Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-04-27
Old Times.

and far between, if a man moved int
this or any settlement and desired t
settle, he was informed by the neigh
bors that such and such tracts of Ian
belonged to such and such a man, an
no new conner would be allowed t
enter or "squat" on such and sucl
tracts of land. ''But if you want t,
squat on some land, you can have som,
land over yonder; but we claim all thi
J that we have shown you.''
Most all settlers came in the earl,
spring. There was class of people
that could not possibly content them
selves in one place more than twt
years at time-two years was Ions
time for that class to stop in one place
They would get SO restless, and wan
to go some where else; perhaps the
neighbors were getting too thick tt
thrive we'll.
saw fellow that had married an6
"squatted" on a piece of land and made
him cabin, and got a few acres of land
under fence and the timber cleared,
and getting just ready to live with
hard scratching. He said 81 am go
ing co move.''
l asked him, .'What you want to
move for, now you haye got ready to
make something?"
He said. ..We are getting too thick
to thrive we'll"
His nearest neighbor was more than
mile away. So he pulled up stakes
and went.
Now, when man squatted on a
piece of land, the first thing was to cut
logs for a cabin. A few neighbors
would help him put it up: next, he
would blaze around as large piece of
land as he wanted to fence. Next, he
would cut out the small stuff and then
cut and make the rails to fence the
piece of ground. The fences were
generally taken from the land he want
ed to clear. AS soon as the fences were
made and the down timber and brush
cleared off, which was generally in the
spring, he would, with a yoke of oxen
Or horse, break up the land with a
bull tongue plow and plant it to corn.
All of the large trees were left standing
to be deadened at certain time of the
moon q have forgotten just the time.
But when the proper time came, that
man would go from tree to tree and chop
a ring round them about three feet from
the ground. In a few weeks that tree
would be dead, and by the next year
all of those deadened trees would be-
gin to fall. Sometimes after a hard
storm in the spring, the clearing would
be covered with dead, fallen trees.
Now, the next thing in order, was to
go and get the logs off. Theiway that
was done, was to lay large limb or a
large piece of a log across the PROSTATE
body of the tree, and put a chunk of a
fire brand on the log against the cross
log, which would soon be blazing and
as the wind would blow around the
cross log, make the fire burn day and
night, until it had eaten it's way clear
down through the log. And so each
and every fallen tree was treated until
all were in suitable lengths for hauling
and now was the most interesting part
of the job, ..the log rolling;" and how
many of my readers have ever seen a
.slog rollingP" / don't think I was ev-
er at at any kind of work, where the
men and boys managed to get as much
fun out of a job, as at a clog rolling .
and 'slog rolling" is just no rolling
at all. The logs are carried on hand
spikes, and a handspike is a small
tree about three or four inches in diam
eter, cut about five or six feet long,
nicely trimmed and each end made
just the right size to handle with the
hands, Next the men and boys are
paired off as nearly matched for size
and strength; each pair has one of
these handspikes. The captain and
his mate march to log and all the
rest fall in behind. The captain runs
one end of his handspike under the
end of the log and his mate takes hold,
and at the word they raise the end of
the log and each fellow with his stick
runs it under and his mate takes hold
of his end. Remember, every hand
spike is run under at once. At the
word all raise up, and at the word
ssMarch, all take step and move for
ward carrying the log between them.
When they come to the place where
the pile is to be made, all of the right
hand side men rest the end of their
handspikes on a log and step out of
The way. The men on the left side
raise their ends and log rolls off on the
pile. And such time as they have,
trying to see who is the best man! /
sell you I have seen some good. lifting
done at such places, and how many
jokes and pranks are played off on