Kentucky's Growth.
The inrush being so great Kentucky grew apace. In 1785 the population
was estimated at from twenty [Footnote: "Journey in the West in 1785,"
by Lewis Brantz.] to thirty thousand; and the leading towns, Louisville,
Lexington, Harrodsburg, Booneboro, St. Asaph's, were thriving little
hamlets, with stores and horse grist-mills, and no longer mere clusters
of stockaded cabins. At Louisville, for instance, there were already a
number of two-story frame houses, neatly painted, with verandahs running
the full length of each house, and fenced vegetable gardens alongside
[Footnote: "Lettres d'un cultivateur american," St. John de Creve Coeur.
Summer of 1784.]; while at the same time Nashville was a town of logs,
with but two houses that deserved the name, the others being mere huts.
[Footnote: Brantz.] The population of Louisville amounted to about 300
souls, of whom 116 were fighting men [Footnote: State Department MSS.
Papers Continental Congress, No. 150, vol. ii., p. 21. Letter from Major
W. North, August 23, 1786.]; between it and Lexington the whole country
was well settled; but fear of the Indians kept settlers back from the
Ohio.
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