The party included fourteen rangers and four Meherrin Indians, and departed Germanna on August 29, coming within sight of the Blue Ridge Mountains on August 31. They continued upriver past today's Stanardsville, reaching the head of the Rappahannock on September 2. Fontaine recorded in his journal for September 5 that axemen had to clear the way along the path of what he called the "James River", but which was in fact a creek along the eastern slope named Swift Run, surrounded on all sides by steep mountain terrain. Swift Run is part of the James River drainage system. The expedition had followed the Rappahannock drainage system up to this point.
