Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Boone, himself

TL;DR - 1st and 2nd generation on his father's and mother's, respectively. Fortunately, the guy was peripatetic and covered territory. MO, his last frontier, is of importance to a lot of discussion that will be going on.

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We have all heard of Daniel; TV did him in. Of late, we have had a chance to get further acquainted with him and his times. We mentioned that it was the 5th generation that bore the brunt of the revolution. The 8th started to reap the reward which has been a continuing dynamic to now; this suggests, of course, that the 400 years of American experience are going to be central to a whole lot of studies and worrying about how to decide to have sustainable lives going forward. Nothing new, really, just that we're at one 400th, with others coming up, and at 100ths and 200ths.

100th, for one, would be the Spanish Flu and things associated with that. We looked at how that influenced The Massachusetts Magazine. 200th? Well, we have mentioned Jedediah Strong Smith who went all the way coast to coast, from New England to LA and above and partly back. Was killed along the Cimarron River (lower part of the green section on the map) that flows out of the CO mountains and heads east toward the Mississippi. Never makes it as the Arkansas River intervenes.

Before that, Boone got people out of the eastern seaboard via the Cumberland Gap. Himself? He got all of the way to MO.

Note: using the USPS abbreviations to approximate areas - we know that boundaries were fluid and controversial for a while. Do we need to remind New Englanders that ME got its panache as free when MO came in as non-free?  In the below map, we are talking the yellow area.

U.S. and Missouri

A couple of years ago, we were looking at an area just west where Col. Thomas W. Higginson visited to support free-staters. But, earlier, it was the point of the trails splitting off. People came into the area from the east by river, if they could. Otherwise, it was on foot, horseback, or wagon. In any  case, we are talking 200 years ago. We are talking 1820 for the ME/MO deal (did it just go by without much notice). Well, in 1799, Boone was to the eastern side of the yellow region. He was first generation American on his father's side and second generation on his mother's. He knew how to be peripatetic.

Note: This was a mere 10 years after the "European arrival" in Australia.

During the 1820s, there were people moving west toward the green. The fact is that the east side of the yellow was the Mississippi. Boone used that as he went down to LA (not the city in CA). One could navigate, like Lewis & Clark to parts of the green. They actually made it to the light green section. Jedediah made it to the far reaches of the green and went up to the light green. A friend of Col T. W. Higginson did the trick a little later. The significance? Prior to the transcontinental railroad, it was real work.

Lots and lots to look at.

Remarks: Modified: 08/28/2020

08/27/2020 -- The significance of this area is that there was early activity by the Spanish and French. Like we mentioned in the 400ths, Coronado was around and about in the mid-1500s. But, most activity was on waterways. Boone's significance, on the other hand, deals with establishing settlements in landlocked areas. A cohort of Boone will be looked at, too, in the context of the west and how it was settled: Zebulon Pike (he after whom is named the Peak in CO). 

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