 The earliest known travel way through present day Floyd County was the Trader's Path, running from east to west across the Roanoke River where Back Creek enters the river, by John Mason's, R. Poage's, the headwaters of Back Creek and southwest over Bent Mountain.The trail continued westward through the Little River area to the Lead Mines.The first known attempts to settle the area appear to have been made during the 1740s.