......John Henry's Past Revisited...continued...........

       When  John Henry and his family left upper New York State, bound for the new life out West, Henry was just a youngster ready and willing to find out more in life, then what he had  there in New York, with his Mother and Father. Don't get me wrong, as far as I knew, he had loved his parents as much as any other child. But Henry was different, he needed adventure and excitement, even at his age. I guess that's what drew us together so many years later.
     
     Now bound for the West he would find those things and many more that no one could tell you or would tell you, if they did  had experienced just part of what he was about to find in that new land they were about to discover.

     After just leaving their home State of New York, Pennsylvania was about to leave them a new feeling of wonderment. Such rolling hills, and green pastures abound. It took them only a few miles to have second  thoughts about where their lives should be headed.
   Non-the-less, they moved on, knowing that what they had dreamed of was just around the bend, and over the next hill. Both that hill and that bend, as they moved on were getting further and further away from them.
    
    Leaving behind such a large of a state as that, they were now concerned about their provisions. Knowing that they had just begone a trip so large, that  Henry's parents' started to show self doubt. It was in their speech, and in their stature. Henry could see it now, but he wasn't about to let them fail the mission. He began hunting more, and honing skills that only a weathered Frontiersman could accomplish. His father was proud of what he saw develop in his now grown boy.
    
    Soon they would come upon the mighty Mississippi. Once they did, they stopped for a longer camp stay than any of the earlier ones that they did previously to get to this point. They only spent a day at the most before, knowing the ground they had top cover.
    As Henry's parents' started the process of making camp, Henry went out in the woods to explore the surroundings that would be their living quarters for a stay that none of them had ever experienced, and soon they would find out just how much.....
     

Breaking Camp with Jack Long & John Henry

       After listening to Henry telling the story of our first encounter with Grover, the large and quite indulging Negro that we have ever encountered , we thought it best to break camp, and try to reach our next destination South of here. That would be somewhere around Colorado, or Oklahoma to find another job either rounding up wild Horses, in or around Denver or herding Cattle from Oklahoma West, to where ever the best price would bring us. Both choices were not particularly something we wanted to do from our past experiences, even though the money was good, it was hard on our bodies and soul. 
     
     Hey Henry, I hollered as we were both ready to mount our Horses and head on South. 'Which sounds better to you this time, rounding up wild horses, or Herding a bunch of beef to the slaughter house?' Of course it would take a while for the cattle to get to that stage of the game, but I figured it would help Henry make up his mind quicker, seein's  he didn't like the idea of bloodshed. He'd had seen enough of that in his life so far.

    Henry's life out here started on the worst note possible. He and his Ma and Pa, had packed up back East. They  were form Northern New York. His father a Mohawk Indian, his Mother was a mix, a little Indian...Mohawk...then the rest was a of what ever was wondering around those parts at the time. He told me once he had some Irish and German, which explained a lot when he got a hold of some 'Fire-water', and went on a tear for a couple days with not a soul that could stop him.
   Another reason that he got so ornery, was when they started there new life on the road out West. They had their wagon packed with an extra horse in tow along with a supply Mule, that carried any extra supplies needed. They headed out on a fine day in the early Spring, thinking that they needed as much good weather at the start, so there could get a jump on it as farther West they went.
    Henry was still a youngster, but proud to help out where ever he could, growing up fast on that  trip to the Mississippi. There were making good time and didn't encounter much trouble so far along the way. They had brought plenty of provisions to get them at least past the river.
     Now they were in some rough territory. Henry's father had rode out years prior to scout out the area, but hadn't gone much further from where they were now, when the weather got too rough and he had to turn back. But it would all be new to them soon enough, as they made their way into the Great Plains.
    At the time the Great Plains were nothing to fool with, since not many have been around to talk about it. They either made it through or went around.
       John Henry, his mother and his father, had to make a decision. Should they go Northwest, Southwest, or continue due West......