In 1770, Col. James Knox settled here with 22 men from Virginia and Carolina. They explored this section and cured and stored 2300 deer hides and other furs in a skin house. The glowing description of the Kentucky wilderness by the "Long Hunters" to colonists of the Atlantic slopes was a leading influence in the state's early settlement. The party included Col. James Knox, Casper Mansgo, Henry Knox, Richard Skaggs, Henry Skaggs, Isaac Bledsoe, Abraham Bledsoe, James Graham, Joseph Drake, John Montgomery, William Allen, William Lynch, David Lynch, Chris Stoph, and Russell Hughes.