AUDUBON AND BOONE. 173 



borough. They were much annoyed by the Indians during 

 this time, and one man was killed by them, but they suffered 

 most from want of provisions. The indomitable courage of 

 Boone overcame everything ; he finished his fort, and soon 

 after removed his wife and daughter to the stronghold and 

 now these two women stood alone by his side, the first who 

 had crossed the mountains yet the first white women who 

 had yet stood upon the soil of Kentucky ! The mother of a 

 state stood now beside the daughter ! 



I cannot follow up with minuteness the further details of 

 the life of this remarkable man. His story is the history of 

 the birth of states in our progress towards the Empire of the 

 West. It is well known that so soon as Kentucky had grown, 

 mainly under his fostering, to be able to take care of herself, 

 and the smoke of his neighbor's cabin could be seen on the 

 distant hills, the restless pioneer shouldered his rifle and 

 pushed forward to find more room in the yet deeper and un- 

 violated solitudes of Missouri. 



But let us turn to Audubon's first meeting with him, as 

 related by himself in his sketch of the progress of early settle- 

 ment, and of the wild sports of Kentucky. He says : 



Kentucky was formerly attached to Virginia, but in those 

 days the Indians looked upon that portion of the western 

 wilds as their own, and abandoned the district only when 

 forced to do so, moving with disconsolate hearts farther into 

 the recesses of the unexplored forests. Doubtless the rich- 

 ness of its soil, and the beauty of its borders, situated as they 

 are along one of the most beautiful rivers in the world, con- 

 tributed as much to attract the old Virginians, as the desire 

 so generally experienced in America, of spreading over the 

 uncultivated tracts, and bringing into cultivation lands that 

 have for unknown ages teemed with the wild luxuriance of 

 untamed nature. The conquest of Kentucky was not per- 

 formed without many difficulties. The warfare that long ex- 

 isted between the intruders and the Redskins was sanguinary 



