The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-01-08
"REMINISCENCES.

II is sad, though not a singular
fact, considering the mutation of all
sublunary things in this world of our,
that, in all this country, there remain
but two old-time, regular wagoners,
and one old stage driver. OF course,
there are still some "sharp-shooters, "
men who, in slack times of farm work,
rugged up team to haul goods on the
road and few who had regular Con-
nestoga wagons on their farms, who
occasionally drove their teams for a
season. Daniel Augustine, who has
been mentioned in these papers, was a
/ regular, although he did not drive "a
long as some others, as he got into bet
/ ter paying business soon after. Jerry
Strawn, a typical old-time wagner,
| still lives close to the Maryland line,
wrinkled, grizzied, gray and old and
many an anecdOte can he tell of the
happenings on the pike. He has been
through it all, and has seen it all. He
drove on the cline" at an early day,
and afterwards drove on the regular
local freight.
There were three different lines of
''line' wagons, with relays at conve-
nient points. Mr.. Strawn says in
speaking of driving teams, that a
fourteen hundred pound horse was bet
ter on the road than a heavier one, as
the lighter horse was speedicr, and al
most as strong. He says he always
made it a rule to rest his horses often
oil an up grade, and not very long at a
time. BY doing 50, they were COM
paratively fresh all the time, and We're
not ''winded" so easily. He claims
that with ten thousand pound load
and n slow travelling team, a small
stone the size of mans fist, on the
solid pike, will cause a pereeptible
halt. On the other hand, when the
team was quicker, the obstruction was
hardly noticeable. He was in the hab-
it of feeding his horses potatoes about
twice a week, and they seemed to i'm
prove on them. Strawn was consider
cd a strong driver, that is, he had
every horse TO know his place exactly,
and to pull his proportion of the load
ali the time, with no hanging back or
side pulling. After the decadence Of
the pike, Mr.. Strawn settled down and
became hunter, and many deer and
turkey has fallen low beneath his
steady aim. He had rather an unusu-
al occurrence happen once during his
hunting experience. He started out
hunting one day, and soon struck the
track of large buck, and followed il
some distance, when it came to the
famous Money Den," crossed the
rocks, and went on down the ridge.
While standing moment on the rock
To see where the track went. Mr..
Strawn heard commOtiOn down in
the "Moley Den," which is a cleft in
the rocks, some twenty feet long, and
six or eight feet wide, with a cave of
considerable capacity beneath, which
was described at some length some
time ago. Strawn threw SNOWFALL
down the chasm, and was surprised to
see a deer come out into the opening
He shot it, and had to get an AK and
make an ''Indian ladder 10 get il out,
which took some time. An examine
ton showed that the deer had been
lying on the rock, apparently asleep,
and when the buck or the hunter came
along it had suddenly awakened, and,
in the confusion of making its first
jump, had fallen into the "Money Den"
1t could never have gotten out, ana but
for the hunters fortunate discovery,
would have perished.
In the meantime the writer and
three other hunters, Wright, Turney
and Hartzell struck the bucks track,
and Mr.. Turney shot and killed it, and
it proved to be the largest deer ever
killed in this country, before or since,
weighing, dressed, 2222 pounds.
Fielding Montague was an old wag-
Oner first, and later, stage driver.
He is living in Fayette county, some
ten miles from Petersburg, worn Out
and crippled with rheumatism. He
drove on the pike when quite young.
Perry Collier, son of John Collier, the
old WAGNER and tavern-keeper, used
TO drive his fathers and his own team
occasionally, but he was not what
might be called a regular, although he
had the regulation harness, with big
''housings,n back-bands and traces,
and regular COnnestOga wagon. He
lives in retirement an old man, on the
farm originally owned By his father,
and he still has his Connestoga wagon,
the only one in the county, and the
same harness he used in the old wag
OH days. \ few old wagoners remain
in the vicinity of UniontOwn, but their
number grows less every year, and, in
the not very distant future, we shall
have seen the last of them, and, when
that time comes, there will he no one
living who was a participator in the
busy scenes of yore, and legends and
traditions will have TO serve the pur-
pose of history of those exciting times.
Mr.. Strawn says the heaviest load ever
hauled out of Baltimore, was hauled
by ''Gov." Lucas, a well-known old
wagoner. He had one hundred and
twenty-seven hundred pounds on his
wagon, with six horses, it being the
old wagoners' custom To designate the
load by hundreds, instead of thou
sands; this number, of course, would
mean twelve thousand seven hum
dred pounds. Mr.. Strawn says Lucas
was good driver, but very cruel to
his horses, and he never had his team
in rs good condition as the other driv-
ers. On this occasion "GOv." Lucas
had considerable trouble with his wag-
on, as il was not strong enough to haul
such a immense load. Another old
WAGNER, Bob Allison, Mr.. Strawn
saws, hauled eleven hundred and five
hundred pounds from Baltimore to
Wheeling without unloading or hay-
ing any one to pull him out. 1t was not
uncommon for wagoners To haul ten
thousand pounds on wagon, but the
two loads mentioned, were the largest
Mr.. Strawn had any knowledge of.
Lucas had 10 call on the other wagon