Had it not been for the cane and the game

"Kentucky could never have been settled in the way that it was, had it not been for the cane and the game.  They could never have gotten their provisions out through the wilderness in safety, so much as would have been necessary to have made a beginning and their stock and themselves would have starved in the winter.  As it was, all they had to do was to keep the Indians from killing them; though they were sometimes very hard pressed to do this.  Otherwise, they had cane for winter and abundance of game for both summer and winter" (Draper MSS, James Wade Interview, 12cc11-41).

Draper, Lyman C. Draper Manuscript Collection: Series Cc; Kentucky Papers. Chicago: University of Chicago Library, Dept. of Photoreproduction, 1966. Archival material.