INTRODUCTION.                 Xiii

indeed, well authenticated and undisputed, they would
be regarded as extravagancies of the liveliest imagi-
nation. Too trivial for sober history, perhaps, which
concerns itself with higher themes, they will grow in
value as illustrating a phase of frontier life that can
never be repeated on this continent, and, mellowed
by time and distance, will yet form subjects for the
painter's canvas and the poet's pen.
  The conditions of the settlement of a new country
now are very different from those that attended the
civilizing conquest of the Mississippi Valley. The
railroad carries forward to the pioneering colony
(even anticipating its wants) all the conveniences
and comforts of older communities; the telegraph
speedily follows; and few settlements are now so
remote as to be isolated from the civilized world.
But the pioneers who, upward of a century ago,
crossed the Alleghanies from the east or the Cum-
berlands from the south, afoot, on horseback, or in
rude wagons, cut loose from their base of supplies,
and beyond provision for the barest necessities, had
to create for themselves those things that contribute
to the comfort and happiness of living.
  The very ground upon which the pioneer's cabin
was built, the field which was to supply his food, had
first to be cleared of its wealth of timber and luxuri-
ous undergrowth. He was accounted fortunate who
had brought with him into the wilderness other prod-
ucts of civilization than the inseparable axe and rifle,
the plow and the spinning-wheel, and such household
utensils as were absolute necessities. Dr. Doddridge,