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Informationen zum Autor Brice Gamble is the author of The Black Sheep: The Definitive Account of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War II. A retired naval flight officer, Gamble lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Klappentext The first biography of the legendary Marine pilot who commanded the ad hoc squadron of pilots depicted in the NBC television series "Baa Baa Black Sheep! " sets the record straight in this warts-and-all account of a larger than life American hero. Includes photos and maps. Original. > 1 > > > > Rough and Tumble > > > > The vista that greeted Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as they trekked > through Lolo Pass was breathtaking. Leading a congressionally funded > expedition across the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains in September > 1805, they became the first known whites to admire the soaring granite > peaks and swift, cold rivers of what would later become the panhandle of > Idaho. It had taken them sixteen months to come this far, and another year > would pass before they returned to their own civilization. Meanwhile, the > Shoshone Indians who guided them through the mountains surely saw the > white men's presence as a sign that more would follow. > > More did, just a trickle, barely noticeable at first. French trappers and > missionaries arrived from Canada, giving their descriptive names to some > of the tribes, the Nez Perce and Coeur d'Alene among them. For years the > hardy trappers and devout reformers were the only newcomers to venture > into the unforgiving mountains, but other settlers were eventually drawn > by the promise of abundant resources and spectacular beauty. Then came the > Civil War, after which the westward expansion mushroomed, precipitated by > the joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads in 1869. > The banging home of a ceremonial gold spike completed an engineering feat > that changed the Indians' ways forever--and changed the land. > > From the transcontinental railroad a network of tracks spread across the > West like a crazy web. Adventure seekers, industrialists, and immigrants > looking for the American Dream rode the rails and wagon trails to newly > accessible regions. The seekers surveyed vast regions of timber, found > gold and silver, discovered bonanzas of natural bounty; the industrialists > found ways to exploit these finds and extract the riches from the land. As > the railroads brought more people, the towns grew in proportion, requiring > ever greater quantities of lumber. > > In 1902, a trained timber estimator named Joseph Boyington left his > children in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and moved to the "stovepipe" of Idaho, > not far from the trail blazed by Lewis and Clark. The surrounding > mountains held an enormous belt of white pine, reputedly the largest stand > in the world, providing plenty of opportunity for a "timber cruiser" such > as he. If a landowner wished to sell acreage to a lumber company, > Boyington could determine how much usable timber it held, depending on the > size of trees the company wanted to log. By traversing the property at > specified distances, or "chains," and counting the trees meeting the > desired diameter, he could estimate the total board feet of lumber and > assess its value. > > The lure of opportunity brought Boyington to Dalton Gardens, a peaceful > neighborhood of small farms and apple orchards north of Coeur d'Alene. > Back in Eau Claire, he had farmed and was proprietor of a wholesale feed > and flour business in addition to estimating lumber. A wife named Hannah > had been with him at one time, though for the past fifteen years she had > not been listed as a member of his household. Of his four children, the > three youngest remained in Eau Claire to work or complete their education; > the eldest left for Evanston, Illinois, and enrolled in the school of > dentistry at Northwestern University. > > This was Charles Barker Boyington, born on ...
