The Davenport daily gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1869, 1856-07-24
VOL.---2, NO.---545
THE DAILY GAZETTE.
THE EARLY PIONEERS OF THE
WEST.


Mr.. Ferris, in his book on the great
West, thus sketches the character Of
the pioneers who began to spread
themselves throughout the West, be-
tween the close Of Pontiac's war and
the commencement of the American
revolution:
The pioneers, living in constant
contact with the Indians, necessarily
became more than half savages in ap.
pearance, habits and manners: and
frequently the whole savage character
was assumed. Their ordinary dress
was too unique to be forgotten. A
coonskin cap, with the tail dangling
at the back OF the neck. and the snout
dropping upon the forehead, long
buckskin leggings, sewed with wide
tringed welt, down the outside of the
leg; a long, narrow strip of coarse
cloth, passing around the hips and be-
tween the thighs, was brought up be-
fore and behind under the belt, and
hung down Tapping as they walked,
loose deerskin frock, open in front,
and tapping once and half round the
body, was belted at the middle, form
ing convenient wallets on each side for
chunks ofhoe cake, tow, jerked veni-
son, screw drivers, and other fixings;
and Indian moccasins completed the
hunters apparel. Over the whole
was slung bullet pouch and powder
horn. From behind the left hip dan
gled a scalping knife, from the right
protruded the handle of hatchet:
both weapons in leathern cases. Ev-
cry hunter carried an awl, roll of
buckshot and strings of hide, called
''whangs," " for thread. In the winter
loose deer hair was stuffed into the
moccasin to keep the feet warm.
s The pioneers lived in rude log
houses, covered generally, with pieces
oftirnber, about thre feet in length and
six inches in width, called s'shakes,"
placed over theroofinstead of shingles.
They had neither nails, glass, saws
nor brick. The house had huge slab
doors, pinned together. The light
came down the chimney, or through a
hole in the logs, covered with a greas-
ed cloth. A scraggy hemlock sapling,
the knots left a foot long, served for
stairway to the upper story. Their
furniture consisted Of tamarack bed
seads framed into the walls, few
shelves supported on long wooden
pins; sometimes a chair or two, but
more often a piece split off a tree, and
SO trimmed that the branches served
for legs. Their utensils were very
simple; generally nothing busa skill
'let, which served for baking, boiling,
roasting, washing dishes, making
mush, scalding turkeys, cooking sas-
safras tea, and making soup.a3 A
Johnny cake board, instead of a drip
ping pan, hung on apeg in every
house. The corn was cracked into a
coarse meal, by pounding it in a wood.
en- mortar. As soon as swine could
be kept away from the bears, or, rath-
er, the bears away from them, the pi-
oneers indulged in dish ofpork and
corn, boiled together, and known
among them as shog and hominy. y
Fried pork they called sold Ned"
Unlike the French, who clustered
in villages, and had their common
fields, our Yankee settlers went the
whole length for individual property.
Each settler claimed for himself four
hundred acres Of land, and the privi-
lege OF taking thousand acres more,
contiguous to his clearing. Each one
run ont his own lines for himself, chip.
ping the bark off the trees, and cut
ting his name in the wood. These
claims, so loosely asserted, were cal.
led -.tomahawk rights" and were res
pectsd by all the emigrants. Each
settler went to telling the timber and
chopping honse logs, sleeping, mean
while, under a bark cover raised on
crOtches, or under tree. It is said of
one of them that he could hardly stom-
ach his house, after it was done. The
door way was opened, the logs up,
ehinked, and the chimney gaped wide
above him; bEt the air was too s'cluss,n
he had to sleep outside for a night
or two to get used to it."