Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-07-11

cartridges ducks and geese. at that time theirs
were no quails or rabbits,-I always supposed
for the reason that the wolves and foxes destroy
ed them.
The streams were full of fish. One of the most
useful and substantial articles of diet was the
sucker, which was found in Rock liver, i'll the
Crawfish, and in the lakes, where they could be
Obtained III wagon loads almost. Reaching the
lake little late in the fall of course did not
"catch onto'' the ways of the fish, but the fol :
lowing spring the great wealth of our lakes and
streams was most Singularly unfOlded to US. our
log house was upon the banks of the stream.
little way from the house was the log stable, ana
near this stable small dam had been construct
ed to raise the water on level with the banks
so the horses could drink more easily. 1t was
sp-ing time. The snow had gone but the ice
was not all out of the lake and the water in the
creek was singing merrily as it proceeded on It's
way. Just at shutdown, one day. my younger
brother and myself went to water the horses,
and we went to this rise of water above the dam
where they were in the habit of drinking. In
looking into the stream we discovered that lis
bottom was literally covered with very large hsh.
I called out to my elder brother Abe, 10 come
there and see what all that meant He at once
took in the situation and ran to the stable. ana
soon came back with pitchtorks, and we com
menced sticking them into the bodies ofthe hsh.
Very soon my father was called, and we all
pitchforked those suckers until late in the even
ing, not desisting until we had secured q least
a Wheelbarrow full. 1t was with great satistac-
"Now we are all right. There is no danger OF
starving when can get plenty of fish, and the
indications are that the supply will be fully equal
to the demand" AS soon as we could secure
nlentifI1l supply we had fish for breakfast fish
for dinner and fish Tor supper. and fish all the
time.
We had young green fellow a sort of Penn
sylvania Dutchman, who had wandered west
working for my father. He was possessed OF an
enormous appetite, and he also seemed possess
ed of great courage, for he never seemed TO fear
that he might choke himself with tish bones
The rest of us were little careful upon that
point and looked over our fish with care but
Lawrence Becker had a knack of eating fish
that double-discounted ours, and twas popular
ly said that he could shovel the fish in at one
corner of his mouth and the bones would fl out
at the other. His skill in this respect was GER
tainly wonderful, and my statements in regard
to it are not in the least exaggerated. All OF the
old settlers will remember that it was common
remark, that they had for so long time been
restricted to fish diet that they did not make
an attempt for months to change their Shirts
the fish bones sticking through and preventing
such an operation.
1t is true that at that time we occasionally got
hold of little of what was called "Hoosier"
pork which found its way up from southern
illinois. The pork, 1t was said was made from
a class of hogs whose shouts were 50 long they
could reach through the fence and root up tue
third row of potatoes The pork was so very
Door and lean that we had to catch fish and save
tat enough from the latter to fry the pork in.
But with this pork and the fish, and corn bread,
which variety,at times constituted our whole
bread diet, we managed to get along. AS have
said il was q long time before the settlers got
into the knack of procuring game, either venl-
son or the wild fowl, in much quantity.
In this age of luxury and plenty, when scarce
" any one goes hungry, or certainly need not,
ii would seem very strange if the father OF the
family should, as the members of his household
came aroundEthe table, be obliged to divide up
the food into so many equal parts, and say to
each one, This much you can have and no
more" but in those early times it was practiced
| frequently, and many times have known 1t to be
| done by my father in his family.
The first settlers i'll Jefferson county were, [
| tn ink in every instance American born. The
great tide of foreign immigration, which, since
that time. has set in so strongly westward, had
! not then begun, and it was q number OF years
after the first settlers came to Jefferson county
| before the tofelgn-born sought homes there.
The first settlement of Germans was near Jeife1-
! son, aud the first German girl | ever saw was
! engaged in my fathers family as domestic
! She was girl of good birth and education,
! who came there and was willing to work IN or
! der to learn The English language; ana when
| she had acquired that she returned to her home
near Jefferson That was period before "hiTed
/ girls" became an institution. There were nc
Germans, Norwegians or irish. There were nc
| girls that sought employment of this character
/ and if there were any in the settlement who
were willing to assist their neighbors in domes
tic matters. they were daughters of American
parents and not ashamed 10 work out They
were all treated as members of the family, ant
as matter Of course ate at the first table. II
this respect time has changed matters very
| much indeed.
| Only five years before our settlement in Lake
Mills had the Black Hawk war been concluded
| Black Hawk and his band WeIe pursued through
! this section of the Territory by regular troops
by volunteers and by friendly Indians, i'll great
er numbers than lie possessed. His stronghold
/ was at the head OF Lake kOShkonong and II wa
from this stronghold that two young girl
named Rachel and Sylvia Hall, who had bee1
fNx-P 0nlr md hQ fhDI
parents near Ottawa Illinois, were ranSOmed b.
! the payment of 81 400 by SO me friendly Winnie
| bagoes, who represented the Indian agent a
| Galena. In this pursuit, Black Hawks line o
| flight was from Lake Koshkonong toward
| Whitewater, through Bark-river woods, where
he crossed the river, not far from Jefferson juno
| ton, and then went on westward through Lake
| Mills, Cottage Grove and Madison, to the WIS
! consin river, where the battle occurred an(
where the destruction of his band was made al
| most complete.
AS I have said only five years had elapsed at
| ter the Black Hawk raid when we settled IN La kt
! Mills; and at that time, and for many years at
terward, the country was sWarming with In
dams, mostly Winnebagoes. who were friendly
although at times the settlers were made to fee
alarm at the reports which came TO them of thu
numerous intent OF the aborigines. Still, M
serious injury was ever inflicted by them upOl
the early settlers of Jefferson county. The In
dians seemed to respect our rights-atleast were
disposed to do so as long as their own right
were respected by the white settlers. At tina
time they were splendid race of men, of fine
physical proportions, and impressed one yer,
strongly with the nobility of their race. They
| had not then become demoralized or debaseG
I by intercourse with the whites.
! A band Of Indians dressed in their war paint
once caused me terrible fright We were sur
prised in the forenoon by a caller at our house
/ and my mother, when she came to take accoun
! of stock, found that she had neither tea nor cot
/ fee; so it was decided that / should go to the
nearest neighbOr, about mile and half dis
tant, to see if l could borrow a small quantity o
one of these articles. When about a shalf mile
| from the house | espied in the path before me
dozen or more Indians. AS they had also seer
| me, it was of no use to retreat and therefore
made up my mind to go ahead, AS I came
alongside of these stalwart fellows, noticed
that they had formed some plan in reference
| to myself, and they commenced trying to pull
me off the pony, jabbering and insisting that il
was their pony; but / stuck to the animal, no
believing that they had any serious intention Of
doing me an injury. After they had frolicked
with me as long as they wished. they allowed
me to break away from them, and put my pony
to the top Of his speed. One of the Indians
chased me long distance, and he being able tC
outrun the pony, when he got near enough he
would bend upon one knee and point his gun a
me- and the powder would flash in the pan with
out d Ding me any injury. It was however
enough to frighteD me almost to death. Finally
he tired of the fun and proceeded on my way
and succeeded in borrowing enough coffee Tor 6
drawing aud returned home, where / found the
Indians. My brother asked the leader what