The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-06-01
LIVES OF PIONEERS
PRivATiONS OF MEN WHO BIAzEc
THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS.

Hardships Of Typical Family-How thu
Log House Was Bult-Game Was Album
dant-Sacrificins Good Timber In Making
ClearinCs-Perilous Journeys.
The hardships, privations and denials
borne by the early settlers were such that
the hard times in the modern sense
hardly afford q comparison. 1t required
a most heroic courage and fortitude in
the early days" to locate in the unbroken
wilderness, erect rude cabin and then
commence the removal OF the heavy for.
eSts with az and fire, thus slowly to beaI
back the dense woodland that in time to
come there might be fields Of waving grain
and happy smiling homes.
1t was In the year 1909 that John Nei-
dig and John Harmon, great grandsires OF
the writer, loaded their wagons with THEN
families and household effects, and start
ing from Adams and Franklin counties
in Pennsylvania drove cover the noun.
tains" into what IS now Beaver township
Mahoning county, o. AS a state Ohio had
then no organic existence, being simply q
part of the great Northwest Territory. The
federal union then consisted of 16 states.
and the year following Ohio came in as
the seventeenth.
The first mentioned of these pioneers
reached his destination in the month of
May Of the year mentioned, and having a
family OF six sons, some grown to young
manhood, of herculean build and giants
In strength, the customary round log cabin
was soon erected, and some acres were in
readiness by fall, to be sown to wheat In
October of that year Harmon arrived and
located on his section "a tract of land one
mile square and containing SO acres) and
which had also been entered some time
previously under the then existing land
laws
This gentleman was in somewhat better
condition than his neighbor as to means,
but had not such exceptional family help,
and as the former was already in shape
for cold weather the two men and their
help began vigorously to get Harmon's
cabin into condition for the near by win
ter. He had come with two teams, and
the covered wagons were driven under
two large oak trees that stood near spring
close TO tho present pleasant country res
idence now owned by one Daniel Geiger
In and under these wagons the family
camped until at the end of eight days the
cabin was in readiness for occupation.
In this time every stick had been taken
from the stump, puncheon floor and door,
clapboard roof, held in position by
heavy poles laid crOsswise over the split
boards, the building "chinked'' in the
spaces between the logs and well daubed
inside and out with common yellow clay
mortar. This was done so son as the
roof was on, and while the p0nchcons
Were being split and hcwed a rousing fire
was kept burning in the center of the still
bare ground TO dry the mortar and make
the structure habitable. So vigorously
did the women and children replenish the
fire that the bark on the logs was parched,
and as the clay mortar cracked it was
pressed and the cracks closed until finally
dry and hard.
At one end of these cabins was huge
fireplace, the chimney structure on the
outside, all of wood and so completely
mortar covered on the inside as to be fire.
proof. But il was considered feat in
those primitive days and was long consid-
cred as a notable event that a pioneer had
built and occupied his house within eight
LAYS time from his arrival. The teams
md wagons were now dispatched back
'ver the mountains to return laden in the
,nsuing spring.
Meanwhile there was the constantly re-
stroke of the AK. There We're no
;awmills, and timber, though of the very
inest, had no value whatever Black wal
nut trees and maple and poplars, although
hey stood straight and trim as masts,
we're only an incumbrance and had TO be
'ellod, cut or fired through into suitable
engtis, then laboriously logged into huge
,iles and slowly burned.
Between times and as matter of neces-
'ity WAS the chase OF bear, deer, squiI-
els and turkeys there WAS a.plenty, but
here were 10 cartridges, no breechlOad-
ng arms in those days not even the ham
ncr and cap, only the old time ''fintlock."
What counted at that time were skill 1
With the rifle and physical strength. The |
ettlemcnt of these pioneers was about five 1
niles northeast Of the old town of Column
Diana, which was, as far back as 1902, a !
mail hamlet, and it was still 80 years |
alter. in 1851, when the Ohio and Penn /
ylyania, now known as the Pittsburg, !
Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad, was /
,uilt.
In this vicinity, and included in Har- /
mons section, was what is still called the |
pine swamp which is not pine, but !
Drainage has reduced its area, /
nat in early times it covered 150 acres and 4
vas famous pigeon roost.
In those early days the swamp had
epth Of grlano in many places of eight /
inches, and the arrival of the birds in the
vening and departure in the morning |
vas like that of long continued rolling
hnnder. From grandsire and grandame
he writer has listened 10 tales Of pigeon
uniting with torches ut night, the pro-
eeds being a considerable item in the sub
istcnce account.
The tamaracks and alders would liter
lily he loaded down with myriads of wild
igeons. which, blinded and confused by
he glare of the torches made of hickory
ark, could be dubbed down with light
olcS and by hagfuls carried out.
But the lives of these people were made
p of hard labor and close economy. To |
lake "a journey over the mountains was
matter Of considerable peril and involy-
~ at least a month of time and, as
ule. the wife gave farewell when she
cent west To all her old home kindred for
II time To come. Some OF the men madea
Nv business return trips, and then all
heir future lay in the homes they were
ewing cut Of the great western wilder
eSS
There was rivalry aS TO who should in
rcaSc his clearing the fastest and get
lady Tor the more imposing hewed log
ouses, perhaps two stories high, stone
nimneys and several rooms Meantime
hey had their joys and sorrows, their ac-
identS and adventures. There were wed
lngS, births and deaths. WARS with the
indians and British, in al of which these
umhie people bore part.-Pittsburg
dispatch.
Bakers Dozen.