After the organization of Hudson's Bay Company in 1668 Sir William Berkeley ordered Col.Abraham Wood to send an expedition to find the Great Lakes and a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean. Col.Wood was a wealthy land owner and Indian trader whose headquarters were at Fort Henry ( now Petersburg). From there in 1671 he sent out an expedition under Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam.These 2 men went up the Roanoke Valley, crossed the Blue Ridge, & the 1st crest of the Allegheny Mts. & to the New River. The spot they made camp on is today the town of Narrows in Giles County. On Sept.17,1671 Batts and Fallam claimed this land and all land west of it in the name of King Charles 2. They marked the spot by burning the king's initials into one tree,& the initials of Gov.Berkeley & Abraham Wood into another.On a 4th tree they put their own initials. They were the 1st white men to leave any record of exploration of Southwest,Va. Two years later Col.Abraham Wood sent out another expedition led by James Needham.Friendly Cherokee Indians helped Needham and his party push westward. They crossed 9 streams which flow eastward into the Staunton and James Rivers. Then they crossed the headwaters of the New River and climbed a ridge where they could see the streams that flow southwest to form the Tennessee River. The next year while leading an expedition in western N.C. Needham was killed by his Indian guide at a ford on the Yadkin River.