The party passed the present site of Richmond in Madison County, and
reached a point on the Kentucky River, in 1775, where Boonesborough was
built. The site selected was a broad, level stretch of land, with the
river to the north, and high hills to the south. This particular spot was
selected because of a fine spring of water, and high hills that could be
used for sentinel towers, inclosing fine level ground for cultivation. The
settlers cut trees and constructed a stockade in the form of a hollow
square. It was from this fort that Rebecca Boone and the Calloway girls
were stolen by Indians while boating on the Kentucky River.
[Illustration: Boone’s Fort]
About the same time that Boonesborough was being established, Captain
James Harrod with a 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 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 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.
[Illustration: 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. 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.