which they could cross the cliffs, they came to the remarkable
depression in the mountains to which they gave the name of Cumberland
Gap. On the western side of the range they found a beautiful mountain
stream, rushing far away, with ever increasing volume, into the unknown
wilderness, which the Indians called Shawnee, but which Doctor Walker's
party baptised with the name of Cumberland River. These names have
adhered to the localities upon which they were thus placed.

In 1756 a feeble attempt was made to establish a colony upon the
Tennessee river, at a spot which was called London. This was one
hundred and fifty miles in advance of any white settlement. Eight years
passed, and by the ravages of war the little settlement went up in flame
and smoke. As the years rapidly came and went there were occasional
bursts of the tempests of war; again there would be a short lull and
blessed peace would come with its prosperity and joy.

"In the year 1760, Doctor Walker again passed over Clinch and Powell's
rivers on a tour of exploration, into what is now Kentucky. The
Cherokees were then at peace with the whites, and hunters from the back
settlements began, with safety, to penetrate deeper and further into the
wilderness of Tennessee. Several of them, chiefly from Virginia, hearing
of the abundance of game with which the woods were stocked, and allured
by the prospect of gain which might be drawn from this source, formed
themselves into a company composed of Wallen, Seagys, Blevins, Cox and
fifteen others, and came into the valley, since known as Carter's
Valley, in Hawkin's county, Tennessee. They hunted eighteen months upon
Clinch and Powell rivers. Wallen's Creek and Wallen's Ridge received
their name from the leader of the company; as also did Wallen's Station
which they erected in the Lee county, Virginia.

"They penetrated as far north as Laurel Mountain, in Kentucky, where
they terminated their journey, having met with a body of Indians whom
they supposed to be Shawnees. At the head of one of the companies that
visited the West, this year, came Daniel Boone from the Yadkin, in North
Carolina, and travelled with them as low as the place where Abingdon now
stands, and there left them."

This is the first time the advent of Daniel Boone to the western wilds
has been mentioned by historians or by the several biographers of that
distinguished pioneer and hunter. There is reason however to believe
that he hunted upon Watau