Arizona weekly citizen., 1890-05-03
4 PloNEER's sToRY.~
"Reminiscences of Early Life In and
 Around Chicago.

| Williamson Price: am eighty-seven years old and live in Cherokee, Crawford | County, Kansas. I. went out there ia 1871. Chicago is a wonderful city, and
 when I think of it ss I first knew it I
 wonder if am living and if what see l is real
 Let me tell you a story of Gurdon s.
 Hubbard, of whom every Chicagoan
 knows. Long before there was any Chi
 cago Hubbard was an Indian trader; he
 had house on the Iroquois river and squaw for wife. Soon after Danville
 vas laid out he bought his time from his Indian wife and went to Danville. He
 went to merchandising, and soon after
 married. He went to Cincinnati on a
 wedding trip. The bride and groom
 boarded a steamboat at the mouth of
 the Big Vermillion river. At Terre
 Haute an old man named Linton got
 aboard with his family. They were go- ing to Philadelphia. The month was March and the waters were booming everywhere. The boat was running pretty fast Mir. Linton's boy, four years old, fell overheard. Hubbard pulled his coat, jumped into the river, recovered the child, swan to shore, and the boat rounded to and took them on board. Linton offered Hubbard $500, but Hubbard wouldn't take it.
 All right" said Linton, ''then I'll change the boys name. I'll call him Gurdon S. Hubbard Linton.''
 At the next election we sent Hubbard to the Legislature. That was in 1S3O The Legisture met in those days in Van dalia- Lots at Fort Dearborn were sell ing at $50 apiece. I remember drove of hogs which Hubbard bought in 1892 He hired man named Elliott to drive the hogs from Georgetown to Dan vile and then to Chicago. There was nothing but an Indian trail between Danville and Chicago; no road. Elliott took several wagons loaded with corn with which to feed the hogs. There was not soul living along the trail or any where near it. Elliott and the hogs finally reached Blue Island. The weath- CT turned cold and the snow fell to a depth of four feet on a level. People in Chicago knew they were coming and went out to meet them and leveIed out a road so they could get the hogs into town. The next year Hubbard moved into Chicago. He built house near the river on the North side. I remember the man who built the house, Tom Dun- ham. When he went back to Danville he was telling me about it. He said if every spear of grass between Danvilie and Chicago was SEQ bill it would nev- CT build road to Chicago on account of | the ,.swamps.
 1 remember that Josephus ard Ste- | phen Collet, merchants in the Town of | Eugene, bought goods in New York and | had them shipped by lake to Chicago | My father-in-law went after the goods | with his team. It took eighteen yoke of steers to pull the wagon-load through | the swamps of Chicago.
 When the first railroad-from Kanka- kee to Chicago-was built Tom Durham got on the cars and went to Chicago. When he went back home he said to his neighbors: II have seen what I never expected to see in this world and now am ready to die.' And he did die soon after.
 Before Chicago was laid out our sheriff at Danville, William Reed, paid the taxes out of his own pocket rather than go to Fort Dearborn to collect the taxes due on the spot where Chicago now stands.
 remember that the winters in those times were pretty hard. Two men, Hill dreth and France were their names, started from Georgetown to Chicago on horseback. The cold weather overlook them. France killed his horse, took out the entrails, and crawled into the animal to keep warm. He froze to death that night. Hildreth tried to cut his horses throat and lost his knife. He wandered about all night and finally found his way to cabin next morning. He didn't leave the cabin for six weeks. When he did he had no fingers or toes l heard not long ago that be is living in Kentucky.-Chicago Tri- bune