USA > Indiana > Pioneer history of Indiana : including stories, incidents, and customs of the early settlers > Part 25
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The bridle was made of raw hide. For a bit they took a. small hickory withe, made a securely fastened ring on both ends of it, leaving enough of the withe between the rings to go into the horse's mouth and wrapping that portion with raw hide to keep the horse from biting it in two. They then fastened the head stall and reins to the rings.
A bridle was made very quickly by securing a piece of raw hide long enough for the reins, then putting the leather in the horse's mouth and looping it around his lower jaw just back of his front teeth, with this a horse was guided better and with more ease than with the bridle bit.
Hames were made from the lower part of the tree, in-
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cluding a part of the root for the proper crook. After they were dressed and made the right shape and size, holes for the top hame string were bored through if they had an auger, if not, they were burned through with a small piece of iron. For the hame hook two small holes were made and a strong piece of leather was fitted into the holes and properly fas- tened. To this loop the tugs were fastened. The holes for the bottom hame strings were made in the same way, as the upper ones.
A wagon that was termed a truck was made by cutting four wheels from a large tree, usually a black gum. A four- inch hole was made in the middle of the wheels in which ax- les fitted. Then splitting a tough hickory or white oak pole three or four feet at the big end, spreading these split pieces apart about fifteen inches, and boring two holes through the front axle and the two ends of the tongue, they then fitted a piece called a sand board over the ends of the tongue with holes in it to correspond with those in the axle. Having pinned it all securely together, they fastened the end to the front end of the wagon. A coupling pole was fitted into the center of the two. axles and pinned there. Heavy bolsters were put on over the axles and on them a board bed was made. Oxen were the usual teams that were hitched to these crude but serviceable wagons. A heavy wooden yoke went on the oxen's neck. Two hickory bows enclosed the neck and up through the top of the yoke, thus fastening the two oxen together. There was a hole made in the middle of the yoke and a strong hickory withe was fastened into it with a loop for the end of the tongue. A better ring was made for the tongue and fastened to the yoke by twisting into a strong cord a heavy rope of raw hide. The tongue was put into this ring and a pin of wood put through the end of the tongue before and behind the ring; the oxen were thus enabled to haul the wagon. These wagons were very service- able for hauling wood, gathering corn, and for many other purposes on the farm. They were very musical as well, for the more grease one put on the wooden axle to make it run
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lighter, the more it would squeak and squeal, making a noise that could be heard a mile.
The pitch forks for all purposes on the farm were made of wood. A young forked dogwood sapling was secured, the bark taken off and the two forks pointed for tines and this made a good fork. Some fifty years ago I saw an old four pronged fork that was made in a circular head of wood with four prongs taken from the antlers of an elk, that was useful for many purposes.
Wooden rakes were made of strong seasoned wood, some of them being made by fitting the head piece with deer horns and they made very useful implements. A good spade was made of hickory, fashioning it after the useful form of a spade and if properly seasoned and kept well oiled this tool would do good work as long as wanted.
Sleds were made in many ways and were universally used by all who had either oxen or horse teams.
In early times the hickory withe and deer hides were used for all purposes on the crude farming implements as is the binder twine and fencing wire of this period.
The pioneer women who came to the wilderness of Ind- iana had very few utensils they could use for cooking. The older sections they had emigrated from were quite distant from their new homes and if they had the different dishes and vessels to bring it was hard work to bring them for very few of them came in wagons or carts but mostly on horse- back. There were many who walked all the way and had only such things as they could carry. In fact, at the begin- ning of the nineteenth century in some of the older states, cooking utensils were not plentiful and they were very high priced and hard to get. The reader must take into consider- ation that this country was just beginning to gather strength after the great war of the Revolution, when our finances were completely wrecked. There was almost no money and the continental script was worthless. Mrs. Nancy Gullick, related to me that when she was a grown woman in the neighborhood where she lived, there was not more than one vessel for cooking in any home and that was nearly always a
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skillet and a lid. Often the lid was broken and the skillet nicked. Many of those who had cabins did not have any sort of vessel to cook in unless it was an earthen pot which had been made by the owner out of clay and burned as hard as it could be. Since there was no glazing, when boiling anything that had grease in it, there was nearly as much fat on the outside as there was inside. So much came through the pores that after the first fire to boil the pot, there was not much more needed for the fat on the outside was con- stantly on fire. In the skillet, all the meat had to be cooked on the hearth before a blazing fire, the cook having to stoop half bent and attend to the meat. The bread was baked in the same skillet, if not on a Johnny-cake board that was made for this purpose about ten inches wide and fifteen inches long and rounding at the top end. The corn dough was made thick and put on the board which was placed against a chunk of wood near the fire. After one side was baked to a nice brown, it was turned over and the other side was baked in the same way. This was called a Johnny-cake. If a board was not at hand, a hoe without its handle was cleaned and greased with bear's oil. Then the dough was put on the hoe blade the same as on the board and baked-this was called a hoe cake. When they had neither Johnny cake board nor hoe, a place was cleaned on the hearth under the edge of the fire, the dough wrapped in cabbage leaves or fresh corn shucks and laid on the hot hearth and covered with hot emb- ers. This was called an ash cake. The bread from any of these ways of cooking was good, even delicious.
A little later on more iron vessels were brought into the country and the dinner pot that held about two gollons with a lid and three short legs and an ear on each side for the hinged hooks to fit in, came into use. It was a great im- provement over the old vessels and enabled them to boil the meat instead of always having to fry or roast it. A pole was put above the fire from jamb to jamb and a hook was put on it, sometimes several of them of different lengths. The hooks which were fitted in the ears of the pot were hung on these hooks holding the pot over the fire. In this pot meat
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and vegetables could be well cooked. While these people had only a very primitive way of preparing the food, they cooked it well and I doubt if any age in this country's history will see another time when such delicious meats were served or a people who so thoroughly enjoyed their food. The country was so ubundantly supplied with all sorts of game that all could have a bountiful supply. The usual dish for break- fast was fried turkey breast and slices of venison; for dinner the loin of a fat deer cooked with potatoes; for supper or the evening meal usually the meats were roasted. These dishes of food served with Johnny cake seasoned with the rich gravy of these meats, were certainly a repast which would satisfy the most exacting epicure.
I can't determine the date when stoves came into general use but as late as 1820 there were but few stoves in use and I very much doubt if one of every twenty families in Indiana had any idea of how to cook and prepare food in any other way than I have described. up to 1835.
Possibly they were not so careful in appealing to the eye then as now but I am sure the dishes were prepared better than they are now and tasted just as well and I think better. There were no sweets nor pastries and biscuits were a luxury that were served only on Sunday mornings.
THE MILLING INDUSTRY.
After the first few years of the early settlement of this country, there has been some kind of mill that ground for toll. In 1808 Judge Isaac Montgomery built a horse mill on his farm about one mile southwest of the court house in Princeton, Indiana. In 1810 Jesse Kimball. the grandfather of the Jesse Kimball, of Princeton. Indiana, of today, built a flutter wheel water mill on Black river about six miles south of Owensville, Indiana and ground corn for himself and few neighbors for several years. Mr. Kimball came to that neigh- borhood in 1804 from the Red Banks now Henderson, Ken- tucky, and took the burrs with him from Henderson with a horse in shafts and a pole through the stones for an axle. One of the stones is now, 1905, in the possession of Mr.
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Edwad Knowles who is over eighty years old and lives on part or the old Kimball farm.
The Indians were very numerous when Mr. Kimball first settled there but he got along with them, only at such times as he was unable to meet their demands for whiskey. The Indians finally determined to kill him and he was decoyed away from his cabin by what he thought was the call of a . wild turkey but which proved to be an Indian and he was en- abled to get back only by dodging from tree to tree in a zig- zag manner. However they watched their opportunity and burned his cabin. While he was in hiding he saw them hold a pow-wow, then a war dance around his little home, and finally set it on fire. In 1813 he built a horse mill that was operated up to 1838.
Major David Robb in 1814 built a small overshot mill on Robb's Creek near where the town of Hazleton now stands. It was a very successful undertaking and a few years later he built a much larger mill on the same site, carrying two burrs. A few years after this he added a department for making lumber. These ventures were all very successful.
In 1809 Robert Falls built a horse mill near the center of what is now Washington township, in Gibson county, that did good work and was well patronized.
In 1820, Jacob Bonty built a little mill on the Smith's Fork of Pigeon creek in Barton township. Gibson Co. This mill was operated for thirty years and was a great help to the surrounding country.
In 1824 Henry Miley built a horse mill near Petersburg, Pike county, Indiana. In 1830, Jacob Stuckey built a grist and saw mill at Petersburg, and there were many little horse mills built in the settled sections of the state from 1820 up to 1830, but they were of only local importance.
The tub mills consisted of an upright post with a row of cogs around the lower end. The top end carried the top stone. There was a large wheel that was made with cogs to fit into those of the post. Buckets or boxes were made all around the outside of the tub. The water was let in from a wicket in the dam about three feet below the water level of
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the dam, and ran against the buckets on the outside of the tub, thus putting the wheel in motion. These mills were very easily made. An overshot mill was made with a per- pendicular shaft that carried the mill stone on the upper end. There was a large horizontal wheel run by the side of the up- right shaft that had slanting cogs that fitted into those around the main shaft. The water ran over the dam and fell on the buckets and boxes made on the outside of the wheel thus putting it in motion and it ran the upright post at a good rate of speed. An undershot mill was made the same way, only the water was run against the drum wheel from below the water level and turned the wheel the opposite way from the overshot.
A flutter mill was made by the water falling against the paddles which put the main shaft in motion by cogs the same as the last two described. Horse mills were made in many ways. The only one I ever saw was constructed in a very simple manner. The main shaft which was an upright post had a small wooden pully on it about six feet from the ground. The post that was turned by the horse had a large wooden pulley or hoop about six feet from the ground. A band or belt of a raw hide was put around both of the posts on the pulleys. The horse was hitched to an arm which was fasten- ed into the post with the large pulley and as he went around, the main shaft ran very fast. The grinding was done on a floor just above the belt.
Usually the miller measured the grain and poured it into the hopper, then with the toll box took out the toll for grind- ing. At water mills where permission to build was granted under territory or state laws, I think the toll was one-sixth but the toll at horse mills and afterwards at steam mills was fixed by the owners, about one-fourth usually. There were then as there always have been people who claimed that the miller took too much toll and most of those who owned mills were on the black list for honesty.
After there was a steam mill at Princeton, Ind., an old fellow living near there had to have milling done. He was so situated that he could not go so he prepared his corn and sent
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his boy a good sized lad and told him to watch the miller, for if he didn't he would steal all his corn. When the lad got to the mill he had to wait a good while for his turn to come. During that time he never lost sight of his sack. Finally the miller poured the corn into the hopper and laid the sack down. The boy watched him and as soon as the sack was laid down he snatched it up and ran to his horse and home as fast as he could go. His father seeing him coming in such a hurry went out and said-"Johnny, where is your meal and why are you riding so fast?" He told his father-"The old rascal stole every grain of the corn and aimed to keep the sack but I watched him and as soon as he laid it down I got it and ran home."
The doggerel verses below are something like I used to hear when I was a mill boy:
The miller must have a pen of hogs And they were always very fat, 1
It was uncertain, says the song, Whose corn they always ate.
The miller was an important man, He'd make the meal that fed them all
If you objected to his plan He'd even up if it took all fall.
His toll box bottom was very thin, They always heaping measures took You couldn't always be in time And if you were you hardly dared to look.
Some time after this there were three mills built on the Patoka river, one at Columbia now Patoka, one at Kirksville, built by Mason Kirk and one at Winslow, built by John Hathaway. These mills were a great improvement on the ones I have been describing. They all ground wheat as well as corn but they ground very slowly when compared with the mills of this date. It often took two full days to get one's grinding done as one had to wait one's turn. In grind-
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ing wheat the bran and flour all fell into the chest together and they had an arrangement for bolting much the same as is now used for screening wheat and it turned in the same way. The machine was covered with bolting cloth, but one had to bolt one's own flour. This was not hard work but it was not necessary to ask a person who had been turning that bolting machine where he had been for his clothes had enough of flour on them to make a pone of bread.
THE FLAX INDUSTRY.
The flax industry was very important to the early set- tlers as it formed the chain for all the fabrics woven and often the chain and filling until later on when cotton was raised. When the flax harvest was ready it was pulled and tied into bundles. These bundles were taken to a suitable place and spread in a thin swath on the ground and left there until the sun and the rain made the wood in the stem brittle, then it was taken to the flax brake and thoroughly broken on that machine, until the woody parts had all been loosened and most of it had fallen through the brake. It was then taken to the scutching board and with the aid of the scutch- ing knife was thoroughly swingled and cleaned of everything but the flax fiber. It was then well hatcheled when it was ready for the distaff and to be spun into thread on the little wheel.
A flax brake was made by using two thick blocks of wood about eignteen inches long with two posts in each block, two feet and a half long for legs, then four bars or slats six inches wide and one inch thick shaved smooth with a draw- ing knife. These slats were about six feet long and fitted into mortises made in each block leaving an opening between them of about one inch and a quarter. Then another frame was made the same way, only the three slates that were in it . came below the blocks some two inches and fitted in the open space between the slats of the first set made. One end of this was fastened to the under machine by some kind of a hinge often made out of raw hide. The front end had a hole made in the middle slat that was made wider than its two
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mates, and this was used for a hand hold to lift the top brake by. The flax was put on top of the lower brake and was broken by the upper three slats and the work was well done.
To work with a flax brake was hard labor but it was fast work only requiring a little time to break all the flax needed for one family.
The scutching board was a slab about four feet high driven into the ground. It was made perfectly smooth with the drawing knife, the top end being brought into a thin edge. In taking the flax from the brake it was thrashed over the end and around the post to free it from any of the woody stems left and finally finished with a scutching or swingling knife made of hickory about eighteen inches long, drawn to an edge on both sides.
The hatchel was made by driving long spikes of steel through holes made in a heavy piece of plank about one foot long and eight inches wide. There were forty or fifty of these spikes in a hatchel.
The distaff was fastened into an arm of the little wheel that went from the wheel bench and it stood about two feet away from the head of the wheel. The distaff was made out of a small dogwood bush, using the part where four small forks branch out from the main stem, which is the usual way this bush grows. The bush was cut two feet below the fork then all the prongs were cut off about fifteen inches long. The ends were then gathered to the middle stem and securely tied thus making a frame on which the flax was wrapped, ready for the spinning to commence.
The one running the wheel with her foot on the treadle used both hands to size the flax so that it would make an even thread." The machinery of this little wheel ran very fast. I have spent hours when I was a little boy watching my mother (God bless her memory) with both her hands full of flax, making it even for the spinning.
The next machine was the reel. There were from four to eight arms or spokes to this machine and on the end of each spoke there was a small head something like a crutch head on which the thread was wound. The arms or spokes
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were fastened into a small hub which was fastened on a spindle on the side of the upright stock of the reel. Attach- ed to the spindle was a counting machine that counted the number of revolutions made. When it had turned over so many times it would strike and every time it struck, it had reeled a cut. Four of these cuts made a hank which was taken off and twisted to keep it from becoming tangled and put away for the winding blades, to run on to spools for the warping bars or run on to little brooches or quills to be placed in the shuttles for filling.
The pioneer women from the two Carolinas and Tennes- see who came in early times to Indiana brought cotton seed with them and planted them. Cotton would not bloom as well as it would where the seasons were warmer and longer but it made enough to aid them in making clothing. It was planted as early as it was safe to be free from frost and ten- ded well. It made a splended stalk but was lacking in bloom consequently not many bolls or pods were formed. The cot- ton was gathered and when dry was seeded and was then ready for the cards to be made into rolls and spun into thread. When they had a sufficient quantity of cotton thread it made the chain for their linsey cloth.
THE LOOM AND WHIP SAW.
The first looms in use in this counry were very crude affairs. For the foundation of the loom and to thoroughly brace it, two smooth poles were secured about six inches through at the top and put up slanting, usually in a shed room or a smoke house adjoining the cabin, one end resting on the ground about eight feet from the wall, the other end pinned to the wall about seven feet up. These poles were set wide apart as wanted, usually about four and one-half feet. There were two other timbers placed in the ground about two feet from the lower end of the two slanting timb- ers and pinned to them, extending up as high as wanted for the top of the loom. Two split pieces about two by six inches were pinned to these poles and extending back to the two slanting poles were pinned to them, thus forming the top of
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the loom. The roller for the gears and the two upright pieces for the cloth batten were fastened to the top pieces. The thread beam was fastened to the two pieces of timber that. extended from the side timbers to the ground and the same was true of the cloth beam. The seat and the break beam were fastened to the two front upright posts. To the lower end of the timbers that held the thread beam in place, a small roller was attached and to this roller the treadles were fastened. This made a very strong loom and it required very little time to make it. It was a very simple piece of ma- chinery yet it did its work well for its time and millions of yards of cloth were woven on such looms; but the coming of the square framed loom was a great blessing to all who had to depend on the loom for clothing. This machine is, to this day, made very nearly as it was seventy-five years ago and as there are several such looms in every neighborhood I shall not attempt to describe it.
The dyeing of the chain and filling was a part of the cloth manufacturing that added very much to the looks of the clothing. In those early times all the coloring was done with different sorts of bark. The walnut bark and the hulls of the walnut made a very serviceable brown, often very nearly the color of the wool from a black sheep. Maple bark mixed with copperas made a very dark color almost black. Later the proverbial "old blue dye pot with a niche in the top" came. Indigo and madder combined made a very pretty blue that would hold as long as any of the cloth was left. Still later logwood and many other kinds of dye were used, up to the time when the clothing or the cloth was purchased from stores. These old days with the stained hands of our mothers have gone never to return and there will never be a time when such a noble, self-sacrificing band of women will live, as those who trained the generation that has made this country the Eden of the world.
When the whip saw was introduced and put to work it was a great help to the new comer in securing material to finish his log house more comfortably and in supplying lum- ber for the outbuildings. Timber of all kinds was of the
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best and the yellow poplar the one used most was very easy to saw.
The whip saw was a very simple device. In shape and in the handles it was much the same as the common cross cut saw of today. The teeth were so constructed and filed that it would cut the timber the long way, the log being placed on a scaffold. To keep from having the scaffold too high a pit was dug two or three feet deep for the under sawyer to stand in, the top sawyer standing on top of the log. The log was first divided into slabs the thickness wanted for the width of the planks. The slabs were then turned on their sides and after the first one was taken off, a gauge was used to govern the thickness of the plank, which was usually an inch and a quarter thick and any width required for their work. This was very slow work but as no one ever wanted a very large amount of lumber, two men could soon saw from the soft timber a sufficient amount for all needs.
The top sawyer was free from the dust and he had to look after the gauge used to make the plank the same thick- ness all along. The under sawyer was under the saw and all the saw dust fell on him and aside from holding the saw he had to keep his eyes and nose free from the dust. As the country was settled these saws were in great demand and a good saw pit scaffold was in constant use.
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