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Thomas Walker and the Cumberland Gap 1749 saw the founding of the Loyal Land Company with the core group of members from Albemarle County. The first major challenge of the Company was presented to them on 12 Jul 1749 when the Council of the Province of Virginia authorized the Loyal Company to enter and survey 800,000 acres of the public domain west of the Allegany Mountains. There was one provision that accompanied the land grant, which required settlement of the land within four years, during which time period the Company would be permitted to make surveys and returns. Thomas Walker was appointed to lead this expedition into southwestern Virginia. One of the treasures of exploration history is the journal Thomas Walker kept of the journey into the Cumberland Gap in 1750. Walker's journal entries began as the party of six commenced their expedition on March 7 from the close friend of Walker, Joshua Fry's home, Viewmont, in Albemarle County. Ambrose Powell, William Tomlinson, Colby Chew, Henry Lawless, John Hughes and Walker traversed the countryside through mountains, over rivers, and through infamous Gaps during the four-month journey. Walker's journal would be published for the first time in 1881. On April 13, 1750 Walker recorded the group's entrance in what would be known as the Cumberland Gap. Walker's in-depth description reflects the magnificence of the region that would be made famous by Daniel Boone seventeen years later. Walker's journal would become a treasure of American history. On April 28, the journal details how Lawless and Hughes had erected a small cabin, eight by twelve feet. This cabin, which was the first house, built in Kentucky by white men, stood some four miles below present day Barbourville. Along with the planting of see, the cabin also symbolized the claim made by the men in future settlements within this region. The party encountered many difficulties that faced groups who journey westward. Lame horses, bad weather, wild animals, and bad terrain were a few of the unpleasentries that were described in Walker's journal, he even got many opportunities to put his medical skills to work. Walker would lead the group back to Albemarle County crossing the Kentucky and Greenbrier rivers then through Hot Springs and Staunton within the Great Valley. Walker's relative, Robert Sparks Walker, wrote a poem reflecting the journey. With the return of the Walker, the Loyal Land Company began the business of locating and selling lands to new settlers, and on June 14, 1753 the council granted the company four more years to complete the surveying and selling of the lands. At this time Walker took over the leadership role of the Company until his death. The 1750 expedition of Walker and his party providing the jumping off point for the settlement of southwestern Virginia and the future states of Kentucky and Tennessee. By the autumn of 1754 lands were sold to about two hundred families, and this number would continue to increase dramatically through the end of the 18th century. (Henderson, 19) In 1769, Thomas Walker presented a
map to the Virginia House of Burgesses, which he compiled from his expedition.
The map was used by the House to make decisions over the borders of
Virginia's western settlements and Indian territories. This original
map could not be located, but later that year George Washington modified
the map to be used by a land-speculating company's petition for land
between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. This Walker-Washington
Map, also known as Aligany, is located in the Library of Congress. Home | Archive | Timeline | Sources | Credit
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