"The nearest tribes were the friendly Toleros, whose chief town was near the present city of Roanoke, and the Occaneechi, who lived at the junction of the Dan and Staunton rivers. All were members of the Siouian race, speaking the same language and following the same customs.
The Occaneechi were a very wealthy tribe, being the merchant traders of this part of the East. Their town was the market for all Indian trade for 500 miles around, and the Occaneechi Trading Path extended from the James river to Augusta, Georgia. We are told that they always kept on hand a year's supply of corn and a thousand skins. This brings us to the story of the Indian fur trade which played so large a part in the early life of Virginia, and was the undoing of these, our local tribes."
