country just opposite on the Ohio, under the law of the State of
Virginia, which rewarded the victorious soldiers of Clark's famous
campaign with grants in the region they had conquered.

Movement of Settlers to Kentucky.

The great growth of the west took place in Kentucky. The Kentucky
country was by far the most widely renowned for its fertility; it was
much more accessible and more firmly held, and its government was on a
more permanent footing than was the case in the Wabash, Illinois, and
Cumberland regions. In consequence the majority of the men who went west
to build homes fixed their eyes on the vigorous young community which
lay north of the Ohio, and which already aspired to the honors of
statehood.

The Wilderness Road to Kentucky.

The immigrants came into Kentucky in two streams, following two
different routes--the Ohio River, and Boone's old Wilderness Trail.
Those who came overland, along the latter road, were much fewer in
number than those who came by water; and yet they were so numerous that
the trail at times was almost thronged, and much care had to be taken in
order to find camping places where there was enough feed for the horses.
The people who travelled this wilderness road went in the usual
backwoods manner, on horseback, with laden packtrains, and often with
their herds and flocks. Young men went out alone or in parties; and
groups of families from the same neighborhood often journeyed together.
They struggled over the narrow, ill-made roads which led from the
different back settlements, until they came to the last outposts of
civilization east of the Cumberland Mountains; scattered block-houses,