Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-01-19

II uIlfic ukdlllcl lllt OulACNA AlNAAIof 49,
many Of the Western Reserve Indians
Joined their Canadian brethren. AT
the close ofthe war many OF these row.
ling bands returned to their old haunts
on the Cuyagoga and Mahonlng' but
the people of the Wastern Reserve
soon gave them To understand that they
were intruding. Thus the war Of 1872
substantially cleared the Reserve Of the
red men.
Gen. Garfield, in an address deliver
ed before the Geauga Historical Society,
Sept. I6, 1873, on "The Discovery and
Ownership of the Northwest Territory
and the Settlement of the Western
Reserve" published by the Western
Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical
Society of Cleveland gave a glowing
peroration which we shall quote in
part. The volume, was kindly sent me
by Judge G. G. Baldwin, Of Cleveland,
] / have been largely indebted for
material for the Western Reserve, as
we'll as to other pamphlets sent me by
this gentleman.
"The pioneers who first broke ground
here accomplished work unlike that
which will fall to the lot of any sue
ceeding generation. The hardships
they endured, the obstacles they en-
countered, the life they led, The pecu-
liar qualities they needed in their un-
dertaking, and the traits of character
deveIoped by their works, stand alone
in our history. The generation that
knew these first pioneers is fast passing
away.
"The materials for history of this
Reserve are rich and abundant. Its
pioneers were not ignorant and thought
less adventures, but men Of established
character, whose opinions on civil and
religious liberty had grown with their
growth, and become the settled convic-
tions of their maturer years. Both here
and in Connecticut, the family records,
journals and letters which are preserv-
ed in hundreds of families, if brought
out and arranged in order, would throw
flood of light on every page of our
history.
"These pioneers knew we'll that the
three great forces which constitute the
strength and glory of free govern
ment are, the family, the school and
the church. These three they planted
here, and they nurished and cherished
them with an energy and devotion
scarcely equalled in any other quarter
of the world. On this height were
planted in the wilderness the symbols
of this trinity of powers; and here let
us hope may be maintained forever the
ancient faith of our fathers in the sane
| tity of the home, the heintelligenceO of the
school, and the faithfulness of the
church. Where these three combine
in prosperous union, the safety and
prosperity Ofthe nation is assured. The
glory of our country can never be
dimmed while these three lights are
kept shining with an undimmed lus-
| tre."
CHAPTER NEARLY STRUGGL ES.
1t will be we'll to revert to the GUS
toms of this early day, and perhaps we
can find no abler chronicler of the times
than Caleb Atwater, the pioneer histor-
ian. Let us then quote, at some length
from his history, written 1889
"What few mails reached the Terri
tory were carried on horseback, and
they were so carried until after the late
war. In 1915 carriages began to be used
in conveying the mails and passengers.
There being no bridges across the wa
ter courses, the mails were not only of
ten thoroughly wetted, but the horses
that carried them were drowned, with
those who rode them. Only twenty
years have passed away since such ac-
cidents often occurred in this State"
"Many articles, such as iron and salt,
during the territorial times were eXces-
sively dear and not easily or abundant
ly obtained at any price. For farmer
to send an OK team 100 miles for load
of salt to the ScIoto Salt Works, where
he gave three or four dollars bushel
for the article, and be on his road one
month knee-deep in mud it could not be
expected of him to sell it for less than
six or seven dollars a bushel on his re-
turn home to his neighbors. When the
carriage of iron cost two hundred dol
lars ton from Baltimore to Ohio that
article was dear. AS to foreign cloths,
they were dispensed with by the mass
of the people. The homemade hunt
ing shirt, a cap and moccasins were not
very uncommon in the western coun-
try. N
VAt the early day we speak of our
houses were logs, not always laid very
close together. Before our people had
time to clear fields that would produce
a harvest, the woods furnished them
nuts on which their hogs fed and fatten-
ed. The wild grasses fed the cattle and
horses abundantly, winter and summer.
Better beef or sweeter pork never was
tasted than the wild grasses and the
nuts fattened, in almost all parts of this
now State of Ohio. Many of our old
settlers mourn the loss of that breed of
hogs which ran wild in the woods and
lived on nuts, acorns, and wild roots.
The beef too, of that period, the old set
tiers think was sweeter and more like
wild animals flesh than ours now is.
In this opinion we agree with them.
The honey of those days was made by
wild bees. The Indians abundantly pro-
cured, and often sold it to our people.
Our sugar was made from the maple
tree. and not few of us even now pre-
fer it to that which. at low price, we
now procure from Louisiana. Wild
turkeys were abundant all over the
woods, and were so easily taken chat
they sold in market for only twelve and
a half cents each. Agood deer sold for
a dollar. or even less. Hogs were al
most as easily raised as the deer, and
thousands were never seen by their
owner until with his gun he went out
to kill them.
''The friendships of those days were
pure and disinterested; and no small
portion of the pure friendship, now ex-
iStinp in this State among tho naonla iS