"By 1812 Kentuckians were driving 800,000 hogs a year eastward along the trails across the mtns." - Francis Preston Blair by E.B. Smith If this is true and I find it hard to believe, then surely 20 years earlier the farmer of SW VA were herding large numbers of livestock to east of the Blue Ridge. Whereas the soil would soon weaken from the fatigue of growing corn and tobacco, the livestock could roam free and eat the plentiful grass, foilage and fruits that then grew wild year after year. This "cash crop" could have provided cash for manufactured goods and land purchases. -eddie "Toto, I don't think we are in NH any more."