CLA D Boon rifle

[Mike R]

Anyone have any comments on the so-called Daniel Boone rifle exhibited at the CLA show?  I was not there, but saw photos of it. The crude "D Boon" on the box  looks questionable to me, plus I have read that Daniel always signed his name Boone with an e. 

[SCLoyalist]

Well, there's the famous inscription, supposedly carved on a tree by Boone, of "D. Boon cilled a bar" somewhere in Tenn or KY.    Of course, the 'D. Boon' in question may have been Dumess Boone, the great-grandfather of Seymour Hawken, the prolific Italian-American rifle-maker.

[Ky-Flinter]

I looked at the rifle briefly at the CLA show.  It was in a case and they had a lighted magnifier lens set up to better inspect the "inscription".  It is indeed crudely scratched.  It has what appears to be an "N" preceding the "D Boon".  This is on the upper side plate of the patch box.  The lower side plate is missing.

I think the owner's supposition is the rifle belonged to Nathan Boone, Daniel's son, and was made by Daniel and another man for Nathan.  The other man's name was given, but I cannot remember it.... maybe Daniel's brother Squire?

-Ron

[Mike R]

I looked at the rifle briefly at the CLA show.  It was in a case and they had a lighted magnifier lens set up to better inspect the "inscription".  It is indeed crudely scratched.  It has what appears to be an "N" preceding the "D Boon".  This is on the upper side plate of the patch box.  The lower side plate is missing.

I think the owner's supposition is the rifle belonged to Nathan Boone, Daniel's son, and was made by Daniel and another man for Nathan.  The other man's name was given, but I cannot remember it.... maybe Daniel's brother Squire?

-Ron

Well, I suppose that is possible--Squire was a gunsmith and Daniel capable of making one.  Anyone hazard a guess as to age?  Daniel and Nathan were close--Dan related that in his later years they were robbed of their rifles by a band of Osages in MO and that he lamented Nathan's loss of a fine rifle, but the implication was  that his own was of no account.

[G-Man]

In one of his interviews Nathan refers to two rifles in one discussion - one made for him and another, I think maybe made by his uncle Squire for his father (?) but not sure, but the context of the discussion was that he was  mentioning that the one for him was a smaller caliber.  If I recall correctly, it was something to the effect that Nathan had been using the one his uncle made for his father, and then they made him a smaller caliber gun, but I may be mistaken.  Anyway, I think the timeframe he was discussing as when he got it was 1790s if you sort of read between the lines.

I'll have to take a look at "My Father Daniel Boone" again to get the details.

I would love to see a picture of this gun if anyone got one - always interested in anything possibly related to the Boones.


Guy 

[Mike R]

wwww.graphicenterprises.net   has a photo spread on the CLA show and there are some so-so pics in that spread of the 'Boon' rifle.

[Stophel]

Never publicly question any markings on any old gun.  You'll get in trouble.

[Mike R]

Never publicly question any markings on any old gun.  You'll get in trouble.

Hopefully we as a society have not reached the stage where asking questions is an offense.  My grandfather, father, an uncle and 2 cousins were lawyers and none of them thought about liability like the average American these days--we are in a period of wholesale litgation.  Freedom of speech is no longer free?  I am Editor of a scientific publication coming out in September, and the publisher, overworried about being sued, was overzealous about permissions to use info to the point he had a contributing author, the principle owner of a small company write a letter of permission to himself to use his own data in our pub!!!  In the past all we had to do was cite the source of info.  I am not saying the rifle or inscription is a fake, however, as John Mack Farragher, in his bio of Boone, wrote, Boone for a poor man sure had a lot of stuff, if we are to believe all claims of Boone relics.  Jim Bowie had a lot of knives too....anyway I was looking for opinions on the rifle, but I suppose your remarks will stifle that.  

[Top Jaw]

I talked to the owner at length.  He bought it as a gun to have restored.  It was not until later that he discovered the lightly scratched name on the sideplate, and started his research.  He has a very intriguing story, and presents the evidence of several connections that point to the gun having some serious potential of being a Nathan Boone gun, possible crafted by his father.

[Curt J]

There was an article on that rifle in the KRA Newsletter not too long ago. It includes photos and quite a bit of information.

[G-Man]

Checked the book "My Father Daniel Boone"  - Nathan refers to his little "bird" rifle that he used for birds and squirrels and shot a "ball" about the size of a buck shot - so it definietly seems to be a samll caliber rifle, (no mention of maker) and a larger caliber rifle made by his "father and William Arbuckle."  Again, the timeframe seems to be 1790s, when Nathan was in his early to mid-teens.

Guy

[jwh1947]

I saw the N. Boone marked rifle at KRA.  I have the highest regard for its owner, a noted gunbuilder and superior gun restorer.  Furthermore, he is a true gentleman and I am glad he got this rifle and not some farmer who planned to use it to dispach hogs.  

This being said, if I am not mistaken, he is not a professional researcher and this could be his sole major treatise.  I would offer these suggestions to any newbe to the area of written scholarship.  All of us, no matter how experienced at the business, can be hoodwinked by our own desires and wishes.  When we wish for something to turn out a certrain way, it often does.  We all have blind spots caused by our wants and by leaps of faith.  Conjecture, assumption, guesswork, opinionated notions, and subjective interpretations of a few books don't make for hard research.  It is a good story, but methinks we are still at the story stage.  There is not one thread of scientifically or historically acceptable fact here, that I have seen, that connects the rifle to the story; that is the fundamental issue that must be cleaned up first!  I'll be the first to admit that I haven't the slightest idea who made the gun, who carried the gun or who crudely scrached a name on the gun.  But I remain unconvinced that anyone else does, either.  Sometimes it is not what we don't know that causes problems, but rather what we think we know and for which we have no sound epistemological foundation.  

It would only be fair to mention that my life has been spent critiquing educational policy, public policy, scientific literature and, currently, submissions for a juried criminal justice journal.  My job was to detect weak or misleading language, plagiarism, and false or unfounded testimony.  In my opinion, we are nowhere near the publication point on this one.  Those trained in research would need a more convincing basis.  That's just one man's opinion in the quest for veracity.  I apologize in advance to my associates if I offend anyone, but the truth never emerges when people cower in silence out of fear of hurting someone's feelings.  A thin skin is the first thing you shed in either a philisophy or research methodology classroom.

Point to ponder.  My dad was scoutmaster back in the 1950's.  Each boy took a "trail name" and many etched the name on their hatchet or canvas carrier.  One boy's trail moniker was D. Crockett.  I have his hatchet hanging above my workbench.  Now, it is a Plumb brand tool, so only the least informed among us would miss the anachronism.  But think about the logical extension of this kind of thinking.