Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc., Part 138

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Akron > Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc. > Part 138

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).

BY THE ISTHMUS ROUTE, ALSO .- March 19, 1849, John Scupholm (or as usually called, John Addy), Jeremiah Yockey, Clark Elliott, Henry Prior, and a Mr. Benum and son, of Cuyahoga Falls, and at about the same time Nicholas Rector (brother-in-law of General George W. McNeil), Porter C. Rector, James G. Dow, Lucian B. Raymond, Charles G. and Thomas Caldwell and several other Akronians started via New York, the Isthmus of Panama, etc., for the same destination.

Though the overland route bristled with perils and hard- ships, the Isthmus route was, at that early day, far worse. There was, of course, abundance of transportation from New York, and other Atlantic ports, to the Isthmus, but the rub was to get from the Isthmus to San Francisco. There were, at that time, but two regular steamers plying between Portland, Oregon, and Panama, with long intervals between arrivals and departures, while coast- wise sailing vessels on the Pacific were also few and far between.

Unscrupulous proprietors and agents of transportation lines upon this side would assure all applicants that there would be no difficulty in securing passage from Panama, as several steamers, which had been sent around the Horn, would surely be there in time to accommodate all. The transit of the Isthmus itself was filled with perils, hardships, disease and death. Arriving at Chagres, the only mode of travel to Gorgona, thirty miles, was in open boats, slowly poled or paddled up the Chagres river by nearly naked natives. From Gorgona to Panama, thirty miles further, the emigrant had to foot it through narrow, deep-worn mountain trails and almost bottomless marshes; the natives acting as pack-horses for the transportation of baggage, and sometimes of humans, upon their backs.

Finally arrived at Panama, then came the " tug of war." Wait- ing for days, and sometimes weeks, for a chance passage, their money rapidly diminishing for subsistence, many despairing of reaching California alive, would retrace their steps, while others, overcome by exposure and disease, would simply lie down and die.

MR. NICHOLAS RECTOR'S RETURN .- About the middle of April, 1849, Mr. Nicholas Rector returned to Akron, the account given by him adding very greatly to the anxiety of those whose friends had gone by that route. When he left Panama there were over 3,000 emigrants awaiting transportation, and hundreds daily arriving, and not a vessel in the harbor. Passage tickets on the expected steamers around the Horn, as well as those already upon the coast, were held at from $600 to $1,200, a sum beyond the ability of the majority to pay, necessitating the securing of cheaper

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HARDSHIPS OF THE ISTHMUS ROUTE.

transportation, or returning to their homes disgusted, as did Mr. Rector.

AKRON PLUCK AND PERSEVERANCE .- Yet the majority of those who did not die upon the Isthmus, or upon the overcrowded ves- sels, upon which they finally did secure a passage, managed by "hook or by crook" to "get there."

As a sample of pluck and perseverance, under the most appall- ing difficulties, the bitter experience of three Akron gentlemen may properly here be cited. Messrs. James G. Dow, Lucian B. Raymond and Porter C. Rector, after remaining upon the Isthmus several weeks, and until their individual funds were nearly exhausted, finally, by pooling their resources, managed to secure passage upon an old schooner. She was a poor sailer, at the best, and being laden largely beyond her capacity, and beset by head winds, calms, etc., her, progress was very slow indeed, and, after being on the ocean nearly three months, and being reduced to nearly starvation rations, Messrs. Dow and Raymond, with many others, went on shore and footed it nearly a thousand miles up the coast, begging their scanty daily subsistence from the sparse and not at that time very hospitable Mexican population, and getting into San Francisco considerably in advance of the old tub in which they started, Mr. Rector, and others who remained on board, during the last ten days out, having to subsist almost wholly upon wormy and mouldy beans.

THE GREAT EXODUS OF 1850 .- Reserving, for the present, a description of the experiences and hardships of the "overland" journey, we will only say of the Forty-niners from here, that, so far as known, all got safely through, though all did not realize their fond expectations of rapid wealth, while some laid down their lives in their efforts to secure a competence for themselves and families.

In January and February of 1850, Messrs. John O. Garrett, Russell Abbey, Samuel Newton, and one or two other members of the companies above named, returned, via the Isthmus, some of them bringing such favorable accounts of their own and others' success, that the " yellow fever" soon began to rage, THE BEACON, of February 27, 1850, in speaking of the intention of Messrs. Gar- rett and Abbey to return, editorially saying:

"About thirty of our best citizens expect to start overland for Califor- nia within three weeks. They go under the lead of Mr. Garrett, and several will be accompanied by their wives. A number of our citizens also go by the Isthmus."

It should be added that in the intervening year, transporta- tion facilities between Panama and San Francisco had very greatly increased, while mule locomotion had been added to the western portion of the transit across the Isthmus, though the hor- rors of that portion of the journey were not entirely obviated until the completion of the Panama Railroad, in 1855.

THE GRAND CAVALCADE .- THE BEACON of March. 20, 1850, under the heading "California-Bound," said:

"Nearly 200 persons have left Akron and Summit county, during the past week, via St. Joseph, Missouri, and a number more are making their arrangements to go. A large proportion of the whole number have hitherto been residents of Akron and among our most useful citizens-chiefly

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

mechanics. About forty wagons left on Thursday last, making a fine pro- cession. The streets were crowded with the friends of the fearless adven- turers, and many hearts ached as parting words were uttered, and the train disappeared amid the roaring of cannon. Several females were in the- company, and Mr. Garrett, the leader, who recently returned from Sacra- miento, took his whole family, intending to make a permanent settlement in California."

To show that Akron was not alone a sufferer, in the loss of "useful citizens," the same issue contains a clipping from a Mas- sillon paper to the effect that a company of about the' same size left Massillon the same week. And so it was all over the Western states, and in fact the whole country, it being estimated that some 200,000 crossed the plains in 1850, besides the large contingent who. went from both the East and the West via the Isthmus, to say nothing of the immense influx from almost every other civilized and semi-civilized country on the globe.

A ROSTER OF THE CALIFORNIA-BOUND .- It will, of course, be- quite impossible to furnish a stricly accurate list of all who com- posed the Akron and Summit county wing of this Grand Army,- but from a list furnished THE BEACON by Mr. Garrett, and the- writer's recollection of the names of those composing his own. company, who left a week later, and other data at his command,. an approximately correct list from 1850 to 1852 is as follows:

Russell Abbey, O. H. P. Ayres, John Allen, George Andrews,- Lewis Anser, C. Ayliffe, Levi Allen, Edwin Allen, John Allen, Mar- tin Asper, Stephen Ayres, John Ayres, Cordelia M. Ayres, Orrin H. Ayres, Hiram J. Ayres, Thomas Ayres, Allen Ayres, Henry Anson, William B. Ashmun, William C. Allen, Samuel B. Axtell,- Augustus G. Babcock, A. B. Bradley, Harvey Baldwin, Noah Baldwin, Michael Breem, William Barker, George Best, Milton Briggs, Hugh Boyd, William E. Bradley, Henry Baker, G. Bates, M. Bishop, John Biddle, E. Beach, L. Bradley, David H. Bliss, Ephraim Bellows, P. Beales, Alexander Brewster, Daniel Balch, John W. Baker, William Baird, - Butler, G. C. Briggs, wife and sister, E. Crain and wife, Charles Curtiss, O. Bell, Truman Barnett, James Birge, Edward Brown, James Boyle, Adam Bergert, George- Bechtel, Samuel Britton, George Beckwith, William Barr, John G. Carpender, James Christy, Archibald Christy, Robert Carson, Edward Cummings, S. Chandler, John Cook, Charles Carner, A. Coke, Robert Cochran, George E. Clark, E. Cooke, A. Chapman, L. M. Comstock, Warren Clark, S. Chandler, James Coggeshall, Orion Church, John Cutshaw, Elihu Chilson, S. M. Cobb, E. P. Cook, Gilbert Carr, L. B. Curtiss, John Cross, Orrin Cooke, Linus Culver, E. Comstock, Jerry Conrad, Abraham De Haven, L. Davis, Edward Dugan and wife, B. F. Dickerman and wife, Miss Maria Dickerman, -- Davis, John Devin, C. C. Dewey, John Dulin, Samuel Dulin, - Dixon, William Denaple, Perrin De Puy, J. C. Dickerman and wife, John and Edmund Dunn, Lyman Davis, D. Everett, E. Fry, Jesse Felt, John Falor, William Finch, Jonathan F. Fenn, A. Fenn, Theodore Fenn, Richard Fassett, C. G. Field, B. B. Green, N. Geer, John Gatz, Peter Graffleman, S. Gibson, John T. Good, W. Gunder J. Gardiner, John O. Garrett, wife and five children-Emily, John Jr., Hiram, Sarah and Henry-D. C. Gillett, William H. Garrett, J. B. Gibbons, Edwin Gilson, Eli Goodale and wife, George M. Griffin, George W. Greeley, J. B. Gleason, Jacob Good, Calvin Hall, Seth Hamlin, John Hamlin, Adam Hart, David Hanscom, Lewis Hanscom,

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SUMMIT COUNTY'S GOLD-SEEKERS.

James Holmes, M. Hennessy, C. Holflemany, John Herman, C. J. Hays, E. Hull, John Hill, P. Hickox, C. Harkins, Calvin Holt, Bruce Herrick and wife, Captain Richard Howe, Richard G. Howe, William Howe, H. Hestler, E. Hays, Walton Hulin, Dr. Mendal Jewett, James R. Jewett, Henry Jewett, William Ives, John Johns, J. S. Jones, William B. Judd, William H. Jones, - Janes, Rees Jones, Peter Jahant, Z. Jones, George F. Kent, Horace Kent, Henry Kenyon, John Krytzer, R. C. Kimball, Levi Kryder, Adam Kempel, Lewis Kilbourn, John Kidder, Joseph Kidder, David Kirby, B. Kirby, John E. King, Charles Kempel, Hallet Kilbourn, Edward Kilbourn, Oscar Kilbourn, John Kuhner and wife, Calvin Kidder, A. Kilbourn; - King, Leroy S. Kidder, Chris. Killifer, Samuel A. Lane, J. H. Leavitt, H. Lye, H. C. Lacey, George Lillie, William Lewis, William Lamb, Gilbert Lanphier, Albert Lanphier, B. Lockwood, O. C. Lee, James M. Livensperger, Burton Lockwood, Jonas Leach, Giles L'Hommedieu, J. J. Myers, Norris Miller, N. May, W. D. Myers, George McKay, John Mckibben, William Meese, W. B. McCune, Michael Metzler, D. Marshall, James McKelvey, Felix Morgan, Andrew Martin, F. Masters, Nathaniel Morton, S. D. McNeal, John D. Miner, W. D. McClure, Henry McMasters, Daniel Martin,and son Henry, James M. Mills, W. Mayer, A. McDonald, William T. Mather, James M. Moore, Ithiel Mills, Mrs. McArthur, W. Moses, Dr. L. Northrop, Owen O'Neil, James O'Neil, James Newing, Marvin Oviatt, Wallace Nelson, George Orcutt, Stephen Neighman, A. Nixon, Mason Oviatt, Orlen New- comb, Judson Olmstead, John Pendleton, Levi Post, John Pat- terson, Moses R. Paine, Luther E. Payne, A. Packard, Jr., M. Porter, Daniel Powles, S. S. Peck, Benjamin Peart, - Powers, H. B. Pomeroy, S. E. Phelps, J. T. Powers, Elijah Poor, J. Rhinie, Daniel Richmond, James Root, Leonard Root, J. Reynolds, Jona- than Remington, George Richey, Frank Rumrill, J. Radick, Samuel Rattle, William Rattle, E. Randall, - Robbins, Edward Robin- son, Alonzo Rogers, Caleb Smith, Frederick Steese, Thomas Smith, George W. Smith, Hiram Stott, John Stine, J. W. Sherwood, Wil- liam Shaw, S. L. Shaw, Christian Scriber, William Smagg, George Sumner, F. Sumner, King Smith, John Stineberger, David Santom, J. Spicer, S. Sparhawk, R. B. Smith, B. Stanton, W. B. Stone, Joseph Spiker, S. Snow, Richard Smetts, William Smetts, Ira P. Sperry, Alvin N. Stone, John C. Stanley, Warren H. Smith, David Simpson, William Sinclair, A. J. Smith, J. M. Sheppard, Edward Sumner, -Sizer, William Smith, Seth Sackett, Julius Stock, D. R. Stoffer, O. E. Shepard, John Teucher, H. Taylor, William A. Taylor, William J. Taylor, Charles W. Tappan and family, Charles O. Turner, Leander Titus, William Thompson, George Wells, R. Weltz, N. White, Leander Washburn, Miss Lorinda Washburn, M. A. Wheeler, Jesse Widoe, J. Wohmein, Mayer Weil, H. Willard, Mrs. Willard, Theodore Willard, H. O. Willard, J. D. Whitney, H. B. Williams, D. Wright, O. Wright, Judge Samuel A. Wheeler, Thomas Wilson, Elijah, Frederick and Henry Wadsworth, Orrin L. Walker, Jefferson Walker, Edward Waite, Philo E. Wright, Ben- jamin D. Wright, Wm. H. White, A. Wood, J. W. Wilbur, Benjamin K. Waite, Henry S. and Solomon Whetstone, F. P. Warren, Joseph Wallace, Cyrus Wirt, David H. Wood, Wm. Walling, J. Waggaman, Henry C. Wadhams, Theo. Williard and wife, Geo. York, L. Y. Young, A. Vaughn, J. M. Yocum, J.Vickers, Dorsey W. Viers, H. S. Vaughn.

1112

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. .

Included in the foregoing list of fully 350 names are several residents of contiguous counties, who joined the Akron companies in crossing the plains and mountains, in 1849, '50, as well as quite a number who made their way to the Pacific Slope the two follow- ing years, during the writer's sojourn there, but doubtless omit- ting many whom he did not meet or have knowledge of. It may thus be safely stated that not less than 400 people went from Summit county to California during the years 1849 to 1852, while hundreds of others have wended their way thither, for business or pleasure during the intervening forty years. All who started, however, did not live to reach their destination-King, Stineberger and Smith, of Akron, Finch, of Richfield, and Cook, of Cuyahoga Falls, dying at or before reaching St. Joseph, and a number of others dying en route upon the plains or ocean.

It is proper to remark here that the majority of those who left this vicinity, in the Spring of 1850, enrolled themselves under the banner of Captain Garrett, by reason of his experience of the year before. Others, however, organized or united with smaller com- panies, the sequel showing that while proximity to numbers, en route, was an element of safety in passing through the terri- tory of hostile Indians, moderate sized companies were more readily handled, more harmonious and more successful in overcoming the difficulties of the journey, and averting disaster to themselves and their animals, the liability to, and magnitude of, which will faintly appear in what follows.

The writer, with some forty-five or fifty others from Akron and vicinity, starting a week later than Captain Garrett's Company, by the same route and means, reached Wellsville, March 22, 1850, where, with wagons, horses and other property, we embarked on the steamer " North River," for St. Louis, the river transit occu- pying just six days.

OVERLAND THROUGH MISSOURI .- Satisfying ourselves on inquiry that, owing to the backwardness of the season, we had a whole month to spare before it would be safe to start out upon the plains, and that mules and other needed supplies could be bought cheaper at St. Louis than at St. Joseph, we determined on making the journey through Missouri, some 350 miles, by land, instead of water, both as a matter of economy and accustoming ourselves and our animals to the work before us and them, as well as to enable us to remedy any defects of outfit we might discover before passing beyond the bounds of civilization.

Several members of the company had taken horses with them from home, but such mules as were needed had to be purchased there. The majority of the mules in the market were "green," or unbroken, and to say that the boys had lots of fun breaking them, would be drawing it mild, our present veteran drayman, Uncle "Dick" Smetts, at one time getting a whack upon the abdomen, from a pair of hoofs, that threatened serious results for several days, and at another time dislocating his shoulder in wrestling with a mule; while the dignified Judge Wheeler was doubled up like a jack-knife, and the serious-minded Deacon Jonathan F. Fenn, at one end of a lariat, with a gyratory mule at the other end, was straightened out like a whip-lash; and even the writer him- self, getting a severe tap upon the knee that produced a painful limp for several days, and at another time, incredible as it may

1113

OVERLAND THROUGH MISSOURI.

appear, a pair of heels passed in such close proximity to his face as to knock off his wide-brimmed hat, without hitting his nose! The price of mules varied from $65 to $85 per head, for green, and from $90 to $100 for those broken to harness. The mess to which the writer was attached, consisting, besides himself, of James Holmes, Robert Carson and John Mckibben, bought two span of well-broken mules at $90 a head, which, with our four equally well-broken horses, taken from home, made us a most excellent team, and that, too, without the wear and tear of muscle and temper, to which the purchasers of the unbroken animals were subjected, to say nothing of the detriment of the breaking-in pro- cess to the animals themselves.

GENEROUS HOSPITALITY .- Having shipped the bulk of our pro- visions and luggage by steamer to St. Joseph, we were in readi- ness for a start from St. Louis, on Saturday, March 30. Meantime Mr. William P. Fenn, a former resident of Tallmadge, then the proprietor of an extensive dairy farm, six miles west of St. Louis, and directly upon our route, had invited the entire company to spend the Sabbath with him, which invitation was cordially accepted, and right royally were we entertained.

On Monday morning, April 1st, we started on our journey, Mr. Fenn and one of his men kindly accompanying us far as St. Charles, a distance of twenty miles. Here we crossed the river, and, upon the north side of the Missouri, pursued our way leisurely to our final starting point, St. Joseph, then the extreme western verge of civilization.

UNDUE FASTIDIOUSNESS. - The many interesting incidents encountered in that slave-cursed State cannot be here given, for want of space. One, only, as bearing upon the later trials and pri- vations of the journey must suffice. On the supposition that provisions of all kinds could be readily obtained from the planta- tions we might pass, we took very little with us, but found that, so far as bread was concerned, we could obtain none whatever, except in two or three villages which we passed through; every meal, from bread up, as in all other slave States, being literally prepared from "hand to mouth." Our wagon being in the lead, one day, we stopped at a way-side horse-power grist-mill, and bought half a bushel of coarse-ground corn meal. Judge Wheeler coming up, as I was pouring the meal into our provision chest, exclaimed: "Lane, what in the world are you going to do with that?" "Make it into griddle cakes," I replied. "But how are you going to manage to sift it?" inquired the Judge. "Cook it without sifting," I replied. "Well," said the Judge, contemptuously, "You can eat coarse-ground, unsifted corn meal, if you like, but I was better brought up!" Before we get to our journey's end, we shall see.

ORGANIZING FOR THE JOURNEY. - We arrived at St. Joseph, March 25th, finding that Captain Garrett's train, with about forty wagons and 160 men, had started out upon the plains some two or three days before. Loading up our supplies, which had been for- warded by water, we ascended the river about five miles, and, crossing over, encamped on a high bluff, in the Indian territory, where we remained a few days, visiting town daily, to put the fin- ishing touches upon our outfit, one indispensable item of which was as much corn and other feed as we could haul upon our

1114

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

wagons, or pack upon the backs of our loose animals, for their subsistence, from the fact that not a single spire of the green grass that had been depended upon for that purpose, was yet visible.

Deeming thorough organization of the first importance, a meeting was held on the morning of April 27th, of which Captain Richard .Howe was made chairman and S. A. Lane, secretary. At this meeting Captain Howe was unanimously elected captain of the train, Judge Samuel A. Wheeler, assistant, and Henry Anson, sergeant of the guard. James M. Mills, Ira P. Sperry and Jonathan Avery (of Adrian, Mich.) were appointed a committee on rules, who, the same evening, reported the following:

"Resolved, That we recommend that this division of the California emigration be named 'Howe's Train.'"

"Resolved, That, for the protection of our train, no member shall dis- charge a gun in camp, or put the same loaded and capped either into tent or wagon, without being so ordered by the officers of the train.

"Resolved, That each inember stand guard as his name appears on the roll, and the captain shall have power to increase or diminish the guard as circumstances may require.

"Resolved, That the train shall be formed as the captain mnay direct.

"Resolved, That if other persons, with wagons, wish to join the train, the company may elect or refuse, as a majority may determine.

"Resolved, That three hours be the time of standing guard, from & o'clock until daylight, to be divided into three equal watches, and that the roll be formed by taking one name in turn from each mess, as given in, the names to be taken in regular rotation, in the formation of the guard."

The list as given in, and the several messes originally consti- "tuting "Howe's train," were as follows : Richard Howe, Edwin Gilson, Edward Waite, J. S. Jones, George Wilcox, Samuel A. Wheeler, Richard Smetts, William Smetts, Richard G. Howe, Augustus G. Babcock; Ira P. Sperry, Benjamin D. Wright, Philo E. Wright, Alvin N. Stone; James M. Mills, Henry Anson, Henry McMasters, William Denaple; John T. Good, John Cook, Michael Metzler, J. Waggaman; James Holmes, Samuel A. Lane, Robert Carson, John Mckibben; John G. Carpender, Leander Titus, Felix Morgan, A. Nixon; Warren Clark, J. Vickers, Daniel Martin,

Henry Martin; Owen O'Neil, James O'Neil, John Patterson, Wil- liam Shaw, Hugh Boyd; Mr. and Mrs. Edward Dugan, Mr. and Mrs. John Kuhner; Jonathan F. Fenn, Leonard Root; Walton Hulin, James Boyle, (from Trumbull county); Elihu Chilson, J. M. Sheppard, William Thompson; Jonathan Avery, Moses L. Gore, Philip Roberts, Henry Price, Morgan Brazee, P. O. Cook (the latter six from Adrain, Mich.); 56 persons, with 85 head of horses and mules, all told.

It should be properly added, here, that besides the messes, above enumerated, a German by the name of George Bechtel, who had been employed in the warehouse of Mr. P. D. Hall, went through upon his "own hook," with a single mule, upon which was strapped his blankets and provisions, picking up, kernel by kernel, the corn wasted by our own and other trains, on which his- own mule was kept fat and sleek, while other animals, by the thousand, succumbed to the rigors of the journey and the scanti- ness of their feed.

THE "MILITARY" TRAIN .- While the great mass of the wagons of the emigrants were covered with white or brown canvas, it so happened that the most of ours were covered with black rubber

1115

ROUTINE TRAVEL AND CAMP DUTY.

cloth, which fact, together with the circumstance that that prince of drummers, Henry McMasters, had his drum along, and our Trumbull county neighbor, Hulin, an equally skilled musician, had his fife with him, upon which instruments they would awake the echoes of the plains and mountains with soul-stirring martial music, nearly every evening, gave us the title, among our neigh- bors of the "Military Train," and possibly afforded us immunity from disturbance by the hostile Indians through whose hunting grounds we were obliged to pass, from which so many trains that year and the year before were annoyed and despoiled of their animals and other property, and often of their lives, upon the journey.

CAMP DUTY-STANDING GUARD, ETC .- But notwithstanding this supposed immunity, we by no means relaxed our vigilance. In a mess of four, two were assigned the task of caring for the animals, one as cook and the other as general utility man, by courtesy called the "chambermaid," whose duties were to pack and unpack the wagon, set up and take down the tent, make beds, gather fuel, water, etc. The captain, or his assistant, having by riding ahead secured a proper camping ground-usually selected with reference to proximity to feed and water-at about 6 o'clock would conduct us into camp. The wagons were arranged in cir- cuiar form, with our tents between, and our camp-fires on the inside. On getting into position, the first care was for the animals, which were securely tethered by lariats attached to iron pins driven into the ground, the teamsters being sometimes obliged to go quite a distance to find good pasturage.

Meantime the cook skirmishes around for fuel and water, kindles his fire and prepares his meal, while the "chambermaid" unpacks the wagon, pitches the tent, unrolls and adjusts the bed- ding, sets the table, etc .- the latter piece of "furniture" consisting of a piece of oilcloth, about four feet square, spread upon the ground, the "crockery" consisting of tin plates, tin tea and coffee pots and cups, iron spoons, knives, forks, etc., with the frying pan in the center, surrounded by pans of rice, beans, bread, stewed apple, etc., from which each messmate, sitting flat upon the ground, helps himself, without stint or ceremony. And such appetites! Little wonder that the writer increased his avoirdupois over thirty pounds on that journey, fatiguing and wearing as it was.

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Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905 Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228