The first paths blazed through wilderness in central Kentucky were traces – notches axed into trees to make the route. Often these traces followed trails cut by the hooves of buffalo or tramped down by the feet of Indians. In 1774 Judge Richard Henderson, a land speculator of North Carolina, hired Daniel Boone to blaze a trail through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky after illegal land deal with the Indians. The Wilderness Road started at Bristol, Virginia (splitting off the Great Valley Road) and headed west along the Virginia-Tennessee border to the Cumberland Gap, across the nearby Cumberland River,followed an old hunting trail called Skaggs Trace and then went northwest to Hazel Patch Kentucky then Boone’s Trace went north to Boonesborough, Kentucky. Eventually, a western spur of the road would reach Harrodsburg, and then Louisville, Kentucky on the Falls of the Ohio River which was called the orginal Skaggs Trace. The road through the Cumberland Gap was not officially named the Wilderness Road until 1796 when it was widened enough to allow Conestoga Wagons to travel on it. However, by the time Kentucky had become a state (1792), estimates are that 70,000 settlers had poured into the area through the Cumberland Gap, following this route. The Cumberland Gap was first called Cave Gap by the man who discovered it in 1750--Dr. Thomas Walker. Daniel Boone, whose name is always associated with the Gap, reached it in 1769, passing through it into the Blue Grass region, a hunting ground of Indian tribes. He was hired in 1775 with about 30 woodsmen with rifles and axes to mark out a road through the Cumberland Gap, hired for the job by the Transylvania Company. Boones men completed the blazing of this first trail through the Cumberland Mountains that same year, and established Boonesborough on the Kentucky River. The Wilderness Road connected to the Great Valley Road which came through the Shenandoah Valley from Pennsylvania. Some suggest the origin of the Wilderness Road was at Fort Chiswell (Ft. Chissel) on the Great Valley Road where roads converged from Philadelphia and Richmond. Others claimed the beginning of the road to be at Sapling Grove (todays Bristol, VA) which lay at the extreme southern end of the Great Valley Road since it was at that point that the road narrowed, forcing travelers to abandon their wagons. Throughout the early history of Kentucky, particularly that having any reference to travel from Cumberland Gap to the Bluegrass over the SkaggsTrace, we find mention of Woods Block House. The best description of Woods Block House is offered by an article in The Sentinel-Echo, a newspaper of London, Kentucky, under date of August 20, 1942. The article was written by Russell Dyche, owner and editor of that newspaper and long a student of the early history of eastern Kentucky. Editor Dyches statement on Woods Block House follows, The first building, certainly the first permanent building, in Laurel County, Kentucky was the Woods Block House at The Hazel Patch, which was erected beside Hazel Patch Creek about a half-mile above the present US-25. It was also the first shelter intended to be permanent in the vast wilderness between the new and the old settlements. It was at the junction of the Boone Trace, from Cumberland Gap to Boonesborough, and the Skaggs Trace, to the Crab Orchard, an outpost in the new settlement. According to the log of John Filson, who made the trip in 1784, the distance from the Hazel Patch to Cumberland Gap was 62 miles and to Crab Orchard 38 miles. Combining Filsons measurements with distances recorded by Bishop Asbury on his trip to Madison Courthouse in 1790, gives us 85 miles to Boonesborough, which possibly is 15 miles more than it should have been. The road seemed long to Bishop Asbury. Charles Robert Baugh, in an article on McFarlands Defeat, published in the Lexington Herald, January 20, 1907, mentiones the Woods Block House. As authority, he gives his own grandmother who was born nearby on the Wilderness Road in 1807, and other old people he had known in his youth. Says Baugh, There was no living person in (what is now) Laurel County and probably none in the territory between Cumberland Gap and Fort Estill in Madison County, except one lone man living in a block house on Hazel Patch Creek beside the Trace. He was called John Woods, but it was said that his real name was a long German one and that he had adopted the name Woods for the convenience of his friends. Just why Woods lived alone so far from the other settlements I am unable to say, but it may be that he was put there by one Ramey who owned a large body of land in that section under a survey made in 1785. This is said to have been the same John Woods who was surveyor in Laurel County after it was established in 1825; and in the first assessment of Laurel County (Commissioners Book 1827) is listed John Woods, Sr., who had 1,000 acres of land on the waters of Rockcastle River, and John Woods, Jr., who listed himself and one horse. William Chenault, in his Early History of Madison County, published in the Register of Kentucky Historical Society, April, 1932, relates, Archy Woods, Sr., and his brother John in 1784, established Woods Station on Dreaming Creek near Richmond. Bishop Asbury in his Journal reported how, We then pushed through Little and Big Laurel to the Hazel Patch, Hoods Station . . . . . (lapse in text). This undoubtedly was Woods Block House, maybe a typographical error or maybe the Bishop couldnt understand the mans German. This was Wednesday, April 10, 1793. It is possible that Bishop Asbury also visited this same place one year earlier, Tuesday, April 3, 1792 when he says, After crossing the Laurel River, which we were compelled to swim, we came to Rockcastle Station, where we found such a set of sinners as made it next to hell itself. Our corn here cost us a dollar per bushel. The next morning Bishop Asbury says he, Swam Rockcastle River and the West Fork thereof. So the two locations could not have been far apart, and if they were different the Woods Block House was probably built between the two trips. In 1793, Bishop Asbury mentions, The deserted station, which possibly was the Rockcastle Station of 1792 . . . . . (portion of news article omitted). The site of Woods Block House has been definitely located by several of the older citizens of that section who in their youth played among its tumbled down logs. Large quantities of stone used in its construction may still be seen there. It has been appropriately marked by one of the twenty native stone monuments erected by the Laurel County, Kentucky Sesquicentennial Committee, and the monument carried carved in stone, legends of the more important events mentioned in this brief article. Though located in the heart of the Daniel Boone National Forest, the site of Woods Block House still remains in private ownership. During the last 20 years several attempts have been made to acquire this piece of land with the objective of establishing it as a historic site, reconstructing Woods Block House and possibly rebuilding a portion of the Boone Trace in either direction as an attraction for visitors to the national forest to give them the feel of the old Boone Trace. The site of Woods Block House is marked by a large stone set there in 1941 by the Kentucky Historical Society. This stone, frequently referred to as the Hazel Patch Marker, is located eight miles north of London, in Laurel County, Kentucky on Hazel Patch Creek. The carving on this stone reads, Woods Block House, The Hazel Patch 1769, Skaggs Trace — 1795, 1775 — Boone Trace — 1795, and Bishop Francis Asbury lodged here April 10, 1793. This stone is still in place and should be one of the historic spots in the Daniel Boone National Forest. It was at this point that Skaggs Trace took off to the west from the Boone Trace and lead to the Crab Orchard, to Logans Fort and eventually clear to the Falls of the Ohio. When Governor Isaac Shelby took office as Kentuckys first governor on June 4, 1792, he was fully aware of the need of a good route of transportation linking the new Commonwealth of Kentucky with the states east of the mountains. For nearly 20 years the Skaggs Trace had been the only overland link with the country east of Cumberland Gap. Over this narrow trail had poured more than 70,000 people, eager for the new lands of Kentucky. Each year brought an increasing number of settlers to claim their share of the promised land. Clearly the road which served it must be made into a highway capable of vehicular travel. It was evident that something must be done, but the new state had not one thin dime for such public improvement. As a start, Governor Shelby passed-the-hat among his friends, starting the fund with his own pledge of three pounds. Judge Harry Innes and Colonel Levi Todd were named treasurers of this fund with Colonel John Logan and Colonel James Knox commissioned to direct and supervise the work. Logan was elected to keep the account book while Knox recruited the workmen and directed the work. For 21 days Logan and Knox worked their crews on the road between Crab Orchard and Cumberland Gap(Skaggs Trace) trimming, widening and rerouting in an effort to shorten the distance. At the finish of the work the gash through the forest looked fresh and clean but not much improvement in the trafficability of the route had been achieved. In November 1795, Governor Shelby approved a legislature act which recognized that it was the interest of the Commonwealth to construct a good wagon road to Virginia. This act contained seven provisions: That three men of integrity and responsibility be appointed as commissioners. That they be vested with full powers to open a wagon road to begin at Crab Orchard and to terminate at the top of Cumberland Mountain in Cumberland Gap. That these commissioners were to have complete discretion in locating the road. That the commissioners be given the power to employ guides, workmen, surveyors, chainmen and markers necessary to do the work in the cheapest and most effective manner possible. That the road was to be so constructed as to afford safe and easy passage of wagons and carriages carrying one ton of weight and to be at least thirty feet wide, except where digging or bridging was necessary. That two thousand pounds were appropriated for the work. That when completed the road was to be considered as established and could not be changed, altered, or obstructed by private individuals, or by the court of any county, without the consent of the legislature. With the act now a matter of law, Governor Shelby looked about for capable men to appoint as commissioners to undertake this task. An announcement of the need was printed in the Kentucky Gazette. Daniel Boone, at 62 years of age, was living in a cabin belonging to his son on Brushy Fork in what is today Nicholas County near the Blue Licks. He heard about the proposed wagon road and was interested. Nearly 21 years had elapsed since he had blazed the Skaggs Trace into the wilderness over nearly the same route. He was acquainted with Governor Shelby, and he needed the money. Sharpening his goose-quill pen he wrote the Governor as follows, feburey the 11th 1796 Sir after my Best Respts to your Excelancy and family I wish to inform you that I have sum intention of undertaking this New Rode that is to be Cut through the Wilderness and I think My Self intiteled to the ofer of the Bisness as I first Marked out that Rode in March 1775 and never Red anything for my trubel and Sepose I am No Statesman I am a Woodsman and think My Self as Capable of Marking and Cutting that Rode as any other man. Sir if you think with Me I would thank you to wright mee a Line By the post the first opportuneaty and he Will Lodge it at Mr. John Miler son hinkston fork as I wish to know Where and When it is to Laat So that I may atend at the time. I am Deer Sir your very omble Sarvent. Daniel Boone To his Excelancy governor Shelby The Governors reply to Daniel Boones letter is unknown, but it is significant that he appointed Colonel James Knox and Colonel Joseph Crockett to handle the job. The summer of 1796, was occupied by Knox and Crockett in implementing the act and getting the work underway. The appropriation of 2,000 pounds was little enough to finance the construction of a road, such as was specified in the act, from Crab Orchard to Cumberland Gap, a distance of nearly 100 miles through virgin forests, over rough and rocky terrain and across many creeks and rivers subject to periodic flooding. It was apparent that the route would have to be selected carefully. Where the Skaggs Trace had been laid out for foot and horse travel, and in many cases followed a buffalo trace or a hunters path, the new route must be selected for wheeled vehicle travel with careful consideration given to soil stability and drainage, to grade and to stream crossings suitable for bridging or for fording with wagons or carriages. The surveyors laying out the new road changed the route materially in many places from that taken by the Skaggs Trace. From the beginning point at Crab Orchard to the Hazel Patch the new route passed to the north of the original Skaggs Trace and through the site of the present towns of Brodhead, Mount Vernon and Livingston. At the Hazel Patch it crossed the creek some five miles below the junction of the Boone Trace and Skaggs Trace at Woods Block House and did not join the original Boone Trace until it reached the site of the present city of London, where it crossed to the east of the original route and did not again approach the Boone Trace, until it rejoined it at Flat Lick to the eastern terminus of the new road at Cumberland Gap. This new road was the true Wilderness Road. Throughout the writings of the early settlement of Kentucky, the Skaggs Trace and the Wilderness Road are often confused. These were the same routes that were used at different periods of history and were travelled by different types of transportation. The SkaggsTrace was a footpath and horse trail marked by Daniel Boone and his woodsmen for people to travel on foot, on horseback and to carry supplies on packhorses for Judge Henderson to followed from the Cumberland Gap. From Martins Station in Powells Valley, travel by wheeled vehicles on the Skaggs Trace was impossible. You will remember that Judge Henderson and his party started from Sycamore Shoals with much of their equipment and supplies for founding the new colony on heavily loaded wagons. On reaching Powells Valley they had to build shelters for their wagons, store a part of their cargo and pack the rest on horses for the journey to Boonesborough. This situation continued for 21 years, 1775-1796. Skaggs Trace routes began at Cumberland Gap to the Hazel Patch but the northern end of the Boone Trace was Fort Boonesborough. The western end of the Skaggs Trace was Crab Orchard to Louisville Kentucky. The period of use of the Skaggs Trace 1769 — 1795, Boone Trace was 1775-1796, while that of the Wilderness Road began in 1796 and has continued to the present time. With the completion of the new road by Knox and Crockett, it became officially named The Wilderness Road and was so named to the public by an announcement in the Kentucky Gazette of October 15, 1796 which read, THE WILDERNESS ROAD from Cumberland Gap to the settlements in Kentucky is now completed. Waggons loaded with a ton weight, may pass with ease, with four good horses, — Travellers will find no difficulty in procuring such necessaries as they stand in need of on the road; and the abundant crop now growing in Kentucky, will afford the emigrants a certainty of being supplied with every necessary of life on the most convenient terms. Joseph Crockett, James Knox, Commissioners. An act of the Kentucky legislature of March 1, 1797, authorized Joseph Crockett to construct a new road from Milford, the county seat of Madison County at that time, south through the wilderness to intersect the new Wilderness Road at the site of the present village of Pittsburg, in Laurel County. At the present time a bill has been introduced in Congress to place the Boone Trace on the National Trail System. This would be effected only if funds are made available to purchase the right-of-way or to secure easements for it. The original route of the Boone Trace, from Hazel Patch to Fort Boonesborough, is still largely through country that is forest or rural, with the exception of a few miles where it passes through the city of Richmond, Kentucky. Skaggs Trace crossed difficult mountains, rushing rivers, and ran through Indian lands. Indian raids and white robbers both were significant problems, so many people chose to travel the road in large groups. But the risks were worth taking for the rewards of bountiful hunting grounds, rich farmland, and good salt licks. Until the 1794 Shawnee Indian defeat at Fallen Timbers, for hostile Indian reasons, the Skaggs Trace was the preferred route to Kentucky and used by 75 percent of settlers. It also served as an important passage for cattle, pigs, and sheep drives into and out of Kentucky to market. The Kentucky legislature paid for the footpath to be upgraded to a wagon road starting in 1792. The wagon road was finished in 1796. Earlier peace with Indians along the Ohio River, and the opening of the National Road in 1818 provided an easier, safe, more level route to the Ohio Valley and Kentucky. With the introduction of steamboats at about the same time, traffic on the Wilderness Road declined until it was nearly abandoned in the 1840s. However, it was used by both Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War. Skaggs Trace was important to settlers in Virginia and Tennessee as well as Kentucky. Some settlers used the road before it passed the Cumberland Gap to reach extreme southwest Virginia, and northeast Tennessee. Other pioneers waited to split off from the Wilderness Road until they passed over the Cumberland River. Then they followed the north side of the river over the Kentucky barrens toward the fertile lands of Middle Tennessee (Nashville) on a trail that came to be called the Cumberland Trace. In 1775, Benjamin Logan, a rival Kentucky land developer to Richard Henderson, ignored Henderson’s claim of ownership of Kentucky and followed Skaggs Trace that split off to the northwest from the Boone Trace about eight miles north of present-day London, Kentucky. The path they followed was named for three Ulster brothers Henry,Richard,and Charles Skaggs. The Skaggs Trace was a hunters trail leading from Flat Lick to the Dicks (now Dix River in Lincoln County. It was named for Henry, Richard,and Charles Skaggs, who hunted in Kentucky as early as 1761. Skaggs Trace left the Warriors Path at Flat Lick in Knox County, Crossed Stinking Creek, and headed northwest along the west branch of Turkey Creek, almost as U.S. 25E does today. It passed north of present-day Barbourville, westward along Poplar Branch of Richland Creek, then northward across several western branches of the Middle Fork. It crossed Robinson Creek, passed Raccoon Spring, and reached Laurel River at happy Hollow Branch. The old trace went through what is now the Levi Jackson SME Park and followed the Little Laurel River northward, passing what is now London to the east. From the headwaters of the Little Laurel River, it went to the headwaters of Hazel Patch Creek, down the creek to the Rockcastle River, down that river to Skeggs Creek, and up Skeggs Creek to the headwaters. From there it crossed over the Little Negro Creek, a branch of Dicks River and went down Dicks River to Crab Orchard and Stanford. This road was extended through Harrodsburg to Louisville by 1779. More pioneer families used Skaggs Trace than Boones Trace when journeying to Kentucky. See Robert L. Kincaid, The Wilderness Road (Middlesborougk KY., 1966); Neat Hammon, Early Roads into Kentucky, Register 68 (April 1970):118-23. Neat 0. Hammon.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 04:25:21 +0000
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