Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-03-27
LEAD.
A Dog Story Written Expressly For
The Pilot by M. G. Ewing, Proprle-
tor of the Climax Laundry.

Lead was dog. Where he was
born, or from whence he came, the
writer never knew. 1t has now been
many years since / made his acquaint
ance, yet the life of this dog from the
time that | first met him, until his
death, was one of the things upon
which my memory often dwells
On the Mahoning river, in eastern
Ohio, is now cross roads post office,
named Pricetown, which years ago, in
the early history of Western Reserve
had aspirations to better fate than
has befallen it. Before the railroads
began to fix the locations of cities, and
manufacturing centers, Pricetown was
one of the most promising settlements
in the Mahoning Valley for city or
town A substantial dam had been
built there, and its water power util
lied to turn the machinery of tow
mill, a wooden mill, a saw mill, and a
Touring MILL which, when they were
fiourishing at their best, were indus
tries of no little Importance for their
time But the railroads came, and
they seemed to have come everywhere
but to Pricetown. Cities and towns
came with them, and when the last
hope of railroad had vanished, and
when coal and oil had been found seem
ingly everywhere but there, it slowly
dawned upon Pricetown that the once
bright promise was but myth, and
she calmly resigned herself to her fate.
The wooden mill shut down for a
month-forty years have rolled by, and
that month has never seen its end. The
tow mill and the saw mill turned their
wheels for short periods each year for
time afterward, but they too have
long been abandoned. A part of their
machinery stands there still, covered
with rust and mold, the timbers rot
ten, anu the roofs fallen in; everything
about them, full OF sentiment to those
few residents still alive. who once had
visions of the city which was to be.
This place in latter years was the
home of my boyhood, and in it also
lived that character usually found in
all small places-the man who does an
occasional days work, and who hunts,
traps, and steals the remainder of his
time He is nevertheless the hero OF
the boys, and while he never permits
them to accompany him on his hunting
or trapping expeditions, yet he is not
reluctant to tell them tales of his wood
craft and cunning.
| He tells them of the great fight big
coon gave his old dog the other night
up on Wintergreen Hill, or of how he
dug nine skunks out of one hole up on
| Bob Carson's farm, the day the snow
went off; or of how he killed twenty
musk-rats up tbf. river in the time OF
the April flooc, when the water had
risen until they were all driven from
their holes, and were sitting around
upon the driftwood in broad daylight.
This individual was an authority up.
on dogs; his specially being coon dogs,
and he never was without good hounds
While nobody ever knew where he got
them. he often went away for week al
a time, and it was observed that when
he returned, he usually had new dog
which he had found or traded for. y
1t was while on my way to school
following the day after his return from
one of these trips, that ! met him in tbs
road with new dog which he ex
planned had followed him home from
the city; all of which was quite likely
true, when the chain by which he va:
led was taken into consideration. Thi:
dog was Lead. He had just namet
him Lead, he said, because "hs
reckoned he could outfoot anything
around Pricetown,n and he was jus
going up back of "Old John Scott
, place, TO see if he was any good fel
rabbits
Lead was a beautiful greyhound
J evidently about three years old. and !