The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-04-04
Scene ON BOONE IRA|L
ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE IN THE.
ST. LOUIS REPUBLIC
Picture Of Spot Beyond Red
Jacket Shown To Excellent
Advantage

Oh the DduIel bOOue Trail, WHICH
comes up through Mankato via Good
Thunder and goes on down the Min
nesota valley to the twin cities. One
of the pictures shown is a section of
the road just little ways beyond the
Red Jacket bridge, which makes one
of the prettiest road scenes imagin-
able. The article is as>follows:
Macon, Mo-, March 24.--Some real
work is promised this summer on one
of the most interesting highways run
ing through Missouri, sometimes call
ed 1.-The Trail of the Hunter There
was a meeting at tuscaloosa, Iowa, Ia
Gently, on which occasion some live
good roads men were elected as Off
GERS of the Daniel Boone Trail, which
runs from St. Paul to st. Louis by way
of Mankato, Ft Dodge. .Des Moines,
Ottumwa, KirksWlle, Macon, Moberly
and Mexico on to st. Louis.
j. B. McHose, one of the most en-
thusiastic good roads>men in the west,
was elected president He lives at
Boone, Iowa. HI. Frank Holman of
Moberly was elected chairman for the
Missouri section of the trail. and f. F..
Soaring of Mankato for Minnesota.
Robert Shanahan of tuscaloosa, Iowa,
was chosen secretary and treasurer.
AT the meeting at tuscaloosa, Pres
ident MeHose gave a brief history of
the Daniel Boone Trail, described the
work accomplished and the importance
of early action in making the trail the
great valley highway between Canada
and the Gulf.
The Daniel Boone Trail enters Mis-
souri, at Coatsville, a town on the bor-
der of the two states, and runs on
down to Moberly on what is called
1.-THE backbone" of Missouri The
backbone" is an elevation or ridge.
The deer and other animals would as
cend it in the early morning hours to
look over the country, and there they
would stand like dark etchings against
the sky. Thus they became easy
marks for the hunters flint lock rifles.
Along this death trap to the deer the
descendants of Daniel Boone and his
contemporaries will construct high
way that shall stand as monument
to the skill and courage of the moe
casined men who blazed the way.
z Much of the roadway north of the
Iowa line has been marked, and the
roadbed put in condition for hard sur
facing, which is to be the big job for
this year.
1.-THE Daniel Boone Trail will not be
paper road any longer" declared
President McHose. at will be built
according to plans, and is bound to
prove an Important factor in uniting
our country north and south. Every
mile of it is through a land as fertile
as the Nile Valley, and the increased
value of this land will more than pay
the cost of building a permanent
road"
About Mankato, Mimi, on the trail,
is as pretty stretch of roadway as
could be found in all France or in the
valley of the Rhine. The same is true
near Ottumwa and Dies Moines and
other portions of Iowa. Some years
ago the government, built hard sur.
faced road for some distance south of
Macon, and this road is part of the
trail, sort of model for highway
builders. ~
Aside from the natural beauty of
the trail there are great many fea7
lures of historical interest and char
acters about whom one might write a
book The Investigator who is gifted
that way could find in the region of
the Daniel Boone Trail as perfect
types of Col. Sellers, of Squire Haw-
kins, 'Tnjun Joe," Tom Sawyer, Huck
Finn and the rest of the bunch as
Mark Twain ever wrote about. They
are all here and glad to talk.
The. restoration of the trails in the
west is the largest undertaking this
country has had in hand since the
noisy railroads crowded into the re-
gion of the peaceful pioneer. The
trails of the hunters from settlement to-
settlement were the forerunners of civ
ilization, which after long years were
represented by the stage coach and
the tavern, with it's hospitable tap
room. The stage coach resulted in the
lengthening and Strengthening out of
the trails. They madestra compar-'
atively easy. Taking Charles Dickens
word for it, there has never been q
more fascinating way to travel than on
a gently swinging coach. And Mark
Twain once said while he had jour-
neyed on everything but a. eannonball,
he didn't enjoy any method half SO
well as that of sitting on the top of a
numbering coach in the early morn
ing hours, watching the SLOUGH hated,
gauntletted< driver, ''the greatest man
that ever lived" holding the lines over
six frisky mules and trying to keep
them from climbing trees.
For fifty years the railroad had IT'S
innings, and the trails of the hunters
have been well nigh forgotten. Then
some restless individual thought of
anchoring a gas engine on a wagon,
and the auto called mistakenly for the
return of the old roadways Of the
hunters ard path blazers. Thus in
the fullness of time does history come
back to the starting point The shade
of Daniel Boone reaches ies mitted
hand across the years to shake the
Kid glove of Sir Henry Ford.
Mr.. and Mrs. M. T. Thew, 361 Par
ry street, have been enjoying a visit
from the latter,s brother and wife, Mr..
and Mrs. H. w. Gookson of Eugene,
Ore. @
A. E. Carlson, who has been doing
Y. M. G. A. work overseas in Eastern