The life of the pioneer is the same, to a certain extent, in almost every county of the State, and in fact, throughout the entire west. To many, the early settlement of the new country; the description of the land as they found it; their manners and customs and the method they pursued to conquer nature and make the wilderness yield its garnered treasures up, is a most interesting study. When Mellem and his little band of companions pitched their tent; when Rustad, Ammandsen and others followed so soon after; when Phelps, Bliton and Johnson, came to make the infant settlement, they found an almost unbroken wilderness, the hunting ground of the savage. Here then cabins were to be erected, mills built and wind and water chained to do man's work in the development of the country. The beautiful prairies were to be robbed of their native adornment and the hand of art was to assist in their future decoration. Who was to undertake this task? Are they qualified for the labor?

EARLY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

To those who have come into this beautiful world since the pioneer days, the young of both sexes, the conception of the mode of life of the early settlers of this county is well-nigh impossible. One could hardly conceive the change that has taken place in so short a time. The clothing, the dwellings, the diet, the social customs have undergone such a transformation, that almost leads one to fancy that a newer, different race has taken possession of the land they settled.

In a new country far removed from the resources of civilization, where each man must rely solely upon himself and his ability, where he must build his own house, be his own tailor, provide subsistence for himself and family, and, perhaps, be his own miller, if he was fortunate enough to possess the grain to grind, it is hardly to be expected that his dwelling and garments could be aught else but These were but supernumerary considerations with them; ease and comfort was what they sought, and they did the best that they could with the material at their disposal.

The cabin, the place around which hovers many a kindly recollection of home, was in almost every instance built of logs, if they were procurable. These were piled up, one upon another, the the spaces between being filled up with the split "chinks" and then treated to a liberal coating of clay, or prairie mud, both inside and out. Sometimes the floor was the native ground tramped hard and smooth, but often when a wish for more luxury and comfort would crop out, then logs would be hauled and split in two, and placed with the split side uppermost, side by side, making what was then known as the "puncheon" floor. The roof was held in its place by poles laid upon them to hold the straw, of which they were often made, from leaving its resting place. The fire place was most often a space cut out from the logs, about six feet in length, and an offset built in the wall, sometimes of stone, and in many instances logs plastered with clay. The flue, or upper part of the chimney, was built of small split sticks, two and three feet in length, and imbedded in, and plastered over with clay. This style of chimney, which was carried but a short distance above the roof, was called a "cat and clay" one. The door space was usually made by cutting an aperture in one side of the room, of the required size, the door itself being made of pieces of board, rived out often with an ax, secured by wooden pins to a couple of cross pieces. The hinges were often of wood or a strip of leather cut from an old boot, and as for latch, none was needed, as the almost empty cabin did not tempt the visit of sneak thief or burglar.

Here the family lived, and here the guest and weary traveler found a hospitable welcome. The living room, to be sure, was of good size, but often it comprised all of the house, being kitchen, bedroom, parlor, arsenal and provision room; the flitches of bacon, mixed with coon skins and seed corn, depending from the rafters for ornament. In one corner could be found the wheel and loom used in the manufacture of clothing, and round the ample fire place were collected the kitchen furniture. From pegs driven into the logs that formed the walls, hung the garments not in use. Over the door was generally the rifle or shot gun, an indispensible article of the pioneer.

Sometimes some well-to-do individual, with an eye to a degree more of elegance or luxury, would at great pains rive out a floor for the loft above and the sleeping rooms of the children, and the articles not in general use were packed away there. This loft was reached by a ladder secured to the wall, but oftentimes all lived and ate and slept in the one common room.

Familiarity with this mode of living did away with much of its discomforts, and a light heart beat in the bosom of many a kindly nurtured woman, who, leaving behind her in the home of her youth every convenience and comfort that ease and affluence can obtain, began western life on the lonely frontier in a log cabin, such as has been described.

As. soon as the improvement could be made, another room was added to the humble dwelling. The furniture in the cabin corresponded with the house itself. The articles of kitchen use were as few and of as simple a nature as possible. A skillet or frying pan, an iron pot or kettle and the coffee or tea pot, constituted the stock of the best furnished.

Indian or corn meal was the common flour, which was made by the deft hands of the skillful housewife, into "pone," "corn-dodger" or "hoe-cake," as the appetite and wishes of "menfolks" directed. In the fall and early winter, sauce was made from the golden pumpkin. Venison was roasted or broiled over the bed of coals, and lye hominy, made from the unbroken grains of corn, oft helped eke out the frugal meals. Indian corn, however, in some shape or other, formed the staple of food for some years, the great distance to mills grinding wheat making that kind of flour scarce.

These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true hearted people. Their strong sense disdained the modern mock modesty, and the weary traveler, asking for a lodging for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in the locality, if willing to accept the rude offerings, was always welcome, although how they were disposed of at night the reader will be left to imagine ; for, as described, often a single room would answer for kitchen, parlor, dining room and bed room for the family, which many times consisted of from six to eight persons.

CHARACTER OF THE PIONEERS

The character of the early settlers of Worth county, comes properly within the province of the historian of its people. They lived in a country of rare fertility, where nature, with a lavish hand, had scattered rich blessings. The broad fertile prairies, the liberal supply of fine water, the countless improvements constantly going forward, and the bright future opening before them, combined to impress their character deeply, and give them an independence of feeling, a joyousness of hope, a broad spirit of enterprise. They were a mixture of many Nations, characters, conditions, languages, creeds and opinions. Nearly all the northern States of the Union were here represented, and many of the Nations of Europe added their quota to the general make up of the pioneers. The strong Scandinavian added his sturdy sense of independence to the light-heartedness of the Celt; the phlegmatic German jostled the enthusiastic Frenchman ; the stolid Bohemian contributed his mite to society, with the canny Scotchman; all helped to make up a community, wherein all were equal, and being equal, free. All the various religious sects, of which the world has so many, had here their advocates, but all lived in harmony and universal brotherhood. How true of them do these words of an early writer seem to be : "Men must cleave to their kind, and must be dependent upon each other. Pride and jealousy give way to the natural yearnings of the human heart for society. They begin to rub off the neutral prejudices; one takes a step and then the other; they meet half way and then embrace, and the society thus newly organized and constituted, is more liberal, enlarged, unprejudiced, and, of course, more affectionate than a society of people of like birth and character who bring all their early prejudices as a common stock, to be transmitted as an inheritance to posterity."

CLOTHING

The garments of the early pioneers were as plain and simple as their houses. Neces sity compelled, in this as in many other things, the strictest economy. The clothing brought from the old home was made to render a deal of service ere it was replaced with the homely homespun jean or de nimof the village store. The presence of the prairie wolves made it extremely difficult to bring sheep into the new country, but after they had been introduced it was still an arduous task to spin and weave the wearing apparel for the entire family. In summer many went entirely barefooted, father, mother, boys and girls, all laid aside the shoes and tramped through the long grass with only nature's covering on their feet. Some wore buckskin moccasins through the cold weather. After the introduction of sheep, a better and more comfortable style of clothing prevailed. Flannel and linsey were woven for the women and children, and jeans for the men. The wool for the latter was stained with the juice of the nut, and hence arose the name of "butternut jeans" still common to the country.

It is well for the youth of the present generation to look back on those early days. It involved for their fathers a life of toil and hardship, and the lack of much that now is deemed a prime necessity, but it was a life that moulded men of sterling character. Worth county, today, can boast of no better men than these men, and their descendants, who had planted their cabins upon the broad prairies, and wrought out the landmarks for a flourishing commonwealth. An old pioneer thus writes: "The boys were required to do their share of the hard labor of clearing up the farm, for much of the country now under the plow was at one time thickly covered with a dense thicket of hazel brush and young oaks, or the thick, tough sod of the virgin prairie. Our visits were made with ox teams, and we walked, generally, to meeting." Another tells that for some few years after his advent that the horses in the county were few and far between, so much so, that when a new settler came in with a span of horses the doors and windows of each cabin were lined with eager faces to see the caravan go by.

Industry, supported by frugality and economy, necessarily brought its own reward. The hard toil and the early privations made men prematurely old, but they saw before their eyes the waste places made glad, and the fields, they had planted, yellow with the bending grain. Change and alteration were to be expected, but the reality had distanced the wildest conjecture, and stranger still, many are still living who were witnesses not only to the face of nature undergoing a change about them, but the manners, customs and industries of the whole people almost entirely changed. Many an old pioneer, when the labors of the day are past and gone, sits in his chair by the bright fireside, with closed eyes, and muses and dreams of the scenes of his youth. Ages seem to have come and gone since then, but the long ago was but yesterday judging by the tale of years. But then such men as these count not their time by years but by deeds, and he has lived the longest who has lived the best, thought the most, and took no note of passing time. The poet must have been inspired by higher power when he penned the lines that thus describes the olden days; the days of our forefather's halcyon, golden youth:

“The voice of nature's very self drops low, 
As though she whispered of the long ago. 
When down the wandering stream the rude canoe 
Of some lone trapper glided into view, 
And loitered down the watery path that led 
Thro' forest depths, that only knew the tread 
Of savage beasts and wild barbarians, 
That skulked about with blood upon their hands 
And murder in their hearts, The light of day 
Might barely pierce the gloominess that lay 
Like some dark pall across the water's face, 
And folded all the land in its embrace; 
The panther's screaming and the bears low growl. 
The snakes sharp rattle and the wolfs wild howl, 
The owls grim chuckle, as it rose and fell 
In alternation with the Indian's yell, 
Made fitting prelude for the gory plays 
That were enacted in the early days. 
Now, o'er the vision, like a miracle, falls. 
The old log cabin with its dingy walls, 
And crippled chimney, with a crutch-like prop 
Beneath a sagging shoulder at the top, 
The coonskin, battered fast on either side, 
The whisps of leaf tobacco, cut and dried; 
The yellow strands of quartered apples hung 
In rich festoons, that tangled in among 
The morning-glory vines that clambered o'er 
The little clapboard roof above the door; 
Again, thro' mists of memory rise 
The simple scenes of home before the eyes; 
The happy mother humming with her wheel 
The dear old melodies that used to steal 
So drowsily upon the summer air, 
The house dog hid his bone, forgot his care. 
And nestled at her feet, to dream, perchance, 
Some cooling dream of winter time romance. 
The square of sunshine through the open door 
That notched its edge across the puncheon floor, 
And made a golden coverlet, whereon 
The God of slumber had a picture drawn 
Of babyhood, in all the loveliness 
Of dimpled cheek, and limb, and linsey dress. 
The bough-filled fireplace and the mantle wide, 
Its fire-scorched ankles stretched on either side, 
Where perchance upon its shoulders 'neath the joists, 
The old clock hiccoughed, harsh and husky—voiced; 
Tomatoes, red and yellow, in a row, 
Preserved not then for diet, but for show; 
The jars of jelly, with their dainty tops; 
Bunches of pennyroyal and cordial drops, 
The flask of camphor and the vial of squills, 
The box of buttons garden seeds and pills. 
And thus the pioneer and helpsome aged wife, 
Reflectively reviews the scenes of early life." 

WEDDING

To the average pioneer, weddings were a specially attractive feature. Here, in the new country, there was little distinction of life and scarcely more of fortune. On these and other accounts the first impressions of love generally resulted in marrying. The family establishment cost some little labor, nothing more, and with many willing neighbors the work was speedily done. The marriage was usually celebrated at the home of the bride's parents, and to her was left the choice of the officiating clergyman or genial squire. A wedding in those days engaged the attention of the whole neighborhood and community. It was anticipated by both old and young with eager expectation. On the eventful wedding day, the groom and his intimate friends assembled at the cabin of his father, and after due preparation, departed in a body, for the mansion of his bride. The journey was sometimes made on foot, or, if the distance was longer than made that desirable, in rough carts and wagons, drawn by plodding oxen. It was always a merry journey; and to add to the merriment the bottle often made the journey in their company. On reaching the house of the bride, the marriage ceremony took place, and the dinner or supper was served. Oh! what jokes were cracked and laughter filled the pauses up. After the meal was finished the dancing commenced, and generally lasted until the following morning. Here in mazy dance, joined old and young.

“And chased the fleeting hours with flying feet, 
Until the chanticleer warned all that day had broke." 

About nine or ten o'clock in the eveni ng a deputation of young ladies stole off the bride and put her to bed. In doing this they had to ascend a ladder from the kitchen to the upper floor, which was composed of loose boards. Here in the pioneer bridal chamber, the young, simplehearted girl was put to bed by her enthusiastic friends. This done, a deputation of the young men escorted the groom to the same apartment, and placed him by the side of his bride. The dance, however, was still continued, with unabated fervor, and if the seats were scarce, which was generally the case, says a local witness, every young man, when not engaged upon the floor, was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls; and the offer was, pretty generally, sure to be accepted. During the night's festivities ardent spirits were freely used,but seldom to excess. Often the following evening the merry making was renewed and another night spent in fun and folic.

The early settlers of Worth county had the good fortune to escape much of that disease inherent to new countries, the ague, or "the shakes," as it is called in some localities. Whether this was owing to the super excellent water and pure, free air, or whether it was the result of some climatic state, is not known; the fact simply exists, and our forefathers paused not to ask the reason why. In some localities this disease was a terrible bugbear, and drove many a man and his family to "pack up his traps" and decamp from the locality where he had first settled, after its first attack. But in this county, out­side of a few sporadic cases, the disease never seemed to trouble the settlers. SNAKES

In pioneer times snakes were numerous, such as the rattle-snake, black-snake, milk-snake, water-snake and garter-snake. Many of these were perfectly harmless, and had their use in warning people, and putting them on their guard, by drawing their attention to the fact that there were more venimous reptiles. In early spring the snakes are generally torpid and are easily captured. Scores of rattle-snakes were sometimes brought out of a single den and dispatched, and left to be devoured by hogs, that then roamed at will. Some of the fattest of these snakes were taken to the house and the oil extracted, which was kept on hand as a sovereign remedy for rheumatism, and their glittering skins saved for some other specific.

AGRICULTURAL.

In the earlier settlements of this section, ponds,marshes and sloughs abounded, where to-day are found cultivated and fertile fields. The low flat places were avoided for the higher grounds not only on account of their untillableness, but for sanitary reasons. Agricultural implements were somewhat more rude and cumbersome than now-a-days. It was a common sight to see three, four, or five yoke of oxen dragging a breaking plow, with beam fifteen or more feet long, through the tough sod of the prairie, sod that had lain for centuries undisturbed, and of so ten­acious a nature, that, many aver to having seen a strip turned up some forty rods long without its breaking. Some more economically minded made their own plows out of wood and shod them with iron, but these were few and far between. In the spring time, when the ground was to be prepared for seed, the father would take his post at the plow, and often when the boys were absent at some other necessary work, the daughter, with goad in hand, would step to the side of the patient ox, who headed the team, and, striding through the long grass or stubble, compell their movements. This was a grand scene—one full of grace and beauty. The pioneer girl thought but little of dress, knew less of the fashions, had probably heard of the opera, but under­stood not its meaning; had been told of the piano, but had never seen one; wore a dress buttoned up behind; drove plow for her father, and bound the grain in the harvest field. In the planting of corn, which was always done by hand, the girls always took a part, many of them out­stripping their brothers in the speed and deftness of their work. In the cultivation of wheat, the ground was ploughed the same as for corn, and harrowed with a wooden .toothed harrow, or smoothed by dragging over the ground heavy brush, Weighed down, if necessary, with a stick of timber or large stone. It was then sown broadcast by hand at the rate of about a bushel and a quarter to the acre, and harrowed in with the brush. Some of the early settlers cut their grain with the old fashioned sickle, this was chiefly among the foreign population. The yankee element delighted more in the swing of the cradle, a scythe fastened to a frame of wood with long bending teeth or fingers, for cutting and laying the grain in swaths. Three acres a day was con­sidered good work for one man to cut over with the cradle. Following close behind the cradlers came the boys and girls, binding the grain into sheaves and placing it in shocks, where it stood until it was sufficiently cured and then stacked.

RELIGION

The religious element in the life of the pioneer was such as to attract the attention of those living in more favored places. The pioneer was no hypocrite. If he believed in horse racing, whisky drinking, card playing, or anything of like character, he indulged in them openly and above board. If he was of a religious turn of mind he was not ashamed to own it. He could truthfully sing:

"I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or blush to speak His name."

But the pioneer clung to the faith of his fathers, for a time, at least. If he was a Presbyterian he was not ashamed of it, but rather prided himself on being one of the elect. If a Methodist he was one to the fullest extent. He prayed long and loud if the spirit moved him, and cared nothing for idle forms and ceremonies. If a Lutheran he clung to his Church, and ate and drank the veritable blood and flesh of our Redeemer at the sacrament.

Transcribed by Gordon Felland, March 5, 2009