heir powers, now assumed the position of proprietor, governor, and
legislator of his magnificent domain, which he called Transylvania. It
seems that Boone accompanied Colonel Henderson to the council of the
Cherokee chieftains which was held at Wataga, the southern branch of the
Holston River. Boone had explored nearly the whole of this region, and
it was upon his testimony that the company relied in endeavoring to
purchase these rich and fertile lands. Indeed, as we have before
intimated, it has been said that Boone in his wonderful and perilous
explorations was the agent of this secret company.

No treaties with the Indians were sure of general acquiescence. There
were always discontented chieftains; there were almost always
conflicting claims of hostile tribes; there were always wandering tribes
of hunters and of warriors, who, exasperated by the treatment which they
had received from vagabond white men, were ever ready to wreak their
vengeance upon any band of emigrants they might encounter.

Colonel Henderson's treaty was made in the month of March, 1775. With
characteristic vigor, he immediately made preparations for the
settlement of the kingdom of which he was the proud monarch. The first
thing to be done was to mark out a feasible path through which emigrants
might pass, without losing their way, over the mountains and through
the wilderness, to the heart of this new Eden. Of all the men in the
world, Daniel Boone was the one to map out this route of five hundred
miles. He took with him a company of road-makers, and in a few months
opened a path which could be traversed by pack-horses, and even by
wagons to a place called Boonesville on the Kentucky river, within about
thirty miles of the present site of Lexington.

The Indian hunters and warriors, notwithstanding the treaties into which
the chieftains of the North and the South had entered, watched the
construction of this road with great solicitude. They knew full well
that it would ere long secure their expulsion from their ancient hunting
grounds. Though no general warfare was organized by the tribes, it was
necessary to be constantly on the watch against lawless bands, who were
determined to harass the pioneers in every possible way. In the
following letter Boone communicated to Colonel Henderson the hostility
which they had, perhaps unexpectedly, encountered. It was dated the
first of April, and was sent back by a courier through the woods: