Mr. COLLINS says the first white person history tells of having discovered the Ohio River as low down as Henderson, was Colonel George CROGHAN , who, in 1765, passed down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash. Captain Harry GORDAN , in 1776, surveyed in some crude way the entire length of the Ohio. The land warrants or bounty in lands given to the Virginia soldiers, who had served in the old French War, were to be located on the “Western Waters,” hence the military survey so often referred to in title deeds recorded in the Henderson County Clerk's Office.

In the summer of 1774 parties of surveyors led by Colonel John FLOYD , Hancock TAYLOR , James DOUGLAS , and two-parties of hunters and explorers under Captain James HARROD and Isaac HITE , came into Kentucky. The town of Harrodstown (now Harrodsburg) was laid off, and the settlement of Kentucky began. On Thursday, June 16, 1774, Daniel BOONE , himself being present and assisting, four or five log cabins were built, and immediately and permanently occupied.

History of Henderson County, Kentucky, Page 2