream flowing from the cavern, over the rocks and through the spearmint, was music to the Father’s ear, and to him it seemed the spirit of St. Asaph, the director of King David’s choir. He it was who named the spring and the creek which flows from it, St. Asaph’s.

While the people busied themselves at Harrodsburg, Boonesborough and Logan’s Fort, Simon Kenton, disappointed in a love affair in Virginia, seeking relief from sorrow by satisfying his hunger for hunting and at the same time acting in the interest of Lord Dunmore, came to Kentucky. He reached a point near Old Washington in Mason County, where he and his party cleared an acre of land, planted corn and ate the roasting ears the same summer. So far as we know, this was the first agricultural activity in the Commonwealth.

In April, 1775, the first battle of the Revolutionary War was fought at Lexington, Mass. At that time a party of hunters was camped at the big spring near the present site of the Fayette County courthouse, in Lexington, Ky. Months later, the news of the American victory reached [pg 9]the settlers, and because of their great joy over the victory gained, they named the camp site Lexington.

Limestone (now Maysville), Royal Springs (now Georgetown) and Martin’s Station were also built this year.

Stockade and Cabins at Lexington

In 1779, Lexington was first permanently improved and cabins built. From these rude stockade cabins grew the beautiful city of the Blue Grass, in which town for many years were manufactured practically all the fur hats worn in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Being in the center of the hemp-growing section, practically all the ropes and cables used in boating on the Ohio, Mississippi and Kentucky rivers were made in Lexington. These commercial enterprises, together with the exceptional fertility of the soil, account for the development of the city of Lexington more rapidly than the surrounding forts and stations.

Daniel Boone was consulted regarding the advisability of the location of all settlements made during the early days, because he knew the country better than any other one person, and knew the wilderness as few have known it.

Hunters and trappers began to traffic along the Ohio River, and supplies for the more northern settlements were shipped on the Ohio and unloaded at Limestone or at The Rapids. At this latter point it was necessary, if supplies were sent farther down the stream, to unload and carry them to a point below the rapids, when the boats would have to be launched again and reloaded. [pg 10]This necessitated a delay, especially as the traders soon fell upon the plan of having one line of boats plying above the rapids and another plying between points below the rapids. Men for unloading and loading were kept always on the ground. This little settlement became permanent, and is now the largest town in the State—Louisville.

How the Pioneers Lived and Fought

First Stockade and Cabins at the Falls of Ohio, now Louisville. Built by George Rogers Clark in 1776.

After the wives of the settlers in the various forts came to Kentucky, home life took on the appearance of a settled community. Homes were built outside the stockades, nearly every man of family had a farm of his own, land was cleared, fruit trees were set out, attention was given to the raising of hogs, sheep, cattle and horses, and a little Empire of the West began to appear. The women were busy with spinning, weaving and general housework. The men cleared and fenced their land. The fortifications were kept only as a refuge in time of an attack by the Indians—which, however, was not infrequent, because the French in the North coveted the rich lands beyond the Alleghenies, and incited the Indians to warfare against the white people who were settling there. It was the sturdy pioneers of Kentucky, acting in the name of Virginia, who held the frontier against the encroachments of the French, as the property of the English crown.

[pg 11]

The notorious renegade, Simon Girty, a white man who for certain reasons forsook civilized society and associated himself with the Indians of Northern Ohio, was willing at all times to harass the settlers on the frontier at the suggestion of the French military commanders. This man cared not for spilling the blood of his own race, and frequently would lead his hostile bands in attacks against the unprotected settlements. His favorite time for attack seemed to be in the spring of the year, when the men were at work in the fields and offered the least resistance by a speedy rally of forces.

We have noticed that all these forts were built near a spring of unfailing water. The pioneers seem always to have left the spring outside the inclosure, however, and since this worked a great hardship in time of siege, it seems to have been bad