The Baraboo news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1884-1911, 1905-11-15

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been imported from the old country,
in care of Uncle John Capener, was
ooking about for a chance to locate
for the winter, when we heard that
Rufus Cowles needed a hand to
assist him in his winters work.
Rufus, was a brother of DR.. Chas.
Ralph and Miss Ruby Cowles and
had lately married a Miss Thompson,
dressmaker at Baraboo, and was
at the present time living in the
old COwles' house, five miles east of
Baraboo, having worked the farm
the previous season.
The house was built by his father
and was one of the very first that
was erected on the Baraboo. It
was here that Daniel Sanborn, who
in after years became my father-in-
law, found a stopping place with his
family in the fall of 1916 at the end
of his long journey, coming through
with OK teams from Randolph Co.,
ILL.,, to Grant Co. Wis, where after
a short stay he continued his journey
north to Baraboo.
Ny wife, then little maid of ten
summers, distinctly remembers
many of the incidents and experien-
ces of that long, tedious journey,
the perilous crossing of the streams,
the camping out on the lonely
prairie where the silence of the
night was often broken by the dis
NAL howl of the prairie wolves
which were numerous in those days,
at one time carrying off a pig that
was her own personal property.
The party was met at the cross
ing of the Wisconsin river at Sauk
by old Mr.. Cowles, who piloted them
across the bluffs to the Baraboo
river where Mrs. Peck was waiting
to give directions so that the big
wagon with its two yoke of oxen
could ford the river in safety.
Game was plentiful in those days
which helped out the supplies, but
the nearest gristmill was a small
one used for grinding corn, located
on Sauk Prairie, the trip occupying
about three days.
That settlers were few and far
between was evident from the fact
that John Babb came from Babb's
prairie, distance of over twenty
miles, to get men to assist inraising
his log house.
But to return to our sketch, on
the morning after our arrival
Rufus informed US that our first
business would be the making of a
barrel of pumpkin butter. We
knew that butter could be made
from COWS, but had never heard of
it's being made from pumpkins and
were anxious to learn the process.
His corn-feld was literally covered
with fine, ripe pumpkins, which had
been frozen hard, but which the
present warm weather had thawed
out. These were placed in a press
and the juice squeezed out and af-
terwards this was strained into a
large kettle and boiled down to the
consistency of syrup. Then some
choice pumpkins which had been
saved for that purpose were stewed
down and mixed with the syrup,
together with aQuantitY of Orleans
molasses, spices, etc, and at the
end of three days we had a barrel
of sauce fit for the queens table
and we had made a note of it in our
memorandum.
After that we settled down to
our winters work. Rufus had taken
a contract of Chauncey Kellogg,
who lived four miles east of Bara-
boo, of furnishing sufficient rail
timber to enclose a good sized tract
of his prairie. There was plenty of
fine timber growing on the bluffs
south of the river, Rufus cutting it
into lengths and myself hauling it
with oxen a distance of about two
miles, crossing the river on the ice
above the Simords' place.
The winter proved favorable for
our business, steady cold weather
with sufficient snow to make good
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