Under a Wild Sky (56 page)

  
76
   
Despite its captivating location
Cramer,
The Navigator
, pages 49–72. This extraordinary little book is a great piece of Americana. An indispensable guide to descending the Ohio River and traveling to the frontier, it provided maps, information on settlements, and how-to advice on boats and river travel. First published in 1801, it went through twelve subsequent editions and floated west with countless settlers who pushed off from the Pittsburgh waterfront.

  
76
   
Pittsburgh was already becoming
Ibid.

  
76
   
The estimated value of all trade
Ibid.

  
76
   
Audubon and Rozier were elated
Sharp and Sharp,
Between the Gabouri.

  
77
   
The two men bought passage
Ibid.

  
77
   
The boat moved swiftly
Ibid.

  
77
   
Occasionally the boat careened
Ibid.

  
77
   
He treated the passengers roughly
Ibid.

  
77
   
It stood on the slightly elevated south bank
Cramer,
The Navigator
, page 119.

  
77
   
The “Falls of the Ohio”
Ibid., page 118.

  
77
   
The town of Louisville had been laid out
Yater,
Two Hundred Years at the Falls of the Ohio
, pages 2–3.

  
77
   
About twenty families
Ibid., page 3.

  
77
   
By the time Audubon and Rozier
Ibid., page 33.

  
78
   
Businessmen—many of them French
Ibid., page 31.

  
78
   
Some sixty thousand tons of goods
Ibid., page 32.

  
78
   
There was already talk of building
Cramer,
The Navigator
, pages 119–20.

  
78
   
Audubon listened excitedly
Ford,
John James Audubon
, pages 70–71.

  
78
   
The wedding took place on
Ibid., page 73.

  
78
   
Lucy quietly endured the coarse language
DeLatte,
Lucy Audubon
, pages 42–44.

  
78
   
A young woman who made the journey
Dwight,
A Journey to Ohio in 1810
, pages 40–41.

  
79
   
One day, as they climbed a steep
Ford,
John James Audubon
, pages 73–74.

6. THE FORESTER

  
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A spell of Indian summer came
This long description of Wilson's trip to Niagara Falls is taken from his epic poem, “The Foresters,” in Grosart,
The Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander Wilson
, vol. II, pages 111–73.

  
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Wilson's return from Niagara
Hunter,
The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson
, pages 76–77. In the same volume, Hunter includes a letter from Wilson to William Duncan, dated December 24, 1804, pages 226–28, which provides many of the same details of the return trip.

  
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Though in this tour
Wilson to William Bartram, December 15, 1804. Ibid., pages 225–26.

  
83
   
Both the Schuylkill and the Delaware froze
Wilson to William Duncan, February 20, 1805. Ibid.

  
84
   
Peale, part naturalist and part showman
Porter,
The Eagle's Nest
, pages 27–30. The word
mastodon
had come into general use to distinguish the American species from the Asian
mammoth
.

  
84
   
Peale's collections were so extensive
Ibid.

  
84
   
Wilson also sent drawings of twenty-eight birds
Wilson to William Bartram, July 2, 1805. In Hunter,
The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson
, pages 243–44.

  
84
   
He also sent more drawings to Thomas Jefferson
Wilson to Thomas Jefferson, September 30, 1805. Ibid., pages 244–45.

  
84
   
Early in 1806, Wilson suggested
Wilson to William Bartram, January 27, 1806. Ibid., pages 247–48.

  
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Wilson had recently spoken with
Ibid.

  
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By chance, just as Wilson
Wilson to Thomas Jefferson, February 6, 1806. Ibid., pages 249–51.

  
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His eyesight was failing
Ibid.

  
85
   
In February 1806, Wilson wrote
Ibid.

  
85
   
In April he quit his job
Ibid., page 79.

  
85
   
He was freed at last
Ibid.

  
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When Bradford agreed to finance
Ibid., page 80.

  
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The prospectus offered
Ibid., pages 268–72.

  
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When the first volume
Ibid., page 83.

7. THE EXQUISITE RIVER

  
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Lucy, like other visitors
Lucy Audubon to Euphemia Gifford, May 27, 1808 (Princeton University Library). Lucy corresponded on a number of occasions with a “Miss Gifford” in Derby, England, whom she addressed as her cousin. It's probable, though not certain, that this was Euphemia Gifford, who was actually a cousin to Lucy's father. Years after this letter was written, according to Alice Ford, Lucy asked Audubon to call on Euphemia when he was in England.

  
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Lucy, in a letter sent
Ibid.

  
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Without even mentioning
Ibid.

  
88
   
“As yet they have been light”
Ibid.

  
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A typical boat large enough
Bogardus,
Flatboatin' on the Old Ohio
, pages 8–9; and Cramer,
The Navigator
, page 35.

  
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Travelers were advised
Cramer,
The Navigator
, pages 36–40.

  
89
   
At their final destination
Bogardus,
Flatboatin' on the Old Ohio
, page 10.

  
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The boat, Lucy reported
Lucy Audubon to Euphemia Gifford, May 27, 1808 (Princeton University Library).

  
89
   
Lucy packed bread and ham
Ibid.

  
89
   
Lucy found the dense wall
Ibid.

  
89
   
The name
Ohio Cramer,
The Navigator
, page 24.

  
89
   
The Ohio, it was said
Ibid.

  
89
   
At its head in
Ibid., pages 21–22.

  
90
   
Zadok Cramer, a Pittsburgh bookseller
Ibid., page 13.

  
90
   
The Ohio River's uniform breadth
Ibid., page 24.

  
90
   
The uplands were thick with
Ibid., page 29.

  
90
   
But it was the sycamore
Ibid., page 30.

  
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The summer following
Ibid.

  
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The first serious influx
Harrison and Klotter,
A New History of Kentucky
, pages 18–19, 24–32.

  
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On the lawless frontier
Ibid., pages 251–53.

  
91
   
Audubon, like many people
Audubon, “The Regulators,”
Ornithological Biography
, vol. I, pages 105–7.

  
91
   
Kentuckians also had problems
Harrison and Klotter,
A New History of Kentucky
, pages 30–32.

  
91
   
But that still left an abundance
Cramer,
The Navigator
, page 28.

  
91
   
Bear and deer were so common
Ibid.

  
91
   
When the Audubons got to Louisville
Harrison and Klotter,
A New History of Kentucky
, page 99.

  
92
   
The Audubons took lodging at
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 74.

  
92
   
The ground floor featured a
Yater,
Two Hundred Years at the Falls of the Ohio
, page 31.

  
92
   
Even so, Lucy declared
Lucy Audubon to Euphemia Gifford, May 27, 1808 (Princeton University Library).

  
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“
I am very sorry there is no library”
Ibid.

  
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During his more extended absences
Audubon, “Louisville in Kentucky,”
Ornithological Biography
, vol. I, pages 437–40.

  
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These years, he said later
Ibid.

  
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By the time he and Lucy left
Ibid.

  
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Victor Gifford Audubon was born
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 74.

  
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He later said that only his family
Audubon,
Ornithological Biography
, vol. I, page X.

  
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This, Audubon maintained
Ibid.

  
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And probably no bird fascinated him more
Audubon, “The Wild Turkey,”
Ornithological Biography
, vol. I, pages 1–17. Audubon's long, detailed, and admiring natural history of the turkey is the basis for this entire section.

  
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One of his fans
Ford,
John James Audubon
, pages 183–84. The wax impression of the turkey is still readily found on seals attached to much of Audubon's correspondence.

  
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He recognized and often speculated
To be fair, it should be said that while Audubon noted and described in some detail the egregious slaughter of certain species such as the passenger pigeon, the Carolina parakeet, and the ivory-billed woodpecker—to name three extinct examples—he was generally dismissive of the suggestion that human predation would ever completely eradicate any of these birds. In fact, he more correctly predicted that habitat loss would play a greater role in the reduction of bird numbers than would hunting.

  
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He sometimes said
Audubon, “Letter from J. J. Audubon,”
Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural History
, vol. 1, no. 9 (1832): 407–14. This rare journal—it was published for only a single year—is in the Ewell Sale Stewart Library at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.