USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Ira > History of Ira, Vermont > Part 4
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Returning to his company in the early fall, his limb com- menced to trouble him to such an extent that he was honorably discharged from the service November 26, 1862, for wounds received April 5, 1862. This ended the military experience of both the Peck boys.
Determined to win his way as a doctor he re-commenced his scholastic studies at Fairfax, Vt., and finished his medical lectures at Springfield, Mass. Entering the office of Dr. A. T. Woodward of Brandon, Vt., he was an active and interested learner while riding with that pre-eminently skillful physician, until he felt competent to try his hand in actual practice alone. He married and settled in Brandon, where he continued the practice of medicine up to nearly the time of his death, which occurred April 21, 1916, at 75 years of age.
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HISTORY OF IRA, VERMONT
He was three times married but left no children, and all of his wives have passed away, but the present population of Brandon and those residents of the past fifty years, we feel sure, would be glad to testify of the skillful medical service and the manly citizenship of Dr. C. W. Peck.
He represented the town and served for several years on the high school board. Was a member and served for some time as chairman of Rutland County Medical Society.
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HISTORY OF IRA, VERMONT
TOWN, STATE AND COUNTY . OFFICERS
In a paragraph previously recited it was stated that Ira had a delegate at the Constitutional Convention of 1786, but no record is found as to the name of the person. However, the delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1814 we know was James Harrington, and the same man served as Assistant Judge of the County Court in 1806-8. In 1869-70 Bradley Fish served as Assistant Judge and in 1861-2 he also served as County Senator. Leonard W. Day was chosen delegate to the Constitu- tional Convention in 1870 and in 1890-91 Simon L. Peck was elected to the office of County Senator from Ira. Isaac Clark was the first representative, 1779. Born 1749, died 1822 at Castleton. Cephas Carpenter served as representative in 1785- 6-7-9-90-1808-9. Born 1754, died 1829. He also served as Town Clerk from 1792 until 1818. He followed George Sherman, who succeeded John Baker, who served from 1780 to 1790. Cephas Carpenter lived where George W. Fish now resides. Preserved Fish served as Town Clerk 1819-1820, when he was succeeded by John Mason, who served continuously until 1861, when Bradley Fish succeeded him to that office. Mr. Fish held the office until March, 1882, when he was succeeded by S. L. Peck. Mr. Fish was again re-elected in 1883 and held the office for only one year. Mr. Peck was then re-elected and held the office until 1894, when Charles D. Mann was chosen for one year, since which time the office has been held by S. L. Peck to the present time.
The following named persons have served the town as Representative. The years are indicated, together with the date of birth of each, so far as obtainable :
Isaac Clark, 1779. George Sherman, 1780, 1, 8, 91, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Lemuel Roberts, 1782, 4.
Joseph Wood, 1783.
John Anderson, 1800, 1, 2, 3, 4.
Isaiah Mason, 1811,14, 23. Mathew Anderson, 2d, 1815. Daniel Graves, 1822. Leonard Mason, 1826, 7, 43.
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HISTORY OF IRA, VERMONT
Joshua Harrington, 1828, 9. Whipple Martin, 1830, 1, 2. Pardon W. Wilkinson, 1835, 6. Ozial H. Round, 1839, 40. Russell Fish, 1841, 2. James L. Gilmore, 1844, 5. Amos Tower, 1846, 7. Lester Fish, 1848, 9. Erwin Collins, 1850, 1; born 1795. Enos C. Fish, 1852, 3; born 1809. Rollin C. Hunter, 1854, 5. Bradley Fish, 1856, 7. Carlton Giddings, 1858, 9; born 1811. Jeremiah Thornton, 1860, 1, 2; born 1823. Willard Ross, 1863, 4; born 1815. Leonard F. Mason, 1865, 6; born 1837. Amos Wetmore, 1867, 8; born 1806. Leonard W. Day, 1869, 70; born 1830. Simon L. Peck, 1872, 4, 6; born 1844. Eben B. Perry, 1878, 80; born 1852. Lyman W. Fish, 1882, 4; born 1837. Smith Johnson, 1886; born 1830. Charles C. Cramton, 1888; born 1851. Elbert L. White, 1890; born 1841. Leonard Fish, 1892; born 1835. Grant Lincoln, 1894; born 1866. Wm. L. Cramton, 1896; born 1852. Cornelius Lincoln, 1898; born 1826. George W. Curtiss, 1900. Don E. Lincoln, 1902; born 1866. Lester Fish, 2nd, 1904; born 1832. George W. Fish, 1906; born 1871. Wm. Kilbourn, 1908; born 1846. Charles H. Peters, 1910. Thomas W. Harte, 1912. Harrison W. Fish, 1914. Dexter D. Day, 1916. Henry C. Fish, 1918. Walter C. Perry, 1920.
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HISTORY OF IRA, VERMONT
Edward S. Fish, 1922.
Ardin W. Day, 1924.
PRESENT OFFICERS OF THE TOWN
Town Clerk-S. L. Peck.
Selectmen-Dell L. Phillips, Grant Lincoln, A. W. Day.
Listers-E. S. Kelley, Grant White, J. C. Parker.
Road Commissioner-By appointment, E. S. Fish. Patrolman-Russell Fish.
School Commissioners-Robert Johnston, H. W. Fish, E. S. Fish.
Town Treasurer-Ellis H. Cramton.
First Constable and Collector of Taxes-Guy B. Fish.
Second Constable-C. C. Gilmore. Auditors-Clayton E. Fish, Dana E. Jones, Grant White. Overseer of the Poor-The Selectmen.
Trustee of Public Money-Mrs. Dolly Curtiss.
Town Grand Juror-S. L. Peck.
Town Law Agent-S. L. Peck.
Tree Warden-Hallie Lincoln.
Fence Viewers-E. C. Weaver, James H. Farrell.
Inspector of Lumber and Shingles-H. C. Lincoln.
SECTION OF IRA CEMETERY
The Author's Early Experiences Upon the Plains and the Rockies of the Great West During the Years 1866-1867
FROM HIS DIARY OF THE PERIOD
Early Experiences Upon the Plains and the Rockies of the Great West, 1866-1867
Whoever undertakes to build a ship, construct an automo- bile, or write a story, either true or fictitious, must needs have a starting point, a time and a place, to make a beginning, and we might as well commence our story in the town of Walling- ford, Vt., in the spring of 1866. The writer had spent the previous winter as a teacher of a district school at one dollar per day, in a hamlet known as the Munson District lying to the south of that beautiful village, where some of the best farming tools ever constructed have been manufactured by the Batchellers for the past three-quarters of a century, and where the business still goes forward with undiminished energy.
The gold fever, commencing on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains in the then Territory of Montana, had ad- vanced as far to the east as the State of Minnesota, and a good many of the citizens of that splendid and enterprising agri- cultural state had contracted the disease, and the only remedy seemed to be to go to the source of the contagion and, if possible, effect a cure.
Youth is venturesome, and oftentimes foolishly daring, but an enterprise of this kind is liable to involve people of riper years, who ought to know better but do not. Accordingly a stampede upon a small scale was effected and a rush across the plains of what is now North Dakota and Montana was planned by some of the most venturesome and hopeful of the citizens of eastern Minnesota.
As a matter of fact the law firm of Peck & Brown, located at Shakopee, the county seat of Scott County, Minn., contracted the epidemic and thereupon laid Blackstone & Chitty upon the high shelf, closed their office temporarily, and proceeded to organize an outfit for the purpose of crossing the plains lying to the west between Minnesota and the gold fields of Montana to hunt for and secure, if possible, a share of that yellow dust, that has become at once the bane, and antidote of most of the ills, of human life.
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Whereupon the writer of this narrative proceeded to make arrangements to leave the friends in Wallingford and Ira and, turning his face toward the setting sun, join the venturesome travelers that dared to risk the journey across a region of coun- try infested with roving bands of hostile savages, and the most extensive hunting grounds at that time within the limits of the United States.
Accordingly, about the middle of May, 1866, the writer purchased a ticket as far west as Chicago and boarded the train at West Rutland, with as light a heart and as joyful anticipa- tions for the prospective trip as Columbus might have had when he undertook the discovery of a new continent.
The trip to the windy city was uneventful, and from there it was continued to La Crosse, Wis., by rail. The eastern bank of the Mississippi was the extreme limit of railroad travel. No engine whistle at that time had been heard from the western bank of the father of waters to the shore of the Pacific. From La Crosse we took a river steamer bound for St. Paul, Minn., and from St. Paul a smaller steamer to ascend the Minnesota River to the city of Shakopee, the county seat of Scott County, and the residence of the big brother who had preceded the writer some two years before. He had, as before stated, entered a law partnership with L. M. Brown, who, some years later, was chosen one of the Judges of that magnificent state.
It took about two weeks for these two men to organize and bring together a bunch of 150 men and some 75 wagons with two yokes of oxen to each wagon, very few wagons having only one yoke. There were only four women in the whole outfit. Many of the men had seen service in the western armies during the Civil War, and were veterans in the use of the rifle and accustomed to service as fighters against Indians, and were not easily disturbed where danger seemed to threaten. Someone had to be at the head of this enterprising aggregation of plainsmen, hunters and farmers, and my brother, H. J. Peck, himself an ex-service man, having been a member of Col. Berdan's Ist Vt. Sharp Shooters in the Army of the Potomac in '61 and '62 dur- ing McClellan's campaign of the Peninsula in front of Rich- mond, was chosen military commander, whose special business it was to select camping places, halt the train for the night, and start it off in the morning, arrange for defence in case of attack
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by Indians and have a general oversight of every day's travel. A few saddle horses were taken along, but most of the travel was on foot. The train moved in two columns, one wagon behind another and the columns about 40 feet apart.
About the first of June, when the grass made good feed for the cattle, the train headed toward the west, and while it made no great display it certainly was composed of men that could not be easily turned aside. Our course at first lay up the south bank of the Minnesota River for about 20 miles, when we crossed at a ford and continued up the stream on the north bank in as nearly a straight course as possible until we passed between Big Stone Lake, the source of the Minnesota River, and Lake Traverse, lying perhaps a mile north, the last named lake being the source of the Red River of the North, which flows across Manitoba, its waters finally emptying into Hudson Bay. The land between these two lakes is really the watershed of North America.
One might naturally inquire what sort of loading was contained in those 75 wagons. Well, the principal item, of course, was provision, and the quantity would depend upon the number of individuals that composed the mess connected with each individual wagon. Some might want more and some less, but as a rule each owner of a team would plan to stock up with flour, sugar, coffee and tea, salt meat or bacon, fine salt and pepper and other substantials as his fancy might suggest, and sufficient to last for six months at least. In addition to provision, since ours was a mining enterprise, every man was supposed to own a pick, shovel and sheet-iron pan for panning gold, the tools he expected to use at the end of the journey. As before intimated, weapons for defence could be found in every wagon, and the men who composed the company knew full well how to use them when necessary.
THE INDIANS
It may be news to most of you that the Northwest suffered an outbreak of the Sioux Indians in 1862, Minnesota suffering most from the rising of the Red Men. After Gen. Sibley had them partially subdued the Legislature of the State of Minne- sota put a bounty upon the head of every Sioux found within the limits of the state. This law had the effect of sending the
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HISTORY OF IRA, VERMONT
Red Men across the line at a double quick, and during our travel across Minnesota not an Indian did we see, but no sooner had we crossed the state line into Dakota than a camp of old Red Iron's band lay directly in our line of travel. They gave us no uneasiness, however, for they were at peace with the whites at this time.
We were often cantioned, however, by the older heads in our train not to kill wantonly, or waste the game taken by our hunters, our advisers urging that this would anger the Red Men, if the deed was discovered, more than any other one thing we might do. It must be admitted, though, that on some few occa- sions we quite disregarded that advice.
We often saw Indians while we were in Dakota and for quite a distance in Montana, and as a safety measure, after leav- ing Minnesota, picket guards were posted every night around our camp, when there seemed to be any danger of a surprise by the Indians. The pickets were posted at a distance of some fifteen rods from our wagons and about the same distance from one picket post to another, three men on a post and a three-hour watch for each man. My brother arranged the posting of these pickets, and selected the men to take their turns alternately, night after night.
Only twice did the Indians undertake to surprise us at night. On one occasion we were proceeding up the north side of the Missouri River, having passed a camp of Sioux the day before, and in the night we heard horses passing on a canter several rods behind our picket posts, and circling our encamp- ment two or three times, and a voice from one of the riders shouted something in the language of his tribe, over and over again. It was the same voice, and the same words repeated, until, coming opposite one of our picket posts, and his body showing against the sky line, the watchful man on guard took a quick aim and fired. The result was a sharp yell from the Indian, and a rapid departure of his associates from the scene. We all lay for the rest of the night with our hands upon our rifles, but nothing further occurred that night to disturb us. However, it would have been rather risky for any of the sneaking cut-throats to invade the circle of our picket posts or break into our camp that night.
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On another occasion, while we were traveling up the valley of the Milk River, we noticed during the afternoon, as we trav- eled, what appeared to be the heads of men on horseback far behind us, but thought little about it, supposing we had got beyond the usual range of the hunting grounds of the Indians. Feed for our cattle and horses was fine across the river, and our half-breed friends, who had been traveling with us for several hundred miles, took a bunch of their horses across the creek, and outside our picket posts, and picketed the animals for the night. Under the cover of darkness the Indians cut the ropes and stam- peded seven of the horses toward the mountains. As soon as it was light enough to follow the trail they were pursued, but the start they had got was too great, and the red rascals got away with the seven fine horses.
A rather ludicrous incident happened one night. The silence of our camp was broken by a single shot from one of our picket posts, and every man reached for his rifle, but at daylight the man who had fired the shot came into view, dragging along a large timber wolf that had tried to sneak into camp after meat.
We crossed the trail of a good many parties of squaws, dogs and pappooses moving from place to place, and the sight of these poor human beasts of burden could only arouse our pity. The squaws were dressed only in petticoat and moccasins, and the children were entirely naked.
I do not recollect ever seeing an Indian armed with the white man's weapons, and we were told that the Government imposed severe penalties upon anyone who assisted them in ob- taining them. The bow and a bunch of arrows in a quiver, hung with deerskin across his shoulders, and a knife and tomahawk completed the Indian's equipment. The skill of the Indian boys with the bow and arrow was simply marvelous. At a distance of sixty feet or more they were almost sure to hit at every shot a piece of hardtack set in a split stick and stuck in the ground, and our supply of hardtack was soon in danger of exhaustion, as the contestant always slipped the morsel he had captured into his waiting mouth.
As a rule the different tribes with which we came in contact, Sioux, Gros Ventres, Blackfeet and Crows, were specimens of fine physical proportions, tall and straight, with bodies capable
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HISTORY OF IRA, VERMONT
of great endurance, but the development of muscle on the arms and limbs seemed to be lacking. They were skillful horsemen too and with only a rope to control them would send an arrow straight to the mark firing under their horses' necks, their bodies to all appearances fairly glued to the backs of their mounts.
The Indians we encountered while crossing the plains did not seem to have any moral sense. They would steal almost any- thing they could lay their hands on, and we had to watch out closely whenever any of them came into camp at our noon rest, to see that they were kept away from the wagons. We could not blame them much, as they had never been taught to do better.
On one occasion my brother thought to give a few of them a little treat. Motioning them to sit down in a circle, he took a large pan of biscuits I had baked that morning in our little sheet-iron stove, and reached it out to the chief, who, instead of taking out a biscuit, seized the pan and poured the entire con- tents into his blanket, giving a grunt of satisfaction at the gen- erosity of the white man, and the rest of the group seemed to take it as a matter of course. To ease the situation a little a pipe was produced and filled with tobacco, and passed around from one to the other as a pipe of peace, which seemed to satisfy the circle that everything was all right between them and their white brother, as well as the rest of us. As to who ate the biscuits that were folded in the blanket of the chief, does not yet appear.
After entering the then Territory of Dakota we ascended to a tableland, at that time known as the "Coté de Prairie," a French name, I judge, and the land to the west was what might be called rolling prairie, neither a dead level nor yet hilly, the land seeming to rise in gentle swells as far as the eye could reach.
After entering Dakota our course bore northwest until we reached the James River. Then we continued up the eastern bank until we passed the head waters of that stream and then bore more directly toward the west. It was estimated by some of those in the train that we were about 15 or 20 miles south of Devil's Lake, quite a large body of water some 20 miles long by from 5 to 15 miles wide but very irregular in its conforma- tion. After passing the head waters of the James we purposed to strike the big bend of the Missouri River, which we reached
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near Fort Berthold on the north bank of that stream. To those of you who have never seen or read about this remarkable river, I might say its waters look like those of any of our own streams after a heavy fall of rain, for one would think at first that it was in the flood stage. It looks the same, however, day after day after taking in the waters of the Milk River, which enters the Missouri from the north some 500 miles above Fort Berthold. The Milk River runs through a light-colored, clayey soil that washes easily and the waters which mingle with the Missouri are sufficiently impregnated with this light-colored clay to carry the same shade the entire length below until its waters reach the Mississippi, and the force of the stream as it enters the father of waters is sufficient to color its waters nearly across to the Illinois side, about 20 miles above St. Louis.
The most remarkable physical characteristics about that part of the Dakotas over which our route lay were the absence of all kinds of timber, its many alkali lakes, and the frequency of the vision of the mirage, which appeared on many different occasions, usually about 10 or 11 o'clock A. M. There would appear in the distance a body of water surrounded by trees, usually with cattle standing around the banks. As we pro- ceeded the vision seemed to recede and finally disappeared altogether, a sore disappointment to the tired and thirsty traveler who had hoped to find rest and refreshment under the shade of the trees. The alkali lakes were small bodies of water, cover- ing only a few acres, very shallow and literally alive with wild fowl, ducks, sand-hill cranes, wild geese and several other smaller varieties of birds that frequent the regions where water abounds. Of course with our shooting irons at hand we had many a feast of wild fowl for dinner while we were in the vicinity of those small bodies of water. But, you inquire, how could you cook them with no wood to make a fire? We gathered what was called in that country buffalo chips, which were dry as tinder and burned readily, making an excellent fuel for our purpose.
THE BUFFALO
At just what period of Continental history it had its flood tide is not known, but seventy years ago this greatest game asset the world had, or will have again, roamed at will across the limitless prairies of the great unsettled West.
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HISTORY OF IRA, VERMONT
We are told that indications of the presence of buffalo were visible, not many years ago, as far east as western New York, and that even to this day in every state lying between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains their saucer-shaped wallowing places are discernible.
The habits of these animals were somewhat migratory. In the autumn they would move southward toward a warmer climate, and as winter began to soften into the milder weather of spring, they would slowly but surely return to their feeding grounds of the previous summer, and this process had undoubt- edly been repeated for centuries before the rifle of the white hunter awoke the echoes of these vast meadowlands, and startled these denizens from their hitherto undisputed possession of these fertile reaches of virgin soil.
The buffalo were sometimes obliged to defend themselves against the attack of other wild animals, notably prairie and timber wolves, which swarm in great numbers in unsettled countries abounding in game. Like the caribou, the males of the buffalo would form a guard around the calves and weaker females, and woe to that wolf whose unappeased hunger tempted him to break through the ranks of lowered heads, and glittering black eyes, that held the yelping, snarling crowd at bay.
The herd always had a leader, acknowledged by all the others as the king of the herd, until by reason of advancing age or bodily disability, he was displaced by some other more stal- wart and vigorous. The vanquished leader then betook himself to some place remote from all companions and fell an easy prey to a band of wolves, or to the roving Redman, who wasted no time before gathering in this convenient auxiliary to his depleted larder.
But the westward march of the white man, with the modern firearms, has swept these vast herds of wild cattle from the western prairies. The whistle of the locomotive, and the smoke of the steam thresher, no longer frighten these creatures, which for centuries, how many no man can tell, furnished the chief supply of animal food for the Redmen of the great Middle West of the North American continent. Outside of the Govern- ment reservations in Wyoming, and a few private game pre- serves, they have been swept from the face of the continent
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EARLY EXPERIENCES OF THE GREAT WEST, 1866-1867
by the resistless law of the "survival of the fittest." In many instances they were wantonly slaughtered and wasted, but we must be resigned by the thought that a better and more useful breed of cattle is now occupying the soil.
We saw many signs of buffalo during our trip across Dakota, their wallowing places being saucer-shaped where they had stood and pawed out the earth in sport or in battle between the male animals. Besides, we frequently came across their skulls and the large bones of the limbs, but until we were fully entered into Montana we saw no herds of buffalo. If you have read Cooper's Leather Stocking Tales, especially his book entitled "The Prairie," you have some idea of what it means to see a herd of buffalo.
Some time near the middle of July we came to the bank of a small creek, that rose somewhere north of us in Canada, and flowing southerly emptied its waters into the Missouri. Our train crossed this stream one Sunday morning and camped for the rest of the day to give our weary cattle a little comfort. After the train had got across, and, by the way, this was the first stream of water we had encountered since we left the head waters of the James in the eastern part of Dakota about 500 miles to the east of us, I ascended a bluff near the bank of the creek and took a look to the west and northwest. It looked as if the next day's travel would surely bring us to timber of some sort, but the next day, pushing on to the west, about a mile from the north bank of the Missouri River we discovered that what we had seen were buffalo in small groups of twenty, forty, or fifty, feeding upon the bunch grass which was plenty in that region. This was Monday morning. During the entire week, or until Saturday, we were traveling with that immense herd of wild cattle, mainly to the north of us, but ahead and behind as we moved, the grazing herd was always in sight. As night came on, and as the day began to dawn the roar of ten thousand throats filled the air, like the roar of Niagara. Fresh buffalo meat was present at every meal, and we had the pick if we were near enough to the creature to select young and tender meat. The buffalo would allow a hunter to approach to within about 200 yards, when they would move off and commence feeding again unless pursued.
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