Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1910-01-20
SOME VERY EARLY
AUDRAIN CO. HISTORY.
THE LICK CREEK COUNTRY
HOW SALT RIVER GETS
IT'S NAME.
Nick Smiths Relic-The First
Church-Allen Gallaher,
Preacher.

write a book" is as old a saying
as the lamentations Of jeremiah
down by the rivers Of Babylon, for
critics will bob up for the amuse-
ment Of others.
/ will sketch some of the char
acters Of the Lick Creek country
and its surroundings.
The early settlers discovered q
salt spring near where the waters
Of Lick Creek enter into Salt
River. Here in an early day salt
was manufactured by boiling
down the water from this spring
Nick Smith, near LaddOnia, has
one Of the kettles in his possession.
From this spring the country got
its name.
In the year 1854 Congress pass
ed an act called the graduated
act, requiring that all lands which
had been offered for sale % years
be sold to actual settlers for II IL
cents per acre. Most of the land
south of the Rails county line was
vacant. Jacob Harlinger had set
tied on a tract near the county
line, about 1850, built a cabin and
fenced in a patch of ground. He
tired of his job, offered to sell to
Abner Smith for $500. Abner said
he wouldn't give 1900 for all the
land you could hear the sound Ct
a bugle horn over on a frosty
morning. Abner will come up of
ten in these sketches. James ALI
son bought out Harlinger. Jim was
friend to his friends but hard on
his enemies. The latch string hung
on the outside of his door.
As mills were but few in the
country, a water mill at Florida,
l6 miles away, a horse mill ut
Madisonville, in Rails county, the
housewives helped out the bread
roll by raising roasting ears thru
the summer and hominy thru the
winter. Most of the settlers SUD-
piled their tables from the wilds,
as deer and turkey were plentiful.
About 1850 some hunters from
Lexington, KY, camped near the
mouth of East Lick, not far from
where the village of Hutchinson
now stands. They got 100 deer, AMI
turkeys too numerous to mention
This made the game somewhat
scarce in this section for a time.
Sunday was the day set apart
for hunting and visiting. Many
deer and turkey graced the table
of James Allison. Years ago he re-
lated this story to this writer. One
Sunday he wounded a buck on the
prairie 1t started for Lick Creek,
The banks were full of water. HIS
dog was in close pursuit. When he
got to the creek the dog had the
deer by the tail. Swimming into
the water he caught the buck by
the horns, jerked its head up
against a sapling. About that time
his neighbor, Bill Ellis, appeared
on the bank, Come and cut its
throat, Bill, and I will give you
half the meat, " said jim. cain t
got a bite in the house but darn if
will Spite my Sunday brooches, "
answered Ellis. Jim managed 90
get his knife out of his pocket,
Opened it with his teeth and cut
the buck 5 throat.
Allison sold part of his land to
his brother-in-law, F. G. Wicks,
Wicks sold out to Henry Norris
viii hear of Wicks further on.
Norris sold to Abner Smith; called
himself Esau, the mighty hunter,
the same man who was fooled by
the last elks seen in this part of
Missouri, that were killed by John
Hurry who lived south of where
the town of Perry now stands. The
writer remembers both men s
stories. Abner came to the village
of Bowling Green about 1884. The
vicinity of Spencer Creek in that
day suited his occupation as a
hunter and trapper. He settled on
fbof olaccta cA,o,,, H. =, - a. g