Robertson, meanwhile, was to lead the rest of the men by land, so that they should get there first and make ready for the coming of their families.
Robertson's party started in the fall, being both preceded and followed by other companies of settlers, some of whom were accompanied by their wives and children.

Cold weather of extraordinary severity set in during November; for this was the famous "hard winter" of '79-80, during which the Kentucky settlers suffered so much.

They were not molested by Indians, and reached the Bluff about Christmas.

The river was frozen solid, and they all crossed the ice in a body; when in mid-stream the ice jarred, and--judging from the report--the jar or crack must have gone miles up and down the stream; but the ice only settled a little and did not break.

By January first there were over two hundred people scattered on both sides of the river.