Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1903-07-08

l AASiho VI oiy SoouS duu SIOCeIleS
and a post office, Mrs. Mary L. Hobbs
having been appointed postmistres.
in 1874.
In 1S45 the Mail route was extend
ed west to Independence via Quas.
queton. This was highly appreci-
ated, 1T being the first connection Of
the frontier with the east-some said
with the ontside world. Every Mon
day morning VIM Smith started out
from Dubuque with IL small brown
pony and light one horse wagon,
carrying the western mail, making
the trip out and back again in about
three days. The third year after its
establishment the road was contract
ed fora twice-a-week mail, and there
after the mail was carried in coy
cred hack, sometimes called ierkev,
drawn by span of horses.
In lS4S Clement Coffin was APP
pointed postmaster at Coffin S Grove,
which appointment he held for four
teen years, and then sentin hisresig
nation TO the department. on account
of failing health. Owing to It's stu
ation this Office at one time BECAME
an important factor in the distribu-
ton of mail matter.
There We're some privations brave
ly borne by the early settlers. Very
much did they miss the privileges
OF society, particularly those of
church and school. Often there were
heart longings for the friends they
had left in the east, and they some
times contrasted the comforts of
their eastern homes with those of
the log cabins of the west. There
were also minor privations which
We're keenly felt, but they were ever
hopeful of better times, when the
country should become settled, as
they fully believed it would be in
the future. They were wont to say.
The time is not far distant when
all this land will be taken up and
cultivated as farms, and buildings
will dot these prairies on every side.
We shall have towns also and all the
advantages pertaining to civilized
| Ilife,
The most trying hardships of the
early days were experienced in the
long, bitter cold winters, when the
snow lay deep and unbrolen. Then
only urgent business would take d
man far from home. Ifehe did go,
lie took the precaution to protect
himself from the cold as completely
as possible. ii he neglected to do SO,
he was liable to be frost bitten, at
least, and sometimes even life paid
1.-The forfeit efnegleet. .s..5s 77s's.5Ss.s
In lsc Summer time we felt an. an, III,
|stinctive dread of the venomous rat
tlesnake, likewise of his near kin,
the lively prairie massasauga. There
were some animals that man even
though he were armed, would rather
not encounter.
Sometimes great anxiety was occa-
stoned by the sudden rise of water
in creeks and rivers, and in the
spring and fall the terrible prairie
fires We're menace to life and
property They came sweeping
along with the velocity of cyclone
leaving black track miles inlength
and breadth, sometimes making a
clean sweep Of everything in theil
pathway, crops, fences and buildings
But such cases were rare. 1t was
customary with the settlers to burn
of.a strip around the settlements
and outstanding farms, thus protect
ing them from incoming fires. If q
few acres were too green to burn in
the fall, they were carefully watched
and attended too as soon as they
were dry enough to burn in the
spring.
In time the settlers came to under
stand the requirements of the situa-
ton and learned how to overcome
every obstacle, and life in the new
country had its pleasures.
News of the discovery of gold ii
California reached the states late ii
the fall of l849, and that winter. ex
citement ran high. The newspaper,
were teeming with news from tn,
| gold field, where it was said gole
could be picked up anywhere and /;
man could make fortune in a few
months time. In the spring Of 1851
was begun the unparalleled rush te
/ California, movement at once mar
velous in its greatness and far-reach
ling III its results, and justly entitled
to be considered one of the importan
events OF the eighteenth century
Thousands made hasty preparation
to join in with the throng. They wer
a molly crowd, composed Of lclass
es, from the possessor Of thousand
i to the day laborer. The rich WON
ans dress, made i'll the height {
} fashion contrasted oddly enoug
with the coarse garb OF the workin
) woman and that of her children
with dingy cotton handkerchief
!, tied over their heads. They were
J, all ages, from the grandfather {
5 eighty years to the six weeks old ii
4 fant. ALI sorts of vehicles wel
!. brought into use-the fine rockawa
: carriage, the nice, new, substanti'
! looking covered wagon, the creakin
/, two-wheeled cart, and the old wol
Z out wagon were all seen in Il
J. .Icrowd. Some of them were loade
d down to excess with household flu
i, nishings. On this the northern roa
f from early morning until dark the
I'll was almost constant passing Of team
g Sometimes one, two or three wou
( pass, and they hardly out of sig
10 when a company of twenty or thir
II teams would be coming in sigl
LII This yuoc =, doil,, o1,aro c,o fo, obo