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.
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