Long Hunters

Long hunters, so named because they left home for months at a time, pursued game beyond the limits of Euro-American settlement in the 18th century. Hunting parties often formed in the Holston River valley and traveled west before setting up base camps from which hunters dispersed in groups of two or three. In 1761, Elisha Wallen established the first-known base camp here in Powell Valley. Long hunters, including Daniel Boone, explored present-day Kentucky and Tennessee and brought back deer, elk, and bison hides and beaver and otter pelts to sell in eastern markets. Native Americans, primarily Cherokee and Shawnee, violently resisted this use of their traditional hunting territory.