Part 6 (2/2)

Every little clear space of a hundred acres or more was called a prairie

When I first saw Duluth it was only a cotton-town That is, log houses with canvas roofs or tents Most s hitched tandes haul a dead horse

In our expedition against the Indians only thirty-seven of the eight hundred horses we took, came back with us The rest starved to death

Unlike the Red River stock which would paw through the deep snow to the long grass, fill themselves and then lie down in the hole and sleep, they knew nothing of this way and so could not forage for then ith Hatch's Independent Battalion

Lieut Grosvenor as new to the Red River country wastrip was to stop at McCauleyville He sent word ahead that he wanted a private rooot there, he was shown into the only room there was--full of half breed sleepers He hastened to the proprietor and said, ”I ordered a private room” His ansas, ”There are only six beds in there, what more could you want?”

Mr Austin W Farnsworth--1851

We came to Fillmore County in the Fall of 1851 from Vermont We were strapped Not one cent was left after the expenses of the trip were paid A neighbor tookwith an ox tea to Fill on the way The nearest town, only a post office, was Waukopee Father had co and planted two acres of wheat, two acres of corn and one-half acre of potatoes The potatoes all rotted in the ground

I was only nine years old and my brother thirteen, but we made all the furniture for that cabin out of a few popple poles and a hollow basswood log For beds, beas and stuck out about a foot above the floor and were six feet long To these we fastened cross pieces of ”popple” and on this put a tick filled ild hay and corn stalk leaves It made a wonderful bed when you were tired as everyone was in those days, for all worked After we had cut off a section of our big log by hand, we split it in two and in one half bored holes and fitted legs of the unpeeled popple for the seat The other half made the back and our chair was done As we had no nails, we fitted on the backs ood pegs Our table was e and heith a broadax The cabin would have been very homelike with its new furniture if it had not been for the s on a flat stone on the floor with another standing up behind it She nearly lost her sight the first winter from the smoke Our attic was filled with cornstalks to around wheat rist mill at Carimona, a tiny town near My mother made coffee from corn meal crusts It would skin Postum three ways for Sunday

When I was nine years old I killed a buffalo at Buffalo Grove near us

That grove was full of their runs Elk were very plentiful, too, and deer were so plenty they were a drug in our home market I have counted seventy-five at one tieons were so thick that they darkened the sky when they flew Geese and ducks, too, were in enor We used the eggs of the prairie chickens for cooking They answered well

Once my brother shot a coon andbehind and ray squirrel's tail at the back of mine She knit our shoes and sewed them to buckskin soles I elve, when I had my first pair of leather shoes They were cowhide and how they did hurt, but I was proud of the I was nineteen before I ever had any

Our pants were heavily lined and if it was cold, ore more shi+rts I never had an overcoat until I went in the army Before we left Vermont, my mother carded and spun all the yarn and wove all the cloth that ore for a long ti to Minnesota

We found theand many berries and wild crab-apples

The timber wolves were plenty and fierce My sister was treed by a pack frohbors enough together to scatter thes with et in the house

There was a rattlesnake den near us and once we killed seventy-eight in one day They were the ti a forked stick over its head and then dropped it in a box I kept it for a pet It was seven feet, one and a half inches long, I used to feed it frogs, ht it was fond of s in my shi+rt when I was careless, so I killed my pet

The only time I ever went to school was for two ham Wilbur made our desks out of black walnut lumber, cut in Buffalo Grove It was very plentiful there

Later we used to go to dances I was great for cutting pigeon wings and balancing on the corner with a jig step We used to dance the whirl waltz, too Some called it the Ger three little steps

Mr Elijah Nutting--1852

We came to Faribault in 1852 and kept the first hotel there It was just a crude shanty with an upstairs that was not partitioned off Very cold too I rather think there never was anything much colder But it was very well patronized, as it wasoutside

There were ood ti the in all the tian to think how near the Fourth was and how totally unprepared ere for its co We decided to have a minstrel show We had seen one once My brother was to be end man and black up for the occasion But he was a little tow head and we did not see our way clear to make nice kinky black wool of his hair

Unfortunately for her, a black sheep moved into town in an otherhite flock We boys would take turns in chasing that sheep and every tiet near her, ould snatch some of the wool When sewed on to cloth, thisThe proceeds froht so It looked very inadequate for a young oods, but when it was added to by scrapings froar barrel, when mother's back was turned, it sold like wild fire

We felt like Rockefeller e entrusted the stage driver with our capital to buy the coveted firecrackers in Cannon City, which then was er than Faribault They cost forty cents a bunch, so we only got three bunches The size of the crackers depressed us considerably for they were the smallest we had ever seen We feared they would not make any noise We put theator Every ti well and try one He wanted no grand disappointment on the Fourth

Joe Bemis, son of Dr Bemis, always trained with us fellows and never backed down We were going to have a circus in the barn Joe said, ”I'll ride a hog” The hogs were running around loose outside They were as wild as deer We laid a train of corn into the barn and so coaxed one old felloith great tusks into it, and then closed the door Joe ran and ju threw him and then ripped him with his tusk Joe yelled, ”For God's sake let him out” We did We laid Joe out on a board and Dr Be very soon again, boys Neither will you, I guess”