By the early 16th century both the French and the British had laid claim to the land that would become the Daniel Boone National Forest. Among the first Europeans to enter the area was the French René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1669.: He was later followed by the party of the English Thomas Walker in 1750, who would go on to make the first European discoveries of the Cumberland Gap, Cumberland River, and the pass through Pine Mountain: Several others made expeditions in the area over the following decades with mixed success.