KENTUCKY (ante) was not originally a possession of any one of the aboriginal tribes, but a common hunting-ground for them all. The first white explorer was John Finley, who in 1767 went there with a few companions from North Carolina. Two years later Daniel Boone, Finley, and four or five others visited the region, and in 1770 James Knox, with a number of others from Virginia, made extensive surveys for the purpose of locating land-bounty warrants. In 1774 a settlement was made at Harrods burg by James Harrod. In 1775 Daniel Boone built a fort at Boonesborough. The Indians met these white settlers with a stern and bloody resistance. Daniel Boone, in 1775, made a treaty with the Cherokees, who agreed to sell the region to Richard Hen derson and his party. Virginia rightfully claimed the territory as her own, and refused to treat the sale as valid, but finally consented to give the purchaser a title.to 200,000 acres at the mouth of Green river. In 1776 Kentucky was organized as a Virginia County, and that state held jurisdiction through the revolutionary war and for several years afterwards. The inhabitants, upon the conclusion of the war, sought to effect a peaceable separation from Virginia, and the latter in 1786 assented to the proposed arrangement, which, however, was not at that time consummated. The citizens were very much prejudiced against the national government on account of a report which gained wide currency that Mr. Jay, while minister to Spain, had ceded to that country the navigation of the Mississippi. Spain, under these circumstances, entered upon an intrigue to induce Kentucky to set up a government independent of the United States, promising special commercial advantages in such a case. The excitement continued for some time, but in 1790 Kentucky was organized as a territory of the United States, and in 1792 admitted to the Union as a state. The white population then numbered 75,000. Indian wars continued to distract the frontiers, and there was great dissatisfac tion with the national government for its neglect to afford protLction to the inhabitants. There were other grievances, such as a burdensome whisky-tax and the course of the government in relation to the French republic, with which the Kentuckians felt a very strong sympathy. The scheme for independence was partially revived, but the storm soon blew over. The navigation of the Mississippi, however, was a subject of much uneasiness until the retrocession of Louisiana to France and the subsequent purchase of the territory by the United States put an end to all the pending troubles.
The development of the state from this time forward was rapid. It was from the
beginning a slave state. In 1860, just before the rebellion, the population numbered 1,155,684, of whom 225,483 were slaves and 10,684 were free colored. Of the whole colored population 44,711 were mulattoes. The total population in 1870 was 1,821,011, of whom 222,210 were free colored, the slaves having been all set free. The number of families was 232,797; of dwellings, 224,969; persons 10 years old and upward who were unable to read, 249,567; unable to write, 332,178. Of these illiterates, 201,077 were white, and 131,050 colored. Of the total population 10 years of age and over, 261,080 were engaged in agriculture; in professional and personal occupations, 84,024, of whom 1,552 were lawyers, 2,414 physicians, and 1,080 clergymen; engaged in mining and mechanical industries, 44,197.
The W. portion of the state is slightly undulatory, with broad level plains here and there. The s.e. part is broken by the Cumberland mountains and their spurs, none of whose summits attain an altitude of more than 3.000 feet. The hills and valleys here are well wooded. West and north of this region lies a gently undulating upland, inter sected by rivers flowing through narrow and deep valleys. The soil, in spite of the scarcity of spring water, is of the very finest quality, being in part what is known as the "blue grass region," extending from the Ohio river southward to the Cumberland, through the central portion of the state. In the western part of the state are the " bar rens," so-called, which were once thought to be of small value, but which are now more highly. appreciated, though not equal to the "bluegrass region" in point of fertility. Kentucky is well watered. The Mississippi flows along its western border for 80 m., while along the n. and n.w. border the Ohio has a course of nearly 600 m., and is nav igable the whole distance. Only a few small streams empty into the Mississippi from Kentucky. Those which flow into the Ohio are the Big Sandy, which has its sources in West Virginia; the Licking, which has its mouth at Covington, opposite Cincinnati; the Kentucky, which has its sources in the Cumberland mountains, and has a course of 250 m. within the state; Green river, 300 m. in length, and navigable for steamboats 200 m.; the Cumberland, which rises in the valley between the Laurel and Cumberland mountains, flows tortuously through 7 or 8 counties, passes into Tennessee, then returns, flows tortuously in a n.w. course, and empties into the Ohio about 10 m. above the mouth of the Tennessee, and is navigable for 200 m. to Nashville, Tenn.; and the Ten nessee, which has a course of 70 m, within the state.