JOURNAL

OF

AN EXPLORATION

SPRING OF THE YEAR 1750.

By DR. THOMAS WALKER,
OF VIRGINIA.

WITH A PREFACE BY
WILLIAM CABELL RIVES, LL.B.,
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.

BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
1888.

CASTLE HILL, ALBEMARLE COUNTY, VIRGINIA. 1765.

JOURNAL

OF

AN EXPLORATION

IN THE

SPRING OF THE YEAR 1750.

By DR. THOMAS WALKER,
OF VIRGINIA.

WITH A PREFACE BY
WILLIAM CABELL RIVES, LL.B.,
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.

BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
1888.

Copyright, 1888,
By Little, Brown, and Company.

BgKao 150

University Press :
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.

Ingenium nemo sine corpore exercebat ; optimus
quisque facere quam dicere, sua ab aliis bene facta lau-
dari, quam ipse aliorum narrare malebat. — Sallust.

CONTENTS.

Page
Preface  7
Note  . .  35
Journal .  -39

PREFACE.

TT has long been known to many per-
* sons interested in the early history of
our country, that a manuscript Journal of
Dr. Thomas Walker, of Virginia, is in exist
ence, which gives some account of his ex
plorations in the western part of his own
State, and in a region which is now within
the limits of the States of Tennessee and
Kentucky. Their natural curiosity as to this journal
has been enhanced by a current statement
as to the early period at which it was writ
ten, — antedating, as the time does, by near
ly twenty years, the explorations of Daniel
Boone and of his contemporary pioneers.

Preface.
It is believed that if Dr. Walker and his
companions were not the first white men
who ever visited the region which they ex
plored, they were certainly the first of whose
exploration in this then unknown wilderness
there is any authentic record.
It was probably during this or the earlier
exploration of 1748, to which Dr. Walker
refers in the Journal now published, that his
name became enduringly connected with a
stream and a range of mountains in south
western Virginia, and that he gave to the
Cumberland Gap and the Cumberland River
the names which were at this time naturally
suggested to his then loyalist mind by the
decisive victory of the Duke of Cumber
land, — won at Culloden on the 16th of April,
1746, over the forces of the Pretender.
The Journal begins on the 16th day of
March, 1750, and ends on the next succeed
ing 13th day, of July, covering, with one
much-to-be-regretted gap of nine days, a
period of nearly four months. Meagre as
such a record, kept under circumstances of

Preface.
continuously great exposure and fatigue, must
of necessity be, it nevertheless discloses facts
of much interest to the historian, the natu
ralist, and the geologist. It establishes the
fact that the buffalo, now almost extinct
even in the vast country beyond the Mis
sissippi, and the elk, comparatively rare and
fast becoming rarer in the same distant re
gion, were in 1750 very numerous in Vir
ginia and Kentucky. It shows also that
Dr. Walker at this early date noticed and
recorded the outcropping of coal in sev
eral of the places which he visited in his
expedition. It is a curious circumstance that a toma
hawk bearing the initials " T. W.," mentioned
in this Journal as swept away by a flood one
hundred and thirty-eight years ago, should
have been found about a century afterwards,
identified by its mark, and should now be
treasured as an interesting relic of the past
in Louisville, Kentuckv.
The scrupulous observance of " the Sab
bath " by rest, repeatedly mentioned in the

X

I o Preface.

Journal, is noteworthy as a manifestation
of the spirit of religious reverence which has
ever been characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon
in every region of the earth, and which is
at once a token and a source of his robust
manhood. In printing the Journal, care has been
taken to follow the author's occasionally
archaic spelling and use of capital letters, —
belonging, as these peculiarities do, to the
time when it was written.
While the matters commented on give in
terest of themselves to Dr. Walker's Journal,
there are some facts concerning the writer
himself which largely add to the value of the
record. It is well known that the life of Thomas
Walker was one of great and varied activity ;
but its details, as yet gathered together by
his numerous descendants, are scant and un
satisfactory. It is to be hoped that from
family papers in the possession of these
descendants, who are now. to be found not
only in Virginia and Kentucky, but in Bos-

Preface. 1 1
ton, New York, Philadelphia, Washington,
and more distant parts of the wide Ameri
can domain, the scattered materials may be
brought together which shall clearly show
the place he is entitled to occupy in the
Colonial History of Virginia and of the
country. As the Romans, in contrast to the Athe
nians, were, according to Sallust, more bent
on action than narration, so, in their stir
ring lives, the leading Southern men of the \
Colonial period were less mindful than the
Northern of their rightful place in history,
and have consequently been more overlooked
by posterity.
An attempt will be made, in the conclud
ing pages of this Preface, with such frag
mentary but authentic materials as it has
been possible to collect, to do in a brief
and imperfect way for the memory of the
journalist something analogous to the work
of an Agassiz in restoring an antediluvian
Megatherium by a careful examination of
its fossil remains.

12

Preface,
Thomas Walker was born in King and
Queen County, Virginia, on the 15th day
of January, 171 5.
He was married in 1741, at the age of
twenty-six years, to a young widow, — six
years younger than himself, — Mrs. Nicholas
Meriwether, whose maiden name was Mil
dred Thornton. She was the cousin of
George Washington, whose elder brother,
Samuel, had married one of her near rela
tives ; and in this way Thomas Walker be
came closely and doubly connected with the
Washington family. Through this marriage
he came into possession of fifteen thousand
acres of land in a beautiful, well-wooded, and
well-watered region of Piedmont Virginia,
lying on the eastern slope of a range of
mountains, known from their course as the
Southwest Mountains, nearer to the sea by
about twenty miles than the Blue Ridge,
and rising in their highest elevation to an
altitude of a little over eighteen hundred
feet above tide. Here, not far from the
base of Peter's Mountain, which President

Preface. 1 3
Madison, who lived in full view of this
monarch of the range, used playfully to call
the " Chimborazo of our Andes," Thomas
Walker, soon after his marriage, established
the home which he was to occupy for more
than fifty years.
The ownership of these broad acres had
the effect of stimulating instead of repress
ing the varied activities of his life. The
many wants prompted by an isolated and
primitive mode of country life led him into a
multiplicity of pursuits, — offering the great
est possible contrast to the subdivision of
labor that marks the constitution of modern
society. Like Washington, with whom he owned
land in common, he became a surveyor at an
early age, and many still existing plats bear
witness to his skill in the measurement and
computation of large areas.
To his occupation as a surveyor and
planter, he added the business of a mer- X
chant, and was for many years largely en
gaged in importing directly from the mother

14 Preface.
country the innumerable articles needful,
both for himself and others, for the cultiva
tion of colonial plantations and the comfort
of colonial homes.
Strong in body, courageous, enterprising,
intelligent, his curiosity and restless energy'
impelled him to leave his wife and young
children for a season ; and, if not to for
get them, yet, like the hunter in Horace,
to pass his nights under the cold canopy of
the skies in the unknown region beyond the
mountains. It is uncertain how early these excursions
into the wilderness began ; but it is positively
known, as we have said, that he made one
of them — and a distant one — in the year
1 748, when he was thirty-three years of age.
The love of exploration and adventure
grew with experience and with expanding
knowledge and capacity, and, becoming a
leader of men into the wilderness, Thomas
Walker won the confidence of the adven
turous spirits among whom he lived, and
attracted the attention — especially when

Preface. 1 5
frontier service involving hardship and dan
ger was needed — of many of the successive
governors of colonial Virginia.
He continued his work of surveying, plant
ing, importing, exploring, — with some other
occupations which will be noticed hereafter,
— until the year 1755, when he entered on
a long though interrupted and checkered
career in the service of his native State.
' The year 1755 proved an eventful one
in his life, and some scattered notes found
among his papers enable us to trace with
certainty his occupations and movements at
that time.
In the beginning of the year, he was at
and near Winchester, in the valley of Vir
ginia, lending vigorous aid to the prepara
tions which were then making to break
through the line of fortifications which the
French were drawing from Canada obliquely
across the continent, in order to check the
western march of British domination.
The notes referred to show that with the
rank of Major he had accepted the appoint-

1 6 Preface.
ment of commissary to the Virginia troops
which were to accompany General Edward
Braddock's expedition to capture Fort Du-
quesne, and that he shrank from no fatigue
or exposure in the fulfilment of his duties.
We find memoranda made in 1755 of such
experiences on his part as the following:
" Finding ye creek up, and missing my way,
I was obliged to lie without fire, liquor, or
bedding." Such hardship, however, meets
with occasional relief. He sets out very early
the day after this unpleasant experience,
travels for three hours over a mountain and
several bad hills, and follows a new road for
ten miles, when he reaches a human habita
tion. Here a widow provides him with much-
needed food, and starting again he arrives
at Nicholas Johnson's just as it is dark.
Soon after, he halts at Colonel Cresap's,
and then he gets to the camp, where Sir
John H. Clare orders him to make a pre
liminary trip to Pennsylvania. During his
further journey he falls in with a Jew, who
proves to be no disagreeable companion.

Preface. \ y
Through a violent rainstorm, and over an
almost impassable road, he reaches Will's
Creek, where he sees one of the wagons
upset in the stream and another unable to
cross. He pushes on to the appointed place
of meeting in Pennsylvania, where he accom
plishes the business for which he had been
sent, and dines with his countryman of sub
sequently world-wide fame, whom he men
tions as " the ingenious Doctor Benjamin
Franklin." For several months following, a veil is
drawn over the details of his movements ;
but at last it appears that, with Washington
and the Virginia forces, and with Braddock
and his regulars, he has been involved in
the great disaster which took place on the
9th of July, 1755.
A correspondent of Dr. Walker, living
at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in a tattered
but still preserved letter, joyfully expresses
himself as follows, under date of the 28th
of the same month, — a few weeks after the
catastrophe : —

1 8 Preface.
" Ye melancholy news of ye defeat was received.
We then had but little hope that one of our
acquaintance was safe. But about  we were
advised that yourself, Col. Washington, and many
others had escaped in whole skins, which gave us
inexpressible joy.
" Can it be supposed, when this story is read in
ye annals of Virginia a century or two hence, that
any Englishman or his posterity will believe it,
when it is told that about three hundred naked
French and Indians vanquished twelve or thirteen
hundred regular troops, commanded by brave and
experienced officers ? For my own part, if such a
thing was inserted in ye best Hystory in ye world,
I would burn ye Book.
" My dear Friend, we have suffered for your sup
posed loss, and I believe it would be to ye satisfac
tion of every friend you have that you would resign
your present employment, and sure I am your ac
quaintance at Castle Hill will rejoice with us."
The same kindly and humorous correspond
ent, in a shortly subsequent letter, makes the
following reference to Mrs. Walker, who, dur
ing her husband's absence, had given birth to
one of her many children, and who was — as
could hardly be inferred from the language

Preface. I q
used by the writer — but thirty-four years of
age at the time of this anxious separation :
" Please to tender my compliments to your
old lady, and tell her I am glad she has got
you back again."
Well-vouched-for tradition affirms that Dr.
Walker escaped from the bloody rout on a
cream-colored stallion which he had seized,
and that he powerfully seconded the efforts
of Washington in restoring order and in
bringing off to a place of safety the shat
tered remnant of the British and Virginia
forces. »
Twenty-one years after the memorable
disaster, he revisited the scene where it
had taken place, and still found there many
marks of the deadly blow which had been
inflicted on Braddock's ill-fated troops.
Human bones, bleached by time and ex
posure, were scattered over the ground, and
Dr. Walker, moved by the sight, recalled to
his companions in glowing words the con
trasts of the eventful day in which he had
been an actor: the glittering muskets, the

20 Preface.
bright uniforms, the martial music and array
of the regulars as they had moved onward
under their gallant but obstinate and reck
less leader in confident expectation of the
speedy capture of Fort Duquesne, and the
confusion and horror which suddenly seized
them as they were being hopelessly shot
down, with savage yells, by their protected
and hidden foe.1
It has been doubted whether Dr. Walker
was a member of the medical profession,
and, in the Index to Prof. N. S. Shaler's
" Kentucky," he is referred to as the Reverend
Thomas Walker. It is beyond question that
he was a physician, and not a clergyman. It
is probable that he profited by whatever scant
facilities were offered in his youth at the old
College of William and Mary for the study
of medicine, but, however this may be, his
memoranda show that he compounded " elec
tuaries," and what he describes as " a meth-
redate to make a medicine for mad dogs," —
terms more apt to excite a smile by their
1 See Hazard's " Register of Pennsylvania," vi. 104, 105.

Preface. * 2 1
alliterative quaintness than to gratify curios
ity as to the ingredients of the remedy. A
more conclusive proof of his being a phy
sician is the fact that in June, July, and Au
gust, 1757, he made often-repeated profes-
v sional visits to Colonel Peter Jefferson, and
stood by his bedside when he died, on the
17th of August of that year.
He was, however, in his relations to the
Jefferson family, more than the medical ad
viser of Peter Jefferson. He became the
administrator of his estate and the guardian
of his children. Letters from one — and
the most distinguished — of these children,
Thomas, expressing " unlimited confidence
in his justice," bear witness to the faithful
ness with which Dr. Walker fulfilled the
duties of his twofold trust. The author of
the Declaration of Independence, and third
President of the United States, ever grate
fully remembered his early relations with Dr.
Walker, and on many occasions warmly ex
pressed the high estimation in which he held
his abilities, knowledge, and character.

22 Preface,
In a letter from Monticello, dated the
25th of September, 1783, Thomas Jefferson
applies to his old friend and guardian for
some notes of information in regard to the
animals of America, and especially to the
Indians, which he wishes to incorporate with
answers to questions of Monsieur Barbe Mar-
bois, the learned Secretary of the French
Legation, and which Jefferson subsequently
expanded into his celebrated " Notes on
Virginia." In making these inquiries of
Dr. Walker, Jefferson says that he knows
" nobody else who can give me equal in
formation on all points."
Dr. Walker's early and repeated expedi
tions into the unknown country beyond the
mountains, his habits of close observation,
his varied skill, and his frequent intercourse
with the Indians, had caused him to be
gradually looked on in Virginia as an ex
pert in all questions of boundary, and in
matters affecting the relations of the white
inhabitants of the State with their danger
ous western neighbors.

Preface. 23
On the 17th of June, 1768, he was com
missioned by John Blair, President of His
Majesty's Council for Virginia, to attend,
with Andrew Lewis as associate, an impor
tant Congress with the Six Nations of In
dians, which was held at Fort Stanwix, New
York, from the 24th of October to the 5th
of November in the same year, when the
treaty was signed. Dr. Walker discharged
the duty to which he was appointed, and
is mentioned in " The Virginia Gazette "
as arriving with his party in New York
on his return from Fort Stanwix.
On the 10th of October, 1774, took place
at Point Pleasant, in West Virginia, at the
junction of the Kanawha with the Ohio
River, the memorable battle between the
Indians under their chieftain Cornstalk, and
the Virginians under the command of An
drew Lewis. It was strongly suspected at
the time that the Indians were secretly
urged on by Lord Dunmore, the last of the
Royal Governors of Virginia, and that this
hard-fought battle, in which the Indians

24 Preface.
were finally routed after great loss of life
on both sides, was the real beginning, rather
than the skirmishes of Lexington and Con
cord of the following year, of the war for
American Independence.
After the defeat of the Indians, Thomas
Walker and John Harvie were appointed by
the House of Burgesses to treat with them.
On the outbreak into avowed war, in the
following year, of the long brewing dissen
sions between the Colonies and England, a
still more important duty of the same na
ture awaited Dr. Walker. A member of
the House of Burgesses of Virginia at the
time, he was appointed — next in the order
of nomination to George Washington, for
whom his country had other work to do —
one of the Commissioners for arranging a
treaty with the Ohio Indians, whose tran
quillity it was of the first importance to in
sure during the pending conflict with the
mother country. Dr. Walker was accord
ingly present at Fort Pitt (the modern Pitts
burg) and, as shown by a still existing manu-

Preface. 25
script record of the proceedings, signed by
himself, Andrew Lewis, James Wood, and
Adam Stephens, presided over the confer
ences which were held with the Indians, by
both the Virginian and the Continental Com
missioners, from the 12th of September to
the 2 ist of October, 1775.
In addition to this service, for which Dr.
Walker was peculiarly well qualified, he was
charged with the general duties of a mem
ber of the House of Burgesses, to which,
with the progress of events, speedily suc
ceeded those of a member of the Revolu
tionary Convention. He was also a member
of the Committee of Public Safety of Vir
ginia, — an executive body incurring great
responsibility and wielding great power in
these troublous times.
In 1777 he was a member of the Council
of State which was chosen by the ballot
of the two houses constituting the Legisla
ture of Virginia. Of this Council, a learned
historian says : " Under the new Constitu
tion, it consisted of eight members, who par-

26 Preface,
ticipated with the Governor in the exercise
of all the executive powers of the govern
ment, and without whose advice he' could
perform no official act. In the earlier times
of the new government, none but such as
were distinguished for patriotism, talents, and
influence were chosen into the Council of
State." While Dr. Walker was strenuously ex
erting his own varied talents in the cause
of his country in these official positions, he
was made happy by learning that his eldest
son, Colonel John Walker, had been taken
into Washington's military family as an
extra aide-de-camp, and that the leader of
the American armies had expressed a high
opinion of the son's "abilities, honor, and
prudence." In 1779 Dr. Walker was appointed by
the Governor of Virginia chief of the Com
missioners on the part of Virginia to meet
the Commissioners from North Carolina, in
order to run the boundary line between
these two Commonwealths.

Preface. 27
At the age of sixty-four he undertook this
duty with -his associate Commissioner, Daniel
Smith ; fixed the starting-point by astro
nomical observations at the end of Fry and
Jefferson's previous line, and, marking a
new line, — long known as Walker's line, —
pushed through the wild and rugged moun
tainous region of southwestern Virginia and
western North Carolina, to the Tennessee
River; crossed the Cumberland River twice,
descended it by water, and ascertained the
fact — not previously known to the geog
raphers of that day — that the parallel of
360 30' would strike the Mississippi, and not
the Ohio River.
This service was begun on the 6th of
September, 1779, and was completed in the
spring of the following year, in spite of
difficulties and dangers which would have
thwarted the efforts of a less resolute spirit.
A guard had been voted by the General
Assembly, to protect the Commissioners
from the Indians ; but, in traversing the
mountainous and barren region, an insuffi-

28 Preface.
cient quantity of cane was found to sup
port the pack-horses, and when the party
in midwinter finally reached the Cumber
land River, and had built canoes to carry
their luggage and rest their horses, they
" were frozen up more than forty days in a
river never known to be frozen before."
On his return from the successful accom
plishment of this arduous task, Dr. Walker
was met with the orders of the Governor
for the performance of other duties, and he
continued actively engaged in the service
of the State during the war, of which, near
its close, he was to experience in person
one of the exciting vicissitudes.
On the 4th of June, 1781, his home was
seized at daybreak by the bold and vigor
ous Colonel Tarleton, who was aiming, by
a swift and secret movement, to capture
Governor Jefferson and the Legislature of
Virginia, then assembled at Charlottesville.
Lossing and other writers have given an
account of this daring raid.
With the story of the surprise of the

Preface. 29
band of patriots who, unsuspicious of dan
ger, had gathered under Dr. Walker's roof,
were intermingled reports of many incidents
long the favorite theme of local tradition.
But these incidents soon dwindled in im
portance in the public mind amid the gen
eral rejoicing at the great event which took
place in Virginia on the 19th of October,
1 78 1, and brought to a final and success
ful issue the long struggle for American
Independence. Dr. Walker continued to be a member of
the General Assembly of Virginia after the
close of the war, and is mentioned in the
Legislative Records of 1782 as member of
a " committee to prepare a full and detailed
vindication of the claims of Virginia to her
western territory."
The mother of his children died in 1778,
and he married, some years afterwards, a
cousin of his first wife, who was also a near
relative of Washington.
To this second wife Washington makes
reference in a letter to Dr. Walker, bearing

30 Preface.
date the ioth of April, '1784, in which he
says : " I hope it is unnecessary to give you
assurance of the pleasure I should feel in
seeing you and my cousin here at this re
treat [Mount Vernon] from all my public
employments." The shades of evening were now draw
ing about the active and well-spent life of
the aged surveyor, planter, explorer, physi
cian, legislator, and commissioner. He was
cheered in his declining years by the hap
piness and prosperity of his many children,
and by seeing two of his sons in distin
guished public positions, — the eldest, who
had been on the staff of Washington, a
Senator, and the youngest a member of
the House of Representatives of the United
States. At his much-loved home, Castle Hill, Al
bemarle County, Virginia, he had built a
house in 1765, which stands to-day in ex
cellent preservation. It is one of the few
buildings still remaining on the soil of Vir
ginia which are older than the beginning

Preface. 3 1
of the War of Independence. Its northwest
front, looking on the neighboring Southwest
Mountains, is represented, in the frontispiece
to the volume now published, by an engraving
due to Mr. Whymper, of London, the intrepid
climber of the Alps and of the Andes.
This house is yet the home of some of
the descendants of its first owner, who do
honor to their lineage. For five genera
tions it has been a seat of hospitality and
culture, and many time-honored associations
now cluster about the house itself and the
surrounding grounds. The slow- growing
box-trees, with archway cut through their
evergreen sides, which border the lawn, have
climbed to the height of more than thirty
feet, and tell the story, to the most casual
observer, of the long years of their gradual
ascent. The small panes of glass in the
venerable-looking windows, and the large
brass door-locks of the house, were brought
from London, and are suggestive of " ye
olden time" when Virginia was a colony,
and looked for her supplies to the great

32

Preface.

mother city beyond the sea. In the am
ple square hall, the youthful, music-loving
Jefferson has played the violin while the
still younger Madison has danced. Here
Thomas Walker has gathered around him
the Indians who had learned to know and
respect him in the fastnesses of the primeval
forest, and has given shelter to the Nelsons
and other patriots from " the lower coun
try" in the stormy times of the British in
vasion. Here the doors have opened to
welcome five men who were either to be,
or were actually at the time of their re
spective visits, Presidents of the United
States, and to many others who have made
their mark as statesmen, judges, diploma
tists, and soldiers ; and here, with the flight
of years, the voices of mirth have been
often hushed by the coming of the foot
steps of sorrow.
In this home, the birthplace of his twelve
children, the old pioneer, near the end of
his eightieth year, on the 9th of November,
1794, closed his eyes on earthly scenes.

Preface. 33
He lies in the midst of a neighboring
grove to which the purple redbud and the
white dogwood lend in succession the beau
ty of their vernal bloom, and where the
secular oak, the tall tulip-tree, and the fra
grant wild grape make a bower for the
birds which in spring and summer time
ceaselessly carol his requiem.

35

NOTE.
THE course of Dr. Walker's Exploration can be
traced by means of a thorough knowledge of the
topography of the country through which he passed, with
much greater exactness than will now be attempted.
Many of the names which he assigns in this Journal to
the rivers and their branches which he came upon, e. g.,
Powell's River, Lawless's River, Hughes River, Naked
Creek, Hunting Creek, Milley's River, Frederick's River,
Clifty Creek, Louisa River, will be found set down in " A
Map of the British and French Dominions in North
America, with the Roads, Distances, Limits, and Extent of
the Settlements. Humbly inscribed to the Right Honour
able the Earl of Halifax, and the other Right Honourable
the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations by
their Lordships' most obliged & very Humble Servant
"John Mitchell."

The following statement is printed on the map : —
"This map was Undertaken with the Approbation &
at the Request of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and
Plantations and is Chiefly composed from Draughts, Charts

36 Note.
and Actual Surveys of different parts of His Majesties' Col
onies and Plantations in America. Great part of which
have been lately taken by their Lordships' Orders and
transmitted to this Office by the Governors of the said
Colonies & Others.
John Pownall,
"Plantation Office, Secretary.
Feb'y 13th, 1755."
The identical copy of this map which was used in the
negotiations for the Treaty of Peace of 1 783 is preserved
in the collections of the American Geographical Society
in the city of New York.
On the map — for which Dr. Walker himself probably
furnished some of the data — will be found noted a settle
ment mentioned in the Journal. Dr. Walker's name and
the date 1750 are assigned to this settlement, and it is put
down in the position of about 360 45' lat., and 85° 30'
long., in the southern part of central Kentucky.
The inaccuracies of this ancient but interesting map
make it impossible to trace on it Dr. Walker's route with
precision. His general course was as follows : —
After ascending the Staunton River — the northern
branch of the Roanoke — to the settlement of William
English (often spelled Ingles or Inglis), he crossed the
New River not far from the present village of Newbern,
in Pulaski County, Virginia. Continuing in a southwest
erly direction through Virginia, he reached the junction

Note.

37

of the Forks of the Holston River in Tennessee. Turning
in a direction somewhat north of west, and crossing the
Clinch River, he came to the Cumberland River. Travel
ling along or near the river for some distance, he then
moved northward, and, after reaching perhaps even
branches of the Green and Salt rivers, turned eastward
and crossed the head-waters of the Kentucky River.
Thence he passed through the mountainous region of
West Virginia, from which flow the sources of the Big
Sandy, Guyandotte, and other rivers, and finally arrived at
the junction of the Greenbrier and New River. The rest
of his journey, up the Greenbrier River, Anthony's Creek,
by the Hot Springs, Panther's Gap, Augusta Court-House
(the modern " Staunton "), and Rock Fish Gap, to his
home in Albemarle County, may be easily traced on the
maps of to-day.
, To avoid the confusion apt to result from the use of
unscientific terms, it may be said that Dr. Walker means
by "Ivy," the Kalmia latifolia; by " Laurel," the Rho
dodendron maximum, and by " Sycomore," of which he
mentions a specimen measuring forty feet in circumfer
ence, the Platanus occidentalis.
By " Reeds," he means the cane, or Arundinaria
macrosperma, which the Western pioneers largely used
as food for their horses and cattle.
I am greatly indebted to my son, Dr. Rives, for the
information and suggestions contained in this note.

W. C. R.

16th March,
17th.

^_5^v^^^^^^^^^^^^.
^SS^^SS^
JOURNAL OF
DR. THOMAS WALKEI
1750.
1. m
allhe
:st of
2r-ed ts
dssry
\ li TE kept up the Staunton to Willia
Englishes.1. He lives on a sm
Branch, and was not much hurt by t
Fresh. He has a mill, which is the furthe
back except one lately built by the Sect
People, who call themselves of the Broth
hood of Euphrates, and are commonly call
the Duncards, who are the upper Inhabitar
on the New River, which is about 400 yar
1 Near the present village of Blacksburg, in Montgom
County, Virginia,
4o

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

March 18th.
igth.

20th.

wide at this Place. They live on the west
side, and we were obliged to swim our Horses
over. The Duncards are an odd set of peo
ple, who make it a matter of Religion not to
Shave their Beards, ly on Beds, or eat Flesh,
though at present, in the last, they transgress,
being constrained to it, as they say, by the
want of a sufficiency of Grain and Roots, they
having not long been seated here. I doubt
the plenty and deliciousness of the Venison
& Turkeys has contributed not a little to this.
The unmarried have no private Property, but
live on a common Stock. They dont bap
tize either Young or Old, they keep their
Sabbath on Saturday, & hold that all men
shall be happy hereafter, but first must pass
through punishment according to their Sins.
They are very hospitable.
The Sabbath.
We could not find our Horses and spent
the day in Looking for them. In the even
ing we found their track.
We went very early to the track of our
Horses & after following them six or seven

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.
miles, we found them all together, we re
turned to the Duncards about io "'Clock,
and having purchased half a Busshell of meal
and as much small Homony we set off and
Lodged on a small Run between Peak
Creek1 and Reedy Creek.
We got to Reedy Creek2 and Camped near
James Mccall's. I went to his house and
Lodged and bought what Bacon I wanted.
I returned to my People early, we got
to a large Spring about five miles below
Davises Bottom on Holstons River and
Camped. We kept down Holston's River about four
miles and Camped ; and then Mr Powel and
I went to look for Samuel Stalnaker, who I
had been inform'd was just moved out to
settle. We found his Camp, and .returned
to our own in the Evening.
We went to Stalnakers, helped him to
raise his house and Camped about a quarter
1 Peak Creek enters the New River near the village of
Newbern, in Pulaski County.
2 Probably Reed Creek, in Wythe County.

41

March zist.

22nd.

23rd.

24th.

42

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

March 25th.

26th.

27th.

28th.

29th.

of a Mile below him. In April 1748, I met
the above mentioned Stalnaker between the
Reedy Creek Settlement, and Holstons
River, on his way to the Cherokee Indians,
and expected him to pilate me as far as he
knew but his affairs would not permit him
to go with me.
The Sabbath. Grass is plenty in the low
Grounds. We left the Inhabitans, and kept nigh
West to a large Spring on a Branch of the
North fork of Holston. Thunder, Light
ning, and Rain before Day.
It began to Snow in the morning and
continued till Noon. The Land is very
hilly from West to North. Some Snow
lies on the tops of the mountains N. W.
from us.
We travelled to the lower end of the
Giant's Ditch on Reedy Creek.1
Our Dogs were very uneasie most of this
Night.

1 Enters the South Fork of the Holston River a short
distance above its junction with the North Fork.

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

43

We kept down Reedy Creek, and dis
cover 'd the tracks of about 20 Indians, that
had gone up the Creek between the time we
Camped last Night, and set off this morn
ing. We Suppose they made our Dogs so
restless last Night. We Camped on Reedy
Creek. We caught two young Buffaloes, one of
which we killed, and having cut and marked
the other we turn'd him out.
We kept down Reedy Creek to Holston
where we measured an Elm 25 feet round
3 feet from the Ground, we saw young
Sheldrakes, we went down the River to the
north Fork and up the north Fork about a
quarter of a mile to a Ford, and then crossed
it. In the Fork between Holstons and the
North River, are five Indian Houses built
with loggs and covered with Bark, and there
were abundance of Bones, some whole Pots
and Pans, some broken, and many pieces of
mats and Cloth. On the West Side of the
North River, is four Indian Houses such as
before mentioned.

30th.

March 30th.

31st.

44

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

April ye ist,

2nd.

3rd.

4th.

we went four miles Below the North
River and Camped on the Bank of Holstons,
opposite to a large Indian Fort.
The Sabbath, we saw Perch, Mullets,
and Carp in plenty, and caught one of the
large Sort of Cat Fish. I marked my Name,
the day of the month, and date of the year
on Several Beech Trees.
we left Holston & travelled through small
Hills till about Noon, when one of our Horses
being choaked by eating Reeds too gredily,
we stopped having travelled 7 miles. Our
horse being recover'd, we travelled to the
Rocky Ridge. I went up to the top, to look
for a Pass, but found it so Rocky that I con
cluded not to Attempt it there. This Ridge
may be known by Sight, at a distance. To
the Eastward are many small Mountains,
and a Buffaloe Road between them and the
Ridge. The growth is Pine on the top and
the Rocks look white at a distance, we
went Seven miles this day.
We kept under the Rocky Ridge cross
ing several small Branches to the head of

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

45

Holly Creek, we saw many small Licks
and plenty of Deer.
we went down Holly Creek. There is
much Holly in the Low Grounds & some
Laurel and Ivy. About 3 in the afternoon,
the Ridge appeared less stony and we passed
it, and camped on a small Branch about a
mile from the top. my Riding Horse
choaked himself this Evening and I drenched
him with water to wash down the Reeds, and
it answered the End.
It proving wet we did not move.
We rode 8 miles over broken Land. It
snowed most of the day. In the Evening
our dogs caught a large He Bear, which
before we could come up to shoot him had
wounded a dog of mine, so that he could not
Travel, and we carried him on Horseback,
till he recovered.
The Sabbath. Still Snow.
We travelled to a river, which I suppose
to be that which the hunters Call Clinches
River from one Clinch a Hunter, who first
found it. we marked several Beeches on

April 5th.

6th. 7th.

8th. 9th.

46

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

April i oth.

the East side, we could not find a ford
Shallow eneugh to carry our Baggage over
on our horses. Ambrose Powell Forded
over on one horse, and we drove the others
, after him. We then made a Raft and car
ried over one Load of Baggage, but when
the Raft was brought back, it was so heavy
that it would not carry anything more
dry. We waded and carryed the remainder of
our Baggage on our Shoulders at two turns
over the River, which is about one hundred
and thirty yards wide, we went on about five
miles and Camped on a Small Branch.

large Roads lead to it. This afternoon
Ambrose Powell was bit by a Bear in his
Knee, we rode 7 miles this day.
-»ti>. We kept down the Creek 2 miles to the
River again. It appears not any wider here
than at the mouth of Clover Creek, but much
deeper. I thought it proper to Cross the
River and began a bark Conoe.
* A gap in the Journal occurs here.

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

47

We finished the Conoe and tryed her. April 21st.
About noon it began to thunder, lighten,
hail and rain prodigiously and continued
about 2 hours.
The Sabbath. One of the horses was -1
found unable to walk this morning. I then
Propos'd that with 2 of the Company I
would proceed, and the other three should
Continue here till our return, which was
agreed to, and Lots were drawn to deter
mine who should go, they all being desirous
of it. Ambrose Powell, and Colby Chew
were the fortunate Persons.
Having carried our Baggage over in the 23d.
Bark Conoe, and Swam our horses, we all
Crossed the River. Then Ambrose Powell,
Colby Chew, and I departed, Leaving the
others to provide and salt some Bear, build
an house, and plant some Peach Stones and
Corn. We travelled about 12 miles and
encamped on Crooked Creek. The moun
tains are very small hereabouts and here is
a great deal of flat Land. We got through
the Coal today.

48

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

April 24th.

25th.

26th.

We kept on Westerly 18 miles, got Clear
of the mountains and found the Land poor
and the woods very Thick beyond them, and
Laurel & Ivy in and near the Branches. Our
Horses suffered very much here for want of
food. This day we Came on the fresh Track
of 7 or 8 Indians, but could not overtake them.
We kept on West 5 miles, the Land con
tinuing much Same, the Laurel rather grow
ing worse, and the food scarcer. I got up a
tree on a Ridge and saw the Growth of the
Land much the same as Far as my Sight
could reach. I then concluded to return
to the rest of my company. I kept on my
Track 1 mile then turn'd Southerly & went
to Cumberland River at the mouth of a
water Course, that I named Rocky Creek.
The River is 1 50 yards wide and appears
to be navigable from this place almost to the
mouth of Clover Creek. Rocky Creek runs
within 40 yards of the River Bank then turns
off, and runs up the River, Surrounding
about 25 Acres of Land before it falls into
the River. The Banks of the River and

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

49

Creek are a sufficient Fence almost all the
way. On the Lower side of the mouth of
the Creek is an Ash mark'd T W, a Red
Oak A P, a white Hiccory C. C. besides sev
eral Trees blazed Several ways with 3 Chops
over Each blaze, we went up the North
Side of the River 8 miles, and Camped on a
Small Branch. A Bear Broke one of my
Dogs forelegs.
We crossed Indian Creek and Went down
Meadow Creek to the River. There Comes
in another from the Southward as big as this
we are on. Below the mouth of this Creek,
and above the mouth are the remains of Sev
eral Indian Cabbins and amongst them a
round Hill made by Art about 20 feet high
and 60 over the Top. we went up the
River, and Camped on the Bank.
We kept up the River to our Company
whom we found all well, but the lame Horse
was as bad as we left him, and another had
been bit in the Nose by a Snake. I rub'd
the wounds with Bears oil, and gave him a
drench of the same and another of the de-

April 27th.

28th.

5°

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

April 29th.

30th.

coctiqn of Rattle Snake root some time after.
The People I left had built an House 12 by
8, clear'd and broke up some ground, &
planted Corn, and Peach Stones. They also
had killed several Bears and cured the meat.
This day Colby Chew and his Horse fell
down the Bank. I Bled and gave him
Volatile drops, & he soon recovered.
The Sabbath. The bitten Horse is better.
3 Quarters of A mile below the House is
a Pond in the low Ground of the River, a
Quarter of a mile in Length and 200 yds
wide much frequented by Fowl.
I Blazed a way from our House to the
River. On the other side of the River is
a large Elm cut down and barked about
20 feet and another standing just by it
with the Bark cut around at the root and
about 1 5 feet above. About 200 yards . be
low there is a white Hiccory Barked about
15 feet. The depth of water here, when
the lowest that I have seen it, is about . 7
or 8 feet, the Bottom of the River Sandy,
yb Banks very high, & the Current very Slow.

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

51

The bitten Horse being much mended, we
set off and left the lame one. He is white,
branded on the near Buttock with a swivil
Stirrup Iron, and is old. We left the
River and having Crossed Several Hills
and Branches, Camped in a Valley North
from the House.
Another Horse being bit, I applyed Bears
Oil as before mention'd. We got to Pow
ell's River1 in the afternoon and went down
it along an Indian Road, much frequented,
to the mouth of a Creek on the West side
of the River, where we camped. The Indian
Road goes up the Creek, and I think it is
that which goes through Cave Gap.
We kept down the River. At the mouth
of a Creek that comes in on the East side is
a Lick, and I believe there was a hundred
Buffaloes at it. About 2 o' Clock we had a
Shower of rain, we camped on the River,
which is very crooked.

May the ist.

2d.

1 This Powell's River and Crooked Creek are in Ken
tucky, and are represented on Pownall's Map as flowing
into what seems to be the Green River.

52

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

May 3d.

4th.

Sth.

6th.

7th.

We crossed a narrow Neck of Land, came
on the River again and kept down it to an
Indian Camp, that had been built this
Spring, and in it we took up our Quarters.
It began to rain about Noon and continued
till Night.
We crossed a narrow Neck of Land and
came on the River again, which we kept
down till it turn'd to the Westward, we
then left it, and went up a Creek, which we
Called Colby's Creek. The River is about
50 yards over where we left it.
We got to Tomlinson's River, which is
about the size of Powell's River, and I cut
my name on a Beech, that Stands on the
North Side of the River. Here is plenty
of Coal in the South Bank opposite to our
Camp. The Sabbath. I saw Goslings, which
shows that wild Geese stay here all the
year. Ambrose Powell had the misfortune
to sprain his well knee.
We went down Tomlinson's River the
Land being very broken and our way em-

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

53

barrassed by trees, that had been blown
down about 2 years ago.
We went up a Creek on the North Side
of the River.
We got to Lawlesses River which is much
like the others. The Mountains here are
very Steep and on Some of them there is
Laurel and Ivy. The tops of the Moun
tains are very Rocky and some part of the
Rocks seem to be composed of Shells, Nuts
and many other Substances petrified and
cemented together with a kind of Flint.
We left the River and after travelling some
Miles we got among Trees that had been
Blown down about 2 years, and were obliged
to go down a Creek to the River again,
the Small Branches and Mountains being
impassable. We Staid on the River, and dressed an
Elks skin to make Indian Shoes — most of
ours being quite worn out.
We left the River, found the Mountains
very bad, and got to a Rock by the side of
a Creek Sufficient to shelter 200 men from

May 8th.
9th.

10th.

nth.

54

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

May 1 2th.

13th.
14th.

Rain. Finding it so convenient, we con
cluded to stay and put our Elk skin in order
for shoes and make them.
Under the Rock is a Soft Kind of Stone
almost like Alium in taste ; below it A
Layer of Coal about 12 Inches thick and
white Clay under that. I called the Run
Alium Creek. I have observed Several
mornings past, that the Trees begin to ,
drop just before day & continue dripping
till almost Sun rise, as if it rain'd slowly.
we had some rain this day.
The Sabbath.
When our Elk's Skin was prepared we had
lost every Awl that we brought out, and I
made1 one with the Shank of an old Fishing
hook, the other People made two of horse
Shoe Nailes, and with these we made our
Shoes or Moccosons.
We wrote several of our Names with Coal
under the Rock, & I wrote our names, the
time of our comeing and leaving this place
on paper and stuck it to the Rock with
Morter, and then set off. We Crossed

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

55

Hughes's River and Lay on a large Branch
of it.
There was no dew this morning but
a shower of Rain about 6 "'Clock. The
River is about 50 yards wide.
Laurel and Ivy encrease upon us as we May 15th.
go up the Branch. About noon it began
to rain & we took up our Quarters in a
Valley between very Steep Hills.
We crossed several Ridges and Branches. r6th.
About two in the afternoon, I was taken with
a Violent Pain in my Hip.
Laurel and Ivy are very plenty and the Iyth.
Hills still very steep. The Woods have
been burnt some years past, and are now
very thick, the Timber being almost all
kill'd. We Camped on a Branch of Naked
Creek. The pain in my Hip is something
ass'waged. We went up Naked Creek to the head isth,
and had a plain Buffaloe Road most of the
way. From thence we proceeded down
Wolf Creek and on it we encamped.
We kept down ye Creek to Hunting I9th.

56

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

May 20th.

2 1 st.

22d,

23d.

Creek,1 which we Crossed and left. It rained
most of the afternoon.
The Sabbath. It began to rain about
Noon and continued till next day.
It left off raining about 8. we crossed
several Ridges and small Branches & camped
on a Branch of Hunting Creek. in the
Evening it rained very hard.
We went down the Branch to Hunting
Creek & kept it to Milley's River.
We attempted to go down the River but
could not. We then Crossed Hunting
Creek and attempted to go up the River
but could not. it being very deep we
began a Bark Conoe. The River is about
go or 100 yds wide. I Blazed several
Trees in the fork and marked T W on a
Sycomore Tree 40 feet round. It has a
large Hole on the N: W: side about 20
feet from the Ground and is divided into
3 Branches just by the hole, and it stands

1 Hunting Creek, Milley's River, and Frederick's River
are set down on Pownall's Map as branches of the Catawba
or Cuttawa, now called the Kentucky River.

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

57

about 80 yards above the mouth of Hunt
ing Creek.
We finished the Conoe and crossed the
River about noon, and I marked a Sycomore
30 feet round and several Beeches on the
North side of the River opposite to the
mouth of the Creek. Game is very scarce
hereabouts. It began to rain before day and con
tinued till about noon. We travelled about
4 miles on a Ridge and camped on a small
Branch. We kept down the Branch almost to the
River, and up a Creek, and then along a
Ridge till our Dogs roused a large Buck
Elk, which we followed down to a Creek.
He killed Ambrose Powell's Dog in the
Chase, and we named the Run Tumblers
Creek, the Dog being of that Name.
The Sabbath.
Cloudy. We could not get our Horses
till almost Night, when we went down the
Branch. We lay on to the main Creek, and
turn'd up it.

May 24th.

25th.

26th.

27th.28th.

58

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

May 29th.

30th.

31st.

June ye ist.

2d.

We proceeded up the Creek 7 miles,
and then took a North Branch & went
up it 5 miles and then we encamped on
it. We went to the head of the Branch we
lay on 12 Miles. A shower of Rain fell
this day. The Woods are burnt fresh
about here and are the only fresh burnt
Woods we have seen these Six Weeks.
We crossed 2 Mountains and camped
just by a Wolf's Den. They were very
impudent and after they had been twice
shot at, they kept howling about the Camp.
It rained till Noon this day.
We found the Wolf's Den and caught 4
of the young ones. It rained this morning.
we went up a Creek crossed a mountain and
went through a Gap, and then, camped on
the head of A Branch.
We went down the Branch to a River
70 yards wide, which I called Frederick's
River, we kept up it half a mile to a Ford,
where we crossed and proceeded up on the
North Side 3 miles. It rained most of the

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

59

afternoon. Elks are Very Plenty on this
River. Whit-Sunday. It rained most of the day.
I blazed Several Trees four ways on the
outside of the low Grounds by a Buffaloe
Road, and marked my Name on Several
Beech Trees. Also I marked some by the
River side just below a mossing1 place with
an Island in it. We left the River about
io "'Clock & got to Falling Creek, and went
up it till 5 in the Afternoon, when a very
black Cloud appearing, we turn'd out our
Horses, got tent Poles up, and were just
stretching a Tent, when it began to rain
and hail, and was succeeded by a violent
Wind which Blew down our Tent & a great
many Trees about it, several large ones
within 30 yf of the Tent, we all left the
place in confusion and ran different ways for
shelter. After the Storm was over, we met
at the Tent, and found all safe.
There was a violent Shower of Rain before
day. This morning we went up the Creek
1 Crossing ?

June 3d.
4th.

Sth.

6o

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

June 6th.

7th.

8th.

about 3 miles, and were then obliged to leave
it, the Timber being so blown down that we
could not get through. After we left the
Creek, we kept on a Ridge 4 miles, then
turned down to the head of a Branch, and
it began to rain and continued raining very
hard till Night.
We went down the Branch till it became
a large Creek. It runs very Swift, falling
more than any of the Branches we have
been on of late. I called it Rapid Creek.
After we had gone 8 miles we could not
ford, and we Camped in the low Ground.
There is great Sign of Indians on this
Creek. The Creek being fordable, we Crossed it
& kept down 12 miles to a River about 100
yards over, Which We called Louisa River.1
The Creek is about 30 yards wide, & part of
ye River breaks into ye Creek — making an
Island on which we Camped.
The River is so deep we Cannot ford it
and as it is falling we conclude to stay &
1 The West or Louisa Fork of the Big Sandy River.

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

6l

hunt. In the afternoon Mr Powell and my
Self was a hunting about a mile & a half
from the Camp, and heard a gun just be
low us on the other Side of the River,
and as none of our People could cross,
I was in hopes of geting some direc
tion from the Person, but could not find
him. We crossed the River & went down it to
the mouth of a Creek & up the Creek to the
head and over a Ridge into a steep Valley
and Camped.
Trinity Sunday. Being in very bad Ground
for our Horses, we concluded to move, we
were very much hindered by the Trees, that
were blown down on Monday last, we
camped on a Small Branch.
It rained violently the Latter part of the
night & till 9 "Clock. The Branch is im
passable at present. We lost a Tomohawk
and a Cann by the Flood.
The Water being low we wenr- down the
Branch to a large Creek, & up the Creek.
Many of the Trees in the Branches are

June 9th.

10th.

nth.

1 2th.

62

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

Wash'd up by the Roots and others barked
by the old trees, that went down ye Stream.
The Roots in the Bottom of the Runs are
Barked by the Stones.
June 13th. We are much hindered by the Gust & a
shower of Rain about Noon. Game is very
scarce here, and the mountains very bad, the
tops of the Ridges being so covered with Ivy
and the sides so steep and stony, that we
were obliged to cut our way through with
our Tomohawks.
14th. The Woods are still bad and Game scarce.
It rained today about Noon & we Camped
on the top of A Ridge.
at We got on a large Creek where Turkey
are plenty and some Elks, we went a hunt-
16th. ing & killed 3 Turkeys. Hunted & killed 3
Bears & some Turkeys.
17th. The Sabbath. We killed a large Buck
Elk.
rstb having prepared a good stock of Meat,
we left the Creek crossing several Branches
and Ridges. the Woods still continu
ing bad the Weather hot & our Horses

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

63

so far spent, that we are all obliged to
walk. We got to Laurel Creek early this morn
ing, and met so impudent a Bull Buffaloe
that we were obliged to shoot him, or he
would have been amongst us. we then
went up the Creek six miles, thence up a
North Branch of it to the head, and at
tempted to Cross a mountain, but it proved
so high and difficult, that we were obliged to
Camp on the side of it. This Ridge is nigh
the eastern edge of the Coal Land.
We got to the top of the Mountain and
Could discover a flat to the South & South
East, we went down from the Ridge to
a Branch and down the Branch to Laurel
Creek not far from where we left it yester
day & camped, my riding Horse was bit
by a Snake this day, and having no Bear's
Oil I rub'd the place with a piece of fat meat,
which had the desired effect.
We found the Level Nigh the Creek so
full of Laurel that we were obliged to go up
a Small Branch, and from the head of that

June 19th.

20th.

21st.

64

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

June 22d.

23d.

24th.
25th.
26th.

to the Creek again, and found it good trav
elling a Small distance from the Creek, we
Camped on the Creek. Deer are very scarce
on the Coal Land, I having seen but 4, since
the 30th of April.
We kept up to the head of the Creek,
the Land being Leveller than we have
lately seen, and here are some large Sa
vanna's. Many of the Branches are full
of Laurel and Ivy. Deer and Bears are
plenty. Land continues level with Laurel and Ivy
& we. got to a large Creek with very high &
steep Banks full of Rocks, which I Call'd
Clifty Creek, the Rocks are 100 feet per
pendicular in some Places.
The Sabbath.
We Crossed Clifty Creek. Here is a
little Coal and the Land still flat.
We crossed a Creek that we called Dis
mal Creek, the Banks being the worst and
the Laurel the thickest I have seen. The
Land is Mountainous on the East Side of
the Dismal Creek, and the Laurels end in

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

65

a few miles. We camped on a Small
Branch. The Land is very high & we Crossed
several Ridges and camped on a small
Branch, it rained about Noon and con
tinued till the next day.
It continued raining till Noon, and we
set off as soon as it ceased and went down
the Branch we lay on to the New River,
just below the mouth of Green Bryer.
Powell, Tomlinson and my self striped,
and went into the New River to try if
we could wade over at any place. After
some time having found a place we re-
turn'd to the others and took -such things
as would take damage by Water on our
Shoulders, and waded over Leading our
Horses. The Bottom is very uneven, the
Rocks very slippery and the Current very
Strong most of the way. The River is
nigh 500 yards over. We Camped in the
Low Ground opposite to the mouth of
Green Bryer.
We kept up Green Bryer. It being a

June 27th.

28th.

29th.

66

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

June 30th.
July ye ist.

2d. 3d-
4th. 5th.
6th.

wet day we went only 2 miles, and Camped
on the. North Side.
'We went 7 miles up the River, which
is very crooked.
The Sabbath. Our Salt being almost
spent, We travelled 10 miles sometimes
on the River, and at other times some
distance from it.
We kept up the River the chief part of
this day and we travelled about 10 miles.
we went Up the River 10 miles to day.
We went up the River 10 miles through
very bad Woods.
The way growing worse, we travelled
9 miles only.
We left the River. The low grounds
on it are of very little Value, but on the
Branches are very good, and there is a
great deal of it, and the high land is very
good in many places. We got on a large
Creek called Anthony's Creek, which af
fords a great deal of Very good Land, and
it is chiefly bought, we kept up the creek
4 miles and Camped. This Creek took

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

67

its Name from an Indian, called John
Anthony, that frequently hunts in these
Woods. There are some inhabitants on
the Branches of Green Bryer, but we
missed their Plantations.
We kept up the Creek, and about Noon
5 men overtook us & inform'd us we were
only 8 miles from the inhabitants on a
Branch of James River called Jackson's
River. We exchanged Some Tallow for
meal & parted. We Camped on a Creek
nigh the top of the Alleghany Ridge,
which we named Ragged Creek.
Having Shaved, Shifted, & made new
Shoes we left our useless Raggs at ye
Camp & got to Walker Johnston's about
Noon. We moved over to Robert Arm
strong's in the Afternoon & staid there
all Night. The People here are very
hospitable and would be better able to
support Travellers was it not for the
great number of Indian Warriers, that fre
quently take what they want from them,
much to Their prejudice.

July 7th.

8th.

68

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker.

July 9th.

10th.

nth.

12th.

13th.

We went to the hot Springs and found
six Invalides there. The Spring Water
is very Clear & warmer than new Milk,
and there is a spring of cold Water within
20 feet of the Warm one. I left one of
my Company this day.
Having a Path We rode 20 miles &
lodged at Captain Jemyson's below the
Panther Gap. Two of my Company went
to a Smith to get their Horses Shod.
Our Way mending, We travelled 30 miles
to Augusta Court House, where I found
Mr Andrew Johnston, the first of my ac
quaintance I had seen, since the 26 day
of March.
M' Johnston lent me a fresh Horse and
sent my Horses to Mf David Stewards who
was so kind as to give them Pastureage.
About 8 "Clock I set off leaving all my
Company. It began to rain about 2 in the
Afternoon & I lodged at Captain David
Lewis's about 34 miles from Augusta Court
House. I got Home about Noon.

Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker. 69
We killed in the Journey 13 Buffaloes,
8 Elks, 53 Bears, 20 Deer, 4 Wild Geese,
about 150 Turkeys, besides small Game.
We might have killed three times as much
meat, if we had wanted it.