WEBVTT - Ep. 174: Bear Grease Classics: Daniel Boone - Foundations of an American Archetype 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:08.639 We're reflecting back on the foundations of bear Grease. This week, 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.680 we're going back to one of the classics when we 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.520 really didn't know how to make the grease. We were 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:17.119 just kind of guessing, or at least I was guessing. 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:23.400 Episode fourteen on Daniel Boone was originally released on August eleventh, 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.639 twenty twenty one, which seems like an eternity ago. It 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:29.880 was a project that put a stake in the ground 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.239 for me, and the response to this episode surprised me. 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:37.600 It was our first deep dive series into American history. 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.720 This episode was the first one of three. Up until 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.680 this point, I wasn't sure how deep we could go 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.960 in this stuff, how long could we linger on one person. 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.920 There was some identity stuff going on too. Inside the podcast. 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:56.400 It was this a history podcast? Was this modern American 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:57.680 story podcast? 0:00:58.160 --> 0:00:59.640 What was Bear Grease? 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.040 I honestly didn't know if people would like this series, 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:08.240 but it was wildly interesting to me, and two years later, 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:12.480 with the feedback we've received on this specific series, I 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.080 think it was one of our most impacting and I 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:16.319 want to go back to it. 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.479 And from this series we modeled. 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.479 A whole bunch of other historical series that we've all 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:26.480 learned a lot from However, I want to let you 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:29.880 know what we're doing here, because once the calendar rolls 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.360 into twenty twenty four, we're not going to be going 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:34.800 back to the classics. We're going to be making some 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:40.000 original episodes, And without foreshadowing too much, I'll let you 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.920 know that our first episode in twenty twenty four will 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.840 be about a modern poaching story, but I think the 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:48.920 human element of it will surprise you. 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.800 But for now, in this holiday season, we're. 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.760 Going to take a deep breath and go back to 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.920 a bear Grease classic. So, without further ado, my breth, 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:06.600 I hope you enjoy Daniel Boone Foundations of an American archetype. 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:09.440 Happy New Year to everyone. 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.600 Hey everyone, this is Phil Clay wanted me to remind 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.280 you all that on January ninth, Meat Eater's next big 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.400 audiobook project is dropping. It's titled meat Eaters American History 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.720 The Long Hunters seventeen sixty one to seventeen seventy five. 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:27.480 It features our very own Clay Newcombe as well as 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:31.080 Stephen Rnella, diving deep into the storied lives of these 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.200 hunters and frontiersmen. Over the course of these fabled fourteen 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.040 years that were so pivotal in the history of America. 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.359 It's not available in print. This is an audio only format, 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.000 and it's truly special. I've never seen the guys more 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:45.760 excited about anything since I've worked here. And if listening 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.040 to this episode about Daniel Boone gets you fired up 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.400 to learn more about these men during this time, you 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.560 can follow the link in the description to pre order 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:56.519 your copy today. Again, Meat Eaters American History The Long 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.000 Hunters comes out on January ninth, but you can pre 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.760 order it today. We really hope you do. And now 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:02.640 back to the show. 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:14.600 So, as a storyteller, as a marketer, as a brander, 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.000 I like to say, there are kind of, you know, 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:21.400 twelve ish characters, and there are a handful, maybe nine 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.399 types of stories. And the best stories combine like these 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.480 universal storylines with these universal character types. 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.160 When I was just a little kid, people would say 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.960 of people that like to haunt and fish run around 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:40.480 the woods, people would say, he's a modern day Daniel Boone. 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.560 He wants to be just like Daniel Boone. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.320 On this episode of the Bear Grease Podcast, will be 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:50.840 exploring a story as American as Cornbread and Black Eyed peas. 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:55.760 We're talking about one of America's first heroes, Daniel Boone. 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.600 We'll sift through the myth and truth and discuss why 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.400 by heck we're still talking about him two hundred years 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:06.320 after his death. We'll learn about the mechanism of archetypes, 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:11.240 and I'll interview two New York Times bestselling authors, Stephen 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:16.200 Ranella and Robert Morgan about their fascination with Boone. The 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.320 truth is wilder than the myth. This is part one 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:24.440 of our series on Old Daniel Boone, and in it 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.000 will walk through the first thirty five years of his life. 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:33.320 You're not gonna wanna miss this one, but first let 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.440 me request of you two things. 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:36.800 This series is. 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.800 Different than previous Beargrease podcasts. It's a big bite to 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.160 tell the life story of someone like Boone and try 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:47.520 to understand their impact on American culture. And honestly, it 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.080 was more challenging than I thought it would be. But 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:52.320 if you'll stick around with me through. 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.000 This, you'll be glad you did. 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:59.960 Lastly, take a quick inventory of everything you know about 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.520 out Daniel Boone to give you a jumpstart. I'll help 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:07.159 you fit Dan into a timeline. He was born in 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:12.040 seventeen thirty four and died in eighteen twenty. But what 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:26.120 did he do in between? My name is Klay Nukem, 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.719 and this is the Bear Grease Podcast, where we'll explore 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:34.520 things forgotten but relevant, search for insight and unlikely places, 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.359 and where we'll tell the story of Americans who lived 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:43.359 their lives close to the land. Presented by FHF gear, 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:48.560 American made purpose built hunting and fishing gear that's designed 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.320 to be as rugged as the place as we explore. 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:07.280 Man Man and I like the eagle that just fall 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:08.600 as a mountain. 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:16.320 Was Okay, this is Josh Lambridge filmmaker. Tell me everything 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:17.119 you know about Daniel. 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:18.919 I know he was a big man. I know he 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.120 fought for America to keep all Americans free. 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:21.880 That's what I know. 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:26.239 Youmber watching the old Disney Daniel Boone was a man, Yes, 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:30.000 a big man, because he fought for America to keep 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:34.200 all Americans free. 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:37.479 I'm shocked you know that song. 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.080 Okay, a couple of things. 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.640 Daniel Boone was five foot eight and weighed one hundred 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:43.719 and seventy five pounds. 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:48.520 That literally just destroyed my mind. I thought Daniel bunn 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:50.560 was like Paul Bunyan okay, and. 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:52.440 The other thing in the song it talks about him 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.719 wearing a coonskin cap, which he didn't he he did. 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.800 I don't know where you're getting your information, but I've 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.200 seen the movies he work and was getting kept. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:07.040 This is my other buddy, Jonathan. Tell me everything you 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.640 know about Daniel Boone. How much time do you got? 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:11.840 Tell me everything. 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.480 I literally don't know much other than his name and 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.280 that he was an American, that he was a pioneer. 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.560 He worked with the He worked with the Native Americans 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.880 to discover things and discover the woods. He was an outdoorsman, 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:30.680 discover the woods, discover the woods, discover things inside of 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.960 the woods. I feel like I want to say he 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:38.200 was at the Alamo. I really, like naturally want to 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.400 say he was a part of the Alamo. But then 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.240 I feel like it was a guy the Jim Booe 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.040 is that that's Jim Boos of the Alamo. 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.560 Like then I kept saying Bowe he was a human, yes, And. 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:51.800 Then I kept saying David Bowie. I kept getting Daniel 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.960 Boone and David Bowie mixed up in my head. That's 0:07:55.000 --> 0:08:01.480 really all I know about Daniel Boone. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.960 The Action Adventure series Daniel Boone ran on television from 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:09.960 nineteen sixty four to nineteen seventy on NBC. But that 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:15.200 wasn't the beginning of our interest with Boone. America in 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:19.679 the world has been fascinated with him since seventeen eighty four, 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.880 when a former schoolteacher named John Filson published a single 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.960 chapter in his book which the book was about the 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.720 American Frontier in Kentucky, and the chapter was called the 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:37.000 Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boone. Boone was fifty years old 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.360 at the time, and this catalyzed his fame, not just 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:45.320 in America but in Europe. Not long after Boone's death 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:50.200 in eighteen twenty, his first biography was written, and authors 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.560 have feverishly written about him for the last two hundred years. 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.400 Just in twenty twenty one, a new Boone biography came out. 0:08:58.280 --> 0:08:59.560 What did this man do? 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:02.880 And why are we infatuated with the life of this 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:04.040 back woodsman? 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.000 This is Steve Ranella. 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:09.240 I think the. 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.000 People know that he was a woodsman and they know 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.120 he was a frontiersman. The reason they know that is 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.400 the guy became famous. He became famous in his own life. 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.080 He was you know, he could almost argue He's one 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.120 of those first He was one of those people that 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.040 kind of became famous for being famous, Like the fame 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:30.920 was self perpetual. The fame was self perpetuating because there 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.319 were a lot of people, A lot of people were 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.040 engaged in the things that Boone was engaged in. So 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.040 you have this guy, like, why do we know so 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.760 much about him? But there were other long hunters. They 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:42.160 can't figure out what their names were. 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:45.800 Do you really expect me to run mister Boone the 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:47.440 way I see it running beach dying? 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.880 The myth and lore around Boone is thick, and I'd 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.480 like to whittle this down to the truth. But is 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:09.840 that even possible. Time is like a carousel ride. There's 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:11.920 a point when you get on in another when you 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.080 get off. You don't get to choose who you ride with. 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.800 History allows us to look back at people who got 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:22.040 off the ride before us, but it often leaves me 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:31.160 feeling cheated. There's something intimate about an in person conversation, 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:36.239 eye contact, human voice to human ear, and physical proximity. 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.840 One man who I would have ridden a mule across 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:42.480 the country to meet, just to look in his eyes, 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.760 to see his hands, and to exchange a few words 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:51.800 with would have been Daniel Boone. Carousel has cheated me 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:55.200 out of getting a first hand sense of who he was. 0:10:56.320 --> 0:11:00.440 Boone is shrouded in deep mystery. He's an American legend, 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.480 icon and archetype. To sum up Boone's life, he was 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:08.479 a backwoodsman that taught us to cherish solitude and wilderness, 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:12.320 which was a foreign concept to the world. Raised a Quaker, 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.400 he was influenced heavily by Native Americans and was even 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:19.040 adopted as a Shawnee. He was a frontiersman known for 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:22.679 making the Cumberland Gap famous and settling the Kentucky Frontier. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:27.000 He embodied the westward expansion of America, which led this 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.880 country to what it is today. He was uneducated but 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:35.680 influenced America's literary giants. He fought in the Revolutionary War 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.319 for America, but was tried for treason by the Americans. 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.600 He attained global fame in his lifetime, owned over thirty 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:47.200 thousand acres in Kentucky, but he died a common and 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:52.520 poor man. He was a contemporary of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:56.959 and Benjamin Franklin, and only their stories have been told 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:05.800 more in American history. Than Daniel Boom. It's common for 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.160 people to say that Boone is an American archetype. I 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.720 want to get a better understanding of what that means 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.640 and how they work. Seth Haynes is a published author 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.480 and the founder of through Line Strategy and Brand. A 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:21.920 couple of years ago, he introduced me to the idea 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:27.120 of archetypes as they're used in modern branding. Meet my buddy, 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:28.120 Seth Haynes. 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.920 So, in my work as a writer and in my 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.360 work doing branding and marketing, we use archetypes a lot 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:41.000 as sort of shortcuts for characters. And there's you know, 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.800 some old work that's been done on this by Carl Youwing. 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:48.480 There's about twelve ish archetypes, twelveish universal characters. So as 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.360 a storyteller's a marketer, as a brander, I like to say, 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:55.240 there are kind of, you know, twelve ish characters, and 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.640 there are a handful, maybe nine types of stories. And 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:03.360 the best stories combine like these universal storylines with these 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:05.280 universal character types. 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.520 So this is almost like something that's going on in 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.400 the background that we don't even realize, but we'll totally 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:13.079 identify with Yeah. 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.760 And everyone in the world. I mean, I think if 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:16.719 you were to break down your life and say, here 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.079 are the people in my life, you could almost break 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.479 them down to Oh, yeah, this guy represents the character. 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:23.400 Of an outlaw. 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.520 You know, he's always a rebel, he's always on the run, 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.640 he's always in something. This person represents the character of 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.680 an explorer, someone who's always out in the wilderness looking 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.720 for something to get into, some expression of freedom. And 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.960 these character types are what we call archetypes. So an 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.680 archetypal expression is just simply like, this is the character 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.240 that I play in the universal story of life. 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:50.280 Can you give me an example of a national American 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.959 figure that we've used as an archetype, like like Johnny 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.960 Cash is like an outlaw archetype. 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:01.520 Yeah, I love Johnny Cash is an archetype because I 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:05.560 actually think he's terribly complex. The man in Black is 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.079 I mean a thousand percent the rebel right. I mean, 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:11.360 if you picture Johnny Cash day, you'd see him, you know, 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:14.800 on a Harley with his guitaristlung over his shoulder or something, 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.560 and always pushing the boundaries, always pushing it back against 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.960 societal norms and so. And he's always trying to bring 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.880 even in his music, you know, Woody Guthrie is another 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:28.480 example of this, always trying to push against the norms 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.320 of society to find what's true and what's real. Johnny Cash, though, 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.320 I love because when you really look at his life, 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.080 like he was also extremely generous. I mean the stories 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:41.280 I've heard about Johnny Cash's generosity from everything from kids 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.680 to sick people to the elderly. He truly cared for 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.600 his community of people. So he had this public persona 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.360 that was very much rebel, but he also had this 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:53.760 private life that was very much caregiver. And so sometimes 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:57.640 I think we even find that we embody different archetypes 0:14:57.680 --> 0:14:59.360 depending on where we are. 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.120 That's a good that's a good example because what I 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.400 see inside these archetypes, and even inside of Boone, is 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:08.720 that they represent to people that really don't know them 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:13.160 this one dominant feature. Yeah, Like Johnny Cash is an outlaw, 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.640 outlaw music outlaw. He's complex, you realize he's a human, 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.080 and he has this bigger space. Like Boone is this 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:24.200 courageous explorer, you know, frontiersman, conquering wilderness. 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:25.520 That's something that we like. 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.600 But that was actually a pretty not I'm not going 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:30.840 to say a small part, but there was much more 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.560 to Boone's life than that. Yeah, but the point being, 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.200 we we are embracing something. It's kind of like a 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.160 shroud of marketing around a person. 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:43.760 It's branding. Yeah, it's one hundred and so you know, 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:45.320 one of the things that we like to say when 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.320 we talk about branding is that branding is biological. And 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.440 so what we do as humans is we take a 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:55.280 character or take a person, and we impute to them 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.400 or give to them like the character type or the 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:02.280 story that you know best sort of resonates with us internally. 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.880 And I'll tell you, man, the biggest characters in American 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:10.040 history understand that, know that and embrace it. Yeah, and 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:12.320 it becomes part of their mystique and part of their branding, 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.080 and that's what gives them lasting influence. 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.240 And that's what's wild about Boone is it was clear 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:21.520 that he, even in the seventeen hundreds, when there was 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.040 not social media, i mean like high level technology, was 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:29.160 someone writing with a quill and ink you know your story. Yep, 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:33.720 he played the part and it wasn't inauthentic. It wasn't 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.479 It wasn't like he was trying to drum up publicity 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:39.840 around his life. He was who he was, but at 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:44.280 the same time, he was pretty masterful at doing things, 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.920 saying things, and being things at the right time for people. 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:50.240 To remember him. That's right. 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:55.400 These archetypes basically are our human shortcuts to understand the 0:16:55.440 --> 0:17:02.760 world around us. Yes, understanding the mechanisms of culture building 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.399 is important. I also think it's interesting that most of 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.520 what we know about Boone didn't come directly from him, 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:15.159 and there in Liza's mystery, Wildly two different drafts of 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:19.959 first hand interviews with him were defunct. One manuscript was 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:25.040 completed but lost. The other manuscript was incomplete but lost 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:30.639 to what the heck? Who's in charge here? However, in 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:35.720 eighteen fifty one, thirty one years after Boone's death, a young, 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:40.640 nerdy librarian and historian from New York named Lyman Draper, 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:46.520 traveled to Missouri to interview Daniel's youngest and only living son, 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.920 Nathan Boone, who at the time was seventy years old. 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:56.160 It was said that Draper was quote nearly obsessed by 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.600 the passing of the old frontiersman, and he determined to 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:05.160 collect as much material in interview as many survivors as possible. 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:10.000 Draper and Nathan give us the most intimate and accurate 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:14.280 look into Boone's life. You can actually buy them compiled 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:19.400 as a book titled My Father Daniel Boone. Here's an 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:26.919 excerpt from the manuscripts. My grandfather's squire Boone was a 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.720 weaver and a farmer. His residence was probably an olie. 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:33.439 He kept at least five or six looms going at 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.240 one time. He had his homestead and in the grass 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.000 season moved his stock back several miles distance to a 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.840 fine range where cowpens were made for herding cattle at 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.200 knights and a cabin was built in which Miss Boone 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:51.120 spent the dairy season in attending to her milk. During 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.000 the mild weather, her son Daniel went with her to 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:56.640 act as a herdsman. He went with the cattle during 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.120 the daily roaming through the woods and brought them back 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.520 each evening. This was his chief occupation from the age 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.679 of ten to seventeen. This move was an annual affair, 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.000 and Miss Boone always went personally to attend the dairy, 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.679 and her son Daniel was always attendant to watch her 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.000 and take care of the cattle. My father soon became 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:19.760 fond of the woods. Even at the age of ten, 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:23.000 he would carry a club a grub dug up by 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.760 the roots, nicely shaven down, leaving a rooty knob at 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:30.240 the end, which he called his herdsman's club. He became 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.320 an expert in using it to kill birds in small game. 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.560 This life enabled him to study their habits. When he 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:39.879 was twelve or thirteen, his father bought him a gun, 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:43.199 and he became a good marksman. The only problem was 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.320 that he often neglected his hurting duties to hunt, but 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:50.080 this experience gave him his love of woods and hunting. 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.120 Daniel's brother, Samuel, was born in seventeen twenty eight. According 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.240 to the records of Squire Boone Junior, Samuel had a 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.840 very intelligent wife who taught my father to read, spell 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:04.159 and write a little. This was all the education Daniel 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.760 ever had, as he never attended school, But he acquired 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:12.160 more education by his own efforts, particularly in writing, as 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:16.200 he could do little more than rudely write his own name. 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.440 In all my research on Boone, I was moved by 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:30.200 Nathan's account of his father. I envisioned me talking about 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:33.720 my own father or my son, recounting my life. Long 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:38.000 after my passing. We're going to camp around Boone for 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:42.520 a few episodes. He influenced the American hegemon the way 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.760 that we think and to understand who we are, I 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:48.240 think we need to acknowledge and be aware of the 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:53.399 Boone influence. I'm interested in how Boone has influenced my 0:20:53.560 --> 0:21:02.560 life unknowingly. Stephen Ranella is the founder of a company 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.399 called meat Eater, the company that this Here Bear Grease 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:09.240 podcast is produced by. He's a New York Times bestselling 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.840 author an American hunter, but he's also known as a 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.679 national Boone expert. Renella began his young life in the 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.719 outdoors with dreams of being a full time trapper like 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.080 Boone was during periods of his life. It was a 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:27.080 real treat to get to sit with Steve and talk Boone. 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:33.600 There's been like countless Boon biographies written since the time 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:35.200 of just after he died. 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:42.480 I just recently sent me a Boon book. Yeah, publishing 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:43.160 a boomboo. 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:44.719 So okay, so people have this. 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:45.480 I can't stop. 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:49.080 And that is exactly what I want to talk to 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:51.960 you about. Why are we so well? 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:54.120 I want to I want to dive into your personal 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:57.879 interest in Boone? Why were you so interested in Boone? 0:21:58.160 --> 0:21:58.320 Man? 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:00.639 I was when I was just a little kid. People 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:05.359 would say of people that like to hunt and fish, okay, 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.719 run around the woods. People would say, he's a modern 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:13.280 day Daniel Boone. He wants to be just like Daniel Boone. 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:18.520 He's a real Daniel Boone. To it means like the 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:22.440 consummate woodsman, right, it's like the dedicated woodsman. I didn't 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:26.280 realize when I first started to hear that term, you know, 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:29.040 growing up with it, I didn't realize like how correct 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:31.959 it was. I think the people know that he was 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:35.720 a woodsman, and they know he was a frontiersman. The 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:37.320 reason they know that is the guy became famous. He 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:38.760 became famous in his own life. 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:40.000 He was. 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:44.200 You know, he could almost argue he's one of those 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:46.280 first he was one of those people that kind of 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:47.719 became famous for being famous. 0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:49.160 Like the fame. 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:58.199 Was self perpetual. The fame was self perpetuating because there 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:01.400 were a lot of people. A lot of people were 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:06.120 engaged in the things that Boone was engaged in. There 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:08.040 were a lot of market hunters, there were a lot 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:09.600 of long hunters. There were a lot of people who 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:12.000 got tangled up in the American Revolution, in the Western 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:15.199 front of the American Revolution, there were a lot of 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:19.520 people who won and lost a ton of money speculating 0:23:19.600 --> 0:23:23.080 in land. There were a lot of people that started 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:26.320 frontier settlements or stations out on the frontier. Tons of 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:29.359 people did this stuff. Boone wasn't the first one to 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:31.760 go through the Cumberland Gap. Me of course, he wasn't 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:34.919 the first one. Boone wasn't the first euro American to 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:37.560 go through the Cumberland Gap. But he owns that event 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:44.640 because like he got notoriety and I'm not I'm glad 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:47.880 it happened, and people started to ask questions. They talked 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:50.840 to his relatives, they talked to the children of his children, 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:53.680 and his body like built up. So you have this guy, 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:57.560 like why do we know so much about him? But 0:23:57.600 --> 0:23:59.720 there were other long hunters. They can't figure out what 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:03.720 they're as were who were his contemporaries because I know 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:08.040 because it never like the seed never got started. The 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:12.240 idea that like to investigate an individual, that happened with Boone, 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:15.359 and the investigation continued and continued and continued to the 0:24:15.400 --> 0:24:19.560