In 1671, General Wood sent an exploring party from Fort Henry in Virginia over the line of mountains to the west to see if his men could find a way to the Pacific Ocean. That great blue ridge was blocking a good trade business with China, and surely there had to be a way through it. But the man he sent to lead the party, Captain Thomas Batts, was frustrated by the effort. Instead of finding the ocean, he found a Native American path. He had no idea how important his discovery would become.