Daniel Boone
Boone first heard of the lands of Kentucky while he was serving with General Braddock in 1755 from was John Findley, another member of the wagon train. Findley had been there ti trade at a Shawnee village called Blue Lick. He talked about Kentucky as a paradise full of wild game. Boone decided he had to see Kentucky. On a long hunt in the winter of 1767–1768, he, his brother Squire and a friend named William Hill moved west to try to find Kentucky. They reached as far as what is now Prestonsburg, Kentucky, where they remained the rest of the winter. Not realizing that they had reached Kentucky, they returned to North Carolina in the spring. Boone again met Findley and asked him for the route from North Carolina to Kentucky. Findley was not a backwoodsman, but he knew of a trail that the Cherokee used when they fought in the Carolina colonies. In the summer of 1769, Boone and five companions used the warriors' trail to get to Kentucky. They hunted and explored the area. Most of his friends were killed or captured by Indians, but Boone and his brother escaped every time. He made another attempt to reach the eastern Kentucky in 1763 but had to turn back. In 1775, he founded the settlement of Boonesborough, Kentucky.