Remarkable land survey entirely in Boone’s hand, signed as deputy surveyor, “Daniel Boone DS,” one page, 7.75 x 5.5, June 11, 1787. A boldly handwritten survey for 487 acres of land undertaken by Boone with the assistance of Septimus Davis and William Brooks as chain-men and William Hill as marker. In part: “Survaid for Benjamin Gibss 487 acres of Land by virtue of a tresury warrant…Situate Lying and being in the County of Madison on Sturgan Crick adjoining James Dickey on the North & John Dickey on the West.” Boone adds a precise and crisply-penned survey map of the tract to the upper left. Impressively archivally cloth-matted and framed with two biographical plaques and an image of the legendary outdoorsman to an overall size of 24 x 23. In very fine condition, with expected intersecting folds. Beautifully archivally framed, by Showcase Portfolios, with handsome suede matting and historically detailed plaque.
Any autographic material by this American pioneer is excessively rare, with this being a particularly lengthy example highlighted by the phenomenal 1787 Daniel Boone sketch of the actual parcel surveyed. This land is located in Madison County, Kentucky, which is an area of exceptional importance within the context of Boone's biography, as it is where he settled in 1775 after blazing his Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains. There he founded one of the first American settlements west of the Appalachians, the village of Boonesborough, where he constructed his famous Fort Boonesborough. Immensely desirable, this extraordinary holographic offering is an astounding piece of early American frontier history worthy of the finest historical collections.
