Wild Fruit and Game.
There were a few
things that the country, even in its wildest state, supplied. There
were plenty of plums and crab apples, which latter, although not quite
up to our ideas of the most delicious fruit, nevertheless proved to be
a good deal better than no fruit at all. But the plums were here in
unlimited quantities; many of them large and luscious, and of a
sweetness and delicacy of flavor that would tempt the appetite of the
most dainty and fastidious. And then there were haws, black and red,
that were prized by some; and there was a fine variety of black
cherries that were large and juicy; and wild currants and gooseberries
abounded everywhere in the woods. Then, too, late in the autumn, after
the frosts came, the groves along the streams and on the islands of
the river were festooned with wild grape vines, loaded with their
purple clusters, inferior, of course, to the cultivated varieties, but
nevertheless a very useful fruit to have in such exhaustless
quantities.
Besides these we
had several varieties of nuts which we enjoyed very much; such as
hazel nuts, hickory nuts, black walnuts and butter nuts.
All of these we
were accustomed to gather in large quantities to use during the winter
as often and as freely as we desired.
And then there
were blackberries and strawberries in their season, which were
abundant and very delicious.
There was also an
abundance of wild game. Deer were everywhere to be found roaming
through the woods and over the prairies. There were no hunters in our
family, and old Indian gun with flint lock being the only fire-arms
about our premises. Occasionally, however, they would make a mistake
and bring down something with it, but it could not be depended on at
all for the supply of our table. Fortunately for us, however, Mr. N.
G. Niece, Mr. Lewis’ son-in-law, of whom mention has already been
made, was a splendid marksman and an experienced hunter. He would
bring us one or two deer at any time as often as we needed venison. He
never failed. He knew were to find them, and whenever he leveled his
rifle upon one he was a doomed deer.
I remember very
well one Sabbath day to have counted twenty-seven deer in one flock on
the north side of the boulevard near twentieth street. This was after
we had fenced and broken up the ground. We could often see groups of
two or three or more. Some moonlight evenings they could be seen
browsing within a few rods of the house.
We never saw any
buffalo or elk in this part of the State, though both were found a few
miles west of us. Elk were to be found in the western part of the
State up to 1860 or possibly later.
Wild turkeys were
also very plenty. They would sometimes come quite near the house in
flocks, and then they would reveal their whereabouts by their gobbling
and other sounds familiar to the hunter, and so become an easy prey to
his trusty rifle. Prairie chickens, and pheasants, and quails were
abundant, and often formed an important part of our bill of fare. This
looks like quite luxurious living, but the trouble was we had too much
of that kind of fare. Thinking now of the exceeding delicacy and
deliciousness of a dish of quail on toast, we can hardly imagine how
the Israelites of old could have ever become so disgusted with this
palatable kind of flesh. The trouble was that it was too abundant.
And that was the difficulty with our wild game. However, in those
times of extreme scarcity of provisions, it was a great blessing that,
in the woods, and on our prairies, there was so much that we could
obtain that would sustain life and materially add to our comfort.
I must not forget
to add also that the river and the creeks in the vicinity afforded an
abundance of fine fish. There were pickerel, black and white bass,
buffalo, salmon, catfish and many inferior varieties of fish, that
could be caught, and which made an important addition to our food
supplies.
Some of the fish
were very large. I have seen catfish caught in Cedar River that
weighted fifty pounds, and pickerel that measured three feet long and
weighed thirty pounds.
The Sportsman’s Paradise.
In those
primitive days this was really the sportsman’s paradise. The people
who lived here at that time, however, had but little time to indulge
in sport for its own sake. When they hunted it was not, as a rule, to
gratify a morbid desire to kill some poor bird, or some timid animal,
for the sport it afforded, but to get something upon which to subsist.
It was no uncommon spectacle in the fall and winter, to see flocks of
prairie chickens fly over by the hundred at a time. Often they would
light on the trees in such numbers as to make the limbs bend under the
heavy weight of their fat, plump bodies.
Then the corn was
left out after the snow came, which often occurred, the prairie
chickens would always help themselves to such an extent as to
demonstrate their ability to destroy no insignificant part of the crop
that had cost such hard labor to produce.
In the spring
time they could be seen in great flocks sporting on the prairies,
while the air would become vocal with their shrill notes, and their
strange cackle, and the peculiar booming sound for which they are so
distinguished.
The pheasants,
too, were often seen timidly skulking through the brush, or at the
evening tide their weird drumming sound could be heard in the groves
near by, like the low mutterings of distant thunder. |
