The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-04-30
THE OLDEN TIME.

Two characteristic types of men, very
early identified with the settlement of
this country, were the outgrowth of a
rude state OF society, who gave a roman
tic cOioring to pioneer life, and who in a
great measure were the means of allevi-
atimg many of the privations and suffer
lngs of the colonists. These two classes
OF men have long since passed away. and
only their memory and the records of
their achievements are known to persons
now living,
Howbrief period in the history of a
great nation has elapsed since then, and
yet those days seem as old as the cru
sades or the wars waged for the recovery
of Spain from the government of the
Saracens.
The advent of the Canadian voyageur
and the Canesteo wagner was at time
when railroads and telegraphs had not
been discovered, and when the system of
canals had not been introduced on this
continent. The voyageurs were the
navigators of large canoes, and were in
timately connected with the pursuit of
the fur trade, and penetrated by way OF
the rivers and great lakes to the remote
depths of the inaccessible wilderness.
They were traders and not trappers, and
were employed by the great fur compa-
MES to convey articles of merchandise
from the principal cities to the trading
posts in the far away territory of the
great Northwest. Their dress was ex-
tremely fanciful, and consisted of a
blanket coat, a shirt of striped cotton,
trowsers of woolen cloth, or leather leg
gings, similar to those of the Indians,
mcccasins made from deer skins and
highly ornamented, red or parti-eolor-
ed worsted belt, which held a hunting
knife and tobacco pouch. and blue
woolen cap or hat, in the midst of which
stuck a red feather. A cotemporary his
torian has described them as light-heart-
ed, cheerful, and courteous, they were
ever ready 10 encamp at night among
the savages, or in their own wigwams,
to join in the dance, or awake the soli-
tude of the surrounding forest with their
boat-songs, as they swept with vigorous
arm across the bosom of the waters.
1.-The Canadian voyageur was of
muscular frame, greatly enured to priva-
ton, and seemed the very personifica-
tion of merry-hearted, jovial but reck-
less man, well acquainted with the lux
urious revelry of the demi-savage and
baronial pomp of the great trading sta
tions.
'"The other class of personages, be-
longing to this era of the past, has quite
as romantic a history as the former, and
while the voyageur was engaged in trad
ing with the Indians, the Canesteo wago-
ner was employed to carry goods of vari-
Gus kinds from the large cities to the
remote settlements in the interior of the
country, and a long way removed from
its natural water courses.
Those Old-fashioned Canesteo wagons,
with their heavy freight, and well-fed
horses, six or eight in number, heavy
limbed, docile, and intelligent, the thick
and serviceable harness, sparkling with
broad buckles, and oftentimes gaily
decked out with rich and Haunting rib
bons, or gay wild flowers; the stout wag-
oners, as their merry and jovial faces
were grouped together about the eoun-
try inns, the accustomed stopping places,
will probably never again be witnessed
+ by this or succeeding generations. 1t is
picture OF the past, panorama of
| pleasing remembrances to those venera-
BILE men who have often and again look
ed with satisfaction at the picturesque
display. The present generation can
never enjoy the real, active, bustling
life and character of the occasion as it
then daily passed before the eye of the
pioneer, but if some one of our great
painters wcnld catch the enthusiasm and
spirit of the time that gave it birth, it
might be transferred to canvas, and be-
come the wonder and admiration of our
pOsterity."