256 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 12, 1910- 
Daniel Boone’s Rifle. 
Charles Stewart Davison, a member of the 
Boone and Crockett Club, who is especially in¬ 
terested in the history of the heroes for whom 
the club is named and everything connected 
with them, recently received from William H. 
Polk, of Lexington, Ky., a letter which con¬ 
tains some novel information. It reads as fol¬ 
lows : 
General Roger D. Williams handed me your 
letter to him, of date Jan. 21, relative to the 
Boone rifle in my possession, and requested that 
I correspond with you about same. It is my 
opinion that this rifle was made by Daniel 
Boone’s brother, Squire Boone, who was a gun¬ 
smith and Baptist preacher—or exhorter. He 
performed at Boonesborough the first marriage 
ceremony that took place in Kentucky. He was 
born in 1744, in Oley Township, Berks county, 
Pennsylvania. Daniel was born Oct. 22, 1734, 
at the same place. None of his biographers, or 
historians, give the date of his birth correctly. 
I got the above from the family Bible of his 
father, Squire Boone, Sr. At the age of fifteen 
(about 1759), so the family Bible says, “Squire 
Boone, Jr., returned to Pennsylvania to learn 
the art and trade of a gunsmith.” This accom¬ 
plished, he returned to his home on the Yadkin 
and set up a shop, manufacturing the long rifles 
used by the frontiersmen. For ten years he 
pursued this calling, until his brother Daniel and 
their brother-in-law John Stuart (who had mar¬ 
ried their sister Hannah Boone) with several 
others made their noted trip to Kentucky in 
1769. John Stuart was killed and Squire went 
back to North Carolina for a supply of ammu¬ 
nition. Daniel was captured, but escaped, finally 
returning to North Carolina with his brother 
Squire, who had come back with the ammuni¬ 
tion. 
In 1773 Daniel essayed to move his family to 
Kentucky, but at Cumberland Mountain his party 
was attacked, his eldest son, James Boone, and 
others being slain. Retreating to a fort on 
Clinch River, and the Indian War of 1774 fol¬ 
lowing (ended by the victory of General Andrew 
Lewis at Point Pleasant, Oct. 10, 1774 ). Daniel, 
in March, 1775, attended the treaty at Long 
Island, of Halston, where Henderson & Co. pur¬ 
chased of the Cherokees all of Kentucky lying 
between the Kentucky River and the Cumber¬ 
land. Boone was employed to lead a band of 
twenty-five men into Kentucky and build a fort 
for Henderson & Co. He did so in March, 
1775, and founded Boonesboro, on the Kentucky 
River. It is my opinion that this is the same 
gun he carried into Kentucky, and which he 
also had the following July (1776) when he and 
others pursued the Indians and recaptured his 
daughter Jemima and the two daughters of Col. 
Richard Calloway. I'judge this from the date 
cut on the barrel—“1775”—after his name “Dan¬ 
iel Boone.” What the fifteen notches cut on the 
barrel indicate I do not know, but presume they 
refer to Indians killed. Shortly after the found¬ 
ing of Boonesboro, Daniel Boone and compan¬ 
ions laid out a new trail between Boonesboro 
and Virginia; a trail that was seventy-five miles 
shorter and much safer. The old trail, marked 
by him in 1775, came down Powell’s valley to 
Cumberland Gap, passed through and over on 
to Yellow Creek and across Cumberland River 
at “the Cumberland Ford”--now Pineville. 
Thence it proceeded on to Rockcastle River, up 
Roundstone Creek to Boone’s Gap and down 
Otter Creek to Boonesboro. On Chickamauga 
Creek, near the present Chattanooga, was lo¬ 
cated a band of outlaw Cherokees under Drag¬ 
ging Canoe, a sanguinary chief. This band 
often waylaid the “Kentucky Road,” as the trail 
through Cumberland Gap was called, and scores 
of white pioneers en route to Kentucky were 
slain. In order to find a safer route, Daniel 
laid out one up Kentucky River to the Three 
Forks, thence up the Middle Fork to Black 
Mountain, and <?ver the latter into the Clinch 
Valley. This route was much less infested by 
Indians. The outlaw followers of Dragging 
Canoe had been waylaying the gap, and Shaw- 
nees from Ohio ascended the Big Sandy, and 
getting over into Clinch and Powell’s valleys, 
attacked emigrants passing each way. Some of 
them also later waylaid the new route, but on 
the whole it was better in every way than the 
old one. It was on the, new route that Daniel 
Boone lost this gun. With a party from Boones¬ 
boro he was en route to Virginia. At Black 
Mountain a squad of savages set upon them and 
defeated them. The brush was thick, the gun 
heavy and long, frequently catching the bushes 
and delaying his retreat. The Indians pressed 
hard, and in order to do some fleet running, 
Daniel pitched the encumbering weapon behind 
a big rock and “cut for tall timber.” Some 
months afterward a man who came to the place 
and viewed the battle ground found the gun 
and picked it up. He built a block house not 
far away and lived and died there, giving the 
gun at his death to his son, from whom it came 
to me through another party with the history 
of the weapon’s loss. 
In Continental days the best gunmakers in the 
colonies were in Pennsylvania—Pennsylvania 
Dutch or German artisans who had come over. 
At Lancaster, Pa., were made the choice 
weapons used in the Revolution. Also 1 at Car¬ 
lisle, Pa., and Philadelphia and other places. 
This rifle is one of those old-style, long-bar¬ 
reled weapons with sugar tree butt and brass 
trimmings. The barrel is over four feet long; 
the entire gun five feet two inches; bore, about 
forty-eight; weight, twelve pounds; and it takes 
a good strong man to hold it out steady and 
aim it. 
During my accumulation of historical data for 
forty years I picked up many relics of different 
kinds, several of them Boone relics. 
In the fall of 1779 Daniel abandoned Boones¬ 
boro, and crossing north of the Kentucky River, 
built his own fort—“Boone’s Station”—at the 
“Cross Plains” (now Athens) in this county. 
From the debris of this fort I dug up part of 
a lid that was used on an old Dutch bake oven. 
At Blue Lick Springs, on Licking River, in 
January, 1778, Boone and his party of salt 
makers were captured by Ohio Shawnees. Their 
salt kettles had been brought from Pittsburg, 
down the Ohio and up Licking to the salt spring. 
When the Indians took Daniel and his party of 
twenty-seven men, they smashed his kettles and 
furnace. This property being for many years 
before the Civil War owned by my wife’s 
family, I often explored it for relics. From 
the furnace I secured pieces of the grates and 
kettles. Also from under the roots of a near¬ 
by tree the petrified head of a saurian, like a 
small alligator. Also flint arrows, stone hatch¬ 
ets, “fleshers,” etc. These I picked up myself, 
and I know them to be authentic. 
Bihmore Doings. 
The work of the Biltmore Forest School in 
Germany during December was chiefly devoted 
to timber estimating, nursery planting, sylvicul¬ 
tural field trips and visits to lumber mills and 
furniture plants, fl he forests about Darmstadt, 
all within easy walking distance of the center 
of town, consist mainly of beech, white oak, 
pine and spruce. Sylviculture as practiced there 
is very intense. Every available foot of soil is 
utilized. Excellent roads throughout the forest 
make' all parts accessible and afford the best of 
fire protection. 
Lumbering in the vicinity of the town is done 
on the most economical basis. Every part of 
the tree is utilized—in the case of larger trees 
even to the roots. In felling, the roots are first 
severed and then the tree is pushed over by 
means of machinery, consisting of props placed 
against the tree and worked by levers. Small 
stuff, in the case of beech, is worked up into 
fire wood; oak into wagon stuff. The spruce 
is mostly raised in short rotations and used in 
the small pole stage for poles or pulp wood. 
In the mills here which, though small, are 
well equipped and run, the logs are individually 
“bastard sawn” and the boards are piled and 
sold just as they come from the log—a very 
good plan because it gives wood of the same 
color and texture to be worked up into furni¬ 
ture or flooring. There are no “inspection rules.” 
The logs are all cut with the purpose of ob¬ 
taining the best possible working into lumber. 
Short lengths are used as much as long. 
New York Legislature. 
Albany, N. Y., Feb. 8 . —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Bills have been introduced as follows: 
By Assemblyman J. L. Miller, of Steuben 
county.—Amending the forest, fish and game 
law by lengthening the open season for ducks, 
geese, brant and swan, so that it shall be from 
Sept. 16 to Feb. 15, instead of Sept. 16 to Dec. 
31. It makes this apply to Long Island par¬ 
ticularly, as well as generally. Under the pres¬ 
ent law the season for brant on Long Island is 
from Oct. 1 to April 30, and for the other wild¬ 
fowl named from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. 
By Assemblyman Sweet, of Oswego.—Relating 
to tip-ups in Sandy Pond, Oswego county. 
By Assemblyman Caughlan, of New York.— 
Requiring all slaughtered animals, game, birds or 
domestic poultry or fowl that have been kept in 
a refrigerator or market for a period of fifteen 
days after slaughter to have attached a tag with 
the inscription “Cold Storage.” 
By Assemblyman E. Young.—To permit the 
use of scap nets not more than eight feet square 
for herring in the waters of the Hudson and 
Delaware rivers without any license. Under the 
present law r all nets must be licensed by the 
Forest, Fish and Game Commission. The same 
bill has been introduced by Senator Cordts. 
The forest, fish and game committee of the 
Assembly will give a hearing Feb. 16 on the 
following bills of Assemblyman Dana: Exclud¬ 
ing woodcock from the provision for an open 
season to last from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, both in¬ 
clusive, at present applicable to woodcock, grouse 
and quail; prohibiting the sale or offering for 
sale of wildfowl from Jan. 10 to Sept. 15, both 
' inclusive; in relation to the storage of fish and 
game in close seasons. E. C. C. 
