But Daniel Boone was one of those who would not give up. He said of
himself that he was "ordained of God to settle the wilderness," and in the
end he carried out his unflinching purpose to make his home in the
beautiful Kentucky region.

This region had already become well known by report east of the mountains.
The Indians called it "a dark and bloody ground," for, as an old chief
told Boone, many tribes hunted and fought there, and the Indians had
roamed over it for hundreds of years.

But none of the tribes really owned the land. So it was not possible to
buy any part of it outright. Yet, to avoid strife, a friend of Boone's,
Richard Henderson, and a few others made treaties with the most powerful
tribe, the Cherokees, who said that they might settle there.

As soon as it became certain that the Indians would not make trouble,
Henderson sent Boone, in charge of thirty men, to open a pathway from the
Holston River through Cumberland Gap to the Kentucky River.

With their axes the men chopped out a path through the dense undergrowth
and cane-brakes broad enough for a pack-horse. You will be interested to
know that this bridle-path was the beginning of the famous "Wilderness
Road," as it is still called. Later the narrow trail was widened into a
highway for wagons, and it was along this way, rightly called a
"wilderness road," that in later years so many thousand settlers led their
pack-trains over the mountains into Kentucky and Tennessee.

But that is taking a long look ahead! Just now we are thinking about the
very first of these settlers, Daniel Boone and his company.

THE KENTUCKY SETTLERS AT BOONESBOROUGH

When they reached the Kentucky River, Boone and his followers built a fort
on the left bank of the stream and called it Boonesborough. Its four walls
consisted in part of the outer sides of log cabins, and in part of a
stockade, some twelve feet high, made by setting deep into the ground
stout posts with pointed tops. In all the cabins there were loopholes
through which to shoot, and at each corner of the fort stood a loophole
blockhouse. There were also two strong wooden gates on opposite sides of
the fort.

[Illustration: Boonesborough.]

After the fort was built, Boone went back to the Clinch River and brought
on his wife and children. When they settled, it was springtime, and
Kentucky was at its best. Trees were in leaf, the beautiful dogwood was in
flower, and the woods were fragrant with the blos