Iron County register., 1891-10-15

/ top all over the world. and brought tn
! highest price of any make or brand in the
world. Now Minneapolis is the greal
flour center of all that is great in the bread
lire.
can we'll remember one of the firsl
years we were in this Valley. I think it
was the second year. The first year was
the year OF the great drouth, when MOTH
ing was raised. which made bread stuff
very scarce until the crops were made the
second year. Everybody got out of bread.
No flour. no meal. lean well remember
some of the neighbors had some bran.
and one woman tried making it into
sort of bread. She brought some to our
house, to show us she could make bread
out of bran. From that we all ate bran
cakes. But wa'n'tit rough on our inards.
well remember one morning father said,
We won't want any gravel to help our
gizzards. for feel as if my stomach need
ed half soling now.'' The boys and girls
of to-day don't know what it is to live.
now, with everything at their command.
remember one year--I think it was
lSi2--we bad dry time. The creeks all
went dry, or nearly so. We trampesi out
load of wheat with horses In the barn.
and famed it up with the wind and on a
sheet, aid then sifted it so it was pretty
clean. On Monday morning we loaded
up the big OK wagon with thirty bushels
OF wheat, and hitched three yoke of oxen
to the wagon The wagon was provis-
ioned for a long trip, and my Old Partl
for driver, with instruction to GO until he
get flour, if he had to go to st. Louis,
Like Columbus on his voyage oi discovery.
without chart or compass, he started.
When or where he would be back no one
knew, for there were but few in the
country. and miles and miles apart.
When Old Pard reached Pinhook, he
was told that way down on Black river
they We're grinding little, So he turn
river -ard, oh, such roads! Almost inn
passable. When night came, the oxen
were turned loose, with bells on, to feast
on the pea-vine and luscious grass. The
teamster cooked his own food. When he
reached Munger's mill he found they
could only grind enough for the few peo-
pie in that neighborhood; but they
thought he could get grinding down to
Johnson's mill, eight or ten miles below.
So the team went on. have often won-
dered how he ever got there and back
again over such awful roads. When he
reached Johnson's mill, they were just as
bad off as at Munger IS. As there We're
no mills farther down stream, he turned
his team up stream, to try mill on Cedar
Creek. When he reached Cedar Creek,
But they sail, '..You can get some grind
ing at Old Uncle Bob Bryant's on Clear
Greek, four sliles west of Caledonia -
So he plodded on. day after day, until he
reached Rryant's mill. Atfirst they re-
fused to grind, bur, after hearing Old
Pard's story, they said, ssYou may
leave halt of your load, and you go on to
Hornsey's mill, this side of Potosl, and
we will grind in the night, while no one
Is around y
When he reached Hornsey's, they said,
= We can't grind for you. just look at
The piles of sacks. We can only grind
little of each just enough to keep the
mouths of our customers filed: Bnt
when they heard Old Pard's story, they
said. eft you can wait week. or such
matter, we will steal little time each
night, and try and grind the balance OF
your load.
Every day. after the first week, we at
nome kept an eye up the road. to see If
we could see anything of the team; and
low anxious we felt for fear he could get
30 grinding. All this time we had sub
sisted on grated corn and what little -four
ge had left, with shorts, and, as sub
ititute, boiled wheat. Although we had
! plenty of meat and vegetables and fruit
t goes pretty hard when the bread box is
Empty.
AT last, one Sunday, fust before sun
iown, we heard the popping of that great
zig OK whip As the team came toiling
Up the road with the sacks, how anxiously
We all looked until we knew wheth er he
lie had got flour. As he came up how
nxiously we waited fer him to tell us
whether it was bread or no bread. I
!on't think Old Jacob waited and watch
ID for his sons retnrn from their trip
lown to Egypt as anxiously as we did.
And, don't you think it was just three
weeks he had been gone, and not a word
lad we heard from him all that time.
)h, what timei
/ think it was about this time that our
Id neighbor down the creek--the father
f our three girls that lived on the hill--
oncluded he would not be 5cholden to
he creek for grinding; he would build
i'm a mill of his own, and rur 1t with
orse power, The old man made him n
arge shed, set up on posts; under this
bed he made a great cog-wheel, thirty
.et acrnSs, with long levers for his horses
{ pull by-just like merry go-round. "a
ig cog wheel worked into trundle head
lat moved the milestone around. After
e had got his mill running. the first turn
course it ground, the family all went
own to the mill to see and admire the
ling. At last ono of The girls could re-
rain herself no longer: AS she TOOK a
ing breath, she said, "Wall, we don't
x no odds OF the gunner. now; we got
ill of our own now.n Yes, sir. they
ad a mill OF their own. II. PR.