Early ExplorATION

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In 1673, Abraham Wood, a prominent trader and commander at Fort Henry (Petersburg, VA) dispatched Thomas Needham and his indentured servant Gabriel Arthur to establish a direct fur trade with the Cherokee. A Native guide murdered Needham, leaving Arthur to witness Big Sandy country while a captive of a marauding band of Cherokees in 1674. At that time, the river was known as Tatteroa by local Native tribes. 

In 1749-50, Dr. Thomas Walker, representing the Loyal Land Company, led a surveying expedition from the headwaters of James River west through the Cumberland Gap into present-day Eastern Kentucky. In 1750, his party camped at the mouth of Paint Creek where they discovered French cabins; he named the river Louisa after the daughter of King George II and a sister of the Duke of Cumberland for whom Walker named the Cumberland River and Gap. On this trip, Walker also traversed the Tug Fork enroute east to the New River Valley. His naming of Louisa Fork was later corrupted to Levisa, which is the name it retains to this day. In 2006, the Kentucky Historical Society erected a historical marker to commemorate his discovery of Eastern Kentucky: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=145767

In 1750-51, Christopher Gist, an associate of George Washington, explored portions of the upper Big Sandy Valley on behalf of the Ohio Company of Virginia. In the spring of 1751, he used Pound Gap to maneuver his party out of the valley. For more information about Gist, read here: https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/entries/2051

In the mid-1750s, Matthias Harman and others entered the Big Sandy Valley. In 1755, he and his companions built a log cabin for hunting near the mouth of John's Creek in present-day Johnson County. He returned in late 1787 and established a permanent settlement near the old cabin.

In July of 1755, Shawnee Indians attacked Drapers Meadows in the New River Valley and returned to their homes near present-day Chillicothe, Ohio. One of the prisoners, Mary Draper Ingles, escaped in October of 1755 and traveled east to her home, a distance of 500 miles. On part of her journey home, she saw the lower portion of the Big Sandy River (apparently up to its forks). Many decades later, her son chronicled her story in his book, Escape from Indian Captivity: The Story of Mary Draper Ingles and Son Thomas Ingles (c.1824). Later, James Alexander Thorn wrote the popular book, Follow the River (1981), which tells her story.

During the French and Indian War, Virginia lieutenant governor Robert Dinwiddie initiated a campaign against the Shawnee in response to their raids upon settlements in the New River-Greenbrier-Tygart valleys. In mid-February of 1756, Col. Andrew Lewis led a group of Virginians and Cherokee allies into the Big Sandy Valley enroute to Lower Shawneetown. The "Sandy Creek Expedition" failed due to poor weather and the valley's rough terrain. Men nearly starved to death, surviving by eating rawhide thongs of bison hide called "tugs," before returning to their settlements in the east. For a short video clip about this incident, go here: https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/videos/174

According to legend, Jonathan Swift discovered a massive cave in southeastern Kentucky in 1760. He and his companions mined silver from the cave throughout the 1760s, which they used to create silver bars and coins before Swift murdered his companions and was struck blind. Pike County and the Tug Fork have long been rumored as the location of Swift's mine.  For a short video clip about this topic, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6yT1ytUjps

Daniel Boone's first historic steps into Kentucky occurred in Pike County in 1767. During his initial "long hunt," Boone, along with two companions, traveled from North Carolina through the Breaks of the Big Sandy. They followed the rim of the canyon through what is now Elkhorn City. From there, they tracked along a major buffalo trace next to the Russell and Levisa forks. They continued downriver until harsh winter weather forced them to camp at a salt lick near present-day David in Floyd County. (A plaque marks the spot.) Our museum features a mannequin, initially dubbed as Daniel Boone, to represent the long hunters who once explored the wilds of Kentucky. In 2008, the Kentucky Historical Society erected a marker to remember his "first steps in Kentucky:" https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=50654 In 2021, Pikeville History Moments released two videos about his Pike County story:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKr0EpD5OdA

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P5XgNL-wnE

In 1770, John Fry surveyed land for George Washington in the lower Big Sandy Valley. A historical marker in Fort Gay, WV, commemorates this history: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=136675 Our museum features a vintage surveyor's chain.

In December of 1772, Virginia governor Lord Dunmore issued a massive 28,627-acre grant along the Ohio River, including the lower portion of the Big Sandy River to 60 French and Indian War veterans, prompting early surveying parties to map the lower river areas up to Blaine Creek in Lawrence County. None of the soldiers appear to have lived on their land but some met on the land grant in 1775 for a partial division and all of the tracts were eventually claimed by descendants or assignees. In 1930, the National Society of Colonial Dames placed a marker near Huntington, WV, to commemorate the grant. For more information about this grant, go here: https://wvpublic.org/story/radio/december-15-1772-grant-of-land-for-john-savage-and-59-soldiers/