Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1857-12-26


For killing nothing but a bear or buck he,
Enjoyed the lonely. vigorous harmless days
OF his old days in the wilds OF deepest maze.
So says Byron; Bancroft gives the
sketch of the Kentucky patri.
arch:
In his peaceful habitation on the banks
of the Yadakin river, in North Carolina,
Daniel Boon, the illustrious hunter, had
heard Finley, trader, SO memorable as
the pioneer, describe tract Of land west
OF Virginia, as the richest in North Ameri-
ca, or in the world. In May, 1879, leaving
his wife and offspring, having Finley as his
pilot, and four others as his companions,
the young man of about three aud twenty
wandered through the Wilderness of A.
merica, Sin oaest Of the country Of Ken
tucky," known TO tie aavagc' as the
Dark ard Bloody Ground" the Middle
Ground between the subjects of the Five
Matt Us aud the Ghorokcoa. After long
and fat guing Journey through mountain
ranges, tue p ,rty found themselves in June
on h, Red Bank, q tributary to the Keu-
tucky aud from the top Of an cmineuce
surveyed with deli -ht the beautiful plain
thar stretched 10 the northwost. Here they
built their shelter and began to reconnoiter
and to hunt All the kinds of wild beasts
that we're natural to America-the stately
elk the tni6 deer, the an.icred stag, the
wild cat, the bear, the pauther, and wolf
crouched among the canes, or roamed over
the Iich grasses, which, even beneath he
thlckest shades, sr-ang luxuriautly out of
the generous sol. The bulAloes cropped
fearlessly the herbage or browsed on the
leaves Of the reed, and we're moro frequent
than cattle in settlement of Carolina
herdsmen. Sometimes there we're hundreds
in dr. ove, and round the salt licks their
number was amazing.
The Summer in which for the first time
party of white men enjoyed the brilliancy
ofnnEure near andin the valley of Elkhorn
passed away in the occupations Of explorin 6
parties and the chase. But one by. one
Boon's companions dropped OF, till he was
left alone wi John Stewart They Jointly
und unceasing delight in the wonders OF
the forest, till one evening near the Ken
tucly, river, they were taken prisoners b.
band of Indians, wanderers like them.
selves. They escaped and were joined by
Boon's brother so that when Stewart was
soon after killed by savagcs, the frst victim
among the hccatomb of white men slain By
then 10 their desperate battling for tht
lovely hunting ground, Boon still had his
| brother o share with him the dangers and
attractions of the wilderness, they building
aud occupying the first cottage in Ken
lucky.
In the spring of l770, that brother re-
turned to the settlements for horses arc
supplies of a.nmunitions, leaving the re
nowned hunter "by himself, without bread
: VI saw VI Su1"i VI S'Sh " hOioC VI bOR
'The idea of beloved wife," anxious foi
his safety" "tingcd his thoughts With sadness
but otherwise the cheerful, medtativo man
careless Of wealth, knowing the use of th'
rife, not the plough, Of d strong, robust
iramc,in the vigorous ho4llh of early man
hood, ignorant of books, but versed in til,
forest and forest life, even fond of tracking
the deer on foot away from men, yet in hi
dispoSi ion, humane, generous and gentle
was happy in the uninterrupted succession
of "Sylvnn pleasure
One calm summers evening, as h
climbed commanding ridge, and locke
upon the remote venerable mountains,
and the nearer ample plains, he caught
glimpse in the distance of tho Ohio, whic
bounded the land of his affections will
magic grandure, his heart exulted in ii
! region he had discovered. "All thing
wcro Sill Net a tseoZc so much