TIMES ARE CHANGING

According to the History of Hardin County, “In pioneer times snakes were numerous, such as rattlesnakes, vipers, adder, blood snake, and many varieties of large blue and green snakes, milk snake, garter and water snakes, and others.”

Reuben E. Wardwell, an early merchant, who we have discussed earlier, lived south of town across Elk creek and
south of where Henry (Ike) Cramer now lives. That portion of the town never really became developed, but a good portion of the town plat lies south of Main Street.

A footbridge was suspended over the creek and it was not unusual for the Wardwell girls, on their way to school, to have to use sticks to push snakes off the bridge before they could cross.

The harmless snakes served to put people on guard against the dangerous more venomous kind. It was a common practice for groups of men to turn out with spades, mattocks, and crowbars, to attack the principal snake dens in order to kill large numbers of snakes. In early spring the snakes were somewhat torpid and easy to capture. Scores of rattlesnakes were often frightened from their den, and as soon as they appeared from the crevices in the rocks they were dispatched and left to be devoured by the numerous wild hogs of that day. Some of the larger snakes were taken home where the oil was extracted and their skins were saved as a remedy for
rheumatism.

Sometimes the opening of the snakes den was blocked while the reptiles were out sunning themselves, and the
groups could then kill scores of them in a few minutes.

Herbert Quick recalled his experiences with snakes, “We had many adventures with snakes. It was not cruel to
kill snakes but rather a duty, we thought; and one evening I killed seven within ten feet of one another, pulling the last by the tail out of a hole into which it was crawling. These were harmless snakes, if we had only
known it, and probably useful. But the conquest of this snake convention was a great achievement for an eight-year old boy. Our only venomous snake was the small prairie rattlesnake, which my father always called by its Indian name, Massasauga. There was a large spotted snake which was a fearful thing in our minds. Some called it the rattlesnake’s mate, others a bull snake. When exasperated, it would set the tip of its tail quivering exactly like a rattlesnake, though it had no rattles.”