In 1745 The Woods River Land Co. was oranized and the Council of Va. gave Vast land grants along New River. James Patton was given a grant of 125,000 acres. This made him so wealthy he was called " the monarch of southwest Va." After Patton died Colonel William Preston took over his affairs. Preston and John Buchanan both owned much land in this area. The Loyal Land Co. in 1749 granted 800,000 acres in southwest Va. The grant made on the condition that land be located and surveyed in 4 yrs. Dr. Thomas Walker was sent westward to explore and find places for the settlers. In 1749 he took with him from his home Castle Hill in Albemarle County a party of men. They passed through Big Lick and Draper's Meadows, and stopped at the middle fork of the Holston River. They visited with a Samuel Stalnaker who at the time had moved further west than any other Va. pioneer. Then Walker and his men went west into the unknown into country claimed by the French and Indians. When they left the Holston River they went in a northwest direction and crossed the Clinch Mountains at Looney's Gap. They reached the Clinch River in what is now Hancock County,Tn. On April 12, 1750 Walker passed through a gap in the mountains at the extreme southwestern end of Va. and entered Ky. The gap named Cumberland after the Duke of Cumberland , a son of King George 2. Walker's Mountain near Wytheville was named in Dr.Walker's honor. On the lands granted to him was established Wolf Hills ( Abingdon,Va) . In 1760 Fort Chiswell was built in what is now Wytheville,Va. The fort named for Colonel John Chiswell who owned lead mines nearby. Because of the treaty of Fort Stanwix made with the Iroquois in 1768 land as far west as the mouth of the Tennessee River was open for the settlers.This included much of the present day Ky. and Tn. The land had much to offer such as wildlife, forest, coal, zinc, lead, & copper.