how durin founded the longbeards

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by mhagain

That said, the Elves do have survivors from that time still among them (Círdan being a notable and likely example) whereas the Dwarves don't. You'll notice that Tolkien is careful to qualify statements about the Dwarves with "it is said", "it is told", etc, so even within the framework of his own stories it's being presented as a legend.

Part of the "in-world" explanation for that could be the general secretive nature of the Dwarves. Other races didn't as a rule have much to do with them that didn't involve commerce.