The Forest and Man 43 



the racial differences were between the settlers, the 

 conditions of frontier life very soon moulded them 

 into great similarity, so that the type was almost 

 the same from the Lakes to the Gulf. In fact, the 

 first white men, aside from the French, both in the 

 regions towards the North and South, came from 

 that middle ground of Kentucky and Tennessee 

 where perhaps the type was most completely 

 developed. 



To what extent the peculiarity of civilization 

 evolved in the early days of the States between the 

 Appalachians and the Mississippi was the product 

 of the forest surroundings becomes apparent when 

 one compares the development of these States with 

 those of the trans-Mississippi country. The place 

 of the pioneer in the forest, with his axe, and his 

 leathern hunting-shirt, travelling slowly on the 

 rough trails or drifting down the rivers in canoe or 

 flatboat, is there taken by the horseman of the 

 plains. We cannot trace here the details of how 

 this difference in surrounding nature has expressed 

 itself in the laws, customs, and institutions of these 

 sections, but to the attentive student of history it 

 is plain indeed. 



For a long time the writers of American history, 

 mostly men of the Atlantic seaboard, almost en- 

 tirely neglected the part played by the backwoods- 

 man. Yet, now that our history is being treated 

 with a more truly scientific insight, it is found that 

 in many a crisis the peculiar character of this class 

 exercised a determining influence. For one thing, 



