Out & About KY Style: Thomas Walker

For me history has been important. I enjoyed it in school as an elective subject. One of the best teachers I ever had was Dr. Carlton Jackson in an American His-tory class at Western Kentucky University in 1961, when it was known as Western Kentucky State Teachers College. For some reason I didn’t make Dean’s List grades in history, although it was my favorite subject at the time.

Gary West is an author and News Journal columnist.

Years later, after writing several books, I became very good friends with Dr. Jackson, even sheepishly calling him “Carlton.” I told him about my very average grade in his class, and without missing a beat he said, “You deserved better. I’ve gotten to know you and I can tell you came away with a lot in my class.”

I don’t know why all these years later, but it made me feel better about myself.

Today, however, there are things about Kentucky history that confuse me a-bit, particularly when it comes to Dr. Thomas Walker and Daniel Boone.

Why did Dr. Walker get one-upped by Boone, even though he came into Kentucky in 1750, 19 years before Ole Daniel? Was it the movies, television, comic books, marketing in general?

There’s even some misdirection here and there as to where Walker first came into Kentucky. For me the internet did little to straighten it out. Cumberland Gap gets credit for the chosen path, but for an average geologist without any surveying credentials where exactly in the Gap.

In the 18th century it took several days of dangerous foot-by-foot travel to negotiate the naturally eroded notch through the Cumberland Mountains. Today a visitor to the area can cover the same distance in fewer than two minutes through a 4,600-foot long man made underground tunnel. From 1770 and 1825 an estimated 300,000 people crossed through Cumberland Gap when it was the main artery for westward expansion.

The word “tourism” had not entered the nation’s vocabulary.

It is important to note that less than 50 years after Kentucky became a state in 1792, thousands of curious visitors began flocking to Mammoth Cave each year, possibly making it Kentucky’s first tourist destination.

Although many, including myself, associate Cumberland Gap with Middlesboro and Bell County, history reveals that Walker actually made his entry into Kentucky in Johnson County near Paintsville.

Walker, a physician and surveyor, spent 20 weeks leading a six-man search party for suitable sites for settlements.

It was rough going. Warring Cherokee and Shawnee Indians weren’t exactly a welcome committee with gift baskets. The forest was nearly impenetrable, and when paths were found they were usually blocked by rocks. Snakes, bears and bull elk were hazards to keep an eye out for.

Dr. Walker’s notoriety seems to have fallen through the historical cracks. When I asked some tourism folks in Bell County about Walker a few years back they became upset with me.

I read where Thomas Walker came into Kentucky in Johnson County I said to them.

“Don’t start that rumor,” one quickly responded.

It’s easy where the Walker and Boone confusion goes from when our own tourism people want to put their own spin on history. Sounds similar to the stories that are put out by the bourbon industry.

Oh well, Walker was credited with discovering coal and actually using it. He also became the first white person to build a house in Kentucky. A replica stands at the Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic site near Barbourville, Kentucky.

In an odd sort of way another Walker, Dumas Walker has perhaps become more famous than the first white man to enter Kentucky. All it took for Dumas was a song by the Kentucky Headhunters, a slaw burger, fries and a bottle of ski. But when it came to shooting those marbles, I wouldn’t bet against the good Dr. Walker.

It seems that the Walker’s, no relationship that we know of at this time, and Boone have become great stories in Kentucky history.

There’s no excuse, get up, get out and get going! Gary P. West can be reached at westgarypdeb@gmail.com.