Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-05-15
A ROMAN TIC CAREER
SUCH WAS THAT OF DANIEL
BOONE.
THEME OF AN ABLE PAPER
MIR. ThWaites Shows That the Famous
Hunter Was Not the Founder of
Kentucky Nor Yet It's First Perra
nent SettIer-Literary Club Enter
tanned.

| At the meeting Of the Literary club
| last evening r. G. Thwaites read 4
most interesting sketch Of Daniel
Boone, whose praises as the typical
backwoodsman of the trans-Alleghany
| region have for a hundred years been
sung by poets, historians and orators.
! The essayist showed that, despite pop
|, ular belief Boone was not really the
founder of Kentucky. Other explorers
and hunters had been there long before
him He himself was piloted through
Cumberland gap by the fur trader John
Finley; and his was not even the first
permanent settlement in Kentucky. for
Harrodsburg preceded it by nearly a
year. His services in defense of the
west, during nearly a half century of
border warfare, were not comparable
to those of his friend and contempora-
ries, George Rogers Clark or Benjamin
Logan. AS a commonwealth builder
he was surpassed by several.
Nevertheless, said Mr. Thwaites,
Boone's picturesque career possesses a
romantic and even pathetic interest
that can never fail to charm the stu
dent of history. He was great as a
hunter, explorer, surveyor, and land
pilot. Probably he found few equals
as rifieman and no man on the Dor
Ger knew Indians more thoroughly or
fought them more skilfulIy than he
His life was filled to the brim with
perilOus adventures. He was not
man of affairs; he did not understand
the art of money-getting, and he lost
his lands, because, although a sur
veyor, he was careless of legal forms
Of entry. He fed before the advance
Of the civilization which he had usher
ed in-from Pennsylvania, wandering
with his parents to North Carolina in
search Of broader lands thence into
Kentucky because the Carolina borders
were crowded; then to the Kanawha
valley, for the reason that Kentucky
was being settled too fast to suit his
fancy; lastly to the then far-off Mis-
souri,, in order, as he said, to get eel
bow room.
Experiences similar to his have
made misanthropes of many another
man-lilIe Clark, for instance; but,
said Mr.. ThWaites, the temperament OF
thus honest, silent, nature-loving man
only mellOwed with age. His closing
years were radiant with the sunshine
Of serene content and the dimly appre-
Ciated consciousness of worldwide
fame; and he died full OF years, in
heart a simple hunter to the last; al
though he had also served with credit
as magistrate, soldier and legislator.
At his death the constitutional conven-
ton of Missouri went into mourning
for twenty days and the state Of Ken
lucky claimed his bones, and has erect
ed over them a suitable monument
Mr.. Thwaites' paper, which was in
reality a synopsis Of his forthcoming
biography of Boone, now in press with
D. Appleton & Co., was illustrated by
portraits of the old border hero, some
of his field-books as a Kentucky sur
veyOr, and a map of the region in
which his life was spent The discus
sion was participated in by DR.. Fred
crick ]. Turner and Dr. Carl R. Fish
ci the university school of history,
and by President E. A Birge.
The meeting was at the home of
Prof. c. R. Van Hise and was largely
attended.
Prof. Alexander R. Hohlfeld of the
German department Of the university
was elected to the place made vacant
by the resignation of Mrs. John G.
McMynn, who has removed to Chi
cago.