While Davy Crockett was rapidly becoming known to the people of his State, he was planning to increase his income by building a large distillery, and a mill for grinding corn, with an addition for the manufacture of powder. He had saved enough money partly to pay for it, and built it in a great measure with his own hands. After the mill began its output, Mrs. Crockett acted as miller3 when Davy was absent. She is said to have been able to lift[126] the bags of corn about, as well as the men who brought them could. The tourist to-day will look in vain for the site of the mill. Where the great wheel turned slowly beneath the weight of the waters of the creek, and the rumble4 of the millstones startled the traveller with the sound of distant thunder, the rhododendron now opens its gorgeous buds, and the laurels5 cover the waste places with a measureless profusion6 of delicate flowers. Among the hemlocks7 close to the quiet stream, the thrush and the cat-bird sing their liquid scores, and the redbird and the scarlet8 tanager vie with the Kentucky and blue-winged yellow warblers in the glory of their April dress. All things are changed in these old places of the world, until we climb the mountains to its top, and see the far blue ranging crests9 that blend at last with gentle skies, unchanging and unchanged.
When Davy set out for Nashville, to take his seat as a member of the Legislature, he had finished his mill, but still owed for labor10 and material. The mill was worth three or four thousand dollars, and besides that, he owned several able-bodied slaves,[127] and more than the usual stock of goods and chattels11. He saw prosperity and honors assured, and his soul was full of faith in the future. The Legislature that came together after the elections of 1821 was composed of the class that represented the men of the frontier, rather than the aristocracy that had hitherto monopolized12 both the wealth and the honors of the State.
In the same year, William Carroll, who had so bravely commanded the rear guard of Jackson’s forces at Enotachopco Creek, was a candidate for the Governorship. He represented, as did Davy, the men who paid rentals13 to monopolists, and taxes to the State that favored the wealthy in the filling of remunerative15 offices. When Carroll’s enemies accused him of having let his note go to protest, they threw a boomerang that slew16 them in its sudden homeward flight; for Carroll’s friends made it known that he had lost everything in going security for them in dire18 financial straits. His opponent, Ward17, was cold and unapproachable. To him a man from the cane-brakes or the windowless cabins of the mountains was little better than the savages19 just[128] beyond. In Phelan’s history of Tennessee, there is mention of a sarcastic20 letter printed in the Nashville Clarion21 over the signature “A Big Fish.” In this the supposed Big Fish, or Big-Bug, as the aristocrat22 was then often called, gave the reasons why he could not vote for Carroll. He said that Carroll was born of poor parents, and had never learned the rudiments23 of Latin and Greek; as a boy and a young man, he had plowed24 and reaped and cleared the land; he had always been handy at log-rollings, country weddings, and huskings; he had gone to the wars, instead of staying home to save the wealth that was needed for the Governor’s position; he could not support the dignity of the great office with fine dinners, splendid carriages, liveried servants, and state balls; he was too ready to shake hands with the ragged25 soldier because they had fought on the same fields. A man who was not above such low-born loons was not fit to command the votes of the educated and the men of the higher classes.
Carroll received forty-two thousand votes, while his austere26 and wealthy rival had but eleven thousand.[129] On the same popular tidal wave, Davy Crockett was carried to Nashville as a representative of his neighbors in the recent Purchase from the Indians, and in the atmosphere that prevailed in the halls of state he believed he had found his place.
Davy had hardly been sworn in as a member of the Legislature when bad news from home reached him. A freshet had swept away his mill, and his distillery was worthless without the corn that was ground by it. When he had served through the session, he rode home, sold all that he had, and paid every dollar he could realize to his creditors27. He was left with nothing but his household “plunder,” as he termed it, and the times were hard. The “Loan Bank” scheme that was to provide a currency and credit for development of the State had become a failure. There was nothing to do, in such times, but to live by the sweat of the brow. His wife stood bravely by him, and he gave up all he had, and “took a bran-fire new start.”
He was now thirty-six, and his oldest boy was[130] sixteen. With this son and a young man named Abram Henry, Davy started in the spring of 1822 to look at the Obion River region, then reputed to be full of game. It was a long tramp across an unsettled country, nearly one hundred and fifty miles in a bee-line, and the three led a single horse which carried their scanty28 outfit29 of food, blankets, and ammunition30. There were many streams to cross, including the Tennessee. In what is now Carroll County they struck the head of the south fork of the Obion River, and this they followed to a place about ten miles south of where the small settlement named after Crockett now is situated31. Here they found themselves in a wilderness, abounding32 with game. The three nearest cabins were seven, fifteen, and twenty miles distant. The one seven miles away was that of the Owens family, and it was on the other side of the Rutherford Fork of the Obion, a tortuous33 stream, then in flood and over its low banks for half a mile on either shore. The water was chilly34, the depth uncertain, and the crossing difficult and full of danger.
There was nothing to do but to take to the[131] water, and after hobbling the horse, so that he could graze till they returned for him, they went at it “like so many beavers36.” When the water was too deep to go ahead, Davy felt the way over the shallower bottom by using a pole. His boy often had to swim beside them, and progress was slow. When the river channel was reached, they found that a tree had fallen and lodged37 in a pile of flood-trash near the middle of the main stream. The water was deep at this place, and there was no way of crossing without some kind of a bridge. A large buttonwood tree stood upon the near side of the river, and the two men began cutting it down with Davy’s tomahawk. They managed to do this so that it fell above the flood-trash, and when it had been washed against it the bridge was ready.
“When we got over this,” says Davy, “it was still a sea of water as far as the eye could reach. We took into it again, and went ahead for about a mile, hardly ever seeing a single spot of land, and sometimes it was very deep. When at last we came in sight of land, and got out, it was but a little way before we saw the house, which was more[132] pleasing even than the sight of land. I felt mighty38 sorry when I would look at my boy, and see him shaking like he had the worst kind of an ague, for there was no time for fever then. As we got near the house, we saw Mr. Owens and several men that were with him, just starting away. They saw us, and stopped, but looked much astonished until we got up to them, and I made myself known. The men who were with him were the owners of a boat which was the first that ever went that far up the Obion River, and some hands they had hired to carry it about a hundred miles further up, by water, though it was only about thirty, by land, as the river is very crooked39.”
The whole party then went back to the Owens cabin, where Mrs. Owens won Davy’s gratitude40 by taking charge of the shivering boy. A great fire blazed in the fireplace, and before that they dried themselves. After supper, leaving his boy with Mrs. Owens, Davy and the others went on board of the boat, and stayed all night. It was a flat-bottomed boat, drawing but a foot or so of water. The cabin, or deck-house, was of light material,[133] furnished with bunks41, and stored with the freight that would be injured by rains. The other freight was lashed42 on deck, and the load was all that was safe to carry. This boat was carrying flour, sugar, castings, coffee, salt, and other goods needed on the frontier, and was to go as far as McLemore’s Bluff43. This was in Carroll County (as now named), and the crew were to be paid five hundred dollars bonus if they landed the freight at that point. It was to be a proof that the river was navigable thus far, though it seems that a flood was first necessary.
In the morning Davy went with the boat, to help get it by a place on the river where a “harricane” had blown trees across it, making it hard to get through. They found that the water had gone down, and had to wait for a rain. The next day it rained “rip-roariously,” as Davy tells us, but yet not enough. While waiting, Davy and the boatmen crossed the Fork, and in a short time “slapped up a cabin” on a spot selected by him. Here Davy procured44 four barrels of meal, one of salt, and ten gallons of spirits, in payment for which he was to[134] help get the boat to McLemore’s Bluff. Henry and the boy were left in the new cabin, after a deer had been killed for them, and other supplies provided.
The day after the cabin was built, Davy started out with his rifle for a hunt. Within a few minutes he had killed a fine buck45, and hung him up. He started to go back to the boat for help in bringing him in, but on the way he struck the trail of a number of elk46 and went after them. In a short time he saw two deer, large bucks47 with immense antlers. He dropped one, and then shot the other, which would not leave the one first killed. Hanging the two out of reach of bears and wolves, Davy kept after the elk till evening, when he gave up the chase, being four miles from the cabin, and “as hungry as a wolf.”
As he set out for the river, on his way back, he killed two more bucks. Dressing48 these in the usual way, with the skins on, he hung them up and kept on. Before he got to the river, just at sundown, he killed another buck, making six since morning. At last he reached the lower edge of the[135] “harricane,” and was disappointed at not finding the boat there. He had not expected it could be taken through that day. When he fired his rifle as a signal, the answer came from up the river. He then knew that he had to crawl and climb through the “harricane,” in which all kinds of berry-bushes and vines were growing. A fat coon would have had a hard time in getting through after him, he tells us. Finally he got to a place where a skiff came for him. He says that he felt as if he needed sewing up all over, thanks to the brambles and the briers along his trail, and he was so tired that he could scarcely work his jaws49 to eat.
The next morning four of the deer were secured and taken on board, and the voyage proceeded. Pushing, and hauling with ropes, it took eleven days to reach the Bluff, from which point Davy and a young man named Flavius Harris went back to his cabin in the skiff, given to them by the boatmen. They at once cleared a field, in the usual rough way, leaving the charred50 stumps51 standing52, and planting among them. Davy put in enough corn to do for the winter, but had no time for[136] fencing. It was late spring, and he was anxious to return for his family. While thus planting and planning, Davy killed ten bears and “a great abundance of deer,” repaying the Owens family many times over for their kindness to him and his boy. In these weeks of hard work the only white faces seen were those of the Owenses, and once in a while those of men looking over the country.
There were many Indians in the timber, and sometimes they came to Davy’s clearing, and watched with vague forebodings the gleam of the axe14 and the tender green of the springing grain. Their traditions were full of the untrammelled freedom of the wilderness, of the plentiful53 supplies of game and mast, of rivers alive with fish, on whose banks the beaver35 and otter54 were scarcely afraid of those who wore the splendid peltries of their kind. When they turned from the scene towards the solitude55 of the wilderness, their hearts were sad, for the knell56 of their race resounded57 through their ancient temples, built by the Great Spirit, whose aisles58 were rows of stately oak and pine, whose arches of living green were hung with golden blossoms[137] of the tulip-tree and the fiery59 clusters of the trumpet-vine. There was no sentiment in the heart of the pioneer, who classed the Indian, the wolf, and the moccasin of the steaming swamp, as equally worthy60 of extermination61.
When the corn had started, Davy made his way back to Shoal Creek, and from there to Nashville to attend a special session of the Legislature. With his three dollars per diem in his pocket, he returned to the scene of his disasters, and as soon as possible started with all his family for the clearing on the Rutherford Fork of the Obion, where Harris was working out his own salvation62 with axe and fire, while keeping the “varments” out of the Crockett corn. It was some time in the fall of 1822 that the wearied family came in sight of the rude cabin that was to be their home. Most of them had tramped the one hundred and fifty miles across the trackless land, for upon the horses were loaded the household effects and wearing apparel that Davy still owned. The loom63, the wooden trencher, spare clothing, table utensils64, and a few rude dishes were about all that the pioneer thought necessary[138] in these days, always excepting the priceless ammunition and the guns.
The small clearing of six to eight acres that Davy had made, a quarter of a mile east of the Fork, could only partly feed so many mouths, and the task of supporting his family would have been desperate, had it not been for the supply of game that could always be counted upon. The river and the lakes were full of fish, and when the meat for the winter had been cured or salted down, there was always a good chance of getting more if needed. When Davy had harvested his crop of corn, in the last of October, 1822, he set out for the usual fall hunt. The buffalo65 had already disappeared from that vicinity, and he never saw one of these ponderous66 animals until he was on the way to the Alamo, in the last year of his life. Of all other wild “varments,” as he termed them, the woods were full.
When Christmas approached Davy’s supply of powder ran low, and he determined67 to cross the Fork and go to the home of a brother-in-law who had settled six miles west, and who had brought[139] with him a keg of powder for Davy. The river was full of slush ice, and was out of its banks, as when Davy first saw it, but the determination to have powder for the usual Christmas fusillade, and the fact that they were out of meat, overruled his wife’s argument that they might as well starve as to have him drown or freeze. With his gun and hunting tools, and a few extras in the way of clothing, he started through the deep snow that had fallen, and waded68 across half a mile of flooded ground, until the main channel was before him. This he crossed on a log that lay from bank to bank, but farther on he came to a slough69 which was wider than the river itself, though he had always been able to cross it on another log. This was entirely70 under water, but he recognized its location by the sapling that stood beside it. By cutting another long sapling and lodging71 it against the first, he managed to use the submerged log as a bridge, and reached an island, now under water in the slough. Again wading72 for a long distance, he crossed another slough part way on a floating log, but fell off it when it turned over with him.[140] He waded out of the water, which was nearly up to his head, and when he got to solid ground, put on the dry clothing which he had held, with his rifle, above the water. He says that after he had done this and had hung the wet clothing on the bushes, he had no feeling in his flesh. He tried to run to warm himself, but could scarcely move his feet.
When he got to his brother-in-law’s cabin, he thought the smell of the fire the best thing he had ever known. The next morning was piercing cold, and he stayed there to hunt, killing73 two deer for the family. The third day he decided74 to return, hoping that the ice had frozen so as to help him cross the still places in the sloughs75. But time after time he broke through, and when he reached the sloughs and the river he had to go through the same performance as he had when he first crossed them—a feat76 made even harder by having to cross first with his gun, and then go back for the powder-keg. The ice had been broken as if a bear had gone across, and he at once fresh primed his gun, so that he was ready to “make war upon him,” if he appeared. When Davy reached his home, he was[141] hailed as one risen from the dead. He learned that the ice had been broken by a man sent after him by his distressed77 wife, who had given up hope of his ever returning. He concludes this incident by saying: “I wasn’t quite dead, but mighty nigh it; but I had my powder, and that was what I went for.” This impatience78 at delay was one of Davy’s traits. He might easily have managed to subsist79 until the falling of the water, or until the ice was strong enough to bear him, but he couldn’t wait. It is a sure thing that he celebrated80 Christmas with a part of the dearly-earned powder.
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1
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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laurels
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| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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hemlocks
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| 由毒芹提取的毒药( hemlock的名词复数 ) | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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monopolized
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| v.垄断( monopolize的过去式和过去分词 )；独占；专卖；专营 | |
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rentals
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| n.租费，租金额( rental的名词复数 ) | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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remunerative
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| adj.有报酬的 | |
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slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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clarion
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| n.尖音小号声；尖音小号 | |
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aristocrat
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| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
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rudiments
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| n.基础知识，入门 | |
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plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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beavers
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| 海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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42
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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43
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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44
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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45
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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elk
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| n.麋鹿 | |
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47
bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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48
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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49
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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50
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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51
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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53
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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54
otter
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| n.水獭 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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56
knell
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| n.丧钟声；v.敲丧钟 | |
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57
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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aisles
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| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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61
extermination
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| n.消灭，根绝 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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66
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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68
waded
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
slough
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| v.蜕皮，脱落，抛弃 | |
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70
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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71
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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72
wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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73
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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75
sloughs
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| n.沼泽( slough的名词复数 )；苦难的深渊；难以改变的不良心情；斯劳(Slough)v.使蜕下或脱落( slough的第三人称单数 )；舍弃；除掉；摒弃 | |
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76
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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77
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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78
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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79
subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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