University of Virginia Library

The comparative security which succeeded the treaty of 1765, contributed to advance the prosperity
of the Virginia frontiers, and soon induced the settling of several places on the Monongahela and its
branches, and on the Ohio river. The first settlement was that made on the Buchannon, a fork of the
Tygart's Valley River, and was induced by the flattering account given by two brothers, who had dwelt
there under rather unpleasant circumstances.

In 1761, four soldiers deserted from Fort Pitt, and after some wanderings, encamped in the glades over
to the head of the Yougho'gany, where they remained about twelve months. Two of them, in an excursion
among the settlers at Looney creek, were recognised and apprehended as deserters; but John and
Samuel Pringle escaped to their camp in the glades, where they remained till some time in the year
1764.

During this year, and while in the employ of John Simpson, (a trapper who had come there in quest
of furs,) they determined on removing further west. Simpson was induced to this by the prospect of enjoying
the woods free from the intrusion of other hunters, (the glades having begun to be a common
hunting-ground for the inhabitants of the South Branch;) while a regard for their personal safety, caused
the Pringles to avoid a situation in which they might be exposed to the observation of other men.

In journeying through the wilderness, and after having crossed Cheat River, at the Horse-Shoe, a quarrel
arose between Simpson and one of the Pringles; and notwithstanding that peace and harmony were
so necessary to their mutual safety and comfort, yet each so far indulged the angry passions which had
been excited, as at length to produce a separation.

Simpson crossed over the Valley River, near the mouth of Pleasant creek, and passing on to the head
of another water-course, gave to it the name of Simpson's creek. Thence he went westwardly, and fell
over on a stream which he called Elk: at the mouth of this he erected a camp, and continued to reside
for more than twelve months. During this time he neither saw the Pringles, nor any other human being;
and at the expiration of it, went to the South Branch, where he disposed of his furs and skins, and then
returned to and continued at his encampment at the mouth of Elk, until permanent settlements were
made in its vicinity.

The Pringles kept up the Valley River till they observed a large right-hand fork, (now Buchannon,)
which they ascended some miles, and at the mouth of a small branch, (afterwards called Turkey run,)
they took up their ahode in the cavity of a large sycamore tree. The stump of this is still to be seen,
and is an object of no little veneration with the immediate descendants of the first settlers.

The situation of these men, during a residence here of several years, although rendered somewhat necessary
by their previous conduct, could not have been very enviable. Deserters from the army, a constant
fear of discovery filled their minds with inquietude. In the vicinity of a savage foe, the tomahawk
and scalping-knife were ever present to their imaginations. Remote from civilized man, their solitude
was hourly interrupted by the frightful shrieks of the panther, or the hideous howlings of the wolf.
And though the herds of buffalo, elk, and deer, which gambolled sportively around, enabled them easily
to supply their larder; yet, the want of salt, of bread, and of every species of kitchen vegetable, must
have abated their relish for the otherwise delicious loin of the one, and haunch of the others. The low
state of their little magazine, too, while it limited their hunting to the bare procuration of articles of
subsistence, caused them, from a fear of discovery, to shrink at the idea of being driven to the settlements
for a supply of ammunition. And not until they were actually reduced to two loads of powder,
could they be induced to venture again into the vicinity of their fellow-men. In the latter part of the
year 1767, John left his brother, and intending to make for a trading post on the Shenandoah, appointed
the period of his return.

Samuel Pringle, in the absence of John, suffered a good deal. The stock of provisions left him became
entirely exhausted—one of his loads of powder was expended in a fruitless attempt to shoot a
buck—his brother had already delayed his return several days longer than was intended, and he was apprehensive
that he had been recognised, taken to Fort Pitt, and would probably never get back. With
his remaining load of powder, however, he was fortunate enough to kill a fine buffalo; and John soon
after returned with the news of peace, both with the Indians and French. The two brothers agreed to
leave their retirement.

Their wilderness habitation was not left without some regret. Every object around had become more
or less endeared to them. The tree, in whose hollow they had been so frequently sheltered from storm
and tempest, was regarded by them with so great reverence, that they resolved, so soon as they could
prevail on a few others to accompany them, again to return to this asylum of their exile.

In a population such as then composed the chief part of the South Branch settlement, this was no difficult

matter. All of them were used to the frontier manner of living; the most of them had gone thither
to acquire land; many had failed entirely in this object, while others were obliged to occupy poor and
broken situations off the river, the fertile bottoms having been previously located. Add to this the passion
for hunting, (which was a ruling one with many,) and the comparative scarcity of game in their
neighborhood, and it need not excite surprise that the proposition of the Pringles to form a settlement in
such a country as they represented that on Buchannon to be, was eagerly embraced by many.

In the fall of the ensuing year, (1768,) Samuel Pringle, and several others who wished first to examine
for themselves, visited the country which had been so long occupied by the Pringles alone. Being pleased
with it, they in the following spring, with a few others, repaired thither with the view of cultivating
as much corn as would serve their families the first year after their emigration. And having examined
the country, for the purpose of selecting the most desirable situations, some of them proceeded to improve
the spots of their choice. John Jackson (who was accompanied by his sons, George and Edward)
settled at the mouth of Turkey run, where his daughter, Mrs. Davis, now lives—John Hacker higher up
on the Buchannon River, where Bush's fort was afterwards established, and Nicholas Heavenor now lives
—Alexander and Thomas Sleeth, near to Jackson's, on what is now known as the Forenash plantation.
The others of the party (William Hacker, Thomas and Jesse Hughes, John and William Radcliff, and
John Brown) appear to have employed their time exclusively in hunting; neither of them making any
improvement of land for his own benefit. Yet were they of very considerable service to the new settlement.
Those who had commenced clearing land, were supplied by them with abundance of meat, while
in their hunting excursions through the country, a better knowledge of it was obtained, than could have
been acquired had they been engaged in making improvements.

In one of these expeditions they discovered, and gave name to Stone-coal creek; which flowing westwardly,
induced the supposition that it discharged itself directly into the Ohio. Descending this creek,
to ascertain the fact, they came to its confluence with a river, which they then called, and has since been
known as the West Fork. After having gone some distance down the river they returned by a different
route to the settlement, better pleased with the land on it and some of its tributaries, than with that on
Buchannon.

Soon after this, other emigrants arrived under the guidance of Samuel Pringle. Among them were
John and Benjamin Cutright, who settled on Buchannon, where John Cutright the younger, now lives;
and Henry Rule, who improved just above the mouth of Fink's run. Before the arrival of Samuel Pringle,
John Hacker had begun to improve the spot which Pringle had chosen for himself. To prevent any
unpleasant result, Hacker agreed that if Pringle would clear as much land on a creek which had been
recently discovered by the hunters, as he had on Buchannon, they could then exchange places. Complying
with this condition, Pringle took possession of the farm on Buchannon, and Hacker of the land improved
by Pringle on the creek, which was hence called Hacker's creek. John and William Radcliff
then likewise settled on this stream—the former on the farm where the Rev. John Mitchel now lives;
the latter at the place now owned by William Powers, Esq. These comprise all the improvements which
were made on the upper branches of the Monongahela, in the years 1769 and 1770.

At the close of the working season of 1769, some of these adventurers went to their families on the
South Branch; and when they returned to gather their crops in the fall, found them entirely destroyed.
In their absence the buffaloes, no longer awed by the presence of man, had trespassed on their enclosures
and eaten their corn to the ground; this delayed the removal of their families till the winter
of 1770.

Soon after the happening of this event, other settlements were made on the upper branches of the
Monongahela River. Capt. James Booth and John Thomas established themselves on what has been
since called Booth's creek—the former at the place now owned by Jesse Martin, and the latter where
William Martin at present resides, and which is, perhaps, the most valuable landed estate in northwestern
Virginia, off the Ohio River.

Previous, however, to the actual settlement of the country above the forks of the Monongahela, some
few families (in 1767) had established themselves in the vicinity of Fort Redstone, now Brownsville, in
Pennsylvania.