The Long Hunt by LaMerle Francisco, Teacher Scott County Schools

Tad was finally tired of hiding from Daniel Boone's party of Long Hunter's. Three days earlier his paw and older brother had joined Daniel Boone and the other Long Hunters on a dangerous trip to get pelts and skins in Kentucky. Paw had said that twelve years old was too young for such a dangerous trip. Besides wild Indians, the cold winter, and other dangers, walking and riding such a long way, would be too much for a young feller like him. Well, he'd show them. Nobody at home would miss him, not much anyway. His sister, Jan, had recently married a young man named Tom and moved into Tad's home, as if they weren't crowded enough. And then along came that dad blamed baby, Alex. "Oh, Jan, he's so fat and cute, looks like his father." That's what everyone said. Tad might as well have been invisible for all anyone noticed him. Let Tom carry in the water and firewood for a change. Do him good to do his own chores instead of ordering Tad around like his own personal slave.

(What do you think will happen when they find Tad?)

Yes, Tad had timed it right. The Long Hunters had gone too far to turn around and take Tad home, and it was too dangerous to send him back alone. Boy was Paw mad though! He got a hickory limb switch as long as a fishing pole and he would've walloped Tad good if it hadn't been for Daniel Boone.

Ask: Why is Paw (Will) angry with Tad?

Boone:
Now Will, I know you're mighty mad at Tad right now, and you've got a right to be. He shouldn't have snuck off like he did. But he's a good shot and he knows his way around the woods almost as good as Don.

Tad:
Look here paw. I brung my own rifle and powder and shot. I even got a bedroll with extra clothes, food, and moccasins. Maw won't need this ole plow horse. Tom has three (thinks he's rich) and Maw was worried about how to feed them all this winter.

Ask: Do you think Tad knows what he is doing? What makes you think that?

Don:
I'll look out for him, Paw. He won't be no trouble. He's turning into a better hunter than me anyhow. I done taught him all I know.

Ask: What is Don’s opinion of his little brother Tad?

Paw:
Well, Tad, looks like everyone is taking up for you. You'd better not let them down. You'd better do your share!

Ask: Do you think Tad will do his share? Why? Why not?

In about three weeks the hunting party was crossing the North Fork of the Holston River.

Boone:
The McCulloch family had a cabin near her on Big Moccasin Creek. I heard they moved out because of Indian trouble.

Will Carr:
It's mighty purty around here. I can see why folks would want to live here. Plenty of game, too.

Explain what game means in this context.

Boone:
Kaintuck (Kentucky) is even better. That's why we're goin' through these mountains.

Don Carr:
I don't look forward to going through the mountains. If they all had gaps like this one at Moccasin Gap, it would be okay, but it's rough on men and horses climbing up and down mountains.

Tad:
Mighty slow goin', too. When are we going to make a permanent camp and do some real hunting?

Don:
I agree with Tad. I'm ready to start on the job we come here to do.

Will:
It's still a might long way to Kaintuck. Wild animals in this area are thick as fleas on a dog's back.

Tad:
They're fat and healthy. Their furs are shiny and warm, just like they should be.

The next day the Long Hunters camped on Clinch River. They had crossed Big Moccasin Creek and Copper Creek, too, before they got there.

Will:
Dan'l, I been keeping a sharp eye out for game. I done seen a mighty lot of white tail deer, beaver, raccoon, and fox. Tad and Don have found sign for wood buffalo, elk, wolf, cougar, mink, and otter and a whole lot more. I don't cotton to the idea of being away as long as you fellers aim to be. Reckon I'm a farmer at heart. I just need some good furs, pelts, and skins to sell or trade for more farming and building supplies.

Don:
I been thinkin about spring plowing and plantin'. My brother-in-law Tom is a good trader, but not much good at farmin' and huntin'. He's gonna take our catch on back East and get us a high price. Then he's gonna set up a tradin' post nearby and go into business with us as partners.

Tad:
Well, that explains a lot. I thought he was just lazy. I remember how he left with some furs and one horse, but he come back with three horses and a wagonload of supplies. I guess different folks just have different talents.

Ask: Does Tad’s opinion of his brother-in-law change? How do you know?

Will:
That shows you're growin' up Tad; you might make a man after all.

Boone:
Are you trying to tell me you want to split off from my party and try your luck around here?

Will:
I guess that's what I'm sayin'.

Don:
Me and Paw and Tad talked it over and we agree. The shorter the trip, the quicker we can get our pelts and get home.

Boone:
You're free men and can follow your own road. But I got to warn you. Back in '69 (1769) David Cox tried that. He did okay for awhile but then the Indians got him. He may still be alive, but no one knows for sure what happened to him.

Tad:
We'll be extra careful Mr. Boone. Ain't no savage Indian gonna sneak up on Paw and Don while I'm around.

Boone:
Ha Ha. You're a sight Tad Carr. I'll be losing a good man if you stay here.

Tad:
Well, Paw needs me more'n you do, Mr. Boone, reckon I'll stay with him.

Early the next morning, Boone and the rest of the party headed out to cross the Powell River, pass through Cumberland Gap, and head into Kentucky country.

Don, Will, and Tad Carr went out to look for a good place to make their winter home. They needed shelter right away, no time and no tools to build a shelter. They needed something already built. Only there wasn't anything.

(What could they do?)

Will:
There should be caves along this river. Maybe we can find one deep enough and dry enough to use for a winter home.

Tad:
We could kill a couple of bears. Their skins make good rugs and blankets. It'll get mighty cold this winter.

Don:
That's a good idea, Tad. Think you can find us a big fat bear?

Tad:
Easy.

Will:
Bear grease will come in handy, too. We can make floating candles with it, use it to fry bread in, and to smear on our faces and hands to protect them from the wind and cold.

Don:
Paw, after we get ourselves a place to stay, I been thinkin'. We need more'n one place to cache our skins.

(Explain the word cache [pronounced cash]. As a verb it means to hide; as a noun it means hiding place, usually a hole in the ground)

Will:
That's good thinkin', Tom. I've heard lots of stories about Indians stealing the hides from Long Hunters. Why, that even happened to Dan'l Boone. He was awful upset, too. He was counting on the money from those furs to pay his debts and give him a new start.

Tad:
Well, let's get started. I see a bunch of likely looking places from here. We'd best go check them out.

Eventually, the father and two sons found a cave to their liking on the south bank of the Clinch River. They piled their supplies in the back of the cave and covered them with hides, then brought in big rocks to anchor things down.

Will:
After we've had a fire in here for a while, I reckon the wild animals will be afraid to come in here. The smoke will cover the smell of our supplies, so varmints won't want to come in an' look around.

Tad found several bears and they were able to fix up their cave all nice and snug against the winter storms.

Don:
Paw, we need to fix us a temporary shelter about a day's walk from here so's we'll have a place to stay until we can make it back to here.

Tad:
We'll need more'n one.

Will:
I like the way you boys think. We have to be mighty careful in this country. There's bound to be some bad snowstorms or thunderstorms and we could freeze to death or get mighty sick if we don't have a good dry place to stay in.

Don:
I reckon we'll be over on Obey's Creek lookin for weasel, mink, otter, and beaver. So that's one place to set up a lean-to if we can't find a cave.

Will:
We'll probably be out by the Powell River, too. We'll need to fix a place there.

Don:
And Wallen Ridge.

Tad:
And Powell Mountain.

After a few weeks of hunting, the Carrs had quite a large number of pelts. They used Don's idea and backtracked across the Holston River. They dug a deep hole, lined it with rocks and dead grass, and placed their pelts in it. They covered them with more dead grass then rocks and dirt and tried to make it look natural.

Tad:
You know, Paw. Them Injuns is gonna be looking for a place like this. Maybe we ought to make a decoy.

Explain decoy - something that looks like the real thing but isn't and is used to fool people or animals.

Will:
Not a bad idea, but I hate to waste good pelts that way.

Don:
Paw, we can use our old skins we brung here from the Yadkin, throw in some that got ruined by poor shootin' or skinnin' and only one or two good uns. Remember how Mr. Boone lost all of his. We don't want that to happen to us.

Tad:
Before the ground freezes too hard, we should make another cache on Big Moccasin Creek. Then we'd have two caches on the way home in case things got bad with the Injuns and we have to hightail it out of here in a hurry.

Don:
We can fix one at Copper Creek, too. We can dig them out now and fix them but we don't have any furs to put in them.

Tad:
Not yet we don't, but that won't take long, will it, Paw? I'm gonna get me a cougar skin this time out. I've seen those big cats but I haven't had a chance to shoot one yet.

Don:
I'm wanting to get me a buffalo. I hear the meat is mighty fine eatin' and the pelt makes the warmest covering in winter, good strong moccasins, too.

Will:
I've got my sights on a big bull elk. He's got the biggest set of antlers I ever seen.

One day toward the end of winter the Carrs were coming back from hunting over on Stone Mountain and Powell River when they got caught in a blizzard.

Don:
I think I'm lost. I don't know where we're goin'.

Will:
I can't tell which way we're headed either. Tad, you've got the best sense of direction of any of us. Do you think you can find us a place to hole up until this blizzard is over?

Tad:
I'm kinda turned around too, but we ought to be close to Purchase Ridge. Surely there is a cave or cliff overhang there where we can take shelter.

Tad was right about being close to Purchase Ridge, but in a blizzard anyone can lose his sense of direction. Instead of going toward Purchase Ridge, Tad started walking in the opposite direction. After a few hours, they had all given up hope when Tad noticed something unusual.

Tad:
Paw! Don! Up ahead! Look! See that place that looks darker than anything else. Maybe that's the opening to a cave.

Ask: Why couldn’t Tad tell what it was that he saw?

Will:
Let's go see. I'm ready to dig a snow cave if that isn't one.

Explain how to make a snow cave: Dig out a hollow in the snow large enough to sit and turn around in, but not too big. A rifle or long stick should be used to keep open a hole in the roof to allow in fresh air. The inside of the cave is warmer than outside and protects from the strong winds. Rather like how an Eskimo igloo works.

Don:
That's a mighty big opening.

Tad:
That's good. We can bring our horses in with us.

Don:
Great golly grumpus! This is the biggest cave I've ever been in.

Will:
Let's see if we can find some dry wood and kindlin' to start us a fire. Over in this corner looks like a good place.

Tad:
I'm glad we brought our bear skins. We'll surely need them tonight.

Don:
I'll hobble the horses so they won't get spooked and run off.

Hobble: to tie together with rope so that it is hard to take steps

Will:
This ain't much of a fire and this place is so big there's no way to heat it up.

Tad:
Maybe it'll keep us from freezing anyway. The horses will help, too.

Don:
We can heat up some food and melt some snow so we'll all have some water to drink.

Will:
That'll make us all feel better. We can all get under these bear rugs together and keep each other warm. Put Tad in the middle seeing as how he's the smallest.

When the blizzard was over the hunters explored the cave.

(Do you know what they found?)

It wasn't a cave at all. It was a tunnel through the mountains, a tunnel made by nature, a Natural Tunnel.

Tad:
Paw, can you believe this? This is the biggest tunnel I ever saw.

Will:
No man made this. It's too big.

Don:
Nature made this tunnel. Nobody ever dug in here. It's a natural tunnel.

Tad:
And it's big enough to hide a huge war party of Indians out looking for scalps.

Will:
Indians don't travel much in the winter. Weather's too cold and bad.

Don:
Ain't it time for winter to be over? How long we been out here anyways?

Will:
Since the last part of October. It ought to be getting close to spring now.

Tad:
It don't feel like it to me. I'm getting' awful lonesome for Maw and her cookin'. One of her dried apple pies would taste awful good right about now.

Will:
We've got plenty of skins, furs, and pelts. Reckon we can start getting' ready to go home.

Tad:
Whoopee! It's been fun, but I can't wait to get home.

Don:
Don't get too carried away. We have to wait for the weather to break.

Will:
It won't be long now. Look how fast the snow is melting. Maybe we ought to head out in a couple of days while the ground is froze.

Don:
Yeah, if we wait too long, we'll be wading through mud up to our knees when the ground thaws.

The Carrs went back to their main camp in the cave on the Clinch River. They mended harnesses, bridles, saddles, and packing gear. They tied up their furs good and tight. On the way home, they stopped at their caches (Do you remember what cache means?) on Copper Creek, Big Moccasin Creek, and the Holston River. They had so many furs, they had to make a travois to put them on and pull behind the horses.

Travois: a litter pulled behind a horse and which drags on the ground. Indians used them to carry injured or sick people as well as their belongings.

They got back home in time for spring planting. Tom made a special cart for the furs and Tad went with him back East to sell them. They traded the cart and furs for a big wagon, supplies, extra horses, cloth, and building tools.

When they got back, everyone was talking about David Cox. He'd escaped from the Indians and was staying with John Blackmore. David Cox had folks all excited about moving to the Clinch River country. He had described the beautiful countryside with its forests, mountains, rivers, and streams. There was good fertile land for planting crops and plenty of game for meat and furs.

Indians had gone quiet for a while. If a large group of people went out together and built a fort to go to in case of trouble, they would be pretty safe.

Paw said he liked the Clinch River area. It was a fine place to build a new home. No more long hunts for him. Don agreed with his paw.

Tom allowed as how he'd like to go to the Clinch River country to set up his trading post. Bound to be a greater need for trade goods in that unsettled area than where they were living now. The Clinch River was sure to have folks traveling in boats on it and they'd be mighty happy to see a place they could trade for supplies and get information about Indians and such.

Tad's thoughts were that if they moved out there it wouldn't be so far to Kaintuck. He dreamed of joining up with another party of Long Hunters and crossing the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky.

But they couldn't leave before another year. It was too close to winter to take families to a place with no houses. They would have to wait until early spring to begin that. Meanwhile, they could work, dream, and tell stories about the land beyond the Clinch Mountain.

Lesson Plans for "The Long Hunt"

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