The Red Cloud chief., 1882-06-22
THE YOUNG ~SCGAR.MAKERS.
a Story Of Northern Indiana.

Nststi
Forty years ago the upper portion OF
L County, in Northern Indiana,
was comparatively a Wilderness. The
settlers were few and far between. and
IL was only after a ride Of many miles.
through forests and across prairies, that
the traveller might find evidence Of adj
vanclng civilization in the presence Of a
log cabin, planted on the edge OF a clear
ing made by the pioneer an. Broad cx-
panscs of prairie lay Ia the north, with
out the sign of a human habiiation,
while vast forests of walnut, oak. ma
pie, hickory. birch and other woods rs
yet furnished few signs that they had
ever been penetrated by the adyentur-
u white man, and these signs were
principally the ''blaZed" paths, made
by cutting through the bark to the
white wood of the trees. n sign scarcely
distinguishable after twilight set in.
Here and there they had been marked
out by hunters. orcounty W and
they Were always a welcome sirht 10
onc who found himself lost i N the track
less woods"
Occasionally the long-dcserted camp
of the departed Indian was met. adding
Ia the sense of loneliness that fell upon
the rover y%enturing 10 traverse these
wilds. and what WAS still more startling
was the appearance now and then, in
some especially secluded spot, of a red
mans grave. And yet it was not a
grave in our sense of the word since the
'~'untutored savage" in these instances.
had not buried his dead. but had built
nm oblong pen of poles, some eight feet
in length by four in width and three
and one-half feet in height, in which the
corpse was placed in one end i'm a sit
ting posture. Such n sight was not an
agreeable one. rs the body, or rather the
skeleton, in those days. could be seen
through the crevice of the enclosure.
which frequently had been widened by
the wolves in their frantic efforts to
gnaw through and reach the remains of
the warrior whose spirit was then far
away on the happy hunting-grounds.
ohlivious of the peril TO his abandoned
flesh and bones.
The winter of 1874 had been unu-
sually severe, the temperature frequent
~ dropping below zero. and the SHOWS
that had fallen early in December lay
upon the ground until the latter part of
February. Everywhere the streams
were locked in lev letters and not ear
lier than the middle of March were they
wholly free from their long and weary
thralldom. But with the first month of
spring the sun began TO warm every
thing to life again, and the brooks
leaped joyfully along. the birds returned
60 their accustomed haunts. and nature
assumed once more something of her
wonted appearance.
Among the settlers of the region. the
greatest difficulty. in connection with
the domestic and culinary departments
Of their homes, was the procuring Of
clothing and provisions. Game was
abundant, it is true, and the rifle
afforded them supplies of venison, wild
turkey, geese, rabbits. etc, but to those
who had enloyed the luxuries of old
Java, Rio and Mocha and refined sugar,
there seemed 10 be a something lacking
that could never be restored. Instead
of the broadcloth and cashmere. the
male portion of the household contented
themselves with jeans or coarser fab
rics, woven upon the hand-loom of some
fortunate neighbor. and the ONE
Were satisfied with linsey-woolsey and
calico. while parched wheat took the
place in the ~cotfee-pot of the fragrant
berries froih Arabia and Brazil; the
sugar made from the sap of the rock
maple. which grew in great numbers
throughout TIE country. proved a sweet
substitute for the more a~ristocratic and
costly loaf" then so highly esteemed
in the older States.
With the genial sun and airs Of
March, the settlers began the manu-
facture of maple-sugar. and old and
young partook of the fun engendered
always in and about the camp" The
familiar distich:
BE ready. for with the March sun
The maple trees begin to rum"
had been needed. and iunuinera5le hol-
low ''spiles," made of the elder bush,
and troughs hewn out of the buckeye,
and huge iron kettles. and vessels Of
every description were hauled to the
scene of operations. The trees having
been bored and the ''spiles' inserted
that were to convey the saccharine
juice to the .troughs," they ..begsn TO
rum" and that so briskly, that in How
ard Inskip's orchard of two hundred
splendid naples they kept all hands
busy for a full week. day and night.
emptying the vessels. ..boiling down."
s'stirring'' to the required grain. or pour
ipg the graduating substance into The