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1917 History
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1917 History
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Looking back over a period of a little more than
three score years, to that 27th day of June, 1856, when William
Granger, D. W. Hoyt and Henry and Adolphus Jenkins began the settlement
of Emmet County, it may be interesting to the young people of the
present generation to know how these first settlers in a new country
managed to exist. Imagine a vast, unbroken tract of rolling prairie,
stretching away in all direc tions beyond the range of human vision,
with little groves of timber here and there along the streams or
bordering the lakes. Such was the appearance of Emmet County when the
first white men came to estab lish their homes within its borders. At
numerous places in the broad prairie were swamps and ponds, where
muskrats and waterfowl abounded. Beaver, otter, mink and other
fur-bearing animals inhabited certain localities. Big game was
plentiful, especially elk and deer. Prairie wolves were also plentiful
and their howling at night sometimes caused little children to shudder
with fear, as they cuddled closer together in their beds and wished for
daylight to come. Roving bands of Indians occasionally made their
appearance in the settlements and their movements were watched with
interest and suspicion. There was neither railroad nor public highway
to facilitate travel - nothing but the great unbroken plain, "fresh from
the hand of Nature."
Now all is changed. In this year 1916 of the Christian era, when
a citizen of Emmet County finds it necessary to pay a visit to the
market town or the county seat, he can step into his automobile - or, if
he has not yet become the possessor of a motor car, he can hitch a
horse to a buggy and drive over a well established public highway to
his destination. Should occasion require a longer journey, he can take
his seat in a coach on one of the great railway systems of the country
and be transported across the country at the rate of forty or fifty
miles an hour. If he happens to live in the City of Estherville, or any of the incorporated
towns of the county, upon entering a room at night all he has to do is
to push a button or turn a switch and the room is immediately flooded
with electric light. He turns a faucet and receives a supply of pure,
wholesome water in any quantity he may desire. A mail carrier brings
him his letters and newspapers daily. When household supplies are
needed, it is an easy matter to telephone to the grocer, the butcher or
the coal man,. His children attend a modern graded school. He and his
family worship in a church heated by steam and lighted by electricity,
and listen to the music of a pipe organ that cost hundreds - perhaps
thousands - of dollars.
But does he ever pause to consider how all these comforts and
conveniences were brought about for him to enjoy? Let him read the
opening
paragraph of this chapter and then draw upon his imagination for the
conditions that existed in what is now Emmet County when the first
white men cable to establish a settlement.
PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS
Compared with the conditions of the present day, the pioneer
encountered some actual hardships and a great many
inconveniences. One
of the first problems with which he was confronted was to provide
shelter for himself and family. Most of the early settlers selected
claims where there was timber to be obtained and the first houses
erected by them were log cabins. The first settler in a community, who
had to build his cabin unassisted, selected small logs or poles that he
could raise to the walls. Such a dwelling could not be called a
"mansion;" but it sheltered its inmates from the inclemencies of the
weather. Sometimes, when two or more families came together, one cabin
would be built in which all would live until each settler could erect
a cabin of his own. As the population grew, the "house raising" became
a social as well as an indus trial event. After the logs were
cut into proper lengths and dragged to the site of the proposed cabin,
the settler would send invitations to his neighbors, some of whom
probably lived several miles away, to attend the "raising." Such
invitations were seldom declined, for the pioneers felt their
dependence upon each other and were always ready and willing to lend a
helping hand.
When all were assembled four men would be selected to "carry up the
corners," and took their stations at the four corners of the
cabin. These men were chosen because they were skilled in the use of
the ax. As the logs were lifted up to them they shaped a "saddle" on
the top and cut a notch in the underside to fit upon the saddle of the
log below. By cutting the notches a little deeper in the "butt end" of
logs, and alternating the butt and top ends, the walls of the cabin
were carried up
approximately level. No plumb line was used, the walls being adjusted
in this respect entirely by the eye of the cornermen. Doors and windows
were sawed out after the walls were up. An opening was also made
at one end for the fireplace. Outside of this opening would be
constructed a chimney of small logs, lined inside with clay to prevent
its
catching fire. Sometimes the chimney would be built of squares of sod,
laid up as a mason lays up a wall of bricks. The roof of the cabin was
made of clapboards, and the floor, if there was one, was of puncheons -
that is, thin slabs of timber split as nearly as possible of the same
thickness - the upper surface being smoothed off with an adz after the
floor was laid.
HARDWARE A LUXURY
Hardware was a luxury in a new country, and not infrequently a cabin
would be completed without a single article of iron being used in its
construction. The clapboards of the roof were held in place by poles
running the full length of the cabin and fastened to the end logs with
wooden pins. The door was made of thin puncheons, fastened together
with small wooden pins, hung on wooden hinges and provided with a
wooden latch. A thong of deerskin fastened to the latch was passed
through a small hole in the door, to provide a means of opening the
door from the outside. At night the thong could be drawn inside and the
door was locked. This custom gave rise to the expression: "The
latchstring is always out," signifying that a visitor would be welcome
at any time.
The furniture was in keeping with the house itself, being usually of the "home-made" variety .and of the simplest character. In one corner was constructed a bedstead in the following manner: A small sapling, with two forks as nearly at right angles as possible, was selected and a section of it long enough to reach from the floor to the joists overhead was cut and placed about the width of an ordinary bed from one wall and the length of the bed from the other. Poles were then laid in the two forks, the other end resting in one of the cracks between the logs of the cabin wall, or in a large auger hole bored in one of the logs. Across the poles were then laid clapboards, upon which the straw tick, or feather bed if the family possessed one, was spread. Such a contrivance was sometimes called a "prairie rascal." Springs, there were none, but "honest toil brought sweet repose" to the tired husbandman. Holes bored in the logs were fitted with strong pins, upon which were laid clapboards to form the "china closet," the front of which was a curtain of some cheap cotton cloth, though in many homes the curtain was lacking. Stools and benches took the place of chairs. A table was made by "battening" some clapboards together to form the top, which was placed upon a pair of trestles when in use. When not in use the trestles were placed one upon the other and the top leaned against the wall to make more room in the house. Stoves were almost unknown and the cooking was done at the huge fireplace, an iron tea kettle, a long-handled skillet, a big copper-bottomed coffee pot, and a large iron pot being the principal cooking utensils. Bread was baked in the skillet, which was set upon a bed of live coals and more coals heaped upon the lid, so the bread would bake at both top and bottom. The iron pot was used for preparing the boiled dinner, in which two or three kinds of vegetables were often cooked together. "Johnny cake" was made by spreading a stiff dough of corn meal upon one side of a smooth board and propping it up in front of the fire. When one side was baked sufficiently, the dough would be turned over to give the other side its inning. Many times a generous supply of "johnny cake" and a mug of fresh milk constituted the only supper of the pioneer. While preparing the meals the housewife would nearly always wear a large "sun-bonnet" to protect her face from the heat.
Somewhere in the cabin was the "gun-rack," which
was formed of two hooks made from the forks of small trees. In this
rack rested the
long, heavy rifle of the settler, while suspended from the muzzle of
the gun or one of the hooks were the bullet-pouch and
powder-horn. The rifle was depended upon in many instances to
furnish the family with a supply of meat.
In the early days there were no sawmills to furnish lumber, and
there
were no brick yards, hence, frame or brick houses were out of the
question. The log cabin was therefore the universal type of dwelling on
the frontier. A little later, when the settlement of the prairies
commenced, some of the pioneers built sod houses by cutting squares of
the
native turf and laying them up in a wall of the required height.
Occasionally a frame house of rough boards would be built, around which
would be laid a wall of sod for greater protection from the cold. If
lumber could be obtained, the roof of these sod houses was laid of
boards eight or ten inches wide, running from the peak to the eaves,
the joints being covered with narrower boards to keep out the rain.
Where no lumber was to be had, the roof was formed of a framework of
small poles covered with a thatch of prairie grass. From an
architectural standpoint, the house was not a "thing of beauty," but it
constituted the only residence of some of the early settlers of Emmet
County.
In these days, with banks in every town of any consequence and
money in
circulation, when any one needs assistance he can hire some one to come
and help him. When the first settlers came to Emmet County, money was
exceedingly scarce and they overcame the difficulty by "•swapping
work." They assisted each other to build cabins; frequently ten or a
dozen men would gather in a neighbor's wheatfield, and
while some would swing the cradle the others would bind the sheaves and
place them in shocks. When one field was finished the entire party
would move on to the next, where the wheat was ripest, until the wheat
crop of the neighborhood was made ready for the thresher.
While the men were engaged in the harvest field, the women folks would
get together and prepare dinner, each one bringing from her own store
some little delicacy which she thought the others might not be able to
furnish. Elk meat and venison were common at such dinners, and, as each
man had acqufred a good appetite by the time the meal was ready, when
they arose from the table it "looked like a cyclone had struck it."
Matches were rare in the new settlements and a little fire was always
kept burning somewhere on the premises "for seed." During cold weather
the fire was kept in the fireplace without trouble, but when the summer
months came and the weather grew warm enough to render the house
uncomfortable with a fire in it, a pile of chunks was kept burning out
of doors. If, by some mishap, such as negligence or a heavy rainfall,
the fire was extinguished, one of the family would have to make a
pilgrimage to the nearest neighbor's to "borrow" a fresh supply.
There were no electric lights when the first settlers came to Emmet
County sixty years ago. Even the kerosene lamp had not then been
invented and the housewife improvised a lamp by using a shallow dish,
partially filled with lard, or some other kind of grease. Into this
dish was placed a loosely twisted cotton rag, one end of which
projected over the side of the dish. The projecting end was then
lighted, and although such a lamp emitted smoke and odor that could
hardly be tolerated by fastidious persons now, it answered the purpose
then and afforded enough light to enable the good woman to attend to
her duties. Next came the tallow candle, which was made by pouring
molten tallow into moulds of tin, a cotton wick having previously been
drawn through the center of the mould. A set of candle moulds
consisted of six or eight candle forms soldered together in a frame.
Often there was but one set of candle moulds in a settlement, but they
were willingly loaned by the owner and passed from house to house until
all had a supply of candles laid away in a cool, dry place for future
use. In the winter season the family would often sit around the
fireplace with no light in the cabin except that which came from the
roaring fire.
With well stocked general stores in every village,
it is now a comparatively easy matter to replenish the household
larder. But in the
days prior to the Civil war, going to market was no light affair. Fort
Dodge and Mankato were the nearest trading points, and to visit either
required two or three days to go and return. No roads
were as yet opened, the streams were not bridged,, and traveling was a
matter attended by many drawbacks. Once the settler made the trip and
brought
back to his cabin a supply of the barest necessities, economy was the
watchword, for waste meant another long, dreary journey through the
wilderness to the trading post. Breadstuffs were obtained by taking a
"turn of corn" or a few bushels of wheat to the nearest mill, often
miles away, and waiting until the grain could be ground. While thus
waiting the settlers would while away the time running foot-races,
wrestling, shooting at a mark or pitching horseshoes. Civilization
gradually brought the trading posts and mills closer to Emmet County
and the long trips to Fort Dodge, Mankato and the far away mills were
abandoned.
NONE WORE STORE CLOTHES
No one wore "store clothes" then. The housewife would card her wool by
hand with a pair of broad-backed wire brushes, the teeth of which were
slightly bent all in one direction; then the rolls were spun into yarn
upon the old-fashioned spinning wheel and woven into cloth upon the
old hand loom. Garments were then cut and made with the needle, the
sewing machine having not yet been invented. A girl of sixteen years of
age who could not manage a spinning wheel, turning out her "six cuts"
a day or make her own dresses, was a rarity in a new settlement. How
many of the girls who graduated from the various high schools of Emmet
County in 1916 know what "six cuts" means? Or how many of them can make
their own gowns unassisted?
AMUSEMENTS AND PASTIMES
Although the pioneers had their hardships and privations, it must
not
be imagined for a moment that their lives were utterly devoid of
relaxation and entertainment. A popular social function in a new
settle ment was the "house-warming." A new cabin was hardly
considered fit to live in until it had been properly dedicated. In
almost every fron tier settlement there was at least one man who
could play the violin. When the new house was ready for occupancy the
"fiddler" was called 'into requisition and within the cabin there would
be a "sound of revelry by night." On these occasions no fox-trot,
tango or classic two-step was seen, but the Virginia reel, the stately
minuet or the old-fashioned cotillion, in which some one "called the
figures" in a strentorian voice, were very much in evidence. And
it is quite probable that the guests at a presidential inaugural ball
never derived more
genuine pleasure from the event than did these people of the frontier
at a house-warming. If the settler who owned the cabin had scruples
against dancing, some
other form of amusement was substituted, but the house had to be
"warmed" by some sort of frolic before the family took possession.
Another form of amusement was the "husking bee"
(commonly called a corn shucking), in which pleasure and profit were
combined. After the invitations to the "shucking" were sent out, the
farmer
divided his corn into two piles, as nearly equal in size as possible.
When the guests arrived two of them would "choose up" and divide those
present into two companies, the contest being to see which side would
first finish its pile of corn. Both men and women took part in
the "bee" and one of the rules was that the young
man who found a red ear was permitted to kiss the young woman next to
him in the circle. "Many a merry laugh went round" when some one found
a red ear and the lassie objected to being kissed. Quite often the
young men would play an underhand game by passing a red ear
surreptitiously from one to the other.
Women's clubs, such as exist at the present day, were unknown, but the
women had their quilting parties when a number would take their
needles and thimbles and gather at some house to join in making a
quilt. Then there would be a friendly rivalry to see who could
run the straightest line or make the neatest stitches.
Corn huskings and quiltings were frequently followed by a dance and
the
guests would spend an hour or two in "tripping the light fantastic
toe,'' though it must be admitted that the toes were many times neither
light nor fantastic. The old-time fiddler who furnished the melody
for the dancers may not have been a scientific musician, but he could
make his old violin respond to such tunes as "The Irish Washer
woman,'' "Money Musk," "The Wind that Shakes the Barley Fields," or
"Turkey in the Straw" and what he lacked in classic training he made up
in the vigor of his execution.
Then there was the spelling-bee (or match) that came in with the
introduction of the public school system. Upon the appointed
evening the entire community - men, women and children - would gather at
the schoolhouse to engage in a spelling contest. As at the husking bee,
two captains would "choose up," the winner choosing the best speller
first, and so on alternately until all who cared to take part were
arranged upon two opposing sides. The teacher, or some other
person agreed upon, would then "give out" the words, first to one side
and then to the other. If a speller missed a word he took his seat and
the contest went on until only one, the victor, was left standing. To
"spell down" a whole school district was considered quite an
achievement.
At the close of the exercises the young men, with quickened pulse
for
fear of "getting the mitten," would approach the young women with the
stereotyped formula: "May I see you home?" Sometimes an acquaintance
thus begun ripened into an intimacy that ended in a wedding, which
was followed by a charivari, or, as it was pronounced on the frontier,
a "shivaree" - a serenade in which noise took the place of harmony. The
charivari was generally kept up until the bride and groom showed
themselves, and the affair terminated all the more pleasantly if each
of the serenaders was given a piece of the wedding cake. Probably the
young men of that day were no more superstitious than those of the
present, but it is certain that many of them placed the morsel of
wedding cake beneath their pillows upon retiring, in the belief that it
would bring pleasant dreams that were destined to come true.
PERSONAL MENTION
Such was the manner in which the first settlers of Emmet County
lived. All things considered, the pioneer is entitled to a place
of honor in the memories of the present generation. He
braved the dangers of the frontier, brought the raw prairie under
cultivation, drained the swamps, conquered the prowling wolf and savage
Indian, and amid adverse conditions overcame all obstacles, building up
an empire in the wilderness. His life was hard and his reward
meager when compared to present day advantages, but his work was well
done. Following is a brief personal mention of a few of the men
who were active in building up Emmet County in the early days. It
would be impossible to give an account of every one who contributed to
the development of the county's resources, but those named are fair
representatives of the real pioneer type - men who were not afraid to
break away from old established communities and, buoyed up by the
hope of a brighter future, carry the banner of civilization into
hitherto unknown places.
Adolphus Jenkins, who was one of the first four white men to settle in
the county, was born in Steuben County, New York, in 1826. He received
a good education in the common schools and a local academy, after which
he went to Michigan, where he taught school for a few years. He then
went to Lake Pepin, Minnesota, where he entered land and engaged in
farming. Upon coming to Emmet County he preempted 160 acres of land in
what is now Estherville Township, built a log house and began the work
of developing a farm. A year or so later he formed a partnership with
Robert E. Ridley and built the Estherville Mills, with which he was
connected until about 1877. When the county was organized in
February, 1859, he was elected county judge and held the office until
it was abolished by an act of the Legislature in 1860. He also served
as justice of the peace, postmaster of Estherville and as a mem ber of
the board of county supervisors. When the county seat was removed to
Swan Lake he went to that place and opened a hotel. He died at Swan Lake on October 3, 1886. His son, James E.
Jenkins, who was. born in Estherville in 1864, afterward became a
member of the firm of Woods & Jenkins, publishers of the Emmet
County Republican.
Among those who came to Emmet County in 1860 was Howard Graves, a
native of the State of New York. In 1855 he came to Iowa, locating
first in Winneshiek County, where he remained for about five years. He
then came to Emmet County and engaged in farming and merchandising
until 1876, when he established a private bank, the first bank in the
county. In the fall of 1886 this bank was incorporated under the laws
of Iowa as the Estherville State Bank and Mr. Graves was made the first
president. Mr. Graves served for several years as auditor of Emmet
County and was all his life recognized as a public spirited citizen.
Lewis Paulson, another pioneer of 1860, was born in Norway on
October
7, 1811, and in his native land was employed as a farmer and cattle
herder. In 1844 he married and soon afterward came to America. In
the fall of 1859 he first came to Emmet County and selected 160 acres
of land in Section 36, in what is now the southeast corner of
Estherville Township. To this claim he brought his family from
Wisconsin the
following June. He was accompanied by his sons-in-law, O. K. Flatland
and O. O. Ranum, who settled near him. In 1861 he removed to
Estherville, where he opened a general store. In the preceding chapter
is given an acocunt of Mr. Paulson's trip to Algona in the winter of
1860-61 for the mail.
Charles W. Jarvis came to Emmet County with his father in 1861, when he
was about sixteen years of age. He was born at Ridgefield, Connecticut,
in 1845, where his father was engaged in business as a hatter. In 1856
the family removed to Iowa and located in Winneshiek County, where
young Jarvis completed his education in the public schools. When the
family came to Emmet County in 1861, the father purchased 400 acres of
land in Emmet Township and later opened a store. Charles W. Jarvis clerked in his father's store until 1862, when he enlisted in
Company A, Northern Border Brigade, as a private. His name appears upon the muster rolls as Willis
C. Jarvis. After his term of enlistment expired he lived with his
parents upon the farm until 1874, when he purchased the Northern
Vindicator, but conducted the paper only a short time when he sold out
and returned to farming. From 1878 to 1882 he was a bookkeeper in
the banking house of Graves, Burdick & Company. He then again
purchased an interest in the Northern Vindicator and continued in the
newspaper business for a number of years. From 1880 to 1885 he was a
member of the board of supervisors, and he was always active in
promoting efforts to improve the conditions in Estherville and Emmet
County.
Simeon E. Bemis crune to Estherville in 1866. He was born in Franklin
County, New York, November 3, 1839; was reared on a farm, and received
his education in the Malone Academy. The presidential election of' 1860
occurred on the 6th of November, just three days after he had reached
his majority, and he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. When the
call for troops came in April, 1861, he enlisted in the Sixteenth New
York Infantry and served about two years, when he was discharged on
account of the condition of his health. Upon receiving his discharge
he decided to try his fortune in the West and went to Minnesota. Three
years later he came to Estherville, bringing with him a small stock of
goods. Finding no suitable room in which to open a store he had one
erected in two days. It was not much of a building, being only 12 by
20 feet in dimensions and one story high, but this was the beginning of
"Bemis' Store." His trade grew to such an extent that he soon built and
occupied a room 20 by 40 feet and for many years thereafter he was one
of Estherville's leading merchants. In 1885 he was elected mayor of the
city and he also served for some time as president of the school board.
He was at one time commander of Isaac Mattson Post, No. 365, Grand Army
of the Republic.
Capt. Lyman S. Williams was born in Vermont in 1839. He was
educated in his native state and at the breaking out of the Civil war
in 1861, he
enlisted in Company I, Sixth Vermont Infantry, and served until June
26, 1865. In 1867 he came to Emmet County and located on a farm of 160
acres in Ellsworth Township. When John M. Barker resigned the office of
clerk of the District Court in 1878, Captain Williams was appointed
to the vacancy and continued to hold the office by election until 1882.
He was then engaged in business as a contractor and builder in
Estherville until 1885, when he "took the road" for the American
Investment Company and during the next four years traveled over Iowa,
Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. In May, 1889, he was appointed
postmaster of Estherville by President Benjamin Harrison and held that
position during Harrison's administration. Captain Williams was a
prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, a member of the Modern
Woodmen of America and of the Grand Army of the
Republic.
E. R. Littell, one of the early merchants of Estherville, came from
Alpena County, Michigan, where he was one of the pioneers and carried
the chain in surveying the land where the City of Alpena now stands.
About 1867 or 1868 he "hitched up his oxen" and drove all the way to
Estherville, where he engaged in the general merchandise business
soon after his arrival. Careful in the selection of his stock and
always courteous to his customers, he built up a good trade, taking his
son L. G. Littell into partnership under the firm name of E. R. Littell
& Son. L. G. Littell was at one time chief of the Estherville fire
department.
A few of those who came to Emmet County during the pioneer days are
still living. Among them may be mentioned Robert E. Ridley, the founder
of Estherville; Amos Ketchum, one of the early blacksmiths and a
veteran of the Civil war; Amos A. Pingrey, who served as sergeant in
Company A of the Northern Border Brigade; Matthew Richmond, who was a
member of the board of supervisors for a number of years and is now
connected with one of the Armstrong banks; W. H.
Davis, one o the early shoe merchants of Estherville, and a number of
others, sketches of whom appear in the second volume of this work.
TRAPPING IN EARLY DAYS
Trapping fur-bearing animals and disposing of the skins formed one of
the occupations, and a profitable one, of the Emmet County pioneers.
Indian trappers and employees of the great fur companies had been
operating off and on in the upper Des Moines Valley for many years, but
the animals multiplied more.rapidly than these irregular trapping
excursions could kill them off. When the first white men settled in
the county the swamps were full of muskrats, while mink, otter and
beaver were found in considerable numbers along the Des Moines River
and about the lakes. There was once an otter trail from the river just
above Emmet Grove to Eagle Lake, thence to Grass Lake and Tremont or
(Birge) Lake, where it turned southward and passed Swan and High lakes
and again struck the river about a mile below the present village of
Wallingford. Over a large part of this course the trail was a well
worn path, indicating that it was used by large numbers of otter.
Every pioneer brought with him, or acquired soon after his arrival,
from half a dozen to forty steel traps. During the fall and winter
months, when the fur was at its best, one could see men making their
daily i:ound of traps, taking out the catch and removing the pelts,
then rebaiting and setting the trap for their next visit. Early
numbers of the Northern Vindicator gave quotations of fur values that
were of far more interest to the settlers of Emmet County than would
have been quotations from the New York Stock Exchange. An old market
report in the Vindicator quotes muskrat skins at from 15c to 18c; mink
skins, $2.00; beaver skins, $3.50 to $5.00; otter skins, $5.00 to
$7.00. As late as the fall of 1886 an otter weighing nearly forty
pounds was caught. So far as known only one otter has been caught in
the county since that date; It was caught by Richard Dundas.
During the hard times of 1868-69, when work was scarce and money
still
scarcer, trapping was the principal business of many of the residents
of Emmet County. A number of the early settlers made the money in
this way to pay for the lands they entered. At the period mentioned
those living in the county discouraged immigration all they could,
because new comers had a tendency to frighten away the fur bearing
animals, especially the mink and beaver, and thus decrease their
revenues.
One would naturally suppose that men and women who suffered the
privations incident to frontier life would be glad to remain in the
country after it was developed and enjoy the fruits of their labors.
But some persons are pioneers by nature. They seem to prefer the new
country, with its labor and freedom, to the older civilization, with
its luxuries and conventionalities. A few of those who came into Emmet
County in the early days, and contributed in no small degree to its
development, afterward crossed the Missouri River and became pioneers a
second time, aiding in building up the states in that section of the
country. Such persons are well described in Brininstool's beautiful poem
THE OLD TRAPPER'S SOLILOQUY
"I've taken toll from every stream that heid a furry prize,
But now my
traps are rustin' in the sun;
Where once the broad, free ranges, wild, unbroken, met my eyes,
Their
acres have been civilized and won.
The deer have left the bottom lands, the antelope the plain,
And the
howlin' of the wolf no more I hear;
But the busy sound of commerce warn me of an alien reign,
As the saw
and hammer echo in my ear.
"I've lived to see the prairie soil a-sproutin' schools and stores,
And
wire fences stretch on every hand;
I've seen the nesters crowdin' in from distant foreign shores,
And the
hated railroads creep across the land.
My heart has burned within me and my eyes have misty grown,
As Progress
came unbidden to my shack;
My streams have all been harnessed and my conquest overthrown,
And I've
been pushed aside and crowded back.
"I've seen men come with manners and with customs new and strange,
To
take the land which I have fought to hold;
I've watched the white-topped wagons joltin' on across the range
With
those who sought to lure the hidden gold.
I've seen the red man vanquished and the buffalo depart,
And the cowmen
take the land which they possessed;
And now there's somethin' tuggin' and a-pullin' at my heart,
And
biddin' me move on to'rds the West.
"There ain't no elbow room no more to circulate around,
Since
Civ''lization stopped beside my door;
I'll pack my kit and rifle and I'll find new stompin' ground,
Where
things is like they was in days of yore.
I've heard the mountains whisper, and the old, free wild life calls,
Where men and Progress never yet have trod;
And I'll go back and worshipl in my rugged canyon walls,
Where the pine
trees croon and Nature is my God."
