The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1923-11-22

AT Plymouth ROCK nowadays stands an heroic
statue of Massasoit, head chief of all the indian
tribes between Cape Cod and Narragansett bay.
incidentally he was a good friend and ally Of the
Pilgrims, but he deserves the statue if only for the
fact that he introduced them to the wild turkey
and the pumpkin. 1t seems to be taken for granted
that roast turkey, cranberry sauce, succotash ana
pumpkin pie were served at that first Thanksgiv-
ing dinner in 1921 when the Pilgrims celebrated
the gathering of their first harvest. Probably they
were. Anyway, the woods were full of turkeys and
the Indians had evolved an agricultural scheme
that was as simple as it was efficient. They plant
ed corn in rows and beans in the same hills to
climb up the cornstalks and pumpkins between the
rows to shade the ground and keep down the
weeds-and all cultivated with one hoeing!
The wild turkey, alas! has travelled far on the
way of the great buffalo herds that once covered
the plains and of the vast f1ocks of passenger
pigeons that once darkened the skies. But the
tame turkey has come to take his place and has
marched across the continent with the American
people. He has done that in more senses than
one, inasmuch as he has practically abandoned
New England and the Middle states for the West
and the Southwest.
Why our Thanksgiving bird should be called
turkey is one of the mysteries. He originated
here. America gave him to the world. He is our
own bird-"made in America" And of all the do
nestle birds about our farms and poultry yards the
turkey is the only one tnaI is Strictly our own.
When the European reached the Western Hem
isphere he found turkeys plentiful in Central
America, Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The southern birds were smaller and darker than
those of the north. In Mexico there were both
wild and tame turkeys, the natives raising the lat
ter for food on an extensive scale.
Record of the date of the appearance of the first
turkeys in Europe is missing, but the early Span
ish explorers took back birds to Spain. From
there they quickly spread to France and England.
The American turkey was a good thing and Eu-
rome was quick TO recognize 1t. BY the end of
the Seventeenth century they were very generally
bred throughout Europe.
The wild turkey of the United States Is a mag
nifcent bird. Originally he was as numerous as
the beaver or the deer-literally uncountable. For
a long time they were plentiful. They learned the
way of the hunter early and developed a cunning
often more than d match for that of the man with
a gun. Within the experience of living men Michi-
gan. for instance, was so full Of them that a man
walking through the forests from Detroit to st.
Joe was never out of sight of the Hocks hurrylng
off through the trees. Then they seemed to dis
appear all at once all over the country. Ciylliza-
ton and settlement probably had as much to do
with it as the shotgun and rifle. Civilization IN
evitably drives out wild life, even where wild lie
is protected by law. Clearance of tlmberland, drain
ing Of swamps, cultivation Of open country de-
prived the turkey of his natural habitat. Now a
place wild enough to afford refuge to the turkey
is a wilderness indeed.
The tame turkey of the United States Is an IN
dividual sort of bird, with ways and notlons OF MS
own. This makes him a hard bro 10 raise ano