USA > Iowa > Henry County > The history of Henry county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 44
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" Thar ain't no tavern thar, but this one," said the lank Missourian.
" What !" said Mr. Cheney, " you don't mean to say that this is all there- is of "Sweet Home ?"
" You're about right thar, stranger. I reckon we've got a right smart chance for a town, as soon as the people come."
With spirits considerably dashed by this unexpected turn of affairs, nego- tiations were entered into with the oldest inhabitant of " Sweet Home " for a tem- porary increase of the population of the place. With characteristic indifference, the would-be host raised every possible objection to the entertainment of the. party ; told them he didn't care to keep them over night, as he expected his house would be filled with men coming to attend a horse-race the following day, and urged them to make some other shift for themselves. But there was no alternative save to stay there, because of the ladies of the party, and of the. lack of preparation they had made, on starting out, for gypsying.
The cabin was a double log-house, and contained but one bed. It was finally arranged that Mrs. Tiffany and her ward should occupy that luxury; while the men should arrange themselves as best they could. During the even- ing, Mr. Tiffany satisfied himself that there neither was nor ever would be a desirable opening for investment there, and thoroughly made up his mind to seek some more favorable locality with a less delusive name.
As he returned from a walk along the river, whither he had gone to get a look at the lay of the land, he unexpectedly came upon his wife in the rear of.
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the cabin indulging in the luxury of a hearty cry. Before they left the East, Mrs. Tiffany, who had no special desire to leave the comforts of their old home, had assured her husband that, no matter what privations might befall them, he should never detect her in any manifestation of a weakness of spirit. There had been, no doubt, ample opportunities for the violation of her agreement dur- ing their long and wearisome journey by steamboat and canal, but not once had she forgotten herself, at least in his presence. And now, when he suddenly found his wife in tears, Mr. Tiffany reminded her of her voluntary promise, rather for the sake of keeping up his own courage, no doubt, than from a lack of appreciation of their desolate condition, or from an intent to rebuke her. But Mrs. Tiffany's feminine ingenuity was equal to the occasion, and, suppress- ing her sobs, she indignantly told her husband that she remembered her- promise well enough, and that it was all his fault then that he saw her crying, for he had no business to come back of the house and into her presence with- out suitable warning.
During the evening, and at night, horsemen began to arrive from, the Lord only knows where, and before morning the cabin floor was so thickly strewed with men that it seemed impossible for one to move without a reciprocal motion of the whole mass. When day-light came, the grove presented a singular spec- tacle, for Sweet Home had been converted into a genuine horse-fair. The- novelty of this situation was thoroughly impressed upon the minds of the East- ern party, who have not, even to this day, the slightest idea where the horse- men could have come from.
During the day, the flatboat containing their household effects touched at the suppositions wharf of Sweet Home, and was hailed with as much delight as was the return steamer to Eden by Martin Chuzzlewit and the jolly Mark. Arrangements were speedily made with the boatmen to continue his voyage up the river to Farmington, a town which the solitary sojourner of Sweet Home admitted to exist, but which he regarded with a manifestation of undisguised contempt, when the relative merits of his own and that town were in considera- tion. Prior to their departure for Farmington, Mr. Tiffany and his brother-in- law made inquiry of the Sweet Home'er, regarding the whereabouts of a cer- tain Sturbridge man who had located opposite Sweet Home, and whose descrip- tion of that delectable region had first claimed the attention of the Cheneys. The Missourian said he believed there was an old Yankee over on the far yon side of the river, but he didn't know much about him.
Mr. Tiffany inquired if there was any way of getting across the stream, and learned that there was a canoe which could be used for that purpose. So- he and his brother-in-law, Winthrop Cheney, paddled across the Des Moines, at the imminent risk of a ducking, and at last found the man who had inspired in them such a desire to be numbered among the earliest possessors of a por- tion of Sweet Home.
How different was the scene from that which their fancy had painted. The- suburb of a thriving village became, on closer association with it, merely a desolate log cabin, in which dwelt a solitary man, who was indifferent in his- reception of the new-comers, and wholly oblivious of the fact that he had been instrumental in getting them into such a dilemma. The reality was so vastly different from the imaginary scene, not only in the town itself, but in the recep- tion of those who had sought to make it their home. None but those who have- actually experienced sensations of a similar character can understand the bewilderment of the Eastern party on thus beholding their cherished plans. rudely and effectually dissipated. It chances in too many cases to prove true-
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that the reality does not equal the expectation in the affairs of life, but this is especially true of those inexperienced men and women who left the abode of long-continued civilization and attempted to transform themselves into pioneers by a simple change of locality. It will be admitted that this class of settlers often made the best and most influential citizens of the new country, but it was, nevertheless, accomplished only through keen suffering, and mental as well as physical privations, of which less sensitive persons knew little or nothing.
Pursuing the thread of our narrative, we find Mr. Cheney's party safely arrived at Farmington, then the county seat of Van Buren County, and a place of considerable promise in those days before the innumerable hamlets had sprung up along the Des Moines and destroyed the prospects of any one of them in that vicinity. At Farmington, hotel accommodations were obtained, and Mr. Tiffany and Winthrop Cheney resolved to go out on a prospecting tour, before subjecting the ladies to the discomforts of another profitless expedition. It chanced that on more than one occasion during their brief sojourn at Farm- ington, they had heard of a town of considerable promise to the northward of them, which was just springing into existence, and was called Mount Pleas- ant. The young men made diligent inquiry and ascertained enough to convince them that there was at least sufficient ground to justify personal investigation of the matter ; so one morning they started out for a more than thirty-mile tramp across the country in search of a home that should prove something be- sides sweet in name alone. They found Mount Pleasant to be a promising locality, and soon arranged to bring the remainder of their party to the place. Mr. Cheney purchased of the original owner for $700 the claim which is now the site of the Insane Asylum.
As illustrative of the inconveniences and annoyances of those early days to a woman of refined and cultivated tastes, we relate an incident of their sojourn at Farmington, while the young men were absent on the prospecting tour. One evening it was made known to them that a ball was to be given at a neighbor- ing point, and the two young ladies of the household were thrown into a flutter of excitement on account of the approaching festivities. As was quite com- mendable in them, these buxom young women considered it necessary to appear in their finest apparel, as well as in a more cleanly condition than was their wont while engaged in their ordinary domestic vocations. Mrs. Tiffany ob- served these toilet preparations with considerable amusement, until to her dis- gust the girls took down from the kitchen wall a large tin pan ,which served the dual purpose of bread and dish pan, and proceeded deliberately to enjoy the luxury of a sponge bath ; and when in process of time they reached their feet, they deliberately placed all four of them in the pan, and allowed them to have what they termed " a good soak." Nor were the fair maidens disturbed by bits of dough, remnants of former bakings which still adhered to the inner surface of the dish. To supply the deficiency of sponges, which were not then as easily obtained as at the present time, they made use of the cloths which had but a short time before been used in washing the supper-dishes. When the ablutions were completed, they threw the water from the pan ont through the door, gave the cloth a twist and a shake and hung the appliances on the wall again. That night their mother found the bread rather low, and concluded it was necessary to mix up some " salt-rising." This culinary feat she performed in the afore- said pan. The following day, while Mr. Cheney and his daughter were stroll- ing down by the river, out of hearing of the landlady, he remarked that although their accommodations were not of the best, still there was one thing that always tasted good, and that was the bread-they always had good bread
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This was too much for Mrs. Tiffany to stand, and she was cruel enough to tell her father of the scene she had witnessed the previous day.
It cannot be said that this total disregard of cleanliness was peculiar to the pioneers of Iowa, but the story serves as an illustration of the somewhat care- less habits into which an absence of conventionalities sometimes caused the peo- ple to relax.
We are tempted to relate another incident to exemplify the idea of how strangers to Western customs were impressed with the odd and provincial ways of that cruder region, the then Far West. After the Tiffanys had been located here a short time, it was announced that there would be a Fourth of July cele- bration, which, by the way, would be the first celebration of the kind ever held in the county, and occurred in 1838. The most strikingly peculiar feature of the occasion to the new-comers was a stump speech to be made by a political aspirant in his own behalf. Now, long-established custom, which has since very materially changed in the Bay State, prohibited the canvassing of a district by one's self. A politician was then required to depend upon his friends for the representation of his case, and so wide a departure from the proprieties as the advocacy of his own suit in a public speech would have been sure to result fatally to his own interests. But customs were different in the West, and the man who could not plead his own cause, was esteemed unworthy to be intrusted with the interests of the public.
It chanced that at that time there was a conflict of desire relative to the location of the county seat, and the gentleman who aspired to political prefer- ment not only sought to advance his own cause, but that of the rival town as well. The site chosen for the seat of justice by the opponents of Mount Pleas- ant was upon the banks of the Skunk River, and during the labored speech of the would-be orator, that river was almost incessantly referred to as " the mag- nificent Skunk." It need not be stated that the Eastern people fully enjoyed the eloquence of the speech, and it is an historical fact that the " magnificent Skunk " party was not strong enough to carry the day.
HOW PIONEERS LIVED.
In choosing his home the pioneer usually had an eye mainly to its location, and for that reason settlers were oftener than not very solitary creatures, with- out neighbors and remote from even the common conveniences of life. A desir- able region was sure to have plenty of inhabitants in time, but it was the advance guard that suffered the privation of isolation. People within a score of miles of each other were neighbors, and the natural social tendencies of man- kind asserted themselves even in the wilderness by efforts to keep up communi- cation with even these remote families.
The first business of a settler on reaching the place where he intended to fix his residence, was to select his claim and mark it off as nearly as he could without a compass. This was done by stepping and staking or blazing the lines as he went. The absence of section lines rendered it necessary to take the sun at noon and at evening as a guide by which to run these claim-lines. So many steps each way counted three hundred and twenty acres, more or less, the then legal area of a claim. It may be readily supposed that these lines were far from correct, but they answered all necessary claim purposes, for it was under- stood among the settlers that when the lands came to be surveyed and entered, all inequalities should be righted. Thus, if a surveyed line should happen to run between adjoining claims, cutting off more or less of the other, the fraction was to be added to whichever lot required equalizing, yet without robbing the one
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from which it was taken, for an equal amount would be added to it in another place.
The next important business was to build a house. Until this was done, some had to camp on the ground or live in their wagons, perhaps the only shel- ter they had known for weeks. So the prospect for a house, which was also to be home, was one that gave courage to the rough toil, and added a zest to the heavy labors. The style of the home entered very little into their thoughts- it was shelter they wanted, and protection from stress of weather and wearing exposures. The poor settler had neither the money nor the mechanical appli- ances for building himself a house. He was content, in most instances, to have- a mere cabin or hut. Some of the most primitive constructions of this kind were half-faced, or, as they were sometimes called, " cat-faced " sheds or "wike- ups," the Indian term for house or tent. It is true, a claim cabin was a little- more in the shape of a human habitation, made, as it was, of round logs light enough for two or three men to lay up, about fourteen feet square-perhaps a little larger or smaller-roofed with bark or clapboards, and sometimes with the. sods of the prairie ; and floored with puncheons (logs split once in two, and the flat side laid up), or with earth. For a fire-place, a wall of stone and earth- frequently the latter only, when stone was not convenient-was made in the hest practicable shape for the purpose, in an opening in one end of the build- ing, extending outward, and planked on the outside by bolts of wood notched together to stay it. Frequently a fire-place of this kind was made so capa- cious as to occupy nearly the whole width of the house. In cold weather, when a great deal of fuel was needed to keep the atmosphere above freezing point-for this wide-mouthed fire-place was a huge ventilator-large logs were- piled into this yawning space. To protect the crumbling back wall against the effects of fire, two back logs were placed against it, one upon the other. Some- times these back logs were so large that they could not be got in in any other way than to hitch a horse to them, drive him in at one door, unfasten the log before the fire-place, from whence it was put in proper position, and then drive him out at the other door. For a chimney, any contrivance that would conduct the smoke up the chimney would do. Some were made of sods, plastered upon the inside with clay ; others-the more common, perhaps-were of the kind we- occasionally see in use now, clay and sticks, or "cat in clay," as they were sometimes called. Imagine of a winter's night, when the storm was having its own wild way over this almost uninhabited land, and when the wind was roar- ing like a cataract of cold over the broad wilderness, and the settler had to do. his best to keep warm, what a royal fire this double-back-logged and well-filled fire-place would hold ! It must have been a cozy place to smoke, provided the settler had any tobacco; or for the wife to sit knitting before, provided she had needles and yarn. At any rate, it must have given something of cheer to the- conversation, which very likely was npon the home and friends they had left behind when they started out on this bold venture of seeking fortunes in a new land.
For doors and windows, the most simple contrivances that would serve the purposes were brought into requisition. The door was not always immediately provided with a shutter, and a blanket often did duty in guarding the entrance. But as soon as convenient, some boards were split and put together, hung upon wooden hinges and held shut by a wooden pin inserted in an auger-hole. As substitute for window glass, greased paper, pasted over sticks crossed in the shape of sash, was sometimes used. This admitted the light and excluded. the. air, but of course lacked transparency.
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In regard to the furniture of such a cabin, of course it varied in proportion to the ingenuity of the occupants, unless it was where settlers brought with them their old household supply, which, owing to the distance most of them had come, was very seldom. It was easy enough to improvise tables and chairs ; the for- mer could be made of split logs-and there were instances where the door would be taken from its hinges and used at meals, after which it would be rehung- and the latter were designed after the three-legged stool pattern, or benches served their purpose. A bedstead was a very important item in the domestic comfort of the family, and this was the fashion of improvising them : A forked stake was driven into the ground diagonally from the corner of the room, and at a proper. distance, upon which poles reaching from each were laid. The wall ends of the poles either rested in the openings between the logs or were driven into auger-holes. Barks or boards were used as a substitute for cords. Upon this the tidy housewife spread her straw tick, and if she had a home-made feather bed, she piled it up into a luxurious mound and covered it with her whitest drapery. Some sheets hung behind it, for tapestry, added to the cozi- ness of the resting-place. This was generally called a " prairie bedstead," and by some the " prairie rascal." In design it is surely quite equal to the famous Eastlake models, being abont as primitive and severe, in an artistic sense, as one could wish.
The house thus far along, it was left to the deft devices of the wife to com- plete its comforts, and the father of the family was free to superintend out-of- door affairs. If it was in season, his first important duty was to prepare some ground for planting, and to plant what he could. This was generally done in the edge of the timber, where most of the very earliest settlers located. Here the sod was easily broken, not requiring the heavy teams and plows needed to break the prairie sod. Moreover, the nearness of timber offered greater conven- iences for fuel and building. And still another reason for this was, that the groves afforded protection from the terrible conflagrations that occasionally swept across the prairies. Though they passed through the patches of timber, yet it was not with the same destructive force with which they rushed over the prairies. Yet by these fires much of the young timber was killed from time to time, and the forest kept thin and shrubless.
The first year's farming consisted mainly of a "truck patch," planted in corn, potatoes, turnips, etc. Generally, the first year's crop fell far short of supplying even the most rigid economy of food. Many of the settlers brought with them small stores of such things as seemed indispensable to frugal living, such as flour, bacon, coffee and tea. But these supplies were not inexhaustible, and once used, were not easily replaced. . A long winter must come and go before another crop could be raised. If game was plentiful, it helped to eke out their limited supplies.
But even when corn was plentiful, the preparation of it was the next diffi- culty in the way. The mills for grinding it were at such long distances that every other device was resorted to for reducing it to meal. Some grated it on an implement made by punching small holes through a piece of tin or sheet- iron, and fastening it upon a board in concave shape, with the rough side out. Upon this the ear was rubbed to produce the meal. But grating could not be done when the corn became so dry as to shell off when rubbed. Some used a coffee mill for grinding it. And a very common substitute for bread was hominy, a palatable and wholesome diet, made by boiling corn in weak lye till the hull or bran peels off, after which it was well washed, to cleanse it of the lye. It was then boiled again to soften it, when it was ready for use as occa-
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sion required, by frying and seasoning it to the taste. Another mode of pre- paring hominy was by pestling.
A mortar was made by burning a bowl-shaped cavity in the even end of an upright block of wood. After thoroughly clearing it of the charcoal, the corn could be put in, hot water turned upon it, when it was subjected to a severe- pestling by a club of sufficient length and thickness, in the large end of which was inserted an iron wedge, banded to keep it there. The hot water would soften the corn and loosen the hull, while the pestle would crush it.
When breadstuffs were needed, they had to be obtained from long distances. Owing to the lack of proper means for threshing and cleaning wheat, it was- more or less mixed with foreign substances, such as smut, dirt and. oats. And as the time may come when the settlers' methods of threshing and cleaning may be forgotten, it may be well to preserve a brief account of them here. The plan was to clean off a space of ground of sufficient size, and if the earth was dry, to dampen it and beat it so as to render it somewhat compact. Then the sheaves were unbound and spread in a circle, so that the heads would be uppermost, leaving room in the center for the person whose business it was to stir and turn the straw in the process of threshing. Then as many horses or oxen were brought as would conveniently swing round the circle, and these were kept moving until the wheat was well trodden out. After several "floorings " or layers were threshed, the straw was carefully raked off, and the wheat shoveled. into a heap to be cleaned. This cleaning was sometimes done by waving a. sheet up and down to fan out the chaff as the grain was dropped before it; but this trouble was frequently obviated when the strong winds of autumn were all that was needed to blow out the chaff from the grain.
This mode of preparing the grain for flouring was so imperfect that it is- not to be wondered at that a considerable amount of black soil got mixed with it, and unavoidably got into the bread. This, with the addition of smut, often rendered it so dark as to have less the appearance of bread than of mud; yet. upon such diet, the people were compelled to subsist for want of a better.
Not the least among the pioneers' tribulations, during the first few years of settlement, was the going to mill. The slow mode of travel by ox-teams was made still slower by the almost total absence of roads and bridges, while such a thing as a ferry was hardly even dreamed of. The distance to be traversed was often as far as sixty or ninety miles. In dry weather, common sloughs and creeks offered little impediment to the teamsters; but during floods and the- breaking-up of winter, they proved exceedingly troublesome and dangerous. To get stuck in a slough, and thus be delayed for many hours, was no uncom- mon occurrence, and that, too, when time was an item of grave import to the comfort and sometimes even to the lives of the settlers' families. Often a. swollen streanı would blockade the way, seeming to threaten destruction to whoever should attempt to ford it.
With regard to roads, there was nothing of the kind worthy of the name. Indian trails were common, but they were unfit to travel on with vehicles. They are described as mere paths about two feet wide-all that was required to. accommodate the single-file manner of Indian traveling.
An interesting theory respecting the origin of the routes now pursued by many of our public highways is given in a speech by Thomas Benton many years ago. He says the buffaloes were the first road engineers, and the paths. trodden by them were, as a matter of convenience, followed by the Indians, and lastly by the whites, with such improvements and changes as were found neces- sary for civilized modes of travel. It is but reasonable to suppose that the buf-
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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
faloes would instinctively choose the most practicable routes and fords in their migrations from one pasture to another. Then, the Indians following, possessed of about the same instinct as the buffaloes, strove to make no improvements, and were finally driven from the track by those who would.
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