The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-04-07

permitted IL was neither Leaf nor gauoy'
but as chimneys went, 10 those days, VAS
a success. Such of the smoke rs failed TO
find Its way up Its extensive flue, after Wis
iting the weeping eyes of inmates, cra"led
out through holes In the "chinking, or At
the omen door. As Mr.. Warren was carpen'
ter by trade and had a saw mill of his own,
he soon remedied all these defects and put
floor In the cal In, made convenient cup.
boards and the like, and made very snug
home out of IT, The saw mill built by
Warren and his brother ln.law, Mr..
Sprague, another well known old settler,
was we'll patronized, drawing custom from
a wide space Of country. IL was an excel
lent mill for those days, and Its lumber was
used all over the northern part Of the State
In houses and barns for years, Pine lum'
Der was then unknown, and there was no
lake traffic. The pine forests of Wisconsin
and Michigan had never echoed the ring
of the AK nor the sharp CHATTER of the saw.
Some of the fret board houses In Chicago
were supplied from this mill, and as II was
all hard wood lumber, made from the
choicest cuts OF the best trees, and such
lumber Is almost impervious 10 the "gnaw-
ing tooth of time" some of it may be still
found here and there In floors and joists OF
many of the old buildings in the Garden
City"
CHANGING ABOUT
Mr. Warner having advantages offered
10 90 to southern Illinois TO work at his
trade, sold the mill, or his half, TO Mr.. Geo
Sprague.
OTHER INCIDENTS TO HER LIFE
After spending about year south, Mr.
and Mrs Warren returned and went into
their own old house on Indian creek, where
they lived for several years till he died. She
occupied the farm about three years until
she grew tired of widows weeds, aud in
1853 became the wife of Mr.. Peter Dick, a
very respected old settler of her own age
About ten years ago they moved to Ottawa
In 1882 her health failed, and by the ad-
vice of her physician she travelled, Mr.
Dick accompanying her, He was taken
III on the journey In Kansas, and despite
all the care possible and good medical aid,
he died, She lives In comfortable home
In west Ottawa, and now makes up for
years of anxiety and toll in rest and quiet.
She says she never actually starved or was
frozen 70 death, or died from ague or other
ills peculiar to the old settlers life, but she
has been near the boundary line. For
weeks and months she has never seen the
face of white person save her husband
and his brother In law and wife. Indians
came now and then, but we're always
civil. She made II q rule 10 give them
food, II she had II, whenever they called,
and II not she would explain that the cup
board was bare, and they soon learned 70
believe her They brought her venison
and fish and honey when they could get It,
Ii was singular fact that the Indian never
became an expert In the use of the axe,
the main stay OF the back woodsmsn. The
red skin" could throw tomahawk twenty
or fifty or hundred feet. with almost
deadly certainty 10 his foe, but the
whiteman's axe, to the coarse haired son of
the forest, was an instrument far more
liable to chop Its wielder's head or legs,
than to "chip" twice In the same place n
an hours effort. So the Indian, even with
an axe handy, preferred the slow process of
burning down bee tree to that of chop
ping II, or, what WAS better, discovering a
treasure In tree, they found II far more
consistent with their vagabond dignity to
tell their squaws where II was 10 be found
and let them do the work of Telling the
tree and securing and bringing home the
honey But the Indian WAS not an expert
bee hunter; while he could trace the trail
of deer over hill and through hollow,
across the swamps and around the thicket,
under circumstances which would seem
impossible TO any animal not having the
mysterious scent" of the dog; yet the
busy little honey gatherers could build
their houses just above his very nose and
he would not be the wiser often, TIL they
swarmed out of 1t; still bee hunting WAS
trade or art, which few white men mas
tered. Those who had attained the most
skill in II, were veterans who had followed
1t as an occupation since their boyh cd
They had marched along with the advanc-
Ing pale of civilization with the bee and
the wild turkey, the avant couriers of the
white mans march westward. Daniel II.
Owens, an old time settler of South Oua-
wa, and afterwards of Grundy county on
the Macon river, spent years In this Occu-
patton almost exclusively; riding or walk
ing through the woods, his eyes were
everywhere scanning every tree snd all
knot holes and openings therein, and was
often rewarded by finding rich stores of
honey In many apparently impossible
Elaces. He watched the edges Of ponds
and streams where winged insects came