258 The Winning of the West 



lived in his rough log house with but one room, or 

 at most two and a loft. 10 



The man of the Western waters was essentially 

 a man who dwelt alone in the midst of the forest on 

 his rude little farm, and who eked out his living 

 by hunting. Game still abounded everywhere, save 

 in the immediate neighborhood of the towns ; so that 

 many of the inhabitants lived almost exclusively 

 by hunting and fishing, and, with their return to the 

 pursuits of savagery, adopted not a little of the 

 savage idleness and thriftlessness. Bear, deer, and 

 turkey were staple foods. Elk had ceased to be 

 common, though they hung on here and there in 

 out of the way localities for many years ; and by the 

 close of the century the herds of bison had been 

 driven west of the Mississippi. 11 Smaller forms of 

 wild life swarmed. Gray squirrels existed in such 

 incredible numbers that they caused very serious 

 damage to the crops, and at one time the Kentucky 

 Legislature passed a law imposing upon every male 

 over sixteen years of age the duty of killing a cer- 

 tain number of squirrels and crows every year. 12 

 The settlers possessed horses and horned cattle, but 

 only a few sheep, which were not fitted to fight for 

 their own existence in the woods, as the stock had 

 to. On the other hand, slab-sided, long-legged hogs 

 were the most plentiful of domestic animals, ranging 

 in great, half-wild droves through the forest. 



10 F. A. Michaux, "Voyages" (in 1802), pp. 132, 214, etc. 



11 Henry Ker, "Travels," p. 22. 



" Michaux, 215, 236; Collins, I, 24. 



