Excellent notes on the Harpe's Pallas!!! I had never heard of the Earp connection to these obscure characters, but do know they have certain ancestry in Kentucky.
Regions in the Appalachians and the Smokies, as well as through the entire Eastern regions is fascinating and so full of Americana and folklore. Much of our 'history' derives from America's poet laureate Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and his works were a bit more formal form of much of the folklore that became American literature.
Trying to discover more on the legendary keelboater Mike Fink (Phinck) reveals more of the common hyperbole that elevated him, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and other figures to almost mythological proportion. Paul Bunyan, John Henry and many others are more in this distinctly American folkore assemblage.
Mike Fink was apparantly killed in a vendatta over an accidental shooting in characteristic hijinks that prevailed among these rugged characters, and it is said it was 1823. With these keelboats moving up and down these rivers which confluenced with the larger tributaries and into the Mississippi, it stands to reason considerable piracy must have existed which the very lucrative cargoes and trade materials they carried.
******here ya go Mark!!********
Mark, I do remember that beauty of a Bowie you had, and did not know you had brought Flayderman into the loop on it! There are few people who know Bowie's or any Americana like Mr. Flayderman, always a sort of personal hero of mine
and in my mind, very much like the very historical figures we're discussing. Though you gave up the Bowie....that lionhead you got aint no slouch!!! its a beauty too, and one of the most unusual I've seen....maybe you should post it again.
I once thought that it would be interesting to consider the Bowie knife a truly American ethnographic weapon. Interestingly one of the most prolific makers of Bowie knives became Wostenholm of Sheffield, England! I always wondered what the trademark I *XL meant........then found it simply meant ' I excel'!!
I never realized how much history lives in this country until I truly went on the road! and it is wonderful, and I have always loved history, and admired that of so many countries and cultures, but this is ours!! Best of all, it is a complete amalgam of all those from all over the world...now that is magnificent!
All best regards,
Jim