riod of twelve months. From time to time a small party
was sent back to the different forts with packhorses laden with salt. On
their return, they would bring supplies, parched corn, and perhaps a few
of the simple comforts that seemed almost luxuries to the hardy
backwoodsmen. Meat constituted the chief article of diet for the workers
of the salt factory. It required no small amount to satisfy the appetites
of thirty vigorous men. Boone, as the most expert hunter among them,
undertook to supply the camp with meat. The task was, to him, a thoroughly
congenial one, which we cannot imagine the more civilized task of
manufacturing salt to have been.

It was Boone's custom to go out some miles from camp every morning,
returning at the close of the day with as much game as he could carry, and
often leaving a quantity at a particular spot to be sent for with a
packhorse. One afternoon Boone was making his way toward the salt works
after a day of successful hunting, when he suddenly found himself
surrounded by a company of Indians. Not having seen a redskin for months,
and believing it unlikely that they could be present in large numbers at
that time of the year, Boone was not as keenly on the alert as usual. The
savages had found Boone's trail while wandering through the woods. He was
taken captive, adopted into the tribe, his hair picked out in Indian
fashion, and the war paint added. Boone's failure to return led the men in
the camp to suspect the presence of Indians, and to guess that Boone had
fallen captive. The alarm was quickly sent to the surrounding forts. Maj.
Harlan, Col. Trigg, Col. Todd, and Boone's brother led a body of men
against the Indians in what proved to be the bloodiest battle recorded in
the annals of the territory, and known as the Battle of Blue Licks. In
this battle, Boone's eldest son was slain, and it is said the old man
never could refer to the battle without shedding tears. In the midst of
the battle, Boone escaped from his captors and rejoined the settlers.

George Rogers Clark and the Revolution

Among the many men of sterling quality who for various reasons came out to
Kentucky, was one stalwart, well-trained, military genius known in history
as General George Rogers Clark. His first trip to Kentucky was
semi-official, as a representative of the Virginia Legislature, to visit
the various forts and settlements and to report progress to the state
government. He found