The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-07-07
WHOLE NO. $40.

the elected Justice o. the Peace or the
town-to any one, who would 60 and do
errands for the neighborhood with his
horse, and take mail day for their busi
ness tour. Such are few of the dis
advantages under which the pioneers
labored There is not one of the towns
early "reminiscences but what could fur.
nish truthful tales of suffering, depriva.
tion and want. Mr.. Brown once got
lost in the woods looking after the cows.
A long rain set in, and the nig ght was
intensely dark. The situation was not
very pleasant, but he could do no better
than to stay all night without bed or
shelter. In the morning when the sun
rose and the clouds cleared away, be
was able to find himself though he
turned up in the town of Arlington
The neighbors were in search of him
firing guns and blowing horns when he
maze MS appearance.
The five families we have mentioned
were all there were in the settlement
until 1887 two years after the first ar.
rival. In Oct. of that year, Mr.. Bridges
and Mr. Knowles and their families,
came in from Livingston county, N. Y.
The few families who had lived there
only two years had not made much diff
erence in the appearance of the great
wilderness, as a matter of course and
the road was then all the way by naked
trees from Paw Paw, and then there
were only two families on the road A
MIR. Stimson had moved in near Judge
Monroe's, and that was the stopping
place of the two families for the night.
Mrs. Knowles had three little children
and was obliged to stay in the wagon to
take care of them, but the rough roads
made the passage so uncomfortable and
dangerous that Mrs. Bridges preferred
to walk. One of the horses got down
by stepping between the brush which
was thrown into the road to fill up the
mud holes, and came near going in out
of sight. Both families, the Bridges
and Knowles, staid about ten DAYS in
Mr.. Breeds house while Mr.. Know es
was building log shanty for home
Mr.. Breeds family, including hired men,
numbered about ten, and the two addi-
tional families made seven more who all
found lodging in the little log house.
The mill dam attached to Mr.. Breeds
mill bad been washed away by heavy
rain, and there were no boards to be
procured short Of Ousterouk's mill at
the line of Allegan county. From there
Mr.. Knowles hauled boards to make the
floor and roof of his shanty. While
he was building this future home for the
two families, the women naturally anx-
ious to see how the work on the house
was progressing, went from Mr.. Breeds
over the river across the broken away
dam, to see the new work. That house
was on the ground where the store
owned by VIM. Knowles is located, dis
tant about thirty rods The wolves
howled day and night, and their discord.
ant yells were a terror to strangers,
though their growing threats were much
more frightful than any actual dcpreda-
tions. The frightened women ran every
step, not daring to look behind them for
they had never seen or heard wolf be-
fore, and honestly believed that they
were on the watch constantly for a VIC
tim. Imaginary danger is quite as har-
RAISING as real, and these unsophisti.
Gated women in the ways of pioneer life,
really suffered much fear, though need.
| less.
The provisions raised in the new set.
tlement were not sufficient for the wants
of the inhabitants and travellers, for
several years, 50 the new inhabitants
had to buy at distance, as soon as the
store brought with them was exhausted.
The pine timber that grew in the town
of Columbia, was source of profit to
the new comers, for every man was a
shingle maker, and the lights CLEANED
from their shanties late at nigh; and
early in the morning Mr.. Knowles
commenced his pioneer life making and
selling shingles which he lad to haui
to Big Prairie Ronde with oxen. Mr.
! Bridpes worked steadily ot homo for