A LEAF ON A STREAM – Study

Bronze, 17.5″H x 28″L x 9″D, Limited Ed. of 100 – Created 2003

(Cabela’s commission for their Hamburg, PA location.)

Since the beginning of time, men of all races and nations have sought out the far away and distant places. Legends have been born because of this ambition. Men have pushed themselves to forge oceans, climb the highest mountains and explore the bottoms of the seas. This spirit was at its highest with the settlement of the Americas and so was born the great American heroes that settled our country.

Daniel Boone was one of these great Outdoorsmen that became famous during his life, for his exploration and brave acts. Others became American legends, not realizing they would be celebrated in history books two hundred years in the future. Some of the outdoorsmen and explorers were Lewis and Clark. Their loyal young guide and hunter, John Colter, traveled with them to the Pacific and returned almost to St. Louis. Not quite back to the boundaries of civilization, he asked for permission to leave the expedition and return to the unknown Rocky Mountains. He became the first White man to explore the Yellowstone. The human life expectancy in the wilderness was six months. If you made it that long, the mountain men would say, “That boy gets the Boone and Crocket stamp.”

This is a small piece of our history, but it has engraved the outdoor spirit into many of us. It has molded us into people that are eager and thirsting for the outdoors. We always want to get into the big woods or just go see what is on the other side of the mountain. Daniel Boone was quoted for saying late in his life, “my life was like ‘A Leaf on a Stream’, twirling, drifting back and forth, but always going forward”. This sculpture is not of Daniel Boone, but rather a salute to all of the men that came before us and made the woods, mountains and rivers ours.