"During the 1600s, some white men from eastern Virginia took what they called the "Trader's Path" into the western country, where they trapped and traded.
They crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains not far from present-day Floyd, Virginia and made their way into the New River Valley.
Deliberate exploration parties pushed west across the Blue Ridge as early as the 1670s, long before the settlement of what is now Montgomery County.
The men made their way up the Roanoke River to present-day Salem, Virginia, across the Allegheny Ridge, along Stroubles Creek, and down a river-they called it Wood's River, though it later acquired the name New River-into present-day western Giles County, Virginia.
"[4] This was also the earliest known road through Floyd County, Virginia, "...running east to west, and crossing the Roanoke River where Back Creek enters the river, thence by John Mason's, R. Poague's, the headwaters of Back Creek and southwest over Bent Mountain.