USA > Indiana > Newton County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 11
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
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and seldom returned from any expedition without an evidence of the abundance of these animals in the shape of a haunch or ham of venison. Wild hogs served also to vary the frontier fare. These were animals that had escaped from the older settlements, and subsisting upon the nuts and roots of the woodland, had gone . wild in the course of nature. They were of a long-legged, gaunt species, and kept the timber pretty closely. They were no particular damage or annoyance to the settlers, but furnished capital hunting sport, and gave a relief to the monotonous recurrence of venison upon the table of the settler. Wolves were of the coyote species, and were found in the open prairie. These were of more annoy- ance to the settlements, attacking sheep, young pigs and sometimes cattle. They were miserable cowards, never attacking a person, and were hunted and killed as a nuisance. They were small and under- sized, making the night dismal with their howlings, and when over- taken by the dogs, would fall on their backs and fight much like a cat. On frozen ground, and when filled with a recent meal, they were run down with little difficulty on horseback, as they seemed to avoid the timber, and would risk capture rather than go into it.
Pinnated and ruffed grouse, better known as prairie chickens and partridges, were everywhere found in inexhaustible numbers, and furnished a touch of delicacy to the early fare. Wild geese, cranes, herons, ducks of the mallard, pintail, blue-winged teal, wood and ring-necked varieties, were found by thousands, and are still found here in hardly diminished profusion, to the delight of hunters, who are attracted in large numbers to enjoy the hunting. The Iroquois River has sustained its reputation as one of the best stocked rivers in the state, from the earliest knowledge of the whites to the present. Long before any settlements were made here, rumors of its profusion of fine edible fish came to the frontiers through the Indians, to whom this was a favorite place of resort each fall and spring. Here bass, bream, pike, salmon, mullet, suckers and other varieties are found, some of these varieties having been caught over twenty-five pounds in weight.
THE SEASONINGS AND CULTIVATED MEATS, RARITIES
With this abundance of what are even now considered luxuries, it would seem at a casual glance that the pioneer life was a life of ease rather than hardship, but when it is considered that these were the sum of their early luxuries, that what we deem the com- mon necessities and find so cheap as to pass almost unnoticed in
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our estimate of family supplies and expenses were to the early settlers almost inaccessible and the most expensive, a great change is wrought in our estimate. Salt was more expensive than sugar, and more difficult to procure. Flour could not for a time be pro- cured at any price, and even meal, such as is provided today, was unknown on the frontier. And even the variety of game provided soon failed to answer the purposes of beef and pork. The system exposed to the ravages of disease, and subject to the trying experi- ence of early farm labor, demanded something more substantial than this. Nor could all give their attention to hunting. The prime reason for the presence of most of the pioneers in this country was to build up a home and lay the foundations for a future competence, and to accomplish this the larger part of the community centered here had only their hands with which to accomplish their mission. It was no uncommon occurrence to find men surrounded by this pro- fusion of game who never shot a deer, and occasionally one who never owned a gun.
HARBINGERS OF MALARIA
The pioneers who formed the early settlements in this county were generally familiar with the isolation, and inured to the hard- ships and privations, of frontier life, but with all this the open prairie presented difficulties to which they had hitherto been a stranger. From the standpoint of this later day, when the adapt- ability of the prairie has been so abundantly proven, it seems unfor- tunate that the early experiences of these pioneers led them to cling to the timbered portions of the country, where foul water and miasma aggravated the inevitable discomforts of frontier existence. Life in a new country is everywhere subjected to the misery of malarial diseases. The clearing-off of timber or the breaking-up of prairie sod, involving the rapid decay of large quantities of vege- table matter, gave rise to the inevitable miasma, which wrought its sure work upon the system. Such sickness was generally confined to the last of the summer and fall. There was but little sickness in winter, except a few lingering fall diseases that had become chronic; there were but few cases after severe frosts, and the spring and early summer were perfectly healthy.
It was commonly remarked that when the bloom of the resin weed and other yellow flowers appeared, it was time to look for the ague. The first spring flowers on the prairie were mostly pink and white, then followed purple and blue, and about the middle of
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August yellow predominated. High water in spring, flooding the bottoms and filling the lagoons and low places along the streams, and they drying off with the hot sun of July and August, was a fruitful cause of disease, and in such localities it was often quite sickly, while the higher prairie was comparatively exempt. With these evils, the pioneer was generally forced to struggle alone. Phy- sicians were very few and often so far situated from the scattered settlements that it took a day's ride to reach them. But where they were found within practical distance, the urgent necessity for the practice of every economy led the settlers to depend upon their own skill. Boneset, Culver's physic (root), and a long list of teas and herb decoctions were to be found in every cabin, and most of the ailments incident to a frontier were generally made to yield to them. To have a severe case of malarial fever or several seasons' run of ague, was expected by each newcomer, and none were considered as having been fully inducted into all the mysteries of citizenship until they had had the regular malarial experience. For years, people who had hitherto possessed a fresh complexion and buoyant spirit, after coming here, wore the pale, sallow complexion of semi-invalids, and often the whole community would be so gen- erally attacked with the prevailing distemper as to leave none to attend upon those who were ill. It got to be very much the custom for each family to prepare for the inevitable attack, arranging mat- ters so that they could care for themselves, it being no infrequent thing for a whole family to be confined to the bed at the same time.
SETTLING OF THE EMIGRANT
The early settlers brought with them nothing but what the neces- sities of the situation demanded. One wagon generally sufficed to bring the family, household furniture, farming implements, and frequently two or three months' supplies. It requires no great amount of consideration to conclude that luxuries, or even comforts, could find no place in such an outfit, and so the pioneer, after con- structing a shelter for his family, found his skill and ingenuity taxed to their utmost to supply this deficiency. It was necessary to manu- facture tables, chairs, and bedsteads before they could be used, and some of the most striking incidents of frontier life are founded upon this universal dearth of ordinary comforts. Hand tools were always a part of the load when possessed by the emigrant, but in the absence of these the ax accomplished all that was necessary. A section of a good sized log, smoothed with an ax, and furnished
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with a rough back, or often without a back of any sort, and legs, took the place of chairs. A rude bedstead was often constructed in the corner of the cabin with a single leg, the two sides of the structure supporting the rest of the bedstead which was framed in the logs. Upon this the bed cord, which could be easily brought. was arranged, or in its absence, deer hide thongs. This or simply a
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LOG CABIN'S CENTER OF INTEREST
pile of brush supported the "tick," which was brought with the family, and filled with leaves and dried grass until the first crop supplied a better substitute in the husks.
The cabin itself displayed the ingenuity of the pioneer and the poverty of his resources. A log pen, with a single door and window, the latter closed with greased paper, and the door provided with a simple blanket, the fire-place constructed of such loose stones as could be found, and the chimney built up of sticks protected
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with a covering of mud; the roof of "shakes" split from a straight- grained tree, and held in place by weight poles, completed the tout ensemble of the early homes. At first there was often no floor but the ground, but generally slabs split out from the unseasoned tim- ber were smoothed with the ax and made to do good service as a protection from the bare earth. When the door was constructed, these "puncheons" served as the material from which it was con- structed, wooden pins taking the place of nails, and wooden hinges, latch and bars serving the purposes of the modern builder's hard- ware.
BREAKING GROUND
These preliminaries accomplished, the most urgent necessity was to secure a crop. The plows were crude affairs, strong and serv- iceable, but requiring great team power and considerable mechani- cal skill in the plowman. The sod was found tough, not easily "tamed," and very uncertain in producing a first crop. So tenacious was the turf, that the furrow turned out one unbroken strip of earth, and occasionally, when not especially careful, the plowman had the disappointment of seeing yards of this leathery soil turn back to its natural position, necessitating the tedious operation of turning it all back again by hand. The expenditure of all this labor was generally well repaid the first year, if the sod became thor- oughly rotted, even though it produced but a small crop. Oftentimes the second and third plowing showed the soil stubborn and unkind. Few, even among farmers, know much of the labor involved in "breaking prairie," unless they have experienced its obstacles and overcome them. Corn was the only crop planted at first, and this furnished food for man and best. A few years later, it was a mark of unusual prosperity to be able to furnish wheat bread to especial guests. The first crop was generally planted by cutting a gash in the inverted sod with an ax, dropping in the corn and closing it by another blow beside the first ; or it was dropped in every third furrow, and the sod turned on it; if the corn was so placed as to find space between the furrows, it would find daylight; if not the result of the planting was extremely doubtful. Of course cultivation in this case was impossible, and if the squirrels and crows gave the crop an opportunity to mature, it generally proved a satisfactory return. Later, the culture of wheat was begun, and with the increase of markets had grown to larger proportions.
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THE PIONEER'S LIVE STOCK AND FORAGE
Most of the settlers brought in horses and cows, but the former pretty generally gave way to oxen for working purposes. Hogs were bought in the older settlements, and a little later sheep were introduced. All these animals were supported with little cost. The wide range of wild grass afforded excellent pasture and hay. With the range the early settlers had, their cattle would put on more flesh and in less time than on any other pasture. The sedge which grew along the sloughs was the first to start in the spring, and furnished the earliest pasture. The bent or blue-joint which was principally found along the sides of the sloughs, or, in the vernacular of the pioneer, "between the dry and wet land," was preferred by stock to all other varieties, especially when mixed with the wild pea-vine. This made the best hay, and as its yield was very large, was generally selected for this purpose. But the combined ravages of stock and scythe rapidly exterminated it, so that in many cases the ground where it grew became almost bare of vegetation. The stock and the farmer then resorted to upland grasses, but before the settlers multiplied so as to limit the range of the stock, the older and more experienced of the herd would go long distances to find their favorite pasture, often necessitating on the part of the pioneer a hunt of several days, as they could find plenty of wild grass and hay to feed upon. Horses raised upon the prairie were said never to be afflicted with the heaves, while horses brought here, suffering with this malady, were speedily cured by simply feeding on the native grasses. This advantage, however, was somewhat offset by the colic which this rank grass frequently produced in horses with fatal effect. The introduction of tame grasses has largely remedied this evil, and most farmers are now able to supply their stock with a mixture of the two kinds. But the wild grass of the present is not found in all its original purity, and the pea-vine is almost if not entirely extinct.
MILLS AND MARKETS
There is a beatitude not found in the usual list "Blessed be nothing, for ye shall want nothing," which finds abundant confirma- tion in every-day logic. Its converse, "The more we have, the more we want," is only another way of putting the same truth, and is suggested by the experience of the pioneers. No sooner was a crop secured than the lack of any proper means to reduce it to the necessities of the household was made painfully apparent.
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So long as the corn was soft, it was grated on rude graters, made by punching holes through a piece of tin. After it became hard, it was sometimes parched and ground in a coffee mill, and at other times pounded in a rudely constructed mortar. A stump was fol- lowed out by burning and scraping to serve as a mortar. Over this was suspended from a "sweep" a pestle, to the end of which was fixed an iron wedge, and with this rude machinery bushels of corn were broken sufficiently fine to use in the various ways common to pioneer days. The finest was used in "corn-pones" and dodgers, while the coarser part was used as hominy, the separation being effected by means of a sieve made of a perforated deer skin stretched tightly over a frame. "Corn-crackers" were put up in the various settlements at an early date, but these did but little better work than the mortar. They did the work quicker, and such a mill was kept running night and day, while the patrons coming from distances of fifteen or twenty miles would wait patiently for a day or two to get their "grist." But for flour, the only resort was to Lafayette, where an older settlement had secured the advantages of a "flouring mill." The demand for groceries was limited to the means of pur- chasing, which were generally of the most slender sort. There was but little to sell, and then the only market was at Chicago, where the settlers hauled hundreds of bushels of shelled corn to sell at thirty cents per bushel. Coon skins, however, were alınost "landoffice" money. Fur buyers were an institution of the early times here, and many a quarter section was purchased with the price of these skins.
WILD HONEY AND PUMPKIN SIRUP
There were some luxuries, however, that could be secured with- out money. Bee trees were, in many parts of the country, found in great numbers, and no piece of timber was entirely devoid of them. It sometimes required an expert to find them, and some united pleasure and profit in this sort of hunting. An experienced hunter would go out in a bright, warm day in winter or late fall and burn some honey comb, which seldom failed to attract the game to the honey, which was provided for them. Loading up with this, the bee would rise, circling in the air, and then fly straight to its tree. It was then the hunter's business to follow the fleet-winged insect closely, and thus discover its secret. To do this required an expert, and there were few who were marked for their success. Some- times, a number of bees from a single tree, at no great distance,
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were attracted. These do not rise in circles, but darting to and fro in a straight line, make the course plain enough to be easily followed, but this is rare. In other cases, the best that can be done is to discover the direction of the bee's flight, and taking this- against the sun if possible-to stumble along with upturned gaze, scanning every tree for the tell-tale hole or crack. But when the tree was found, the battle was but half won. This must be felled, and the occupants dispossessed of their stores. When the hollow extended down to the point where the ax must penetrate it, the hunter was often obliged to decamp in hot haste as soon as the blows had aroused the swarm.
The bee was easily domesticated, and many of the settlers cap- tured swarms, placed them in sections of hollow logs, and in a little while possessed a constant source of supply for the table and the market. In some cases, this was the principal source for the sweetening used in the culinary work of the cabin, and was the basis of a favorite drink. "Methegilin" was made of steeped honey comb, and honey fermented. It was counted an excellent drink, and much preferred to cider, and when strengthened by age became a powerful intoxicant. This, however, has passed away with many other of the homely joys of pioneer days.
The ready tact of the pioneers' housewives, and the unpampered tastes of that early day, found a good substitute for fruit in the pumpkin. When frozen, they were prepared and stewed down to a sirup, which furnished a very acceptable substitute for sugar or molasses in the absence of honey, and mixed with fresh, stewed pumpkin formed a desirable sweetmeat. They were planted in con- siderable numbers, and stored in a vault constructed underneath the hay stacks to be fed to the cattle during the winter. Well may this "fruit loved of boyhood" be apostrophized by the poet, and be hon- orably placed in a state's coat of arms.
HOOSIER HUNTING GROUNDS
John E. Alter, an old resident of the county, published a book, in 1905, which contained a number of graphic pictures and well-told stories of scenes and events in Jasper and Newton counties. Two samples are selected, as a close to this chapter.
IN THE KANKAKEE MARSHES
"We now call the reader's attention to a portion of the country in northwestern Indiana near the headwaters of the Iroquois river,
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a region now comprising Newton and Jasper counties, originally all called Jasper, in honor of Sergeant Jasper of Fort Moultrie fame. The Iroquois river takes its rise near the middle of Jasper, north and south, but near the western line of Township 29 north, Range 7 west from the Second principal meridian, in a small pond or slough ; running thence northward, bearing eastward in a circle or more nearly a spiral, thus making a complete circuit of thirty-five miles and passing eastward at a point but three and a half miles south of the source. At the time in which the chief events of our story took place, there was no marked channel for the first eight miles of its course, but an artificial waterway has since been constructed.
"The network of marshes which feeds the Kankakee river on the north, the Iroquois on the south, the Pinkamink on the east and Beaver Lake (since drained away) on the west, is traversed by a series of sand hills, the general trend of which is east and west; this line of low ridges is covered with a stunted growth of scrubby yel- low and black-oak timber and scanty growth of vegetation, and forms the principal watershed between the first two rivers.
"In the year 1840, in the month of October, on the southern slope of Eaglesnest Ridge near the north shore of the Iroquois river, there stood a solitary man with a rifle in the hollow of his left arm and a belt full of muskrat skins around his body. He was dressed in the garb of a trapper, and had evidently just returned from a visit to his traps on the river below, or rather the marsh, for as has been stated there being no definite channel all seemed as marsh, and still plenty of water could be found in which to run a canoe, except in midsummer or early autumn. His well-worn jeans pants were jammed into the tops of a stout pair of cowhide boots, his hickory blouse was covered with grease and dirt, and a little rill of sweat was coursing its way from under his coonskin cap, along his temple and across his weather-beaten cheek. Dashing it away with his hand, he still continued to gaze down the marsh to the east- ward, as if expecting someone. After a searching glance more to the northward, he gave a grunt of uneasiness and, turning round, walked rapidly up the hill to the edge of a clump of black-oak bushes ; here he stopped and again turned and looked across the barrens to the eastward, but seeing nothing to his fancy he entered the thicket, stooping that he might the more easily press through among the branches of the young growth of bushes.
"After a progress of three or four rods in this manner, he stopped before a rude door made of split saplings, having the inter- vening cracks calked or stuffed with marsh grass. The door had
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been made with an ax and the parts bound together by oak withes. These withes are made by thoroughly twisting small bushes or limbs to make them pliable, and in this form they can be wrapped around pieces, or even tied in a knot, to fasten them together. Unbarring this, by removing a short pole, the heavy door swung back on its oaken hinges and the trapper walked into the side of the hill as it were, where all was total darkness but for the few rays of light which struggled through the narrow doorway from the gloomy thicket out- side. This gloom was soon dispelled, however, when he drew from his pocket a tinder box and flint. Striking the latter against the blade of his knife, the sparks flashed down into the little piece of leathery punk and ignited; this he placed against a few dry splints and a blaze was immediately produced. The blaze was next placed in contact with a lamp made by placing a twisted rag for a wick in a cup made of an oak knot, hollowed out and filled with coon oil. This made a brilliant light, which illuminated the whole apartment, the blaze, of course, flickering like a candle instead of giving off a steady light like a modern kerosene lamp.
"The dugout, or camp, as we shall call it, contained many articles of usefulness for camp life. In one corner lay a pile of steel traps, in another was a rude bed of gunny-cloth filled with leaves ; a bolster, or long pillow, was made of the same material; the covers consisted of wolf skins. A sort of shelf attached to the side of the room by means of stakes driven into the soft sand walls and the protruding ends covered with small sticks or poles, shaped smooth on the upper side, served as a table, shelf and general catch-all. The soft sand of the ceiling was prevented from falling in by means of split punch- eons, which were held in place by means of pole braces standing on the ground floor at irregular distances of five or six feet, all over the apartment. Suspended from this ceiling, or rather the punch- eons which sustained the sandy ceiling, were two or three bunches of dressed skins, mostly mink, muskrat and raccoon.
"In two wooden hooks made from the forks of small limbs and fastened just above the door, the trapper now placed his rifle. Turn- ing around, he then made a thorough examination of everything in the room, as if to ascertain whether anything had been molested in his absence. At length assuming an air of satisfaction in regard to the state of the camp, he gathered a bundle of hickory sticks from near the foot of the bed, blew out the light and passed out of the cave-like dwelling with the cautious step peculiar to men who inhabit the wilds of any country. After securing the door, he walked to the border of the bushes and peered out before advancing. Seeing noth-
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ing unusual, he stepped out and walked briskly to the foot of a tree from which a large limb had fallen during some wind storm. Seating himself upon this limb he removed his belt and proceeded to stretch his rat-skins upon the hickory sticks, after bending them in the proper shape, then to brace them out at the open end until a neat stretch was obtained. After all were thus stretched, he proceeded to 'flesh' them, which is done by carefully cutting off all the fleshy strips and the film from the inside of the hide. The market value of all kinds of pelts depends much upon the care and labor employed in fleshing. The sticks were procured two or three miles down stream, as no hickory grew among these sand ridges. The trapper kept up a constant outlook while at his work by glancing over the marshes and through the woods at short intervals. Presently, his eye rested upon something through an oak opening, which held his attention for a full minute, after which he continued. his work with a contented look in his countenance.
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