The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-03

tune or name. and he bitterly opposed
 their union. Nevertheless Black was
 general fayorite with the community,
 was tall, well. formed, handsome, full of
 life, vigor, energy. courage, genius and ambition, and Shaw could not well get
 along without him. He soon mastered
 his new trade and far and wide was recognized as the best blacksmith in
 the country. Shaw took him into part lnership rather than let him set up an i opposition shop, and they did an inn
 mense business for those days. Not
 withstanding this, however, Shaw's op- IpOsition to his daughters marriage
 with Black continued, which so dis
 heartened the young man that he con-
 cluded to leave Washington and go far
 ther west, but not until he obtained the
 girls promise to keep her troth with
 him until he should return.
 Acting upon this impulse he journeyed l westward-not in a railroad car, as l nowadays, nor in carriage, or wagon,
 or even on horseback, but afood and | alone-until he reached what is now
 known as the Rolling Fork of the Co.,
 santot river, with no white man to the
 west of him, and none for twelve miles 1 to the east. Here he built a log cabin
 and took up his habitation. He had his | axe and rifle. Withs the former he
 cleared a small field, in which he plant | ed corn, and with the latter he killed 1 game. with which the woods abounded. 1 He traded with a settlement twelve
 miles east, bartering the skins of the deer and bear which he killed for such | things as he needed. His location was l an. ideal one, the land being exceedingly fertile and the clear, rocky bottom river l filled with game fish. Soon others came and settled around him, and Black con- l cefved the idea of building dam in the
 river and erecting grist mill. This he I commenced doing with the assistance of I his neighbors, whose labor he hired, had
 almost completed the dam when the | sheriff appeared upon the scene and I read proclamation warning them that | the land had been ceded to the Indians, l and that they would be required to leave. Black examined the proclama- tion and saw that it was signed by An | drew Jackson, president of the United States. Knowing that it would be fu tile to resist, he notified his laborers that the work must stop that he would ! return to Washington, resume his trade as blacksmith, and, as rapidly as he
 could he would pay them what he owed them, which amounted altogether to seven hundred dollars. This debt he paid in the course of the three years fol- l lowing. This occurred in the fall of 1880, after the passage of the act of con- gress of June, 1880, ceding to the Indi- l ans that portion of the country known ! as the Indian territory.
 On returning to Washington he mar | ried Anne Shaw who had remained true to him. although her father still op-
 posed the union. He opened a black ! smith shop and soon had all the work I he could do. At that time Washington Twas frontier settlement and most all the men went armed, the weapon most relied upon being the knife. All kinds of characters came there, the most des- 1 perate of desperadoes, as well as men of gentle mould, but all understood that each man must look out for himself. Finding the demand for the knife to be so great, Black applied himself largely to manufacturing them, and specially to temperlng the steel of which they were
 made. It soon became well known tha his knfvs were the best that could be obtained and his reputation spread far and wide. The shape of the knife was according to the taste of the person or- dering it, it being the custom for each | man to furnish the pattern, made of wood or pasteboard, of the exact size and shape of the knife wanted. Blacks experience as silver platter during his apprenticeship enab bled him to plate his knives, either with silver or gold, when required by the purchaser, which gave them an additional charm and a higher
 price. It was his rule, after tenperihg and shaping 8 knife, and before polish ing it, to cut very hard wood with it,
 generally an old hickory axe handle
 which had been used for long time
 and had become quite tough and hard.
 This he would do for a haIf-hour, and
 then if the knife would not easily shave
 the hair from his arm, he would throw
 it away. His knives ranged in price
 from five dollars to fifty-two dollars
 each, the prices varying according to
 the quality of gold or silver used in
 plating, the five dollar knife having no
 plating at all, but the temper of each
 was the same. each being submitted to the severe test above mentioned.
 About 1888 or 1884, perhaps a little earlier, James Bowie came to Washing
 ton and gave Black an order for knife
 furnishing a pattern, and desiring it to
 be made within the following sixty or ninety days, when he would call for it.
 Black made the knife according to Bow ,ie's pattern. He knew Bowie we'll, and
 had high estimation of him as man
 of good taste as well as unflinching courage. He had never made knife which suited his owi taste in point of shape, and concluded this to be a good opportunity to do so. Consequently, af- ter completing the knife ordered by Bowie, he made another, and, when Bowie returned, showed them both to him, and explained the difference be- tween them, at the same time giving him his choice at the same price. Bow ie promptly selected Blacks pattern.