The Washington herald., 1921-06-05

game these early settlements would not hsvs
survived. The streams and lakes were full
of fsh and the marshes abounded In ducks
and geese. The chief difhculty was In get.
ting powder and shot for our mu.sie loading
guns. This We did By trapping muskrsts
and selling their skins for twelve and one
half cents each We occasionally got Q
mink or otter and that helped nightly. !
used to get up before daylight and start
out on a circle Of my traps, ending at the
schoolhouse three miles away. At night
returned By another route, visiting another
set Of traps.
Thus got an education, which, In some
studies, was as COED as that Of the gram
mar schools Of today. The course Of study
was somewhat irregular, however. For in
stance, never studied grammar. Ny foster
father had q good though mall library con. &.
taining, in addition to numerous books on
Of such masters a. Huxley and Maesulay. Il
was Q somewhat heavy literary diet, but
consumed most Of 1t, including some Of the
theology"
"IJow old were you when you left the
IL lake country" I asked.
when ! was seventeen I made q brsvs
effort to raise q late crop on my own ae-
count after the hoppers had taken the sprinr
crop, but the grashoppers came again and
my effort was q failure. 1t was then that
the nation lost q farmer. A neighbor va.
shipping several carloads Of cattle to Chi
cago and went along to look altar them.
That meant free transportation. I never
went back.
''In Chicago 1 worked q while for III.
Pennsylvania Railroad. Then rot q lob
driving a delivery wagon for Candy Jack
out on Archer avenue, in that part Of Chi
caso which was then called BRIDGEPORT. and
was made famous BY Peter Donne's Mr..
Hennessy.' 1 drove down 10 market for
Candy Jack every morning and picked up
miscellaneous assortment Of goods ranging
from oranges to mops. worked some
twelve hours q day, but the idea Of r.ttins
more education was still in my mind and
tried to 30 to night school. had to 10 all
the way across town on the horsecars to ret
to q school.
The working hours were such that had
to give up the school idea, and At any r,.s
1 had hankering for the mountain West
so l decided TO leave Chicago. Anotbs,
lad and / planned to 20 to Denver. In tn.
end he backed out, but I went. There 7
got job driving team Of mules hauljn,
brick, and In a short time became foremsn n
of the rick-haulins outfit. Here arain 7
got biz of schooling. There vas an old
German in the neighborhood who taught ,
Ha -
women. I attended regularly for q number
Of months 1t was the last schooling !
ever got.
All the time heard the mountains call.
ing. / wanted to get out into the wild conn
try. Eventually vent up into the noun
tains of Colorado, near Lesdville, vber, ,
railroad construction outdt vas at work. aa,
got job as corral boss and timekeep., !,
construction camp. The elevation ~.
great and the snowfall heavy. We lived 4,
a camp where there was six feet Of n on IN
ground before we got out. The foreman ,
our outfit took TO drink. bot protected mir
for some tine By doing his work. Eventual,
he was found out and was put in eharr,
Thus before was twenty one was ru,
ming camp in railroad building.
MY employers were big general eoutr,e
tors. They owned an extensive outfit, in
cluding thousands Of mules and wagons an
too: large contracts to build railroads q
over the West I worked for them for
number Of years and was employed In var,
ous capacities on railroad constructio
throughout the mountain and Middle wes
One winter, remember, We went to Wiz
consin and logged at the head Of the wo
river. We introduced the rigs and tran
pings of western treightng outnts, includ
ing cowboy hats, AnEora chaps, and strin
teams Of mules, into the logging country.
81 was about twenty seven years el