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Show 1836- 1837I Fkgg's Far West 215 [ 195] As I rode leisurely " along upon the prairie's edge, I passed many noble farms, with their log- cabins couched in a corner beneath the forest; and, verily, would a farmer of Yankee- land " stare and gasp " to behold the prairie cornfield of the Western emigrant; and yet more would he be amazed to witness the rank, rustling luxuriance of the vegetable itself. Descending a swell of the prairie near one of these farms, a buck with his doe leaped out from a thicket beside my path, and away, away bounded the " happy pair " over the grass- tops, free as the wind. They are often shot upon the prairies, I was informed by an old hunter, at whose cabin, in the middle of the plain, I drew up at twilight, and with whom I passed the night. He was a pioneer from the dark and Moody ground, and many a time had followed the wild buck through those aged forests, where Boone, and Whitley, and Kenton once roved. 140 Only fifty years ago, 149 For a sketch of Daniel Boone, see Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 43, note 16; and for a more complete account consult Thwaites, Daniel Boone ( New York, xooa). Simon Kenton ( 1755- 1836) having, as he supposed, killed a neighbor in a fight, fled from his home in Virginia to the headwaters of the Ohio River. He served as a scout in Dunmore's War ( 1774) and in 1775 with Boone, explored the interior of Kentucky. Captured by the Indians ( 1778), he was condemned to death and taken to the native village at Lower Sandusky, whence he made his escape. Later he served with distinction in campaigns under George Rogers Clark, and was second only to Daniel Boone as a frontier hero. In 1784, Kenton founded a settlement near Limestone ( Maysville), Kentucky. He took part in Wayne's Campaign ( 1793- 94), and was present at the Battle of the Thames ( 18x3). In 1820 he moved to Logan County, Ohio, and sixteen years later died there in poverty, although before going to Ohio in 1802 he was reputed as one of the wealthiest men in Kentucky. See R. W. McFarland, " Simon. Kenton," in Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society Publications ( 1904), xiii, pp. 1- 39; also Edward S. Ellis, Life and Times oj Col. Daniel Boone . . . with sketches oj Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetmt> and other Leaders in the Settlement of the Wot ( Philadelphia, 1884). Colonel William Whitley ( 1740- 1813), born in Virginia, set out for Kentucky about 1775, and built in 1786 or 1787 one of the first brick houses in the state, near Crab Orchard, in Lincoln County. A noted Indian fighter, he participated in the siege of Logan's fort ( 1777), and Clark's campaigns of 178a, and 1786. He also led several parties to recover white captives- his best known feat of this character being the rescue of Mrs. Samuel McClure ( 1784). In 1794 he was the |