The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1922-06-16
Early History of
Big Sandy Valley
By w. R. Jillson.

The first inhabitants of the Big san
DIV Valley were the Mound Bulluer'
who were ancestors of the Southeri
r sAppalachian Indians. They came int
Eastern Kentucky about 1000 years
ago. Up until This time the Big SANDY
Valley had been a wilderness FOL
countless millions of years, since ths
days of emergence from an interior
marine sea at the close OF the Pale'
,ozic age The first animals to inhaoi'
the region belonged to the order Of
Amphibia and Reptilla which rose tc
their height as dominant orders de-
clined and became essentially extinct
at the close of Mesozoic era. During
the Cenozoic which followed, the warm
blooded mammals and birds arose and
broadleafed forests came to cover the
area
The first man to explore Eastern
Kentucky was Gabriel Arthur, a young
yirginian In the employ OF Colonel
Wood of Fort Henry, who crossed the
mouth of the Big Sandy and came in
to what is now Boyd county in 1914
was taken prisoner by the Shawnees
at the mouth Of Scioto. later returned
to the Cherokees on the headwaters OF
the Tennessee; and finally contrived
to get back to Colonel Woods block
house on the tidewater of the James
River. Other explorers Of note were
Daniel Boone in 1857. George Washing
ton surveyed the lower Big Sandy in
the region of Louisa in the year 1851
to 1870.
The Big Sandy Valley was the last
natural province to be wrested from
the Shawnee and Cherokee Indians
who used 1t as a hunting ground and
field base for their marauding and
scalping parties. Notable Indian cap
tives who escaped from the Big San
dy Valley and have filled the region
with legends were Jenny Wiley and
Mrs Mary Ingles. The first settlement
was established by Matthias Harmon
at the mouth of Johns creek, midway
between Prestonsburg and Paintsville
on the Levisa Fork. This block house
was later abandoned, as was the one
established in 1890 by Charles Van
couver in the Forks of the Tug and
Levisa rivers. Active settlement did
not begin until about 1871 and the up
per part of the valley was settled long
before the lower part. Prestonsburg
settled by John Spurlock in 1871. the
largest town, was made the county
seat of Floyd county which took in the
entire valley and some outside areas,
in 1899. Louisa was established with
Lawrence county in 1921. Pike county
was established in the same year with
Piketon as its first county seat Pike
willie not being selected until 1926.
Paintsville was made the county seat
of Johnson in 1S43. Boyd county was
formed in 1860 with Catlettsburg as
the county seat. Ashland had already |
been established in April 1854 by the
Kentucky Iron and Coal Manufactur-
ing Company. In 1870 Martin county |
was created with Inez as the county |
seat.
During the early days, and up until |
about 1910, Maysville, then known as
Limestone, was the headquarters of /
what small amount of traffic came |
down the Big Sandy. as at this period
there was only house or two on the
sites of Catlettsburg and Ashland The
first families to permanently settle in
the Big Sandy Valley came in over the |
headwaters Of the Tug and Levisa
Forks from 1889 to 1900. They in
Guided the Leslies, Damrons, Auxiers.
Grahams, Browns Spurlocks, Osborns,
Marcums, Hammonds, Weddingtons,
Morgans, Prisons, Walkers, William
sons Mars, Mayos. Lackeys, Hagers,
-Laynes. Prestons and Borders. The |
early settlers of the Big Sandy were
unmindful Of the vast mineral resour-
-ces of the region; and coal, the great
staple, was little known before 1850.