Other Wild Animals and Reptiles.
While on the
subject of wild animals, I must not neglect to speak of other kinds
than those already enumerated. There always have been abundance of
rabbits which the increasing population has failed to exterminate.
Prairie Wolves.
Prairie wolves
were very numerous, and their nightly serenades, if not so musical,
were at least full of weird interest to us new denizens of the wild
West. One reason why the wolves seemed to like us so well and to favor
us with such frequent visits and in such great numbers, was the fact
that three of our cows died the first winter and their carcasses
furnished an attraction altogether too strong for their wolfships to
resist; and it is not to be wondered at that all the music in them was
brought into requisition, in their jubilant demonstrations on account
of the abundant winter provisions, which were placed at their
disposal. They did not always wait for the night, but often during the
day they would make their appearance, while our trusty old dog “Watch”
was off guard. Whenever his vigilant eye, (he had but one), caught
sight of them, at least one of the number would have to suffer. He
would chase the bold intruder until he tired him out, and then, in a
hand to hand contest, he was sure to come out winner, and the wolf
would have to forfeit his life for his rashness. One day I heard the
old dog barking about thirty rods north of the house in the brush, and
I went out to see what he had. It proved to be a wolf, and both the
wolf and the dog seemed quite fatigued. For once the old dog had
pretty nearly found his match; still he had no disposition to give up
the struggle. The wolf would snap at the dog with such terrible
fierceness that he was compelled to retreat a few steps, and then, as
the wolf would turn and endeavor to make good his escape, the old dog
would dart after him and grab him by the hind legs, and another battle
would ensue.
As soon as he saw
me, he took fresh courage, and he pounced upon the wolf and held him
to the ground, and, with a club which I found near at hand, I helped
the brave fellow finish the work. For my part of the work, in which I
had considerable pride, I had the skin of the wolf as my reward. The
poor old dog had nothing but a few words of approval and a few
friendly pats upon the head, and the consciousness that he had
performed a good and brave act.
It may seem a
little out of place to talk of the “consciousness” of a dog, but I am
sure that no boy could have shown his delight and his pride more
clearly than this old dog, after he had performed this brave feat.
Wild Cats.
Wild cats were
also very numerous. The old dog treed one a few rods east of the house
one day. We heard him barking and we thought he had treed a raccoon,
which was no uncommon thing for him to do. My older brothers brought
out the old flint lock gun, and we all went out to the tree to see the
fun. We soon discovered the animal in the crotch of the tree twenty or
thirty feet above our heads. The old gun was leveled at him and fired,
but no coon came down. Again the gun was fired with the same result. A
third time the old gun cracked, and the animal was dislodged. He hung
a moment by one paw, and then fell to the ground. No sooner had he
touched the ground than the dog pounced upon him, but in an instant he
was sent howling away. One blow from that fierce wild cat’s paw was
too much for any dog to endure. A fourth shot, at close range,
finished the monster cat, and we had ample opportunity to examine his
enormous claws. Three of his legs had been broken in the skirmish in
the tree, and but one paw was left intact, but it was enough to defend
himself against all the dogs in the country.
One morning I was
sent out into the woods, a mile and a half east of our house, to light
the fires under the kettles where we were making sugar. I was almost
at the camp at sunrise, when I saw so many gray squirrels that I
stopped a moment to look at them. It seemed to me that there was a
squirrel to every tree.
While standing
there a moment I heard the brush crack up on the side of the hill a
few rods away, indicating the approach of some large animal. I looked
up and saw a great wild cat trotting towards me. I was sure that my
time had come, and that the sly cat had found me just where she wanted
me.
But I determined,
if die I must, to die as near home as possible, and so turning on my
heel I started for home with all possible speed. Wishing to know just
about how much time was left me on earth before I should be come food
for the wild cat, I turned my head, without slacking my speed, to see
how near she was upon me, when, to my delight, I discovered the cat
was running in the opposite direction as fast as I was going towards
home. At once my courage returned, and seizing the limb of a tree that
lay near me, I thrashed the ground and roared like an African Gorilla.
Reaching the top
of the hill, the cat stopped and looked back for a moment, and then
passed on, thinking, no doubt, that she had had a narrow escape from
one of the most formidable looking beasts that she had ever beheld.
At another time
my brother and I were playing near the grove where Mr.. C. B.
Soutter now lives, when all at once we heard a terrible yowl in
the bushes. You may be sure that we did not tarry long in that
locality. My brother was always considered a fast runner. Few could
outstrip him in a race. But I think I never saw him make better time
than on this occasion, and I believe that I came as near keeping up to
him as I had ever done in all my life. When we reached the house, we
saw the old wild cat come out of the grove on the south and cross the
road to the one on the north side, but we were at a safe distance and
we were quite willing to give him the right-of-way.
The Snakes of Iowa.
The snake stories
related about the West, were by no means cheering to the ears of
those, who in the East, were contemplating a journey thither, and a
settlement in these wild and uncultivated regions.
Next to the
Indians, these reptiles seemed to be more dreaded than anything else.
The stories we heard in our eastern homes were, doubtless, often
exaggerated, but in reality, we found on coming to Iowa, that the
snakes were quite numerous enough to suit our uncultivated fancies in
that direction. The rattlesnakes seemed to be our most dreaded foes,
for, although they were not so very large, measuring, perhaps, from
two to two and a half feet in length; yet they were capable of
inflicting a wound that might cause a good deal of trouble, and even
result in death to the unhappy victim of their venomous bite.
We were not a
little annoyed by these poisonous denizens of the soil, for we often
found them crossing our pathway, and they frequently found us crossing
theirs, and the meetings were never pleasant. The result was always a
fight, provided we had a weapon at hand of the required length and
strength, and the conflicts would usually result disastrously to the
snake, although in some cases not until after he had accomplished his
ugly work.
None of our
family were ever bitten by any of them, but we had very many narrow
escapes from their poisonous fangs.
Our stock,
however, was not so fortunate, but there were no fatal results in the
case of any of our horses or cattle.
So far as the
swine were concerned the snakes were powerless to do them any harm,
and the old dog knew how to cure himself, and without resorting to the
use of whiskey. His method was to go to the nearest mud-hole and
thrust the wounded member into the mud, which extracted the poison and
effected a cure.
Sometimes we
would bring in these hated reptiles on our loads of hay, but generally
they were discovered when the hay was being pitched off, and the
pitchfork was found to be a very convenient instrument in which to
dispatch them. And so in the end they would have to pay dearly for
their ride, and for the privilege of our companionship which the had
enjoyed.
One time when my
brother and I were raking up hay, we heard a sharp buzzing noise, and
although it sounded very much like an insect that we had often heard,
this was so near, and so loud and sudden, that we were inclined to
investigate a little; and so carefully lifting the hay with a rake at
the spot where we had just been standing with bare feet, we discovered
the venomous creature trying to make his escape. Of course we
instantly made war upon him, and at the end of the conflict it would
have been difficult to tell which was the more demoralized the rakes
or the snake. The latter, however, must have had the worst of it, for
he was beyond repair, while the rakes were soon put to rights again by
father’s skillful hand. He was so glad that we had killed the snake
that he commended us for what we had done, and proceeded to make the
necessary repairs without a word of complaint.
One day I was
walking through the grass, in pursuit of the cows, when all at once I
stopped as though I had been shot. I had lifted my bare foot and was
about to plant it on a rattlesnake, when I discovered the hideous
thing all coiled up ready to spring, but the suddenness with which I
changed my mind deprived him of his sport, and spared me a good deal
of pain, and possibly saved me from death. There being no club at hand
this fellow had to be left to the further enjoyment of his sun bath
until such time as he thought best to engage in some other more
congenial pastime.
There were,
besides these, the little flat headed adders, said to be poisonous,
although I never heard of anybody being bitten by them. They certainly
looked as though they might be poisonous, but I dare say, that was all
there was to it. The looked hideous enough to frighten you, even
though they could not harm you. Then there were the garter snakes, the
black snakes, and the water snakes, all of them harmless, but none of
them desirable pets to have about you.
Another ugly
looking snake, though harmless, was the “bull snake,” as we called
him. These snakes were quite numerous, and they were so large and so
repulsive in appearance, that it would make one shudder to look at
them. They would often measure from four to six feet long. When
attacked, they would show fight, and would make such demonstrations by
blowing and running out their tongues, that it would almost make one’s
hair stand on end.
One day we
children were taking a walk near 19th street and First
avenue, as it now is. The grass had been burned off, and there was
nothing to obstruct our view, on the clean smooth prairie. When we had
reached a certain spot, we made the discovery that we were in the
midst of a den of these huge reptiles. Their long, squirming, spotted
bodies could be seen all around, basking in the sunshine, and
apparently having a good time. I do not think that any of us enjoyed
the sight much, but my sister Kate had a special horror of these
detestable creatures, and so, taking her sunbonnet in hand, she
exhibited powers of locomotion that would have done credit to a modern
college athlete. She was not long in transporting herself to other
scenes, and more congenial surroundings. But my brother and I stood
our ground, and as they began to crawl into their holes, we would
pound and thrash them with our clubs until they could crawl no
further, and then we would wedge them fast in their holes with sticks,
lest by some means they might, after all, recover from their wounds
and make good their escape. I think, however, that they never
recovered from that battle, for we never saw so many afterwards.
As the country
grew older the snakes of all kinds rapidly disappeared. The swine
roamed at large in those days, and they proved to be the most
formidable enemies of these reptiles, whether poisonous or otherwise.
Mrs. Ely has this
interesting little snake story to tell:
She had rooms at
that time over Greene’s store, at the corner of Third avenue and First
street. The access to her rooms was by an open stairway on the north
side of the building.
Her brother Henry
was passing one day, when something attracted his attention. He called
to Mrs. Ely and told her to look down, and there on the third step
from the bottom, lay a rattlesnake coiled up keeping guard of the
passage way to her apartments. With such a sentinel she was perfectly
safe from any outside intruders. She, however, decided to dispense
with his services, and so Mr. Weare summarily discharged and
dispatched him at the same moment without ever explaining to him why.
Soon after our
arrival on our claim, and before the first cabin was built, mother and
Sarah thought one pleasant day that they would like to visit a
beautiful little grove just across the slough from our camp. It was
perhaps, thirty or forty rods distant, but the grass was quite tall
and they feared the snakes. But they armed themselves with a long pole
and thrashed the ground this way and that, and so plodded along step
by step. Finally, Sarah tired out and mother took the pole, but she,
too, soon succumbed to the severe exercise, and they were compelled to
abandon their trip and return to camp.
The Wild Flowers.
Owing to the
fact that there was no stock to trample it down, the grass was much
taller and more luxuriant then than it has ever been since. The wild
flowers, too, were very abundant and exquisitely beautiful. There were
upon the prairies the spring, summer and autumn flowers coming on in
regular succession, and so all through the season, from early spring
till frost came in the autumn, our eyes were greeted with these scenes
of enchanting beauty. The forests, too, with their own peculiar
varieties of plants, shrubs, and trees, contributed their share to the
floral decoration of this beautiful country. And so the flowers,
blushing in their loveliness and filling the air with their fragrance,
did much towards atoning for the presence of the reptiles and other
things that we had not yet learned to appreciate. |
