388 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 1
Catletts Creek were named for Sawney Catlett, who came from Virginia
in 1808 and established a trading post that, for more than 50 years, . I
served trappers and hunters of the Ohio and Big Sandy River regions. li
These valleys were filled with big game; early explorers, drifting down z
the Ohio to the mouth of the Big Sandy, then known as Chattaroy 5
(Ind., river of sand bars), were frequently attacked by Wyandottes, r
who resented the intrusion of white men into the valley, called Oki-se- t
jib-kith-ke (Shawnee, where biqfalo are plenty). r
Among early white visitors, of whom there is record, was a party that e
arrived in 17 72, led by the Reverend David jones, afterwards an officer l
in the Revolutionary Army. Another member of the expedition was I
young George Rogers Clark. The party remained at the mouth of the
Big Sandy for several weeks, exploring the lower reaches of the stream. 1
Clark received here his first impressions of the value of the Ohio River
as a waterway to the Northwest Territory, and of its importance as a g
line of defense. Catlettsburg continued as a trading post until 1857, ]
when the cutting of big timber along the upper reaches of the Big
Sandy inaugurated an era of slow but steady growth. The focal point I
for valley trade, it ranked for several years as a very important round- Z
timber market. During the steamboat era it became a gay and busy 1
place. Riverside folk of the Sandy and Ohio valleys gloried in the
coming of the showboat with its blaring band, its shouting captain, and l
jovial passengers. On the day the Cotton Blossom Floating Theater,
whose fame was revived by Edna Ferber’s novel, Show B0at, tied up at
the wharf, Catlettsburg .was a typical river town, with its inns, wharves,
boathouses, and saloons, where drinks and free food were dispensed.
With the coming of railroads and the development of the coal industry, _
Ashland became the metropolis of northeastern Kentucky. On the old ‘ _
waterfront, once the scene of great activity, are now deserted inns and
fading signboards.
Between Catlettsburg and Ashland, US 23 (see Tour 1) and this
route are united.
ASHLAND, 6.4 m. (552 alt., 20,074 pop.) (see Ashland).
Points af Interest: American Rolling Mills Plant, Ashland Coke Company Plant,
Central Park, and others.
Ashland is at the junction with US 23 (see Tour 1).
West of Ashland US 60 winds in and out among the creeks and hol-
lows of the hill country, climbing up and down ridges from whose tops ‘
are excellent views of the ranges of hills.
The 6,400-acre ARMCO PARK, 11.8 m. (picnic/zing facilities), is a .
part of the old furnace lands that for years lay open as "commons,” OH
which cattle and hogs were grazed. During the 1920’s, after the Ameri-
can Rolling Mills Company had become well established in Ashland,
part of this open land was set aside for this park, but most of the enor-
mous holdings of the old iron companies of the nineteenth century have i
been sold and fenced off.