Editing Cumberland Falls (section)

==History==
===Formation===
[[File:USGS Cumberland Falls area map (cropped) (cropped).png|thumb|upright=1.5|Detail of a [[USGS]] topographical map showing Cumberland Falls, the wide [[plunge pool]] immediately downstream (northward), as well as [[Eagle Falls (Kentucky)|Eagle Falls]] on the west bank, and the [[rapids]] of Center Rock further downstream]]
It is believed that Cumberland Falls originated at the [[Pottsville Escarpment]], near modern-day [[Burnside, Kentucky]], and retreated to its current location approximately {{convert|45|mi}} upstream. In its retreat, the falls cut what is now the Cumberland River gorge, reaching depths in places of up to {{convert|400|ft}}.<ref name="mc">{{cite web|last1=McGrain|first1=Preston|title=Geology of the Cumberland Falls State Park Area|url=http://kgs.uky.edu/kgsweb/olops/pub/kgs/KGS9SP7.pdf|publisher=Kentucky Geological Survey|access-date=5 November 2017|date=1955}}</ref>{{rp|11}}<ref name="enc">{{cite book|last1=Kleber|first1=John E.|title=The Kentucky Encyclopedia|date=Jan 13, 2015|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]]|isbn=9780813117720|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CcceBgAAQBAJ|access-date=5 November 2017}}</ref> At its original location, the falls was taller than it is currently, and has lost height due to erosion as it moved upstream. It also carried a greater volume of water originally, because two major [[tributaries]], the [[Laurel River]] and the [[Rockcastle River]], both lie between the modern day location and the escarpment.<ref name="mc"/>{{rp|19}} The erosion of the underlying rock, and movement of the falls downward in height, and upstream in location will continue until the falls eventually disappears, and the river again becomes [[Stream gradient|smoothly graded]].<ref name="mc"/>{{rp|18–9}}

===Pre-modern history===
The area surrounding Cumberland Falls was inhabited by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] going as far back as 10,000 years.<ref name="park"/><ref name="road">{{cite book|last1=Ludwick|first1=Cameron M.|last2=Thomas Hess|first2=Blair|title=My Old Kentucky Road Trip: Historic Destinations & Natural Wonders|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781626198166|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9_NBgAAQBAJ|access-date=6 November 2017|year=2015}}</ref>{{rp|22}} By 1650, the area had been visited by those from the [[Shawnee]], [[Cherokee]], [[Chickasaw]], and the [[Muscogee|Creek]] peoples. The Cumberland, as well as the nearby [[Eagle Falls (Kentucky)|Eagle Falls]] were  both considered sacred by many.<ref name="park"/>

===Modern history===
In 1750 the Cumberland Falls was rediscovered by the explorer [[Thomas Walker (explorer)|Thomas Walker]] who named it after the [[Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn]].<ref name="road"/>{{rp|22}}{{efn|In his published papers [[Keen Johnson]] disputes this, saying that Walker and certain [[Longhunter|long hunters]] "evidently had been in the region," but that Matthew Walton and Adam Shepherd were the first to see the falls.<ref name="keen"/>{{rp|314}}}} The first recorded landowners of the falls were Matthew Walton and Adam Shepard in 1800, both engineers who served under [[George Washington]] during the [[American Revolution]].<ref name="road"/>{{rp|22}}<ref name="keen">{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Keen|author-link1=Keen Johnson|title=The Public Papers of Governor Keen Johnson, 1939-1943|date=1982|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]]|isbn=9780813106052|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJL6rhoJeq4C|access-date=6 November 2017}}</ref>{{rp|314}} Walton and Shepard surveyed the land in 1814, and were issued a [[land patent]] in 1828.<ref name="keen"/>{{rp|314}}

The first landowners to settle permanently at Cumberland Falls were Lewis Renfro, a [[Baptists|Baptist]] minister, and his wife Mary, who built a cabin there in 1850, which would later be used as a hospital during the [[American Civil War]].{{efn|Ludwick and Thomas Hess record one Samuel Garland at the location prior to Lewis Refro.<ref name="road"/>{{rp|22}} They do not include a definite date, but say he "intended to build a water mill but instead built a cabin where he resided." According to the official Kentucky Parks website, Garland built a "cabin in which he resided for a while before returning to Virginia."<ref name="park"/>}}{{efn|The tract of land granted to the Renfros accounted for {{convert|200|acre}} and was valued at $1,000.<ref name="keen"/>{{rp|314}}}}  The falls and 400 acres of surrounding land were purchased in 1875 by Socrates Owens, who there built the Cumberland Hotel, which was taken over by his wife Nannie and his son Edward following his death.<ref name="park"/> The land and hotel were purchased in 1902 by Henry Brunson, who managed it along with his two daughters until 1931.<ref name="keen"/>{{rp|314}}<ref name="manning">{{cite book|last1=Manning|first1=Russ|title=The Historic Cumberland Plateau: An Explorer's Guide|date=1999|publisher=[[University of Tennessee Press]]|isbn=9781572330443|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtfyLnSBF8sC|access-date=5 November 2017}}</ref>{{rp|103}}

[[File:US-KY(1891) p277 CUMBERLAND FALLS.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Illustration of the falls from the ''King's Hand-book of the United States'', 1891]]
In 1927 the [[Kiwanis|Kiwanis Club]] sponsored a trail to be built from nearby [[Corbin, Kentucky]], and dedicated to Kentucky governor [[William J. Fields]].<ref name="keen"/>{{rp|315}} Construction occupied some 200 laborers over nine weeks.<ref name="road"/>{{rp|22}} However, as late as 1929, the [[Izaak Walton League]] wrote of access to the falls saying:

<blockquote>The unspoiled charm of Cumberland Falls is due to the fact that the falls are difficult to reach ... Road maps show roads leading from Corbin, twenty miles to the northeast, and from Williamsburg, eighteen miles from the southeast, but both these are so rough as to be practicable only for saddle-horses.<ref>{{cite book|title=Outdoor America, Volume 8|date=1929|publisher=[[Izaak Walton League|Izaak Walton League of America]]|page=23|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1blAAAAMAAJ|access-date=6 November 2017}}</ref>{{efn|See also [[Williamsburg, Kentucky]].}}</blockquote>

In 1928, a proposal to accept the falls as a park was brought to the floor of the [[Kentucky Senate]] but was defeated.<ref name="keen"/>{{rp|315}}

In the late 1920s, there were plans to build a [[Hydroelectricity|hydroelectric power station]] upstream, and divert the river through a mountain tunnel to a point below the falls.<ref name="keen"/>{{rp|314–5}} However, the [[Cumberland Falls Preservation Association]], formed by businessman Rober Blair, convinced [[T. Coleman du Pont]] to purchase the falls and surrounding land, and stipulate they were never to be used for hydroelectricity.<ref name="palmer">{{cite book|last1=Palmer|first1=Tim|title=Endangered Rivers and the Conservation Movement|date=2004|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780742531413|url=https://archive.org/details/endangeredrivers0000palm_p4a5|url-access=registration|access-date=5 November 2017}}</ref>{{rp|60}} In 1930, following his death, the family of du Pont made the decision to donate the {{convert|539|acre}} to the state.<ref name="park">{{cite web|title=Cumberland Falls History|url=http://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/cumberland-falls/history.aspx|website=Kentucky State Parks|access-date=6 November 2017}}</ref><ref name="manning"/>{{rp|103–5}} On March 10, 1930, the [[Kentucky House of Representatives|Kentucky House]] and Senate overrode the veto of Governor [[Flem D. Sampson]], and voted to accept the land from the du Pont family. The park was officially opened on September 7, 1931.<ref name="keen"/>{{rp|315}}

In the 1950s, plans were again announced for the development of upstream hydroelectric power, but were again defeated by the Preservation Association.<ref name="palmer"/>{{rp|60}}

In 2016, two professional whitewater kayakers, Dane Jackson and Nicholas Troutman, were charged with misdemeanor trespassing after intentionally going over Cumberland Falls in [[kayak]]s.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Estep|first1=Bill|title=Two charged after going over Cumberland Falls in kayaks|url=http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article66017212.html|access-date=6 November 2017|newspaper=[[Lexington Herald-Leader]]|date=March 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107014025/http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article66017212.html|archive-date=7 November 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>.