The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-04-18
The Floating Farm.
lOiI City Derrick.

one, but this stOry-tellln' business isn't
what it's cracked up to be, and would
be pleased if could have little rest
once in a while"
He was told that the children had all |
been in bed for an hour, and no one had |
said anything about a story. You
must have been dreaming, dear grand
father" said mother kindly.
"Who said anything about the chill
drenF' demanded grandfather. "The |
story J Pm about to tell is for older
There seemed to be no escape, and
the family took easy positions, and tried |
to sleep.
During the food of 1719," began
grandfather, was residin' in little |
town in Indiana. The town is still in |
existence, and is known to steamboat
men and others as Aurora, Indiana. 1t |
is located on the Ohio River, in Dear
born County,"
Coulter short" interrupted an inter-
ested auditor.
"All these details are necessary to
clear appreciation of the story" said
grandfather, angrily, and if Pm inter
your cussed heads.
Gone day lot of us young fellows
were standin' on the bank of the river
watchin' the high water. 1t was fearful.
The river was the highest it ever was in
its life, and was just full of f1oatin'
| logs, fence rails, corn cribs, bake ovens
an'"-
Not bake ovens, grandfather
Grandfather began to tumble in his
vest-pocket for match, to carry out his
| 1,o - Irof Era fof Ioor
/ gened premises" He was persuaded to
60 on with the story.
We were standin' on the bank
watchin' the river boomin' along like
horse kickin', and all at once here come
somethin' around the point that looked
like garden-patch.''
patch"
"Naw, it wasn'ta garden-patch,' put
in grandfather; " it was farm"
"Not farm floating in the river?'
said father, who was beginning to take
an interest in the story.
cit was nothin' short of it, replied
grandfather. "It was farm of two
hundred acres Of the finest bottom land
on the Ohio, an it came sailin' along
there like chip. I tell you it was
startlin' sight. There was the farm,
with all the appurtenances, Just as
natural as life there was the farmhouse,
with the smoke rollin' out of the Chin
nev like as if dinner was being cooked.
} And there was the barn, the cow-house,
the pig-pen, the chicken coop, and
! cattle and horses grazin' in the field.
One of the cows got a little excited an
jumped over the fence into the river,
, an was swept under the farm by the
current an drowned.
"The news of the f1Oatin farm spread
over town like wildfre, and the excite
ment was intense. The old men shook
their heads gravely and talked together
in low an solemn manner. Most OF
them said it was witchcraft, or some
other diabolical power, an they hoped
, to be essentially blest if they'd live in a
, country where the bad men mad such
complete control of things as a farm
: floatin' down the river would seem to
indicate. Many of them sacrificed theiI
property and lit out for a locality where
D the rain belt did not extend. Business
D was suspended, and everybody who
: could not get out of town devoted them
3 selves to prayer, even your humble ser
: want"
The story was growing SO improbable
now that several members of the family
!, started for the door.
"No, you DON'T" said grandfather
: raising his cane in threatening man
+ ner; "come back-take your seats-si
/ down-rest easy. I'll finish this stor,
+ in a satisfactory manner, or money re
: funded at the door.
e "It was all simple enough when yo1
Z: understood it." he resumed, "and j
Z wasn't long after we sighted the farn
q comm around the point until the phe
u nomeon was as clear an simple as it ha
been awful an mysterious before. Yo
L see [ was frightened as bad as any o
p 'em, an had just led in prayer, comm i
Z an easy winner by morn three lengths
a. All at once a rugged old man came teal
le ing down through the willows with
T. cable on his back, and yellin':
81 Hi, there! any feller that stops tha
s. farm afore it gets out of the county, XII
u draw on me for two dollars an half!
IS "He was the tax collector, and he We
+ after the place for back taxes. Whe
sr he got down to where we were offerin' u
u our supplications, the farm was crossil
y into the next county, an he give u
III the chase. From the faithful ia
G gatherer, we learned all the particular
WHICH were ABOUT dS follows.
IN cat Lawrenceburg, a town a fe
ie miles up the river, vast quantities {
IT. shavin's, sawdust, blocks of wood, etc
y, had been carted away from the man
Is pianin' mills, sawmills, furnitul
u u factories and coffin factories located .
~ that point, and dropped on a piece
n n low land. The shavin's had accumulate
Il Il there through many years an the pi
| ofr CT rYoo
were at that time owned in Lawrenc
tF burg, and in lookin' through the Shawn
for broken files, auger bits, plane iron
ce etc., for food, these animals had su
Sc ceeded in spreadin' the rubbish over
Sc large extent of territory. This woode
- foundation was about six feet deep, a
he cordin' to the tax collectors story. Upe
%, it earth was afterwards dumped from
I'd railroad excavation. When this w
tn done an idea presented itself to va
o. kee who possessed no real estate of b
en- own. He spread the earth over the sh
IF WINS, fertilized it, fenced it in, and W
ed as big landowner as there was in tt
county. At plantin' time he rented tt
ed farm to German who had lately move
ey there, and who knew nothin' of its p
lst culiar formation. The German plantt
ed it in such things as Germans delight
in cultivate, and tended it with great car
he When the high water came he had tt
he finest crops in the county. His potato
re were immense; his corn was fro
he twenty-four to forty feet high; his bea
M stalks had grown out of sight, and b
1t; cabbage heads were big as base drum
asst His frau and himself were the happie
couple in the State of Indiana, and we
by about to send to the Fatherland for {
ed of their relatives. s.s ..-.
ter "But, according to the tax collectt
mt the rains and the floods came. Swift
ise and steadily the water encroached up
ed his farm it touched the bottom of
fence; it crawled through the cracks al
< spread through his potato vines; it re
er, to the top of his mammoth cabba