HISTORY: Salt Works of the Big South Fork (BSF) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 22:16:14 -0400 Submitter: Lanny R. Slavey The Big South Fork of the Cumberland River empties into the Cumberland River in Pulaski Co. East of Burnside. Today, the River is mostly in McCreary Co. KY, and then crosses the border into Scott and Fentress Co's. TN. Years ago, before McCreary Co. was formed, the West/North bank of the River was Wayne Co. KY, and Fentress Co. TN. The East/South bank (the River runs mostly North to South, with a large bend near Bear Creek that turns the flow East to west for a few miles, then it turns South once more), was Pulaski and Whitley Co. KY, and Campbell and then later on Scott Co. TN. In the 1900's, this was a coal mining area, and today, it is a National Park. It is stunningly beautiful place, with large bluffs along the River canyon. There are a large amount of these depositions, and will take some time, but this is something I have been wanting to do for the past year, since I found them in the Archives in Frankfort. These Circuit Court papers are in boxes there, and some of these items have not been looked at since they bundled up, all those years ago (some still had sealing wax in place!) Others were scattered about, and mis-filed, causing me to search bundle by bundle and box by box to find them. I still have several more bundles to get copied. There are a fantastic list of names in them, and this will be a worth while project. I will do my upmost to keep things accurate in the transcriptions. In 1807, John Francis first reported the discovery of saltwater along the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. This initial discovery was reported to be "near the mouth of Bear Creek, where Richard Slavey now lives". (I believe that Richard Slavey and John Francis where in laws, as both married a woman named Mounts.) Francis and Slavey petitioned the State Legislature, and in 1811, received a Grant for 1000 acres, conditional upon their production of a 1000 bushels of salt. The time limit for this production was later increased, due to the War of 1812. By the time the 1000 bushels were produced (around 1818), several other items of interest occurred: John Francis received another Grant just South of the 1000 acres for the same purpose; Marcus Huling, working with Col. James Stone, sank another saltwater well, on the sight of Francis's other Grant; Stephen F. Conn, Martin Beaty, and a host of other people became involved in these enterprises in several different ways. This activity started a series of Law Suits, lasting up into the 1830's, as well as the accidental sinking of the world's first oil well. Over the next several weeks, I intend to post numerous depositions from these various law suits on the CRR. There will be many names of interest in the depositions. My transcriptions will stick with the original spellings. My presentations will be a bit haphazard, as I will probably skip from Lawsuit to Lawsuit at times. ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by noncommercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format, or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit, or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative, and then contact the listed USGENWEB Archivist with proof of this consent.