and received a deed signed by their head chiefs.

The purchase made, the next important step was to take possession of the
territory thus acquired. The proprietors were not slow to do this, but
immediately collected a small company of brave and hardy men, which
they sent into Kentucky, under the direction of Daniel Boone, to open a
road from the Holston to the Kentucky River, and erect a Station at the
mouth of Otter Creek upon this latter.

After a laborious and hazardous march through the wilderness, during
which four men were killed, and five others wounded, by trailing and
skulking parties of hostile Indians, Boone and his company reached the
banks of the Kentucky on the first of April, and descending this some
fifteen miles, encamped upon the spot where Boonesborough now stands.
Here the bushes were at once cut down, the ground leveled, the nearest
trees felled, the foundations laid for a fort, and the first settlement
of Kentucky commenced.

Perhaps the reader would like to see Boone's own account of these
proceedings. Here is the passage where he mentions it in his
autobiography. He has just been speaking of Governor Dunmore's war
against the Shawanese Indians: "After the conclusion of which, he says,
the militia was discharged from each garrison, and I being relieved from
my post, was solicited by a number of North Carolina gentlemen, that
were about purchasing the lands lying on the South side of Kentucky
River from the Cherokee Indians, to attend their treaty at Wataga, in
March, 1775, to negotiate with them, and mention the boundaries of the
purchase. This I accepted; and at the request of the same gentlemen,
undertook to mark out a road in the best passage through the wilderness
to Kentucky, with such assistance as I thought necessary to employ for
such an important undertaking?

"I soon began this work, having collected a number of enterprising men,
well armed. We proceeded with all possible expedition until we came
within fifteen miles of where Boonesborough now stands, and where we
were fired upon by a party of Indians, that killed two, and wounded two
of our number; yet, although surprised and taken at a disadvantage,
we stood our ground. This was on the twentieth of March, 1775. Three
days after we were fired upon again, and had two men killed and three
wounded. Afterward we proceeded on to Kentucky River without opposition,
and on the fifth day of April began to erect the fort of Boonesborough
at