TOUR 2 0 443
1 Excellent farmlands border State 90 in this section; abandoned equip-
5 ment once used in prospecting for oil is visible.
g PRICE’S MEADOW, 12.5 m., is the site selected by the Long
1 Hunters—so called because of their long hunting expeditions—as their
t central camp. A company of about 40 men from Virginia and North
1 Carolina, attracted to the wilderness for the sake of adventure and by
reports of plentiful game, set out in june 1770 for Kentucky. They
e passed through Cumberland Gap and established their base, where they
i found an excellent supply of spring water. From this point the men
went out in parties to hunt, and to this base they brought t.heir furs
- and hides every full moon.
One evening in February 1771 a group of these hunters heard a voice
- singing in the forest. They cautiously approached the spot whence the
f sounds came, and there, stretched full length on the ground, was Daniel
;l Boone, singing at the top of his lungs. Boone (see Tour 17A) joined
3 the Long Hunters, and they were met by Squire Boone, Daniel’s
brother, who had gone home to get supplies. About a month later the
B brothers, after an absence of two years, set out for home with a large
{ quantity of furs. At Cumberland Gap they were met by Cherokee who
S appropriated all the peltries. Dejected and without supplies to enable
S them to replace their loss, the Boones made their way home empty-
- handed. ·
) While, as a whole, the Long Hunters’ stay in Kentucky was profit-
S, able, it was not without several disasters. After a two-month trip away
B from the base, they returned to find their peltries spoiled, and their
dogs, which they had left to guard the camp, a pack of wild animals.
Cl With characteristic pioneer calm, one of the Bledsoes inscribed this
E memorandum on a fallen poplar: “2,s00 deerskins lost; Ruination, by
God."
2 In February 1772 some of the company became discouraged and de-
parted for the eastern settlements. Roving Indians captured two of the
remaining men and plundered the camp. These misfortunes did not
g- discourage the hardy survivors, however, and it was not until August
fc 1772 that the last of them turned homeward.
ig STEUBENVILLE, 15.5 m. (887 alt., 38 pop.), is in an oil region;
y along the highway there are numerous producing oil wells.
>f The GAP OF THE RIDGE BATTLEFIELD, 16.6 m., is the scene
E of the Battle of Rocky Gap, which_ occurred in the summer of 1863.
,_ General Morgan had avoided a pitched battle with the Union troops
ie encamped at Monticello by leading the Confederate cavalry past the
’f _ Union encampment to this gap. The Union troops pursued, as Morgan
D had intended they should, but their advance was so rapid that the battle _
;€ was precipitated before the Confederates were prepared to defend them-
=f selves. As a result the Confederates had 20 killed and 80 wounded,
  while in the Union forces only 4 were killed and 26 wounded.
5, The higher forested elevations form an unusual background along the
highway. ·