Boone, the
incessant but not always lucky wanderer, was in these years ever
in debt for an outfit.
Boone and Hill made their way over the Blue Ridge and the
Alleghanies and crossed the Holston and Clinch rivers. Then they
came upon the west fork of the Big Sandy and, believing that it
would lead them to the Ohio, they continued for at least a
hundred miles to the westward. Here they found a buffalo trace,
one of the many beaten out by the herds in their passage to the
salt springs, and they followed it into what is now Floyd County
in eastern Kentucky. But this was not the prairie land described
by Findlay; it was rough and hilly and so overgrown with laurel
as to be almost impenetrable. They therefore wended their way
back towards the river, doubtless erected the usual hunter's camp
of skins or blankets and branches, and spent the winter in
hunting and trapping. Spring found them returning to their homes
on the Yadkin with a fair winter's haul.
Such urgent desire as Boone's, however, was not to be defeated.
The next year brought him his great opportunity. John Findlay
came to the Yadkin with a horse pack of needles and linen and
peddler's wares to tempt the slim purses of the Back Country
folk. The two erstwhile comrades in arms were overjoyed to
encounter each other again, and Findlay spent the winter of
1768-69 in Boone's cabin.
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