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The Wilderness Road
© Debbie Quinn - all rights reserved The Wilderness Road is a trail that Daniel Boone and others cut through into Kentucky. The trail followed more or less an Indian Trail. Daniel was not the first white man to go into Kentucky but he was the first leader with settlers to cut out the trail. One of the first men to follow the Indian Trail into Kentucky was Gabriel Arthur around 1750. Settling along the trail was very dangerous because Indians claimed it as their land. One of the furtherest settlements was William Ingles's, who settled on the Kanawana River and built the first ferry across the river. The road started from the southern fork of the Kanawa River southwestward to the Cumberland Gap, through the Gap westward about 50 miles the due north to the Kentucky River. The job was completed in about three months. The trail from Ingles Ferry remained a horse or oxen trail almost to the Civil War, then it was widened for wagons but it was not until 1796 that it was improved again. Below is a list of men and women who cut the Wilderness Road
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