Indians of the Swift era... (Trails & Great Shawnee Cave)

After a lot of research, Indians play a huge roll before, during, and after Swift mined silver. Indians were not known for mining metals, until just recently...Studies now show Indians not only mined metals such as silver, gold, copper, lead, etc, but smelted and forged as well. This was found by the silver, gold, copper, ornaments at these burial sites. These predate the earliest white men of the area. The Indians considered there burial grounds sacred, as well as there mines sacred grounds. Could be why Swift was attacked so many times., Indians found the white man loved the shinny metal and would trade silver for wampum, riffles, gunpowder, whiskey and other goods the white man brought to trade....
Was looking for some information on the great cave of the Shawnee. History seems to not say much about this place, as it was a secret to the Indians, and also to Swift and crew....
Some info i do know on this subject: It is located close to Swifts principal mines.
This cave goes through the mountain, or cliff, and is claimed by the Shawnee.....It is a place where they buried their dead and would housed many graves. The opening is small as you go in, and then opens up to bigger cambers as you tunnel back through the cave. Suppost to extent from one side of the mountain to the opposite side. It wouldn't be no small cave cause the Shawnee Indians that shows Swift the cave would not have let these men step on the graves of their dead ancestors....
There would be many smaller chambers throughout the cave which swift and crew could have massed a huge storeroom, it is my belief that it might be one of these smaller chamber that would have been walled up with sand, stone and dirt and the silver treasure buried behind the manmade wall.......here are some maps i have that shows the Indian and early pioneer trails and traces.....  

sorry don;t know anything about mines or caves...but I do know it looks sweet! Hope you have the best of luck when you decide to explore it. Maybe some copper items will be hiding in there for you.

HH

FUnkman

On the first map  1775-1780  You will see the warriors path that comes up through station camp creek and then crossing the Red river, on the Red River you will see Lick creek, this creek has another name today but could have been the creek Swift named Lick creek in his journals?  The other trail is the Wilderness road that Boone blazed making way for the later pioneers........

The second map is of mainly Indian trails and very few pioneer trails, i have studied this map and found that where the warriors path crossed the red river, their was another path the Indians used called the warriors fork, this is what the Indians called the Red River. A path went from the main warriors path up the red river trail, up through the north fork of the river, and through the Red River gorge, from here the path made its way through the mountains of Ky to the headwaters of the Sandy River, to where John Creek is located. This could play into the Jenny Wiley story as well!!!. Swift mentions in his journals that a a point at the headwaters of the sandy, that the company split into groups and some worked the northern mines and the others working the lower mines as swift mentioned a group going west a distance and the other group going in a southwest direction. I believie that the group that would have went west could have traveled this trail to the Red River Vally, as well Jenny Wiley traveled this path back home after escaping   -Ki-

Here is a map 1812-1850         If you notice on this map one of the first detailed maps of the area, you will find Swifts Creek on the Red River.......also upper and lower devil's creek in Wolfe Co.    

Those are some nice old maps Ki!

I have dozens myself dating back into the 1800's on Swift areas of interest.

Thanks SS.... I love the history of how things were.....  Man i was born 250 years to late!!!   I would have been right beside Swift or Boon, and possably in the furtrade --- aka--- "silvermining" I would love to long hunt, i guess its in my blood....

It is my belief that the Shawnee Cave will be found around or close to one of the Indian trails of that time.....  Think about this one a minute, said applys to the mines as well, the Indians knew of and dug ores of metal before the whiteman showed up, it would be their trails that would have ran very near these locations to where the mines were hiddin. At a certain mark, carving or landmark the Indian would know the hidden path to take to the cave or mine.......

SS, have you had any luck locating this cave?? or heard any new storys??

Ki, unfortunately, just as I was going to look for the "Great Cave", I stumbled upon several other signs and the "vault" and have spent most of my time there and excavating the Rich Mine.  The area I had to look in has several dozen old Indian campsites around that I have found  and looked very promising.  However, as we all know, the entrance it small and will be like finding a needle in a haystack in this laurelly country!

I was born too late as well, I would have loved to have been in the mountains during Swift's time!

 We were all born too late . My question is : They had the technology to mine and refine ore into a finished product , yet did not utilize the wheel for transportation or develope refining iron ore . Why were they so specific and confined to bow and arrow / spear technology for sustenance and protection ?
 I'm not a naysayer . Just a curious thought that passed my feeble brain .
 Jim

We were all born too late . My question is : They had the technology to mine and refine ore into a finished product , yet did not utilize the wheel for transportation or develope refining iron ore . Why were they so specific and confined to bow and arrow / spear technology for sustenance and protection ?
 I'm not a naysayer . Just a curious thought that passed my feeble brain .
 Jim

I'm no expert by no means, but my best guess is that they might have known about the wheel and it's uses, but in an effort to help preserve the secret trails they chose not to use it in transporting ore.  Wheels would have left a much easier trail to follow than horses would have left behind.  Plus it would look more like the white man had been there to other Indians and possibly caused tension between the tribes.  I also think they viewed the ore more useful as something to trade with than raw materials to make something out of.  As far as hunting with bows and arrows, I believe that they had a spiritual connection with hunting with bows and arrows.  Much like the bow hunters today, they found it more challenging and it gave the animals a fighting chance.  It was more about proving your hunting skills and proving how much of a man you really are.  Like I said I'm no expert by no means, this is just me throwing out my best guess to your question.  I'm sure someone who knows more about Indians and how they lived around here in that time period, could offer a better or more accurate answer.

cstraiton, you hit the nail on the head......... The Indians had a culture unlike our own, the land give them life, and everything was used according. The Indian culture was overdone by trading with whites, they laid the bows and arrows down after trade for the rifle, it made hunting much easier, and also helped with their trade of pelts and skins....I'll post some more later on this topic...

Talking about John Swift...
In 1753 and probably a few years before, he traded with the Indians and was connected with the English fur traders in what is now Ohio.

As a fur trader, he spent much time with the Shawnees, married the daughter of a chief, and fathered a few children. Other accounts have it, though, that his wife was half French and either Shawnee or Wyandott, her father having been the Frenchman.

While trading with the Indians, he was captured by the French, but escaped through the help of two Frenchmen he knew. After his escape, he went to Virginia, and later fought in the Army of Braddock and Washington at Fort Dungannon.

While on Braddock's ill-fated expedition to the French fort, he met and came to know well the following men from North Carolina; James Ireland, Samuel Blackburn, Isaac Campbell, Abram Flint, Harmon Staley, Shadrach Jefferson, and Jonathan Munday. All these men lived about the head of the Yadkin, the South Yadkins, and the Catawba Rivers in North Carolina.

Swift learned about the silver mines from the Indians with whom he traded. The mines had been worked for several years by the French and the Indians. The Indians were Shawnees, although the Cherokee still claimed the area where the mine was.

The first trip we came Mundy got lost. We put out horses on the river called Red. We put them in a place surrounded by clifts and fastened to the entrance with grape vines. We crossed the river to the other side and wandered around all day and came back from Awhere we started from. The next day Mundy said he would go down to the river to the Indian trace. He would know the way then. He went down to the river two or three miles west and found the Indian trail. So we wandered all that day and next. Late in the evening Mundy hollored out, ‘Here is the myrtle thicket. I know the way now.’



 early as 1840 John D. Shane, in the "Draper Papers", said that Swift "had considerable mechanical genius, and possessed a knowledge of the art of refining silver". He further explained that Indians took Swift down a river to Maysville and after landing and going over a rich alluvial tract, went into mountains and found the silver ore in a cave, or rock house. Shane further explains in great detail where Swift had his smelter, coined money, hid treasures, and later searched in vain for the mine.

These are just a few theorys on A Swift Indian relation....If Swift did trade with shawnee of the Ky, and ohio, then swift would have known these trails well, and possably used these at one point or time.   Just a thought      -Ki-

So could the clues to the Swift silver mines lie in the shawnee indian history in storys handed down from generation to generation.....

 


"There were traditions of mythical silver mines, also, in Kentucky. It was the locating of one of these mines on The Red River in Kentucky that brought Blue Jacket and his party to the home of James Galloway, Sr., in 1800. The story of his visit was given to Benjamin Drake by Major James Galloway, Jr., deputy surveyor of Virginia military lands, a banker and large land owner and a well-known writer of that period, under the pseudonym of "Pioneer, Jr." Drake quotes the story here given, in his Life of Tecumseh:

In the spring of 1800, Blue Jacket and another chief whose name I have forgotten, boarded for several weeks at my father’s, in Greene County, at the expense

page 7

of a company of Kentuckians, who engaged Blue Jacket, for a valuable consideration, to show them a great silver mine, which tradition said was known to the Indians as existing on Red River, one of the head branches of the Kentucky. A Mr.

38Ohio Arch. and Hist. Quarterly, 26:114-116.

p 301

OLD CHILLICOTHE

Jonathan Flack, agent of this company, had previously spent several months among the Shawanoes, at their towns and hunting-camps, in order to induce this chief, to show this great treasure. At the time agreed on, ten or twelve of the company came from Kentucky to meet Blue Jacket at my father’s, where a day or two was spent in settling the terms upon which he would accompany them; the crafty chief taking his own time to deliberate on the offers made him, and rising in his demands in proportion to their growing eagerness to possess the knowledge which was to bring untold wealth to all the company. At length the bargain was made; horses, goods and money were given as presents, and the two chiefs with their squaws were escorted in triumph to Kentucky, where they were feasted and caressed in the most flattering manner, and all their wants anticipated and liberally supplied. In due time and with all possible secrecy, they visited the region where this great mine was said to be emboweled in the earth. Here the wily Shawanoe spent some time in seclusion, in order to humble himself by fastings, purifications and pow-wowings with a iew to propitiate the Great Spirit; and to get his permission to disclose the grand secret of the mine. An equivocal answer was all the response that was given to him in his dreams; and, after many days of fruitless toil and careful search, the mine, the great object so devoutly sought and wished for, could not be found. The cunning Blue Jacket, however, extricated himself with much address from the anticipated vengeance of the disappointed worshippers of Plutus, by charging his want of success to his eyes, which were dimmed by reason of his old age; and by promising, on his return home, to send his son whose eyes were young and good, and who knew the desired spot and would show it. The son, however, never visited the scene of his father’s failure; and thus ended the adventures of the celebrated mining company of Kentucky.39"



"When boys, we played about the mystic location of the two round, stone-filled holes he describes. They are near the foot of "the devil’s back-bone," a quite high ridge, with a declivity down to the bank of Massie’s Creek not far from the old King Mill site. The legend of the lost silver mine was one with the legend of Sleepy Hollow to our boyhood imagination."

[The Warriors' Trace]

The Warriors' Trace was an old Indian trail that ran from the north, crossed the Ohio River at the mouth of the Scioto, and proceeded along the Licking River through what is now Fleming County, Kentucky. The trail ran through Eskippakithiki, with one branch leading down through the Cumberland Gap. "The French took this trail to trade in the Carolina's and Georgia".

John Goff, in an old newspaper account, states that the buffalo trail, known as the "Warriors Path," ran from Blue Licks to Indian Old Fields. There it divided, one branch going toward the valley lands of Red River, and continuing to the head waters of the Big Sandy(called Warriors Fork, or Red River trail), the other to the Kentucky River and Cumberland Gap.

In 1907 this old path was still plainly discernible in places and could be followed with great accuracy its entire distance. This was the first road in Kentucky.

God stuff Ki,

Read it in my quest over the past few years...some of it is hard to find...but you are on the right track.  I think you are looking at one of his sets of mines maybe the lower ones? Remember Maysville was called Limestone back in Boone's day. In Swifts time it was probably unnamed but later was part of Zane's Trace. It followed the annual buffalo migration to cross the river there.  My theory about the upper mines is just a little different than most. I think Swift went more north and west. I think they were on the trace that ended in Limestone. The Indian trace came close to the area near Sand hook(near not thru) and they could have jumped off of it anywhere. One possibility is near Carter Caves, not one but three natural rock bridges there, its rock and rough, and several more items not far from there like a large and small stream that goes underground (remember the sinking springs?) I found several items near there (well 20 miles away) a friend who got me interested found some bullet molds wrapped in bearskin (UK confirmed) on a ledge, a rock with DAS (Desiree Ann Swift) with a date of 1769, the creek following the right directions (this is key!), two monument rocks, a haystack rock, a buffalo rock, a cliff with a hole in it, and on and on.

Thanks Curtis, I believe one way to unlocking this mystery of the Swift mines is to learn some of the trails Swift could have possably took while operating his Silver Mines, I believe and feel very strongly that Swift would have used some of these Indian trails to penetrate the Ky wilderness.....attached are some pictures of the Red River running through the gorge, along the area of the pictures is the location of an Indian trace....I can only imagine what the Indians and also Swift would have thought about this place....

Here is GIST's AND Dr. WALKERS route through Ky in 1749-1751.....  Gist was a Friend to the Shawnee of the Ohio, and traded with them on occasions..... Swift was also friends with the same Shawnee and could have possable used the same trails Gist did....

After conparing the many journals together, they all relate on common aspects. One being the trails Swift used entering and exiting the Kentucky wilderness going to and from his mines, or should i say mine! He mentions 2 places more than others, Alexandra Va. and the Yadikin in North Carolina. From these two points of reference and with the many clues given in Swifts journal, and given the known trails of that era in and around Ky, i was able to recreate using my software a couple possable trails Swift could have used here in Ky. I will however give some basic info on these trails. The first picture is of Dr. Walkers and Gist route through the wild unknown Ky, i have highlighted some possable Swift trails in yellow. Notice both Gist and Walkers paths cross the area of the Red River. It is known that both these men crossed the red river between Claycity, and Stanton. Gist going south, and Walker following the north fork of the Red River back to the headwaters of the big Sandy (which is known as the Red River trail).

The second picture is of the Indian trails of that era, i have added in the names of important places mentioned in the Swift journal. Notice trail 7.... This was the Red River trail, a branch of the Warriors Trace that ran from the Shawnee Indian village of Eskippakithiki, along the Red River, up the north fork through the Red River Gorge, and continuing to the area of the head waters of the Big Sandy. From here the trail ran through pound gap. I must Note that the "wilderness road" was not cut until 1775, 10-15 years after Swifts mining operation......No other trails were known at that time......

  

I was going through some old maps i have, and thought id post this one. Could help someone new to the Swift legend understand the gaps and passes.



Also used by Indians, and early longhunters door way into the "wilderness"....     -Ki-     ....

    THANK you, Ki!   These maps are VERY useful in MY research... gonna go to Jones Memorial Library, TODAY... to do MORE R & I (Research & Investigation).  
 

Your very Welcome Rebel....
I have also found these maps to be alot of help
tracking down Some possable Swift and Indian
trails......

 

Thank you for your maps, they are great!  I particularly like the last one showing the gaps (passes).  I've never seen one like it before.

your very welcome vamelungeon, i found and saved these maps doing research...got a couple more i'll post soon.........


I think i have found a cave that has been covered, and a small opening has worn back out over the years. Alot of old Shawnee storys tell of one of Swifts mines in the great Shawnee cave. Could this be the same mine swift tells about that has a small opening and drops down in the ground 8-10ft then makes off level.....once inside this opening, it opens up to where you can stand, and it continues back a great distance. I should have some pics soon..

Here is another map showing the Warrior's path, and the wilderness trail cut by Boone, also shows settlements and stations...

Boone's route into Ky and Swifts route are some what simaliar, this is Boone's own words in his autobiograghy

It was on the first of May, in the year 1769, that I resigned my domestic happiness for a time, and left my family and peaceable habitation on the Yadkin River, in North Carolina, to wander through the wilderness of America, in quest of the country of Kentucky, in company with John Finley, John Stewart, Joseph Holden, James Monay, and William Cool.

We proceeded successfully, and after a long and fatiguing journey through a mountainous wilderness, in a westward direction, on the seventh day of June following we found ourselves on Red-River, where John Finley had formerly been trading with the Indians

here is the link....... http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/boone/ 

This is also a great read....descibes the many Indian trails......





                                        PREHISTORIC TRAILS IN THE UPPER CUMBERLAND RIVER BASIN

                                                               By Charles Mayer Dupier, Jr.

 

Introduction

     Prehistoric Native Americans were mobile peoples. They traveled widely for the purposes of warfare and trade. Originally, their thoroughfares were the trails made by herds of such migratory megafauna as wooly mammoth, mastodon, and bison.(1) Since these animals were seasonal migrators, their trails were almost necessarily north-south routes. One of the best known of these trails is the Athiamiowee, or "path of the armed ones," which is better known as the "Warriors' Path."(2)

     Beginning in about the fourteenth century, an increase in warfare and the beginnings of new, larger tribal groupings (which resulted in greater social and political complexity) became more and more a part of life for Native Americans in eastern North America, especially among the Iroquois of central New York.(3) The trails may have begun to offer greater dangers than simply the threat of wild animals.

     Trading in exotic goods and materials has existed since the Late Archaic period (2,000-1,000 years B.C.E.) in eastern North America.(4) By the beginning of the Mississippian Period (800 C.E.), other goods, such as ceremonial and prestige items, were common in trade inventories. As the complex chiefdom form of social organization moved toward its climax in the Late Mississippian Period, trade in prestige goods grew in importance to the point of necessity .(5) With this growth the trails over which these commodities were carried became busier and more interconnected.

     During the eighteenth century explorers from the Atlantic colonies pressed beyond the Allegheny and Appalachian mountains into the new west. Men such as Dr. Thomas Walker and Christopher Gist, upon entering Kentucky in 1750, used these trails to their advantage and often noted in their journals that they were traveling "Indian roads."(6) Later, in 1775, Daniel Boone, on behalf of Colonel Richard Henderson, was employed to "...cut a path to Kentucky. "(7) This road, called the "Wilderness Road," often followed Native American trails. From the Cumberland Gap to Flat Lick, Kentucky, Boone's Trace followed a well-defined Indian road. From that point Boone followed what is believed to be, for the most part, a prehistoric trail which led northwest from Flat Lick, in Knox County, to the Bluegrass region. Boone departed from this trail in Rockcastle County and blazed a new trail northward toward the settlement of Boonesboro, in Madison County.(



Delimitation of the Upper Cumberland Basin

     This paper will explore the prehistoric trail network in one comparatively small area--the valley of the upper Cumberland river in Southeastern Kentucky. The upper Cumberland is that portion of the river which extends from the Cumberland Falls, on the present boundary of Whitley and McCreary counties, eastward to the river's source in southwestern Letcher County, located only a few miles east of the Harlan County line. The upper Cumberland watershed is almost completely contained in the counties of Harlan, Bell, Knox, Whitley and McCreary.



Description of the Physical Environment

     The upper Cumberland River basin is in the Cumberland Plateau section of the Cumberland/Allegheny Plateau Province.(9) The Cumberland River drains portions of two subregions of the Province: The Cumberland Mountains subregion and the Mountain and Creek Bottom subregion.(10) This area is a maturely dissected plateau, the rocks of which are sandstones and shales of the Pennsylvanian Period. The topography is dominated by low mountains. The creek and river valleys are classified as in the mature stage of erosional development.(11)



Relationship To Other Watersheds

     The upper Cumberland River basin lies in the midst of other important river basins which were occupied by prehistoric Native Americans. To the south are the rivers which compose the upper Tennessee River basin: The Holston, Clinch, Powell, French Broad, and Tennessee Rivers. On the north is the watershed of the Kentucky River's three main tributaries: The North Fork, the Middle Fork and the South Fork. The Kentucky River drains the Bluegrass region of central Kentucky and empties into the Ohio River at Carrollton. To the West is the middle section of the Cumberland, which extends from Cumberland Falls to Nashville, Tennessee. East of the upper Cumberland basin is the watershed of the Big Sandy River, which drains far eastern Kentucky and empties into the Ohio River at Ashland.



Known Prehistoric Sites in the Upper Cumberland Basin

     The occurrence of archaeological sites in the upper Cumberland basin are too numerous to detail. The Kentucky Archaeological Survey files show that there are more than 300 sites representing all archaeological periods in Whitley County alone. For the purpose of this paper, only the most prominent of the Mississippian Period sites will be noted, since the development of the trail system was completed during this time.

     As the result of an intensive search of the files of the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, Richard W. Jefferies notes five Mississippian rockshelter sites in Whitley County, two in Bell County and one in Harlan County. Jefferies places four habitation sites without mounds in Whitley, fourteen in Knox, three in Bell and two in Harlan. He notes six mortuary sites in Knox and one in Bell. He places two mound sites in Whitley, two in Knox, one in Bell, and one in Harlan. He also notes three "other," unspecified sites: one in Whitley and two in Harlan.(12) Constantine S. Rafinesque, a professor of natural history at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, toured the state in 1823 describing what he called ancient sites and monuments.(13) Rafinesque wrote of many prehistoric sites in the counties of the upper Cumberland basin. In Harlan County, along the Cumberland River near its source (probably indicating the area where the Poor Fork and Clover Fork rivers join to form the Cumberland), were two sites with a total of five monuments (probably indicating mounds).(14) In his History of Kentucky,(15) Lewis Collins elaborates on Rafinesque's notation. Collins states that the town of Mount Pleasant (present day Harlan) was built on a "...high mound or Indian graveyard..." from which "...have been taken a large quantity of human bones, pots curiously made of blue earth and muscle shell, and dried in the sun."(16) This is probably the site of a Mississippian platform mound, which is evidenced by the occurrence of shell-tempered pottery. Sources in Harlan have informed this writer that the county courthouse now sets atop the site of the mound, which had been excavated for the courthouse basement.

     Rafinesque records that there are three sites and seven monuments in Knox County.(17) It is possible that one of these sites and monuments is the one located in Pineville, but neither Rafinesque nor Collins mentions that there was a town with a mound at the site of Pineville.(18) The files of the Kentucky Archaeological Survey contain information, however, that testifies to there being one (Site 15B15). The location of this mound is in the built-up area of the city, and there is currently no evidence of it. Thomas Walker does not mention this site either, though he did describe the mound and houses on the Croley-Evans site (discussed below).(19)

     Collins records that "Three miles from Barboursville [sic] on the north bank of the Cumberland, there are the remains of an ancient fortress, around which a circular ditch is discernible, enclosing about four acres of ground."(20) The location of this Knox County site is not presently known.

     Downstream about fourteen miles from Barbourville, on the west bank of the Cumberland River, is a small mound that appears to be from one to three meters in height (15Kx26). As far as is known to this writer, the site has never been excavated either by professional or amateur archaeologists--the Cobb family, who own the farm on which the site is located, fiercely defends it against intrusion.

     South of the Cobb site about three miles, on the west bank of the river, is the Croley-Evans site (15Kx24) mentioned above. This site was excavated during the summers of 1993 and 1994 by Richard W. Jefferies. This is a Mississippian town with a platform mound. The habitation area covers about five hectares.(21)

     While visiting Whitley County, Rafinesque has written that there was "A town on the Cumberland, above Williamsburg, with 20 houses, and a teocalli [a truncated pyramidal mound] 360 feet long, 150 wide, 12 high. --Remains of towns with houses on the waters of Laurel river and Watts creek." The site at Williamsburg (15Wh64) is located about one-half mile upstream from the center of town on the C. B. Upton property. The mound has been extensively cultivated during the past 170 years and is now only about one and one-half meters high. This writer has taken several soil probes to a depth of ninety centimeters and found no evidence of stratification or habitation. Mrs. C. B. Upton has said that her children used to pick up large amounts of chert pieces and projectile points between the mound and the river when the land was plowed.

     There is a large, two-stage platform mound with a habitation area of about four hectares in southern Whitley County a few hundred meters from the Tennessee line on the Bowman property. Jim Railey, of the Kentucky Heritage Council, surveyed this site (15Wh61) in 1985 and recorded his findings with the Office of State Archaeology. The shell tempered ceramics and triangular projectile points on the surface indicate that it is a Mississippian site.



Prehistoric Trails

     Two main prehistoric trails passed through the upper Cumberland basin area. Both ran north and south. The Warriors' Path, the best known, passed approximately through the middle of the area. The other, called by William E. Myer, the Tennessee, Ohio and Great Lakes Trail,(22) passed just to the west of the upper Cumberland basin. It was from these two principal routes that east-west branch trails connected the towns of the upper Cumberland.



The Warriors' Path

     The Warriors' Path in Kentucky extended north from the Cumberland Gap through the eastern edge of the Middlesboro Basin, down Yellow Creek to the point where that creek turns east. It then follows an overland route to the Pine Mountain water gap at Pineville. At Pineville, the path crossed the Cumberland River and followed along the east bank to Flat Lick, about six miles north of Pineville.(23) At Flat Lick, which is at the confluence of Stinking Creek and the Cumberland River, the trail turns northeast, up Stinking Creek, then follows a tributary called Trace Branch northward to its head, then crosses Kentucky Ridge at Paint Gap into the headwaters of Goose Creek which is in the watershed of the South Fork of the Kentucky River.(24) Thomas Walker, on May 1, 1750, approached the future site of Barbourville from the west and went northeastward up Little Richland Creek, across the ridge and down the Collins Fork of Goose Creek.(25) Walker notes in his journal on that day, "We got to Powell's River [Goose Creek] in the afternoon and went down it along an Indian Road, much frequented.. .and I think it is that Which goes through Cave Gap [Cumberland Gap]. "(26)



 























The Tennessee. Ohio and Great Lakes Trail

     The Tennessee, Ohio and Great Lakes Trail began at the site of Chattanooga, Tennessee, went up the west side of the Tennessee River, past Hiawassee Island and followed the east flank of Wallen's Ridge to Rockwood, Tennessee. From there, it passed through the present site of Wartburg, Tennessee, on the Cumberland Plateau, northward through Oneida, Tennessee, and into Kentucky. In Kentucky, it followed the level land of the undissected plateau through the present locations of Pine Knot and Whitley City, in McCreary County, on to Burnside on the Cumberland River well below the Cumberland Falls.(27)



The Thunderstruck Shoals Trail

     This trail is mentioned, but not named, by Myer as being a connector between the prehistoric settlements near Williamsburg, Kentucky, and the settlements to the west on the middle section of the Cumberland River in Wayne County, Kentucky. It crossed the Tennessee, Ohio and Great Lakes Trail in McCreary County at the community of Wiborg, about six miles north of Whitley City.(28) This writer has named it the "Thunderstruck Shoals Trail" because it crosses the Cumberland River at Thunderstruck Shoals.(29) On April 24, 1750, Thomas Walker and two companions were exploring the area west of their campsite on the Cumberland River south of Barbourville. Walker records in his journal, "This day we Came on the fresh Track of 7 or 8 Indians, but could not overtake them."(30) This writer has traced Walker's steps on April 23-25, 1750, using the journal, maps and on-site reconnaissance, both forward and in reverse (which is often the only way his exact location can be detennined). Walker's position here is about six or eight miles east of Young's Creek (Walker called it Rocky Creek), which he turned down to reach the Cumberland River.(31)

     The Thunderstruck Shoals trail is probably the one shown on the 1894 topographic map of the area as being the only uninterrupted road leading from the area north of Whitley City, across the Cumberland River, to State Highway 26 northeast of Williamsburg,(32) where it intercepted a north-south trail (discussed below). It leads east from Wiborg along Beulah Heights Ridge (The old locals called it Bullet Mold Ridge, but that name has passed from usage) to Indian Creek. It generally follows Indian Creek to the Cumberland River at Thunderstruck Shoals about a mile above the mouth of the Creek. One and one-half miles from the mouth the trail turns north about a mile, to avoid extremely rugged terrain, before descending to the river. Once across the shoals the trail leads eastward along a crooked ridge to "The Steps," an erosional feature involving a number of strata of sandstone which are arranged like stair steps descending to a lower elevation. From "The Steps," the trail makes a "U-shaped" swing to the south to avoid the breaks of Calf Pen Fork Creek, then resumes its eastward direction crossing Young's Creek and Blake's Fork Creek and on to State Road 26.



The Capuchin Trail

     Myer writes, "There is a prominent trail crossing the railroad at Silerville [Kentucky]. It connected the Jellico Creek and Elk Creek Indian towns with the Wayne County [Kentucky] towns.(33) Elk Creek is a tributary which enters the Clear Fork River near Jellico, Tennessee-Kentucky. The name "Capuchin" is selected for this trail because it follows this creek for a longer distance than any other. It is proposed that this is the true path of the Capuchin Trail because it follows the path of least topographic resistance, is the shortest distance between Silerville, Kentucky, and Elk Creek, in Tennessee, and is shown as an uninterrupted route on the 1894 U.S.G.S. Reconnaissance Map cited above.

     The trail follows Kentucky State Road 1470 east and south to Murphy Creek, and down that creek to Marsh Creek where it leaves the state road. The trail continues south, up Marsh Creek for about one and one-half miles until the road crosses Marsh Creek. Then it goes upward on an unnamed ridge and follows the ridge southeastward. It crosses into Tennessee, then downward into the headwaters of Childers Creek. The trail continues southeastward down the creek to the Gum Fork of Jellico Creek and follows that creek eastward, past the community of Ketchen, where Gum Fork joins Jellico Creek, then it follows down Jellico Creek about two miles to a point opposite Thomas Hollow. The trail then turns south through Angel Gap and down to Capuchin Creek. It follows Capuchin Creek, generally eastward, to where Capuchin turns north, then crosses the creek and goes up Trammel Branch, southeastward, to the top of Jellico Mountain. Then the trail descends to the headwaters of Burnt Pone Creek, eastward down that creek to the community of Newcomb on Elk Creek. It then crosses Elk Creek, turns northeastward and follows the east side of Elk Creek for approximately four miles, crossing the Kentucky line, to the Bowman site in southern Whitley County.



The Clear Fork Trail

     The Clear Fork Trail is a continuation of that part of the Capuchin Trail which descends Elk Creek. It runs from the Bowman site (about a quarter of a mile north of the Tennessee line) to the present site of Williamsburg, Kentucky. Thomas Walker and Captain Daniel Smith traveled this route on November 22-25, 1779.(34) On Saturday, November 20, 1779, they arrived at the point they believed to be 36 degrees, 30 minutes North Latitude along the Clear Fork River (They were actually at 36 degrees, 35 minutes, 30 seconds North). On Sunday, November 21, Smith made the following entry in his journal: "This morning a party of Cherokee Indians and a White Man of the name of Springstone came to us..."(35) Upon leaving their camp and heading northward, they stopped by the Indian camp (It is possible that Springstone and the Cherokees were camped at the Bowman site, which is about one-fourth mile north from Smith's camp) and recruited three of the Cherokees to guide them to the Wilderness Road. The Indians led them down the east side of the Clear Fork, keeping to the edge of the flood plain. They crossed the river at the present site of the community of Pleasant View. From there they kept down the west side of the river until they came to the Cumberland River, about one-half mile below the confluence of the Clear Fork and the Cumberland. On November 25, they "travelled across from the river to Indian Cr. [Watts Creek]. "(36) This last short leg of the trail, from the Cumberland to Watts Creek, about three miles, follows the river downstream for about one-half mile, then it forks. The left fork continues to follow the river to a shoal that is easily forded. Upon crossing the shoal, one would be at the Upton site in Williamsburg (This was the path of the earliest road into Williamsburg when it became the seat of Whitley County in 1818). The right fork led up what is now known as King's Mountain to an erosional terrace about 100 feet above the river (the Highland Park district of Williamsburg), along that level terrace northward for about two and one-half miles, and down a small branch to Watts Creek, about one-fourth mile above its confluence with the Cumberland River.(37) The route of this trail is also depicted on the Reconnaissance Map of 1894.(38)



The Watts Creek Trail

     The Watts Creek Trail is a continuation of the Clear Fork Trail. The Smith party followed this trail to the present site of the community of Woodbine in northern Whitley County.(39)

     The trail follows Watts Creek northward for about six miles, where it intersects with the Thunderstruck Shoals Trail at the present site of the community of Rockholds. From that intersection, it continues northward about four miles to the community of Faber. From here, the trail follows northeastward up Eaton Branch of Watts Creek, about four miles, to the east side of Woodbine where it crosses Lynn Camp Creek. The Watts Creek Trail continued northward and intersected the Wilderness Road in the Laurel River valley. This must have been the true path because the descriptions and distances logged in Smith's journal are easy to follow on current U.S.G.S. topographic maps (Wofford, Rockholds, Vox and Corbin quadrangles) and the fact that three Native Americans were guiding them supports the existence of the trail.



The Meadow Creek Trail

     This trail leads from the Watts Creek Trail to the mouth of Meadow Creek in eastern Whitley County. Thomas Walker followed this trail during his exploration of Kentucky in 1750.(40) There are two possible routes for this trail. One route would make it an eastward extension of the Thunderstruck Shoals Trail. The other, about four miles to the south, would take it up Brown's Creek. The former route would follow up Tye's Fork Creek from Rockholds, across a low divide and down a small branch to Meadow Creek (a distance of about five miles). The trail would then have followed the east side of Meadow Creek to its confluence with the Cumberland River.(41)

     The other possible route would have been up Brown's Creek, down Whetstone Creek to a point about a mile from the confluence of that stream with the Cumberland River, then it turned overland to Meadow Creek, and down that stream to its mouth.

     Walker's description of the route he followed leaves much to be desired: "We crossed Indian Creek [Watts Creek] and Went down Meadow Creek to the River. "(42) The brief narrative does not mention going up Watts Creek to the intersection of the trails and then heading eastward to Meadow Creek. But it would be logical to assume that as he came down the Watts Creek Trail several days before and headed westward on the Thunderstruck Shoals Trail he would have noted that the east-west trail continued eastward, the direction he would later want to go to return to his camp on the Cumberland River. Or, it could have been his opinion that the Brown's Creek route would be a short-cut to his destination.

     It should be noted that both these routes appear on the Reconnaissance maps cited above. They are, in fact, the only two roads which lead from Watts Creek to Meadow Creek. The Tye's Fork route would be a logical extension of the Thunderstruck Trail, and the shortest distance between the McCreary County settlements and the Croley-Evans site. The Brown's Creek route would have been the shortest distance between the Upton site at Williamsburg and the Croley-Evans site.

     It is not known if the trail leading from the Meadow Creek Trail to the Croley-Evans site followed the river upstream or cut across the low divide to the east of the Meadow Creek Trail. Reason would suggest that a site as significant as Croley-Evans, containing a platform mound and a rather large village, would not be isolated from communication routes or lie on a dead-end trail. When Thomas Walker reached the mouth of Meadow Creek on April 27, 1750, he probably followed a trail northward along the river to his campsite. He notes in his journal, "Below the mouth of the Creek, and above the mouth are the remains of Several Indian Cabbins [sic] 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. "(43) This is a description of the Croley-Evans site. Whether Walker was following an existing trail or blazing his way through the wilderness is not known; but to have seen the site so clearly he had to have passed very nearby, perhaps on a trail that led through it to points upriver, ultimately Barbourville.



The Black Mountain Trail

     The fact that there was such a large mound and village at the present site of Harlan, Kentucky, suggests that the place was connected to other settlements in the region. There is a dearth of information concerning prehistoric trails in the area of Harlan County, however, it is only logical that such trails existed.

     There is only one feasible route which would connect the Harlan site with the Warriors' Path and the townsite at Pineville. That route had to follow the Cumberland River. The topography outside the river valley is so difficult to traverse that no other logical conclusion can be drawn.

     As was stated earlier, it is difficult to believe that a town was located on a dead-end trail--especially one that is thirty-five miles long (the distance from Pineville to Harlan). In order to determine the route that this trail might have followed, it is necessary to find a gap across Cumberland Mountain to the south and the basin of the Powell River. The only gap in Cumberland Mountain south of central Harlan County is Cranks Gap. The trail to Cranks Gap, which would have followed a line of least resistance would be the present route of U.S. Highway 421. This road leads southeast from Harlan, through Cawood, to a point about one and one-half miles west of Mill Creek Church (on the creek of the same name). Here an old trail, which can still be seen on the topographic map for Evarts, Kentucky,(44) leads south about two miles, through Cranks Gap (into Virginia) to Trading Creek, a tributary, to the Powell River. There are other ways out of central Harlan County, but none are so short and direct with so few obstacles.

     Richard Jefferies' map(45) indicates that there was a Mississippian habitation site, without a mound, located near the present site of the city of Cumberland, about fifteen miles east of Harlan, and near the headwaters of the Cumberland River. There may have been a trail which led from Harlan to this site, and perhaps beyond. That trail would have, out of topographic necessity, followed up the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River. If such a trail existed it would have had to exit the area in a southerly direction by going over Little Black Mountain (the highest point in Kentucky) and through Stone Gap into the basin of the Powell River. A state highway currently follows this route, but it is not known if that highway follows an ancient trail.



Conclusions

     The existence of prehistoric Native American trails in the upper Cumberland River basin can be documented historically through such sources as the journals of early explorers who entered the area west of the Allegheny/Appalachian Mountains in the eighteenth century. Men like Thomas Walker and Christopher Gist noted in their journals that they followed "Indian trails" through much of the wilderness. The most noted of these trails in the upper Cumberland area were the "Warriors' Path" and the "Tennessee, Ohio and Great Lakes Trail." Lesser known, but of regional extent, was the trail which this writer has described in three parts: The trail leading down Elk Creek, in Tennessee, which continued northward as the Clear Fork Trail, and still further northward as the Watts Creek Trail. These were north/south thoroughfares which connected the Native Americans of the Great Lakes region with those of the southeast.

     In the upper Cumberland basin there were east/west trails which were feeders to these main north/south routes. There were at least two trails which crossed the Tennessee, Ohio and Great Lakes Trail and connected to the Clear Fork/Watts Creek Trail. These were the Thunderstruck Shoals Trail and the Capuchin Trail. Another east/west route, the Meadow Creek Trail, was a continuation of the Thunderstruck Shoals Trail and led from the present site of Rockholds, Kentucky, to the Croley-Evans site on the Cumberland River south of Barbourville. Another possible prehistoric route led from the present site of Williamsburg, Kentucky, up Brown's Creek to Meadow Creek and the Croley-Evans site.

     It is unclear where the trail led from the Croley-Evans site to connect with the Warriors' Path. It may have followed the west bank of the Cumberland to Barbourville, or it may have crossed the river and followed it on the east. Another trail led from the Warriors' Path to the site at Harlan, Kentucky, and beyond, to the settlements in the Powell Valley of Virginia. This writer has suggested that the location of such a trail would follow the Cumberland River from Pineville to Harlan, southeastward to Cranks Gap and into the Powell basin. An alternate route could have connected the settlement at Harlan with the settlement at Cumberland, and thence southward through Stone Gap into the Powell basin.

     If the description of these trails is accurate, future searches for regionally significant Native American settlement sites may be enhanced by their use as guides to the movement of prehistoric peoples in the upper Cumberland basin. If heretofore unknown sites are confirmed along these routes, other connecting trails may be discovered, thus expanding our knowledge of prehistoric communications routes and the patterns of Native American settlements.

here is another good site....... http://www.uky.edu/AS/Geography/Research/Bookshelf/Titles/frontertrails/index.php

This famous Shawnee man was known as Tecumseh's brother.  His name was Tenskwatawa. 

http://hotcakencyclopedia.com/People/image.ShawneeProphet.kin.jpeg

This man was famous, but even the average Shawnee warrior wore a good deal of sliver.  Most of y'all are probably already aware of that.

Trade for the American Indians was not just a financial venture, but also an expression of our connection to the earth and the spirit that arises between people with the giving and recieving of gifts.  It is easy to understand why the Shawnee would have guarded their resources, which represented their spiritual connection to the land, and can't be measured in monetary equivalents.

Great point you bring up frogling........ 

also Indians returned looking for the skull of a princess....which they would be referring the skull of an Indian princess to the Shawnee cavern....

I remember a Tnet member saying there was no Indian princesses, actually there were many...

Hi all,

I hope it wasn't me you meant Ki, I posted once that  the Shawnee didn't have princesses, so Cornstalk's daughter or grandaughter wasn't a princess. In fact its widely disputed she even existed. I am sorry if by this it was inferred there were none (Indian princesses)....i think Pocahontas was one (Palatine?). The Shawnee women elected the shaman, but form all my reading they did not have a princess. We can say they(Shawnee) had them figuratively.

Curtis,
       Sorry for the misunderstanding, i wasn't meaning you. How i can best understand the old Indian tails, and them describing to the early settlers of this area in what they returned here looking for. They would tell these settlers of a place where they can find or dig up a skull of a Indian princess, meaning a place of burial. After study my research i believe the Indians was referring to the Great Shawnee cavern.
Skull of Indian Princess = Shawnee Cavern
Now comes the question of who was placed in the cavern, Village Chiefs, War Chief's, sons, and daughters. I believe only the high ranking peoples of the Shawnee tribe where placed in the Shawnee Cavern.
Alot of researchers as well as myself bump up against the fact that not only was this cavern a store house for Swifts silver but was also a location of one of Swifts mines.
What i was meaning by the above post was that any chief can have many sons or daughters, although they might not have been called price or princess, they would of had the same high social rank in the villages. and these people being placed in the cavern could of been there right of passage after death.
 

I think the discussion of the Indian princess was in a post by L37 "Swifts upper mines found". 

You know Ki, alot of the roads where I live used to be trails at one time. some of them have been changed over time, but you can still see how the original road went. One in particular, comes out of the Breaks of the Sandy, turns left Towards a place called Ashcamp, supposedly named from the place where Swift dumped his ashes. It continues Southwest along a great ridge(Pine Mt.) all the way to Cumberland gap. That's on the North side of the mountain. Now back to Ashcamp. It leaves the creek bottom which is a small valley and goes north. Thats as far as I have been. I guess I need to check this area out some more, and don't know why I haven't. Anyway, my point is on some of your maps of the trails, it doesn't show this old trail. This one I imagine is a hunting trail, as it has many branches, and usually there has been rock shelters found along the way. The only reason I don't have pictures of this is people are reluctant to give permission. They simply don't want people poking around on their property. Even just to take pictures. Anyway, it was just something I noticed....

swiftfan

There was a lot of Shawnee activity in the area where the Scioto River enters the Ohio river now called Portsmouth Ohio and South Shore KY. The had a large settlent there for a long time...and it wasn't too far from where the Buffaloe crossed at Limestone now Maysville which was the big Indian trace. If we kind of triangulate those two areas with the old Shawnee town of Eskippakithiki (now Indian Old Fields) we may find the Great cave somewhat central to those areas. I don't mean right in the center of them, but some sort of general area they would travel to from the important settlements.

Now would be a good time for someone who worked on some of "the Eyes in Skies" to come froward on how to check terrain for mapping caves from orbit. Some of us could go together and purchase the services? I am sure they have allkinds of remote imaging that could reveal caves of any size! Anyone know of anyone that works with these guys?

Curtis, Swiftfan, everyone.....
You are very correct, one of the oldest Indian settlements called "lower Shawnee town" other than the village at Indian old fields "Eskippakithiki" was located at the mouth of the Scioto, it was located on both sides of the Ohio R. These old roads that criss cross the state can tell many story's about some routes the Indians would have used, although some roads don't follow the trails completely, they can still mark the routes almost accurately...These Indian trails is what i have been working on lately, and i agree with Curtis the key to finding the area in which the Shawnee cave is located would be using the trails the Indians did, this would at least put you in the area, from the main trail there would be a secret trail the Indian would of had marked with signs and symbols leading to these important places. Researching i have made a crude sort of map indicating a few main Indian trails, Curtis one branch goes right through your area......

This is a picture of the former site of "Eskippakithiki" its all farm land now...  

Great Warrior's Path

shawnees/cherokees - through Kentucky/Ohio

Flat Lick -US25E c7 miles NW of Pineville --Path goes north
Manchester -KY11 -Goose Creek -below Mudlick Station/Flat Creek
Proctor -KY11 (near Beattyville) on South Fork, Kentucky River
West Liberty -US460/KY7 -Morgan Co --Licking River headwaters
Grayson -KY7 -Carter Co -Little Sandy River
Greenup -KY1/2 -Little Sandy River/Ohio River -above Portsmouth
path seems to go north up the Scioto River/Little Scioto
to Sandusky River north of Columbus --to Lake Erie

One branch coming in from Virgina
Big Stone Gap VA -US23
Hazard KY -Kentucky River -Perry Co -KY15
Proctor -KY52

One branch north
Proctor -KY11 north -Lee Co
Mt Sterling -KY11 -Montgomery Co
Sherburne -KY11 -Fleming Co -Licking River//Upper Blue Lick
Maysville -KY11 -Ohio River//Limestone Landing
path continues to Chillicothe OH -Scioto River -north
seems to follow Zane Trace -OH

heres a link for more trails
http://www.cob-net.org/docs/brethrenlife_migrations.htm#greatpath

Really great work. I can tell you have really spent some time on this. And also, if nit what you have put together, I'd say these trails would be lost to history before too long. You just don't see many people these days interested in this. Or at least I don't...great job, keep it up

Thanks Swiftfan,
                      The Indians that was around this area has always seemed to fascinate my imagination since i was young, also i have a bit of Shawnee heritage in the family tree down the line. I think that might fuel that passion of mine..lol Tell ya what I'll see what info i can dig up that's around your area, you know trails and what not. I've been to pikeville some, my brother attended college there couple years back, beautiful country out your way.

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Indian Old Fields, Home Of The Shawnee
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By Patsy Woodring - 2001

Indian Old Fields is the site of an Indian village and trading post in Clark County, Kentucky, called Eskippakithiki. The name is Shawnee for "Place of Blue Licks," referring to the salt deposits on Lulbegrud Creek. Mrs. Lucille Goff Clark, great-great-granddaughter of Thomas Goff, early settler in Clark County, says the settlement existed in the days between 1670 and 1754. The "thiki" part in the name meant "place," thus "blue-like place." The word "Shawnee" in the Indian language meant "Southerner."

Another writer, Bessie Taul Conkwright, explained that in 1724 a band of Shawnee Indians, who lived on the Savannah and Suanee [Suwannee?] rivers, had a quarrel with their neighbors and emigrated to Kentucky, settling near Howard's Creek.

Mrs. Goff Clark wrote that the Shawnees were a branch of the Algonquin Indians of Wisconsin. This group had broken away from its tribe and settled permanently at Eskippakithiki. Within memory of the Indians themselves, not one tribe (except the fighting Shawnees) had dared to settle permanently in Kentucky, since these hunting grounds were considered to be the property of all tribes. However, according to archeological research, there have been many Indian settlements within the borders of Kentucky.

John Goff reported that Indian Old Fields and Big Bone Lick were the only two Indian settlements in Kentucky. In 1922 Bessie Taul Conkwright stated that, in 1750, Indians dwelt in three places in the state. The Chickasaws were in the extreme west, on cliffs of the Mississippi River. A flood destroyed the Shawnee town of Shannoah on the Ohio side of the river at the mouth of the Scioto. It was rebuilt on the Kentucky side, across from the mouth of the Scioto. The other settlement was at Eskippakithiki.

Present-day writer and editor, Bob Smith, has found the remains of many Indian settlements in the Eastern Kentucky mountains. There is evidence of long-term living conditions. He feels strongly that it is clear that Kentucky was home to many Indian peoples, not just a hunting ground, although hunting was excellent in Kentucky for deer, bear, buffalo, elk, and smaller game.

Records kept by the French Jesuit priests indicate that some of the French were driven out of Illinois by "The Five Nations." The Jesuit Relations of 1670 states that some of the French were driven out of Illinois and fled southeast, taking refuge with the Shawnee Indians at Eskippakithiki. The French-Canadian Census of 1736 stated that the Shawnee village of Eskippakithiki numbered between 800 - 1,000 people. This would be about 200 heads of families.

The French claimed what is now Kentucky, at this time, because Central Kentucky rivers drained into the Ohio River. The French said La Salle discovered the Ohio River, so all of its watershed belonged to them.

The English declared that La Salle never touched the Ohio River, only the Wabash in Indiana, and thought it was the Ohio draining into the Mississippi River. But the Shawnees felt that they were under the jurisdiction of the French. They welcomed both French and English traders, however, trading furs for guns, gunpowder, and trinkets.

The Shawnees welcomed traders, but were inhospitable to white settlers. Two early traders, Mr. Hart and Peter Cartier, came in 1747. The Indians had burned out the trees on the open plain at Eskippakithiki so grass could grow to attract game. They grew corn, tobacco, potatoes, beans, pumpkins, and sunflowers.

The Warriors' Trace was an old Indian trail that ran from the north, crossed the Ohio River at the mouth of the Scioto, and proceeded along the Licking River through what is now Fleming County, Kentucky. The trail ran through Eskippakithiki, with one branch leading down through the Cumberland Gap. The French took this trail to trade in the Carolinas and Georgia.

John Goff, in an old newspaper account, states that the buffalo trail, known as the "Warriors Path," ran from Blue Licks to Indian Old Fields. There it divided, one branch going toward the valley lands of Red River, the other to the Kentucky River and Cumberland Gap.

In 1907 this old path was still plainly discernible in places and could be followed with great accuracy its entire distance. This was the first road in Kentucky.

Eskippakithiki covered approximately 3,500 acres of level, prairie-like land between Lulbegrud and Howard's creeks. All that remains today (at the time the newspaper article was written) is a huge Indian mound. Not far from its base stood a log stockade built in a circle. This was the main trading place.

Wigwams and cabins were scattered from the trading center to two miles north, where the village of Kiddville stands today. The cabins had rounded roofs and reached from Howard's Creek to Lulbegrud Creek. They didn't build too close to the springs, where game came to drink. The animals liked the salty, sulphur water.

John Goff states that the fort at Indian Old Fields was surrounded by a high fence or palisade. In the center was a huge locust post, scarred by fire, where death penalty victims were executed. Goff said that the post was still standing when his father was a boy.

John's great-grandfather was Thomas Goff. His grandfather, Elisha, settled on the meadow land at Eskippakithiki.

In 1907 there was a burial mound of Shawnees at Indian Old Fields, located at the falls of Combs Creek, on what was known as the Donnahue place, owned by A. H. Anderson. Indians were buried by laying them on the ground and covering their bodies with stones and dirt. Upright stones were placed around the body. This gradually became a great heap or mound. Two Indian graves were also located on top of the hill, which stood near the road leading from Kiddville Pike to Hollywood Springs.

Bessie Conkwright wrote in 1922 that on a high bluff overlooking Howard's Creek, near Ironworks Pike, you could see the remains of the old fort in the Goff Mound and circle. The circle is the remains of the old palisades surrounding the town. This enclosed an oblong space measuring 200 yards by 180 yards. Charred, sharp palisades were dug up repeatedly showing that Eskippakithiki was burned down.

Conkwright says the mound is within the circle on the western edge, overlooking the creek. She presumes it was at the entrance to the fort. Years ago (this was written in 1922) the mound was opened by Lucian Beckner. He found a succession of hearths, layers of charcoal, ashes, and bones, one after another. In the center was the charred end of a post. Conkwright says the mound may have accumulated around the stake where victims were burned.

John Finley was another trader who came to Kentucky. In 1752 he set out with four white servants from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His trade goods were packed in canoes. They paddled down the Ohio River to the falls, where Louisville is located today, to trade with the Indians, but no Indians showed up to trade.

Near what is now Boone County, as they returned, they met some Shawnees coming from Illinois, who invited Finley to trade at Eskippakithiki. They said there was a branch of the Ohio River called the "Kaintuckee," which would lead to their village.

The Iroquois Indian traders called this level land, where Eskippakithiki stood, "Ken-ta-ki;" "kenta" meaning "level" and "tuckee" meaning "meadowland." The Iroquois called the Kentucky River by the same name, because it led to this "Kentucky" place, or level plain, where they traded with the Shawnees.

White settlers made their settlements, although they weren't exactly welcome, nearly all along the Kentucky River; except Harrodsburg, which was only five miles from the river. The settlements were spoken of as the Kentucky settlements. Later the state was called Kentucky.

Finley and his men followed the Shawnees up the Kentucky River to Howard's Creek. They carried their goods in from there. He carelessly tossed aside some of the dried English hay in which his goods were packed. Today we call this dried hay "blue grass." Early settlers in Pennsylvania had brought the seed over from England. This was probably the first bluegrass to grow in Kentucky.

Finley built a stockade for his furs and stayed at Eskippakithiki until January 1753. He was building up a good trade when a band of Ottawa Indians descended on a scalping expedition. Three of Finley's servants were taken captive, his furs stolen, and all goods were taken. He and one servant, John Faulkner, were away that day and escaped.

They then headed back to Pennsylvania. When a record was made of the incident, it was stated that Finley had been in "Kentucky," the first time this territory was spoken of as such.

Finley enlisted on the English side in the French and Indian War of 1755. Here he met a young wagoner from the Carolinas named Daniel Boone. Finley's stories intrigued Boone, and Finley promised to take him to Eskippakithiki. It was no longer safe to go by way of the Ohio River, at that time, so in May 1769 Finley led Boone and some other men through Pound Gap (not Cumberland Gap) into "Kentucky." Finley became ill, so Boone built him a shelter and laid food beside him, then pushed on through Powell's Valley, until he found the Red River Trail.

From there, on June 7, 1769, Daniel Boone looked down at the stretch of level bluegrass fields beyond and felt sure he had found Eskippakithiki. He hurried back to tell Finley, who was so cheered that he went with Boone. They and the other hunters all went to Eskippakithiki together. However, they divided up into groups of two, so as not to attract the attention of the Indians or scare the game. Upon arrival, they found the village had been burned to the ground.

While camped along Lulbegrud Creek, one of the men read to the others from a book he had brought along called Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver escaped from his enemies at Lulbegrud Creek. So far, they had escaped from the Indians and thought it a good name for the creek, where they were camped. They camped there all winter, until the Indians drove them back to their settlements.

Boone helped settle Boonesborough in 1775. Later, when he was living at Limestone (Maysville), he went hunting in what is now West Virginia. There he met Thomas Goff from Hardy County, Virginia. Goff asked Boone to help him locate his land grant from the Revolutionary War.

They stayed at Boonesborough for a while. One day Boone invited Goff to hunt in that paradise for hunters, the former region of Eskippakithiki. When they got to a spring, on what later became Goff land, Goff raised his rifle to aim at a deer that had just come to the spring. Goff was surprised to hear the crack of a rifle from another direction and saw the deer fall.

An Indian rushed from behind some bushes and proceeded down to the spring to bleed his trophy. Fortunately the Indian had not noticed Goff, who felt this was not an opportune time for a hunt. Before you could say Eskippakithiki, Goff and Boone hastily made their way back to Boonesborough.

They returned another time, bringing several other men and Goff's cook (a Negro slave) along. A band of Indians descended upon them. Fortunately they were all on horses. The Indians had never seen a Negro before and were so bewildered they let Goff and Boone escape unnoticed back to Boonesborough.

The Indians pursued the Negro, but he escaped, although lost in the woods for a long time. He eventually made his way back to Virginia, sent word to Goff where he was, and stated that he did not want to live in Kentucky again. Goff gave him his freedom.

Goff wanted to settle in Eskippakithiki. The level land and nearby Pilot Knob charmed him. It was not safe, at this time, because Shawnees were always lurking around, so he bought land and settled on what is now Van Meter Road. Later he bought land and settled in Eskippakithiki. His son, Elisha, inherited the land afterwards.

Early white settlers called the part of the plain cultivated by the Indians "The Indian Old Corn Fields." The region's name was shortened to Indian Old Fields after 1800. The name Indian Old Fields was changed to Indian Fields when the first post office was established at what was then called Goff's Tollgate. John Goff's father suggested the change, because it was shorter.

Today you can drive down the Kiddville Road and find a sign pointing out Indian Fields. The area is divided into small farms now.

The first house built by white men at Indian Old Fields was a block house erected at Jennings Spring on the Jennings place, owned in 1907 by Colonel A. B. Hampton. The two men who built the house were afterwards captured and beheaded.

Elisha Goff and Leonard Beall joined the ranks of Captain Asa Lewis from Clark County in the War of 1812. In the Battle of Raisin River near Detroit, Beall was captured and sentenced to run the gauntlet. The old Shawnee Chief, Cathecassa (Black Hoof, predecessor of Tecumseh), let him go when he found that Beall was born in Eskippakithiki. He took Beall to his cabin and claimed him as his son. Black Hoof wanted to hear all about the place where he, himself, had been born and lived until middle age.

Beall invited him to visit his home in Kentucky. In the summer of 1816 the aged Cathecassa came walking in barefooted from an Indian reservation in Ohio. He pointed out to the white settlers many places of interest in the former village. He told the settlers that while he was fighting in the French and Indian War he had shot repeatedly at George Washington, but was never able to hit him. He decided that Washington bore a charmed life.

Black Hoof was born in the early 1700s and died in 1831. He fought at Oriskany, was present at Braddock's defeat, and fought "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Notes on his life, taken by an Indian land agent, have been preserved (I don't know where the notes are, but if anyone finds out, please let me know). Conkwright wrote that you could find out more on the Indian Old Fields from the Draper Collection at the University of Wisconsin, but I was not successful in my endeavor.

Among the many very early settlers at Indian Old Fields were Captain Benjamin Combs and his brothers, Cuthbert and Joseph; General Marquis Calmes and son, William; and Ben Berry. They were from Berkeley County, Virginia. They had started out to find the Licking Trail and got lost. After arguing over which route to take, they climbed Pilot Knob to get their bearings. When they looked down on the beautiful level country below, they decided to settle on the Indian Old Fields plain. They took pre-emptions on the land in 1775, and when the first court was held at Boonesborough, they were given deeds to their land.

The amazing Combs brothers were fearless hunters. Captain Ben Combs once took a bear cub up on his horse with him. He held on, even though the mother bear was running right after him.

In 1778 Captain Ben and son, William, were hunting when the Indians, on their way to attack Strode's Station, shot William's horse from under him. Both escaped.

When more white people began to settle in Indian Old Fields country, Captain Ben did not want to live there anymore and moved two miles below Boonesborough, where he established Combs' Ferry.

The World Book Encyclopedia has this to say about the Shawnees:

"The Shawnee Indians lived in the eastern forests of the U. S. and spoke the Algonkian language. They split into many groups with villages in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.

"In the middle of the 1700s, they fought for 40 years against the white settlers in these states and were the most hostile in the area. In 1774 the Shawnees were defeated at the Battle of Point Pleasant, thus ending Lord Dunmore's War.

"After this, many Shawnees moved west of the Mississippi. Those who stayed included Tecumseh and his brother, called the "Shawnee Prophet." The brothers tried to unite all Indians against the whites, but were defeated by William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Then the tribe disbanded."

Another place in World Book states the Shawnees were driven out of Pennsylvania by the Iroquois, after which they split up and wandered for 200 years. They finally reunited in Ohio, under Tecumseh.

Compton's Encyclopedia says the earliest known locality of the Shawnee Indians was Kentucky. Some moved to Georgia before 1681; others to Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Missouri in the 18th century.

Christopher Gist listed Eskippakithiki on his map in 1751.
 

Here's a few pictures of the place described above........

Also i must mention, the Indians marked their trails in the forest by bending trees. I think Swift even mentions a bent tree he buried crowns beside.... Just a thought

Here is a great link "Shawnee History"
http://www.tolatsga.org/shaw.html 

Thought everyone might like this....

Great Stuff!
I was to Indian Old Fields back in March, looking of course for a cache that was supposed to be there. Later I found out that it was a lot bigger area than the roadside marker seemed to indicate. So I would like to go back sometime. On the Shawnee town: (now Portsmouth) I lived in Wheelersburg area for over 30 years and found there are a lot of people in that area (Scioto County)that have huge Indian artifact collections, all private of course. One guy had a collection that would rival any museum, but that was 20 years ago and he was at least 70 back then. Just wonder what happened to his collection. The guy that took me there swore me to secrecy as the collection at that time so worth a mint.
I have a typewritten report from the early 1900s by a doctor that wrote all about and excavated most of the Indian mounds in Portsmouth this was before the science of archeology was official. He describes finding an Indian woman’s remains where she was covered by sheets of the mineral Mica. He also tells of finding out about some boys who got into a mound area site and had been selling a bunch of copper Indian artifacts for scrap! I also read somewhere that they had discovered a mass grave with hundreds of skeletons in it the people who found it were astounded by the numbers of people in it most of which were killed by decapitation.
There is a great book in the Portsmouth Library “A history of Scioto County” that has some really great stuff in it including woodcuts of the way the mounds looked before they were leveled for business/houses.
A lot of stuff happened in the Portsmouth area; even suppose to be some caches of colonial and British guns that were never found.

Ki, I wonder if the Great Cave they are talking about in the treaty was Mammoth Cave? Am I thinking of the right area?

Ki, I wonder if the Great Cave they are talking about in the treaty was Mammoth Cave? Am I thinking of the right area?

Swiftfan, after i found this treaty i went and looked through my maps. The cave they are talking about is Mammoth Cave, the Green River runs right through the area. Also i think this is where people in the past have gotten the name great cave and added it in to the Swift legend. The cave Swift used was just called the Shawnee cavern, and the years following this cave became known to Swift buff's as the great cave of the Shawnee, when in actuallity the Shawnee cave is small, compared to Mammoth Cave....Also in the treaty above i think in article 3 Boone mentions Chief Doublehead and his warriors. Chief Doublehead also had and worked a silver mine in southeastern Ky.

Curtis,
        Indian old fields is a huge place, If i can remember correctly were HWY15 runs through the area was the southern most part of the village. The fort there was 200yards by 180yards, the main trading place. Cabins and wigwoms streched two miles north up to around Kiddville. I cant believe no extenive research has been done in this area. If one could get permission this would be an awesome place to research. There are many artifacts still hidden in the ground here, probally lost forever if no search is done soon. Also this place holds a hidden history not known to Kentucky as of yet. I have also heard the story of a cache being burried there somewhere, i think a couple coins was also recoverd some time ago. Curtis if you would like, next spring when the farmers plow the fields you could join me MDing and arrowhead hunting. Great story about Portsmouth its a shame those kids were selling the copper for scrap!

Count me in, it may be better if there are a couple of people or small group approaching the land owners. Maybe we can offer to do some thing for them if they let us search. Any specifics on the coins found not too long ago?

I'd like to help too. Let me know if there is anything I can do. I think if there was any caches available, they may be small pockets of stashes from the hunting parties returning to the village.

It would be great to have you guys along, im gonna try and figure out some of the more important areas to search, like where the trading center was. sould be all kinds of goodies buried in the ground there.
I dont know much on the coins that was found, could have been coins from other raids on white settlements as well. This village was destroyed in 1754-55 but the Shawnee still lurked around this area for almost 50 years after, Boone tells of many encounters with The shawnee while hunting this area in the 1770's. They did raid alot of early white settlements.

Started checking stuff out about Indian Old Fields  and got into my Archaeological survey of Kentucky and on Page 81 found this and other descriptions around the area:


7. A mound and circle at Kentake (Eskippakithiki), about a mile Southeast of Indian Fields Mr. Beckner opened this mound in 1888-87 and discovered a hearth with burned human bones. The circle around the mound contained charred stubs of palisades. East of this site were large numbers of surface artifacts and in the vicinity are many graves. This site is shown on the old Hoeing map and also on the Geological Survey map of 1926.

8. A low mound with rock graves at Holly Springs. This site is now almost entirely obliterated Reported by L. Beckner.

9. Indian Fields. A village on the site of an Indian village from which it derives its name. It was occupied by the Shawnee In rather recent times. Just west of this site the remains of mounds and graves have been reported by Hon. J. V. Swope and residents of the neighborhood report similar evidences of prehistoric occupation for a considerable surrounding area.

If there are mounds and other finds all over the area for over a mile in diameter we could have a really good time looking for all kinds of things...Ki since you are local to it, can you find the Hoeing Map and GS of 1926? That might help some, it could be in the library(Winchester?)...let me know if you can not..my wife works at NKU and I can check out their maps/books.

Great idea, I'll see what i can dig up on the history of this place. Winchester would be a great place to start, I'll also check out the local libray here in Stanton as well....

Eskippakithiki going back through history

The Shawnee are comprised of five named divisions: Chillicothe, Hathawekela, Kispogogi, Mequachake, and Piqua. Captin John Smith who arrived in the new world in 1607, refered to the "Chawanocks" as living in Virginia, where they continued in dwindling numbers for some years. That the "Chawanocks" were Shawnee is questionable but "Chawanocks" is very similar to "Sawanwake" a plural name for Shawnee. By 1680 the principle locations of the Shawnee were in the Cumberland valley and along the Savannah river in South Carolina. They had migrated either to the mouth of the Ohio and up the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, or over the Great Warriors Path southward across Kentucky.

The cumberland river was in fact called the Shawnee river up until the end of the 18th century. When the early French traders came into this area in the 1670's the Shawnee had a principle village on the Cumberland river, near the present-site of Nashville, which had been occupied as early as 1665. On a map in 1684 the main river emptying into the Mississippi from the east is the Casquinampogama (Tennessee) and it has several tributarys including the Wabash and Ohio rivers. The westernmost river to flow into the Tennessee is the "Misseoucipi" (not to be confused with the Mississippi river) and the next river is labeled "Skipaki-cipi".
Between these rivers is the Shawnee village of Cisca, with a path leading to Saint Petro on the coast of Florida and a legend that translates "path by which the Shawnee trade with the Spanish". In 1683 the inhabitants of Cisca and other Shawnee's joined the French at Fort Saint Louis on the Illinois river. On this same map the village of "Mequatchaiki" is situated on the north bank of the Skipakicipi river, probally a village of the "Mequachake division. The Skipakicipi river is undoughtably the Green river, but the identity of the "Misseoucipi is not clear, it's probally the Red River or the Licking river.

In 1707 a southern indian taken captive to Virginia drew a map on which he placed a village called "Ephippeck" (Eskippeck) on the Apalachicola river in the panhandle of Florida. This could be a Shawnee settlement from the group identified with the Skipakicipi river in Kentucky and more possablly the group that later returned to build Eskippakithiki in Clark county, Kentucky. The Shawnee group being the Mequachake, or the Piqua. Kentucky historian Lucien Beckner suggest that the village of Eskippakithiki in Clark county may have been originally settled by a party of those fleeing from the Cumberland river, this may have been the group situated on the Apalachicola river in 1707 who moved north settleing first at present-day Nashville and driven from there to Eskippakithiki by 1718.
Eskippakithiki is a Shawnee word meaning "blue lick place". The village was favorably located near preasent day Winchester on a hill above Lulbegrud creek. The site was as the name implies near a saltlick, which attracted large numbers of animals. It was also situated along the Great Warriors Path the major trail leading from villages in Ohio to the Cumberland river and on to the south. Besides Beckners interpretaion there are many other theories about the origin of this village, but there was apparently no white contact there until 1752.

There was some 3,500 acres of land cleared by the Shawnee in the vicinity of Eskippakithiki, baseing estaments on the time required to deaden and completely remove by burning the great oaks, hickories, sycamores, gums, and maples from such an area, Willard Jillson noted Kentucky historian sets the founding of the village at 1680-1685. Such an early date is very possable in that Shawnee groups escaping the Iroquois down the Great Warriors Path would have passed through this area.
Eskipakithiki is an interesting and important village for the Shawnee. According to Beckner it was originally built by a group or groups belonging to the Mequachake or Piqua divisions, and he believes this to be the village listed in the 1736 census of containing some 200 men. It is certain that Eskippakithiki was home of one of the most famous of the Shawnee chiefs, Cathecassa, better known as Black Hoof. Several sources mention him in relation to this village, and Black Hoof himself claimed to have been born there.
In 1752 a Virginia trader named John Finley was invited by the Shawnee to build a house at Eskippakithiki, but he was forced to flee in 1753 when some French Indians attacked a group of Virginia traders at the village. The village was abandoned in 1754 after the fall of Fort Necessity, and the inhabbatants apparently joined the Shawnee in Ohio, though some may have joined the Cherokee in eastern Tennessee...

There may have been a settlement in eastern Kentucky in the period after the French and Indian war. Historian Jillson places a Shawnee village at the confluence of Big Mud Lick and Little Mud Lick creeks in northern Johnson County from 1764 to 1774. This is the village from which Jenny Wiley is supposed to have made her escape. There are other references to the Shawnee in the vicinity of Big Sandy river as well. One of the most interesting accounts is the tradition of John Swift, who is said to have discovered and worked silver mines with the Shawnee as labors in eastern Kentucky from 1760-1770.
This tradition persistes among the Shawnee as late as 1870, when a decendant of Cornstalk returned to Mud Lick creek in Johnson county in search of silver....

Here are a couple of maps of the area around the former site of Eskippakithiki.. All the Indian trails seem to run through this area. Swift clearly tells of how they planned to use the trails known to Munday, the two Frenchmen, and the Shawnee that was with them, these would of course been Indian trails that ran through Kentucky. Depending on Swifts route to his mines, either coming in from the north, or south i believe they would have possably passed through this area. Remember Swift tells in his journal --"Munday and the Frenchmen led us to a place where the Indians, he called "Mecca or Mequa" Indians had used as a campground"....

KI,

I am convinced they used the trails that went Thur that area to get futher north than most people believe. I also want to think the cave of the Shawnee is in between that area and Swaneetow at the mouth of the Scioto River (Portsmouth/South Shore). I am checking out a place this weekend that may have some more of the items Swift mentions...My friend and co-brother-in-law(we married sisters) are checking out a couple of places. He may have found the "french mines"  if so it is fitting perfectly with the mines I found as being the Lower Swift mines...and what we are looking for this weekend are the upper mines....it sure does fit! I am  pretty excited about this. One of the traces goes with in a mile or so of this place!

I strongly agree as well that no matter if they was coming into Kentucky through Pound gap, or the Cumberland gap that they would have passed through this area traveling north to your location. Always look for bent trees, this is how the Indians would mark their paths in a heavy forest.
The key to finding the mines is to find the "furnace rockhouse". In Swift's directions to the mines in his journal, he always starts at the furnace. I found a good story about your location, and it is possable that the mines could be in your area, i wish you the best of luck this weekend, and look forward in seeing what you may find...  -Ki-

I don't know if there was a trail linking the Pound Gap to Old Fields, but I'll look into it..there would have to be something..

Swiftfan...
          Understanding the old trails used by Indians, early explorers, longhunters, and settlers in our modern times is quite the challenge. The land and waterways have since changed a great deal in the last 250 years and makes retracing these trails rather difficult. The best way ive found locating these old trails is by following some old road ways, and of course history books of Kentucky. We know by reading Swifts journal that Swift was led into Kentucky by Munday, 2 Frenchmen, and several Shawnee Indians and they had planned to use Indian trails known to these men who was with Swift. Now look at Dr. Thomas Walkers, and Gists trip into Kentucky in 1750, these men also used Indian trails that ran through the state, and wrote about them in there journals. Gist's trip in 1750 he mentions Eskippakithiki and labeled it on his map. The trail coming into Ky from Pound Gap, goes through the gap, the trail here goes in a northwest direction to Beattyville, then turns north and follows the Red River to Eskippakithiki, then turns north again going to Ohio. 
I'll look more into this myself and see what i can come up with, i also added a picture of the trails Gist and Walker took through Ky. These would of been simalr trails Swift and company would have used. I hope this helps you with your research........    -Ki-

Great information, Ki!  Seriously........good stuff!!

I would be honored to join you in the spring if you put a little trip together.  It would be nice to meet you and some of the other Swiftologists!  Just tell me when and where.

Thanks again!  I love to see this shared information.

HCA1961