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. Itis 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 
