Robert Jones

Landed at Maysville, the last day of March, 1786, 31st. Next day went on in our boat to 15 miles below. Landed at the mouth of Lees Creek for the night. The snow fell over shoe mouth deep. The 3rd or 4th day of April, we were at Louisville. From Lees Creek we made no stop till we got down within 17 miles of Louisville, where we were driven in by a storm. We had a barge and flat-boat. The winds took the flat, carried it in, & held it there, till it subsided. While we were there, a company of soldiers came on, and met us there. There were about 30; they were going up. They got to the keel, while we were up to help down with the flat, and thought it had been deserted. We got down to Louisville this same evening after the storm. A party of Indians had just gotten over at the 18 miles islands. We saw where they had killed a horse, laying on the Kentucky side, before crossing. Perhaps because they could not manage him. They were too few in number to trouble us.       

from the Draper Papers, 13CC151

Lyman C. Draper (1815-1891) collected information on America’s first frontier and its notable figures and events, such as Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clarke, and The Battle of King’s Mountain. Draper’s papers include a treasure trove of information on the frontier settlers of the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.

The original papers are held at the Wisconsin Historical Society. They include thousands of handwritten letters of correspondence comprising nearly 500 volumes of information not available anywhere else about the pioneer settlers of the trans-Allegheny West.