Show THE BICENTENNIAL of DANYL DANL J BOONE sc rsc rte r By ELMO SCOTT WATSON N OI 0 O r lD n 2 1734 1731 there nos born to a n Quaker weaver heaver and cl smith In Exeter township near the th present city of ot Reading Beading t Pa a son ton to whom horn was glen given the tho name ot of Daniel And now 00 OO J Jt years yau I later that boy boi bO 3 s nam name still tItI W has haa the power to stir the lion ion Q ot of his fellow Americans For tor he was as Daniel Boone Doone Lost List month the magic angle of ot his name drew to ft a little to town ton n In Kentucky Kentuck all nil the high hl h officials ot of ott that t t common commonwealth representatives es of ot the gov- gov COT of ot eight states and a great cro crowd d ot of people from every emery e cry part put of ot the country They Lucy had bad gathered there to participate In the opening of ot the Boone noone bicentennial which Is tie tie- tieI beIns be being I In Ins ing observed ed this year nn and 1 whIch which will 1 come to toa toa toa a climax late this tills month I Although the celebration at nt Boonesboro on September 3 was primarily a y t-Ince t Kentucky re regards Dan 1 I Boone as es esen en her 0 own n a dozen other states tes ha have hale e some claim upon him Amon Among them arc are Pennsylvania where here he lie was born North orth Carolina K- K KI Kr I r t er m f tl pv i fr J 1 x s ti f rid DANIEL iry J a f cf Mc 4 a r 1 r rF F I I t I PA f fb b J Era 1 s sr A Au Ay y k r r ate u s sk p a av v e 4 a r 2 r r rr L r 1 Boone Leaden f J Da 9 a and of Pioneers Into ti by v Ceo Caleb BinghA m A s b- b to rw W r rz Ar Arr r 1 yin h MS i d P Y f d N T 3 t y r t oa e v fl f fr r li Birthplace of Daniel Boone 1 cad nd Tennessee where here his youth was as spent and 1 here he lie started upon his career carfer as a hunter nn and 1 frontiersman cst Irginia Ir lnla then a part or of the Old Dominion where hel e he be ml mode made his home after the lo loss s of ot his lands In Kentucky Ohio where here he had some of ot his most thrilling admen en tures and Missouri where here he spent his declining ing veers and where he was as buried when hen den death th claImed him In 1 0 Even en Kansas 1 an and 1 South Dakota Wyoming l and Mon Ion Montana Montana tana have base more thin a casual Interest In him For In his old age still the keen Leen hunter and trail i 1 er cr he made long trips traps Into the western wilderness 1 and It Is possible tint he be trod the soil soli of ot all those states stales But In alar a larger lanes U sense sence Daniel Boone Doone belongs to the whole hole nation S Symbolical of ot that fact was as the authorization by the last congress of ot a spec sp special cial half dollar for the Boone bicentennial this year ear Designed by one of America Americas s most sculptors Augustus Lukeman the coin colli bears on the ob Cr obverse e side Boones Boone s likeness and on the re reverse erse the fI figures res of ot a frontiersman and an Indian and the designation of ot 1934 1031 as ae 1 lear ear These coins will be cold sold at a premium and the proceeds proceed will sill III go to th lima 0 Boone bicentennial commission of ot Kentucky to to te re used In acquiring the sites of ot three pioneer forts lorts- forts Fort Fort Boone s a Station and a n ld d Pry Pryan's nn's ans Station These three together with Ith the site or of the Battle of ot Blue Licks will III comprise the Pioneer national monument with Ith a n memorial high siy connecting the four shrines Lien L without these material reminders remInder of ot th the tame fame of Din Dan 1 I Boone his hie Is a deathless name In Inthe inthe Inthe the American con consciousness He lie Is the eternal symbol of the pioneer of a lands land where s here bere there then Here ere frontiers to be pushed e cr westward and anda anda n a w wilderness to be won on In the America of ot today there are arc no more frontiers where here souls may escape the humdrum of ot e eer everyday er day of ar affairs fairs there is Ie no wilderness to be conquered and pioneer life exists only in the fading memo memories memories rles ries of a few aging men and women heln facing the of ot their dl dims s disbo s bo So this nation still sUII but realizing realising how ho quickly it spent its youthful heritage e of high an brave enterprise e looks back somewhat longingly to those e clamorous days da sand and SH seeks I 8 some figure In wl ich Is 1 embodied the spirit ot of Its lusty lusti lust youth louth In Daniel It finds finde such sucha uch a figure Americans of ot today rending rc-iding of ot hint him and associating themselves es in their mn with J I im can experience vicariously the at al a matures shish befell 11 him In real life lire Such uch Is I the magic of the name of Darnel Boone and to 09 90 D out of a I l Americans he Is the planter pioneer par ul excellence lIUcc Ills s apotheosis ls Leg begin 10 lon long ao a o for just as ns George u m had his Parson cems ft 11 cenis to make him more of a alOth th lO than thau a n man so did Dankl Daniel Boone have t his hll John loha ou to make him a n frontier deml J I 1 the result ins his been many a ml conc ton about Loone s part In the settlement lIt of ot y yand vand and m my a n popular I 1 diet chief elle about his Importance trace tance as ne a frontier ka leader which al ate e It if not Dot entirely erroneous Model Modern Modem n historical scholarship paints a n some some- somewhat somewhat what different r Picture of 01 him hom the one our schoolbook histories 3 ha e e presented historians devoted to seeking pecking the truth and mat mi the truth known IJ have e gone cone back tinch to the Source material and out of ot f tt s has 1 I emerged a new Boone who ho bears little to the time Boone of ot the m myth th DI am hers tine Une of the of these was the lat late Clarence orth Alvord Ah ord of the time University of IllinoIs IllinoIsan an and 1 time the of ot Minnesota whose hose I lion gained In fa his researches Into the early hIs hIstory history tory tury of the Mississippi 1 valle valley is too secure for him to be reg u corded as nn mn Idle of the great 11 Writing riling In the time American Mercury 1 nearly a decade ago he lie declai decided ed rime rhe facts of the time life lICe ot of the time man Boone In indeed Indeed dEed ha have hale e little In common with Ith tho those e of the SUI superman erman so universally exalted lIe He Is cd Idoll e 1 as the most heroic of western estern ers era as the first to mil coal e a known n to settlers the fertility of ot the time dark and ind bloody countr country of ot hen tucks t and as the first to plant In the cst Hest e t a permanent settlement of ot Americans But Hut It requires only the time most superficial re- re re research search to knock the story Into a n cocked cochel hat lint A stud study of time the historical sources sour proves pro es that thou thousands thousands sau sands of men e explored Kentucky before Boone and 1 the rl region lon was lS well ell known to multitudes who ho needed no superhuman herald either cither to tell them of the fertility of ot the soil or to summon them to action I l in this whole hole complex mo ement across s the mountains Boone played Ill I'll ed eda eda a subordinate part hea he a was little more thin tinn an employee of ot an empire builder Richard 1 lIen Henderson derson n a orth North Carolina speculator and an 1 the founder of ot the Transylvania Trills company comp Daniel Boone Doone was as one of ot many pa pawns pan n In the mag magnificent cent game of ot chess being ph played placed cd on y Of lit superman there is no trace Another distinguished historian ss who ho is probably probably probably ably tut lending leading authority today on the time history of the Old Southwest cst Kentucky V and and Ind who ho is now writing a n definitive e biography of Boone in an In article which appe ired 1 In the ew ew ork lorl la 1 Magazine in 1927 corroborated ll s statements in regard to the priority of other men as y pioneers but dealt sume Int more with Ith the superman 01 myth th lIe Is Dr Archibald Henderson who ho I Is Inel Iasi a g gelt eit rat grandson of ot Doone Bonne Bonnes s em plo plover er of Boone s activities as agent for time the Transylvania 1 h com company pan he says sa s lille hilt these ire tre the rt revelations of modern historic il they do not detract from th the distinctive qualities of or Vannes Boone fl r nil ml II fame Boone w was as probably the most skillful hunter or of orLI LI big game who ho ever eser lied upon the lOn con lie He was wah l a II pitiless explorer a supreme scout Unsuccessful as liS a leader even leader e leader e een en the lead leHI leadership leadership In the defense of seems to ha e has e fallen not to Boone t tut ut to L lIn Ila Loc ay way Lane Lome ne was as unsurpassed cd is an In 11 In Indian lighter who ho on countless oc occasions l lon cd himself lf most more than a n match for fur time the craft est elt and subtlest of ot his Indian opponents be been n through the time In ing halo hollo of a n century and three quarters o of time D Daniel Moons Boone still rl ts before us as a romantic fi figure ure poised and resolute simple benign us benign us n nilve and shy Ui as some wild lId tiling thing of the primes il ml forest file forest five feet t Indies inches III In hel height ht with Ith bro id ul chest and shoulders dirk duk loci lod s genial blur blui i es arched with Ith fair c thin lips imps and wide Ille mouth nose of Roman Homan cast and fair ruddy nun In suit of buckskin Indian and md coonskin cap cup Ith rUIL rills knife an and J tom touts I J alternating with the n e a e and the Hie sum Sill H or ors S compass he lie Is 11 the true 1 I or of ora ofa ofa a LOOI Loop cr er romance r- r ti J t- t 1 tz y F t 9 Fort Boonesborough Here perhaps Is a clew to the if ifon on wh why then s 1 i still male ma lc for u us In the name of Daniel 1 e e arc are mote mOl e influenced 1 In our thInking b by the we e read than we tie e realize It Is cIsler to think In terms of or symbols and t types pes than th It Is to tai talc e a Into account differ differences differences In arriving Ill at an estimate of ot some one person lIn So Su when Cooper s symbolized the Amer Amerlean scan lean pioneer In the time romantic figure of ot Natty we e accepted I as the pro prototype tot pt of or all frontiersmen And when hen a n char character aster acter In real life came as close dose to fitting time the fictitious portrait Ilch Cooper drew as ns Daniel Boone did It was lS almost n a certainty that hIs would be te stamped Indelibly on th the Amer Amerlean lean con consciousness In lurched ol ell ed In this result of or course Is a matter ot of racial and national prIde mid pride and also abo personal onal vanity e tie e Americans like to consider ourches superior to other peoples especially those whose hose skins are arc another color although In this rc respect res we carl an are perhaps no from the British the I rench the Gem Gel mans or the citizens of ot any other country 11 hen we set out to os 0 overrun errun this continent we encountered a nahual al opposition from Its origInal original inal owner O the time led fed man mm lieas lie He was as wily lIy and dur during darIng ing In he lie was as skilled In woodcraft he h was as a n first cliss iss fighting man In older oilIer to survive sunhe the time plo pio pioneers who vi ho 1 Invaded hIs Ills t grounds had to out outwit It and outfight him Those who bo didn t soon lo lost t their scalps Those who did were able to their hold on their new homes in the wilderness until the oven helming numbers of ot tile the white man made certain the subjugation of the tho red man Ulan and time the acquisition ot of his lands lauds Outstanding amon among the pioneers who ho were able aLle to sun survive h e was IS Daniel Boone Boon who ho as lIen del deison son his has said bald was s is unsurpassed as an nn l Indian fighter So when hen we e read of ot one on of ot his victories 0 over er the wily lIy red redskins shins it con films our feeling of racial superiority just as asI I leading of or n s victories In the thou 11 mud ind 1 those of or Scott an and 1 faylor raylor in the Mex MexIcan MexIcan Ican war ar confirms our feelings of national super Daniel Dankl Boone was wms an American we e are arc mer ergo ugo we e too would hive have hl ve been ablo to toha ha hate hae e outwitted those wily lIy I redskins lIe He was a crack shot with Ith the long rille rifle of ot that period II he nits u the most must kl sl hunter of ot big banle bame who ho t ever Lr livid lived upon upun the American continent ht he w a is a peerless exi lorer a n supreme 1 by hy time the s tae ime process of ot reasoning we e lire arc all of or those things In other wordy lie he wasi Is 1 In his hll Held field of endeavor or An And 1 how we e Americans do 10 10 love lose e champions and lose lov 10 e to tobe tobe tobe be s sl I 1 1 the he scientific historians may any take tahe away ny our pal ul ir it belief that Daniel Boone w is ma time the first lorer of Kentucky and the outstanding plo neer Nader In a n rout antic pioneering era But so lon lOll as liS wo we can cherish our belief 1 In him as tilt the symbol S of something which we e consider es SUIt Illy III his nine name will be a us lag mt m m rn r rey ri doting the thc centuries to come as ns It has during the two h 0 that hire have passed since Ince he lie was 11 born 0 e L W 81 11 r |