[J. R. VanHoose]

Dr. Thomas Walker the first white man in Kentucky set up camp in a bend of the Licking River 1/4 mile north of what is now Salyersville on his initial trip into Kentucky .He then stayed a week trading with local Indians . I read this in a Kentucky History book cant remember the name of it .

He also came down Paint Creek, through present-day Paintsville, and followed it to its mouth along the Big Sandy River. He named the river the Louisa (after the daughter of the Duke of Cumberland). Somehow, during the course of time the name became the Levisa and that is why we have the Levisa and Tug Forks of the Big Sandy River.