USA > Indiana > Lake County > Lake County, Indiana, from 1834 to 1872 > Part 14
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If the moors and mountain scenery of Scotland had much to do in forming the taste of a Pollok, the beauties of this region may yet form the taste of some noble mind in giving to the world immortal verse.
GRANGES.
Among our social orders is one, comparatively new, known as " Patrons of Husbandry." The individual or- ganizations are called Granges.
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LAKE COUNTY.
This order was organized in Washington City, in Au- gust, 1867. It now comprises a National Grange, State Granges, and Subordinate Granges. It is a secret organ- ization, designed for the pecuniary, social, intellectual, and moral improvement of the agricultural community. It seems to be rapidly gaining favor in this country. In February, 1872, the State Grange of Indiana, and seventy- nine Subordinate Granges were organized. In this county are now three of these organizations :
Eagle Grange, No. 4, organized June 28, 1871 ; num- ber of members, 80. Lowell Grange, No. 6, October 12, 1871 : number of members, 80. Leroy Grange, No. - , , 1872; number of members, 26.
The organization in this county owes its existence to the enterprising spirit of Oscar Dinwiddie, First Special Deputy, who is still active in carrying it on, aided very much by the earnest zeal of C. L. Templeton, and ·other energetic farmers. O. Dinwiddie, and C. L. Tem- pleton are both officers in the State Grange, and members of its Executive Committee.
I am at liberty to say that the Grange has a beautiful ritual, and that its practical teachings are fitted to im- prove and ennoble the families of the owners and culti- vators of the soil; and the Grange influence in the south part of the county, where some of our wealthiest, most intelligent, and most energetic farmers reside, is certainly a felt and living power.
STATE GRANGE OFFICERS.
O. Dinwiddie, Overseer ; C. L. Templeton, Treasurer ; E. M. Robertson, Gate-Keeper.
There are other ex-officio State Grange officers in the county.
22I
INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
There have been Grange burials of the following mem- bers of the order : Charles A. Kenney, burial Novem- ber 1, 1871; religious services conducted by Rev. J. Harrison. Norman Stone, burial September 24, 1872; religious services by Rev. T. H. Ball. The Grange Bur- ial Service is touching, instructive, and impressive ; but Christianity only can give a certain answer to that great question, " If a man die shall he live again ?"
The Grange interest is on the increase in the county. It is probable other Granges will soon be organized. It is time that the farmers were more energetic and united in promoting their interests, cultivating their social na- tures, and gaining useful knowledge. To the Granges of Lake I take the liberty of dedicating the following little poem :
"THE INDEPENDENT FARMER.
" Let sailors sing of the windy deep, Let soldiers praise their armor, But in my heart this toast I'll keep ' The Independent Farmer.' When first the rose in robe of green, Unfolds its crimson lining,
And round his cottage porch is seen The honeysuckle twining ;
When banks of bloom their sweetness yield, To bees that gather honey, He drives his team across the field, Where skies are soft and sunny.
" The blackbird clucks behind the plow, The quail pipes loud and clearly, Yon orchard hides behind its bough The home he loves so dearly ; The gray old barn, whose doors enfold
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His ample store in measure, More rich than heaps of hoarded gold, A precious, blessed treasure ; But yonder in the porch there stands, His wife, the lovely charmer, The sweetest rose on all his lands- ' The Independent Farmer,'
" To him the spring comes dancingly, To him the summer blushes.
The autumn smiles with mellow ray ; He sleeps, old winter hushes. He cares not how the world may move No doubts nor fears confound him ; His little flocks are linked in love, And household angels round him : He trusts in God and loves his wife, Nor griefs, nor ills may harm her ; He's nature nobleman in life- ' The Independent Farmer.'"
WEATHER RECORD.
1835.
Winter mild until February ; then exceedingly severe weather. April 4th, "A most terrible snow storm."
1836.
A very wet summer,
1837.
"A most excessive wet one."
1838.
A summer " of severe drouth and great sickness." So scarce was water that musk rats, " driven out of their us- ual haunts were found wandering about in search of" it; and even went into houses and about wells to find some water to quench their thirst. One of
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
these animals entering the house of Solon Robinson, " never so much as asked," he says, " for a drink of whis- ky," but went directly to the water bucket. "During the continuance of the drouth winter commenced."
1839.
February 20 .- Early in the morning a shower of rain. Cleared off warm. 2Ist-Very warm and cloudy. 22d- During the night a hard thunder-storm; continued in showers all day; very warm like April. 23d-Raining, during the night; showers in the day time; very warm and foggy 24th-Rain continued; warm and foggy. 25th-Cooler, but cloudy and foggy. 26th-Cloudy, no. prospect of fair weather.
In March, some cold weather. March 12th-A very hard thunder storm last night. 18th-Some thunder last night; showers all day. 19th .- Very pleasant all day. 20th-Rainy and showers. 29th-Rain all night ;. showers all day. From these extracts I conclude that. February and March of 1839 were warm and wet.
April 3d .- Commenced gardening. The winter of 1840 seems also to have been quite mild. I make the following extracts : January 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, pleasant. roth-Cloudy, foggy, and rainy. 11th-Rained ; some cold weather followed. 29th-Rained.
February 9th .- Cloudy, spring weather; snow almost gone. 18th-Rainy and cloudy. 19th-Warm and rainy. 20th-Forenoon rainy. 22d-Cloudy and foggy. 23d-Thawy and pleasant. 28th-Warm. 29th-Very warm.
March 25th and 26th .- Plowing.
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LAKE COUNTY.
1841.
January 31 .- Very pleasant weather for some days ; seems spring-like.
March 22 .- The first rain this year of any amount ; frost nearly out of the ground ; the snow has been gone some time; the lake can be crossed with a boat, until within a day or two it could be crossed on the ice.
The winter of 1842-43 was called the hard winter, one, it was said, that would long be remembered. Many cat- tle starved to death. The winter commenced the middle of November. November 17th-Wm. Wells, "a very ·steady, sober, and stout, healthy man," perished with cold in a severe snow while returning home from mill. His residence was near West Creek, and he had been to the mill at Wilmington, in Illinois. He perished on the Illi -. nois prairie. January 6th-A rain commenced ; a thaw followed. 22d-Snow entirely gone; frost nearly out of the ground. 31st-A very severe snow storm all day.
February 18th-The weather contiues severely cold without intermission ; sleighing good; forage for cattle scarce and cattle in many places dying.
April 1 .- Snow deeper than at any time before this winter; from fifteen to eighteen inches in the woods. 12th-Alfred Edgerton crossed Cedar Lake on the ice. 16th-The lake is yet completely covered with ice, except at the shore ; no grass for cattle. 19th-Muddy. 27th- Comfortably warm, but frequent heavy rains.
May 8 .- Vegetation but slightly advanced ; cattle barely find sufficient food. And so ended, at last, " the hard winter."
Winter of 1843-'44, mild ; summer of 1844 very wet.
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
Winter of 1844-'45, unusually mild. May 6th and 7th, hard frosts. Winter of 1845-'46, less mild but "not at all severe." Summer of 1846 very dry. Long continued hot weather; very sickly. Of those who died this sum- mer a few were : Cornelius Cook, at Crown Point, June 21, and on the same day, at the Belshaw Grove, Ann Bel- shaw, of Lake Prairie ; September 28, at Cedar Lake, Mrs. Rasgen ; and, also at Cedar Lake, October 25, Mrs. Eliza- beth Horton, mother of Mrs. J. A. H. Ball, who came from the city of New York, in 1838, to reside with the Ball family at Cedar Lake.
The summer of 1838 and 1846 are the two most noted for sickness in the annals of Lake. Both were very dry seasons. The fall of 1846 was late and warm. Some apple blossoms opened. October 13th-A light frost. 20th-A hard frost. November 17th-Weather continues mild, seldom any frost. 25th-The ground not yet frozen.
Winter of 1846-'47, mild. Summer of 1849 wet. High waters in July. . The cholera prevailed in the west.
1852.
February and March were mild; rain in each month. Muddy in February. In March it became cold. April 3d-Snow fell about four inches. 5th-Snowed all day. IIth-No grass or plowing; cold and backward spring. 20th-Grass not sufficient for cattle to do well.
May I .- Cattle do not get filled on grass, yet can live. 1853.
Another backward spring. Diary entries. April 12th- It has been very dry; to-day heavy rain; grass grows slowly ; cattle can barely live; out of hay. 26th-Grass is not sufficient, yet cattle live.
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LAKE COUNTY.
May I .- Peach trees in blossom this morning. 11th- This is the fourteenth day in succession it has rained. The sun has not shone twelve hours during the time.
Winter of 1855-'56 snowy and cold. Winter of 1856-'57 severe, with deep, drifting snows.
1857.
Crops were unusually late in the summer of 1857 ; corn very small July 4th. No winter grain, rye or wheat, cut till in August ; the yield was nevertheless good. The crop of spring wheat was considered the best ever raised in the county. S. Ames, from three acres sowed May Ist, gathered ninety-six bushels. Some raised forty bush- els on an acre. Corn was sold that season for fifteen cents a bushel.
1858.
A wet spring and summer. The wild geese left the last of Jannary and returned March Ioth. 14th-Frogs ap- peared ; rain and thunder 16th and 17th; hard rain from southwest.
May 14 .- Very wet time. 23d to 30th-Unusual showers, with thunder. 24th-Very wet till June 4th.
June 10 .- Flood of rain. Cold afterward.
July 8th and 9th .- Mercury 100.º IIth-Good rain. 3Ist and August 2d-Hard showers, hail and wind. 26th -Hard rain.
September 8 .- Very great rain. Ioth-A splendid comet appeared; very brilliant for several weeks.
October 6 .- Hard rain.
November 27th and 28th .- Heavy fall of snow, rain, and sleet.
December 3 .- Snow storm. 4th-Hard rain; high water.
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
1859.
A cold and backward spring. April 8th to 14th, snow.
June 5 .- Very white frost. IIth-Frost.
July 4 .- Light frost. Afterward hot. 12th-Mercury 104° from IO A. M. to 4 P. M. £ 13th, 104°. 15th, 105°
at noon. 16th, 102° from 12 M. to 5 P. M. 17th, 100° at
I P. M. 18th, 104° at I P. M.
In September light frosts.
In October hard frost; cold, some snow.
1860.
January 1 .- Mercury-22°. 2d-24°. 5th-17°; 6th- hard sleet ; trees bent down.
April 27 .- Hard frost.
June 1 .- Light frost.
August 10, 12, 14 .- Light frosts.
186I.
May 2 .- Hard frost. 3d-Heavy rain ; 4th-Hard frost. 5th-Tornado, hail and rain. 30th-White frost. July 2 .- Light frost.
October 13 .- Frost. 24th-A freeze. 1862.
March 20 and 21 .- Snow fell for twenty-four hours.
April 2 .- Terrible wind and rain. 4th-Severe hail, stones larger than hickory nuts. 2Ist-Hard snow storm. 22d .- Ground white.
May 20 .- Hard frost. June 9 .- White frost. July 19 .- Terrible storm. December .- Mild; no sleighing. .
1863.
January 1 .- Rain. 2d-Terrible rain ; mercury rang-
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ing from 6° to 50°. Wild geese around ; cranes and wild geese occasionally all winter. A cool summer followed. Frost every month this year. August 2d-Mercury 98°. 3d, 100°. 8th, 99°. 30th-Hard frost; killed vines and corn. 1
October 30 .- Snow storm. 3Ist-Snow three or four inches in depth.
1864.
January 1 .- An intensely severe day; known as the cold New Years. Wind and snow; mercury-20°. 2d- Mercury-18°. 3d and 4th-Mercury o. 5th-6°. 6th and 7th-20°. 8th-16°. 9th-7°. 11th-5°. 12th, 22°. Winter weather till 23d, when snow disappeared. From 23d to 29th mercury from 30° to 64°; April weather. 3Ist-Rain; frost out of the ground. Like spring till February 16th.
March 1 to 10 .- Pleasant; robins, blue birds, larks and frogs around.
April 14 .- Hot, cold, rain, hail. Mercury from 60° to 40°.
July 16 .- Mercury 100°. Frosts in September. In November, Indian summer. In December mercury be- low zero, six different times from four degrees to sixteen degrees below.
1865.
February was a mild and pleasant month. Last week in March and first week in April very fine and warm.
June 20 .- Terrible hail, wind, and rain ; much damage was done. Marks of the hail storm remained for years.
July I to 9 .- Warm. 9th and roth-Cold rain. 15th -Cold rain. Most of the month wet and cold.
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
August 2 .- Terrible rain, thunder, and lightning.
October 19 and 20 .- First frost to nip vines. 28th-A snow storm. Indian summer in November. A fine month for corn husking.
1866.
February a cold month. Mercury below zero on sev- eral days. 16th-22°.
March 19 .- Four inches of snow. 20th-Rain, hail, and thunder.
May 22, 23, 24 .- Frosts. 26th and 27th-Hard rain ;. had been dry before.
September 1 to 15 .- Wet and Cold. 22d-Frost that killed vines and injured corn.
December 10 .- Mercury-3º. 16th-Seven inches of snow. 3Ist-Mercury-4°. 1867. January 17 .- Mercury-13º.
February 10 .- 12°.
May I .- Hard frost. Last of May and first of June very warm.
June 7 .- Mercury 100°. June a warm and dry month. July 23 .- Mercury 100°.
August .- A very dry and warm month. 9th to 12th --- Mercury 100°. 3 1st .- A fine rain.
September 15 .- Mercury 94°. Again dry; some showers.
October .- Some showers. The month for the most part dry and pleasant.
November 3 .- Thunder, hail and rain. A wild month .. 24th-Very warm. 29th-Grew cold.
In December some cold weather. 27th-Mercury at 54 . Still very dry. Thus closed a remarkable season ..
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LAKE COUNTY.
I868.
January was a month of steady cold weather.
February a dry month.
March a warm, pleasant month. 4th to 12th-Frogs, blue birds, robins, and all signs of spring abundant.
First week in April, cold.
May II to 20 .- Very warm. Mercury 90° to 96°.
A very dry June, yet crops looked well.
July was a very hot month, with frequent showers. Mercury at 94, 96, 99, 102, 103, and July 15, 105°.
First week in September pleasant and dry; afterwards rain. 17th-A hard frost, killed everything. Frosts also on the 18th, 2Ist and 23.
December 10 .- Mercury-18°. 11th-16°. December closed with rain.
1869.
January .- The trees were for some days heavily loaded with ice; many were broken. The month mild. 4th- Mercury at 47°. Wild geese in this month.
First half of February mostly pleasant. 7th, 8th and 9th-Cloudy and warm. rIth to 14th-Frogs, snakes, larks, etc., around as in April. Afterward some cold weather. Birds returned the latter part of March. In April trees again covered with ice.
April was a cold and wet month.
May and June wet.
July was a very wet month.
This summer may well be called the Wet Summer. It was a very poor corn season.
The following are two records taken from THE CAS- TALIAN
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INCIDENT AND ITEMS.
" JANUARY-1869.
" The month "just closing has been remarkable, in the county of Lake, for its even temperature, its amount of sunshine, its mild winds, its general, uniform pleasant- ness. No snow of any amount since the sheet of ice of the first week, and very little mud. Excellent wheeling, no rain, no storm, day after day, week after week. South wind, southeast wind, west wind, north wind, east wind- still pleasant weather. It is said that such a January has not been experienced for some thirty years. For a win- ter month it has been truly delightful."
"Cedar Lake, having been covered with one strong sheet of ice, then again all open, can now, in the latter part of March, be crossed with loaded teams. Quite an unusual occurrence."
The following is another CASTALIAN record : " During the year 1867 there was in our county one cloudless day, September 28th. On the 27th a speck of cloud was vis- ible before sunrise, on the 29th one was visible after sun- set. During 1868 no cloudless day was observed by a close observer. At Rochester, New York, some years ago, eighteen such days were observed in one year, and thirteen in another. There are few such days at the south end of Lake Michigan ; yet there are many delight- ful ones, the sky as deeply blue as that over Mount Au- burn, and fleecy clouds as beautiful and lovely as float anywhere."
1870.
January came in mild. Was noted for its rain storms of the 11th, 14th, and 16th; the last attended with thun- der and wind. January 12th-Wild geese appeared. Mercury at 45°.
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LAKE COUNTY.
May 4 .- Mercury at 94°. May was a very warm and dry month.
In June, some showers.
July a warm and dry month.
August also warm and dry.
Killing frosts in September.
October was a fine month. An excellent practical farmer makes this note. "Our best corn year."
187I.
In January of this year were those remarkable days, commencing with rain and frost, and continuing so changeless, that gave us the most magnificent ice views, so far as records show, ever witnessed in this latitude. Commencing January 14, the sheet of ice continued over everything for two weeks. Immense damage was done to forest trees. Fruit trees were broken very much, but the injury to them did not prove to be serious. The winter scenery during those two weeks was indescribably grand. All the boughs of all vegetation were covered with ice that weighed the evergreens and smaller trees almost to the earth, and when the sun shone the brilliant crystals everywhere almost dazzled the eyes of the be- holder. One evening, during those two weeks, the rays of the setting sun, with the redness of a glowing summer brightness, shone upon the tree-tops, and they flashed in that red light as though hung all over with myriads of rubies. Such a scene of resplendent beauty none here ever saw before. The temperature day after day was mild; very little wind; considerable sunshine; but the whole world around seemed bound in unyielding fetters of ice. It was like living in a fairy land, or in arctic re-
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
gions without the cold and the darkness. Existence itself, amid such beauty, was a great delight. But rare elements of the magnificent in nature seemed to be com- bined, when at length motion again commenced in the outer world. Then at midday, in the usually silent win- ter groves, the continuous roar of the ponderous, falling, crystal masses, the breaking of loaded boughs as the wind began to rise and try their strength, the danger to which one was constantly exposed, were sufficient to rouse into excitement the dullest nature.
Between Crown Point and Cedar Lake the road was rendered impassable for days by an icy blockade ; all our woods still show the marks of the giant power that was laid upon them ; the like in our history was never known before. The ice sheet extended from Southern Michigan in a south-westerly direction into Illinois ; its width being some twenty or thirty miles, and Crown Point lay near the centre of its course. At Chicago snow fell to quite a depth instead of the rain which here froze at the sur- face of the earth.
February, like January, was a mild month.
March 2d, mercury at 68°.
In June the locusts came in immense swarms, keeping themselves mostly upon the forest trees. They were es- pecially numerous in the woods north of Lowell ; south and southwest of Crown Point; and in the eastern por- tion of the county. These locusts stung the timber, but no serious results followed.
In October strong winds prevailed. The summer was very dry, and unusual fires raged along the marsh and in the islands of timber. It seemed as though what the
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LAKE COUNTY.
ice and the locusts had left unharmed, the fires were com- missioned to destroy. The October fires of 1871, in and out of Lake, will long be remembered.
Although a very dry season, and many wells failed, and cattle suffered severely from thirst, yet the corn crop was. good, the oat crop was good, and grass was abundant.
I872.
The winter commenced with no heavy fall rains and no mud. In January there came quite a fall of snow and a few cold days, but on the whole the winter was mild. Spring came, and yet very little rain, no mud, no bad roads. Showers in the summer: very little rain. Vege- tation grows, but cattle suffer, wells dry up, and it seems as though the fountains in the earth would fail. Since 1869 we have almost forgotten what a rain storm is or a muddy road. The summer of 1872 has proved an unusu- ally abundant fruit season. The corn crop has been abundant, the oat crop fair, and the grass crop good. A late and pleasant autumn with but little rain and no mud. No bad roads since the spring of 1870.
And thus ends our weather record, extending through thirty-eight years, kept with more or less fullness by Solon Robinson, at Crown Point, the Ball family at Cedar Lake, and H. Wason, on Lake Prairie. At Cedar Lake ther- mometrical and barometrical observations were made and recorded for a series of years ; the former made at sunrise, noon, and sunset. Meteorological records ought to be continued in the county, as they may prove of in- terest and use amid the advances of science in the coming. years.
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
CAPTURING TIMBER STEALERS IN NORTH TOWNSHIP.
In our earlier years, when Chicago was beginning to grow, and builders wanted pine timber, the report reached the county officers that a party of their men were steal- ing some valuable trees among the sand hills. The proper papers, it is supposed, were made out, the civil officer summoned his posse, and as considerable force might be needed, the independent military company of those days,. Joseph P. Smith, Captain, was taken into this service. The party took dinner at Liverpool, and in the afternoon or next day, proceeded with great caution, with drum and fife sounding (and, probably colors flying, how could the military march without), to the place where the tres- pass was committed. But to their great surprise the men with the axes were not to be found. The idea of meet- ing a charge led on with martial music, was too much for their courage, and they had ingloriously fled. George Earle footed the bills, which amount the Commissioners afterwards refunded, and the party returned laurelless to Crown Point. The timber, doubtless, soon after went into the Illinois city, and no money came to the lords of the soil.
In contrast with the above item, in contrast as to man- ner and success, I place
A NEST OF TIMBER THIEVES ALONG THE KANKAKEE.
In later years, during that wet summer of 1869, the Kankakee River being unusually high and affording great. facilities for rafting off the timber, a number of men were said to be trespassing upon those wooded islands which were miles away from the abodes of civilized men. The high water seemed to secure these timber stealers from the
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LAKE COUNTY.
observation of the owners of the islands. The trees were cut in water some four feet in depth, and floated down to Momence, out of the jurisdiction of the State. Hearing of these depredations, a party of land-owners went out in boats to ascertain the facts and bring the cul- prits to justice. A number of rafts had gone into Illi- nois, but they found nine then in the river, of choice timber, from fifty to one hundred feet in length. One division had left the edge of the marsh about ten o'clock ta night. The moon went down as they neared the chan- nel of the river. The navigation up the stream became laborious and dangerous, requiring one in the prow con- stantly to watch the current, and one to steer, while the others rowed. Thus, in the silent hours of night they were approaching the camp of the unsuspecting tres- passers. Some of the oarsmen becoming exhausted, they finally moored to a willow in the edge of the cur- rent and lay on their oars and slept. Again pursuing their voyage they reached Red Oak Island after daylight dawned. Four men were arrested and taken to Lowell for trial.
Another division of this party, with three boats, made in the day about thirty miles of marsh and river naviga- tion. They met with some interesting incidents by way of variety. One of the boatmen, "poling " his boat along, lost his balance, and succeeded in regaining it from the bottom of the marsh into which he of course plunged. Others met with similar mishaps. When about to leave the river, one young man, who had succeeded in keeping dry all day, proposing to perform one more feat, pushed out in a small trapper boat to try a shot at some ducks.
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
Drawing sufficiently near, he stood up and fired. The reaction of the gun, in that frail bark, sent him back- wards into the water, holding on still as he disappeared, to the destructive weapon. He secured a duck and also a ducking, to the great amusement of those who had met with like accidents during the day.
If not so successful as they hoped to be, the party put some stop to the rafting of their timber down to Mo- mence.
The first settler at West Creek, R. Wilkinson, first Pro- bate Judge, had some rather provoking experiences with the Indians. He was raising the walls of his cabin, log by log, with the assistance of his son Noah and his wife, when fifteen or twenty stout Indians gathered round and looked on. As, by means of hand-spikes and mechani- cal contrivances, the three succeeded in getting the logs in place, the Indians stood round and laughed. And when a greater effort than usual was needful to raise some heavy stick, and it seemed likely to slide back upon the tugging toilers, the Indians continued to stand round and laugh; until the vexed settler felt inclined to walk in among them with a hand-spike. They did not seem to realize the fact that a little help just then from their stout arms would have been very acceptable. They cer- tainly had not read the anecdote about Washington, how he once took hold and lifted ; nor could they have read Sir Walter Scott's Black Dwarf; or they would have acted with more consideration. The scene at that cabin- raising, if amusing and not very creditable to the Red Mens' thoughtfulness, is yet instructive. The three toil-
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