Arcane Topic Warning! Probably only Dwarf fans will find this interesting.

[Kuruharan]

My essential question is was the Lonely Mountain inhabited before the Kings of Durin’s Folk moved in and set up shop there?

At first glance this may seem like an exceedingly strange if not downright silly question. We have Thorin’s statement in The Hobbit:

It had been discovered by my far ancestor, Thrain the Old, but now they minded and they tunneled and they made huger halls and greater workshops-and in addition I believe they found a good deal of gold and a great many jewels too.

A look at Appendix A tells us…

Most of those that escaped made their way into the North, and Thráin I, Náin’s son, came to Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, near the eastern eaves of Mirkwood, and there he began new works, and became King under the Mountain.

This all seems pretty simple and clear-cut. However, when one begins to investigate a little deeper the situation becomes a little bit more complex.

It is clear from his writings, particularly the “Of Dwarves and Men” essay found in The Peoples of Middle-Earth, that Tolkien conceived of Durin’s Folk controlling something of an empire in the First Age and in spurts in the Second and Third Ages. In the words of the Professor himself…

They regarded the Iron Hills, the Ered Mithrin, and the east dales of the Misty Mountains as their own land.
-“Of Dwarves and Men”

…in reference to the First Age (and we can probably safely assume they thought this way for a considerable time afterwards). In this little empire, the Iron Hills are referred to as being the Longbeard’s primary source of iron (remarkably enough…). In a footnote to this same section it says…

It was a brief period in the dark annals of the Second Age, yet for many lives of Men the Longbeards controlled the Ered Mithrin, Erebor, and the Iron Hills, and all the east side of the Misty Mountains as far as the confines of Lórien; while the Men of the North dwelt in all the adjacent lands as far south as the Great Dwarf Road that cut through the Forest (the Old Forest Road was its ruinous remains in the Third Age) and then went North-east to the Iron Hills.
-“Of Dwarves and Men” footnote 30 emphasis mine

This footnote further beclouds the issue. Thorin refers to Thráin I as having “discovered” the Lonely Mountain. In the appendix it is referred to as “came to.” Given the length of time that the Longbeards seem to have regarded what became known as Wilderland as their own personal stomping ground (which they shared with Men to do all that icky farming and provide warm bodies during war) it is difficult to believe that they did not know the Lonely Mountain was there. Then there is the footnote that says they “controlled” it.

One way of explaining the situation is that perhaps the Dwarves knew it was there but did not consider it to be of importance either for trade (there are indications in Tolkien’s writing that the Running River area was not thickly settled until much later in history) or for resources. Perhaps from time to time they maintained outposts there or something like that (understandable in unstable times). However, there is a problem with the “know it was there but not think it was important” theory. Thráin could not have made what could be considered a beeline for it after the destruction of Khazad-dûm. He fled in 1981 and the Kingdom under the Mountain was not founded until 1999. This could imply a certain amount of wandering in the wilderness. It may be that Thráin attempted to settle someplace else several times before. For instance, there could have been failed attempts to reestablish themselves in some of their old holdings in the Misty Mountains. These could have ultimately failed because of the orcs in the northern mountains simply proved too numerous. The ancient city of Gundabad probably fell to Angmar sometime between 1300 and 1409. Perhaps after the destruction of Khazad-dûm Durin’s Folk made one last attempt to retake and settle it? In any case, the Lonely Mountain still did not seem to be the sort of place that anybody wanted to stay because Thorin I took most of his people north for a few centuries. It was only after they seem to have exhausted all other possibilities that the Dwarves settled down in the Lonely Mountain (for a little bit). And then in Dain's day Balin developed a bad case of itchy feet...

Anyway, that is my attempt to explain the “difficulties” in this rather obscure topic. I’m curious to see if anybody notices any shattering problems or has noticed something blindingly obvious that I’ve missed (this happens so frequently that I’ve gone blind).