AN UNBLEMISHED LAND

The first settlers that came to Iowa, chose a difficult lifestyle.

They had to find a location with accessible fuel and water. Hardin county and Clay township offered the timber and river to fulfill both. They also wanted company and the security of numbers, so they soon formed a community. Often the community was made up largely of relatives or groups from the same former neighborhood. In Steamboat Rock’s case this does not seem to be so. At least not at first.

It was usually possible for families to live in their wagon until a claim could be staked. Then shelter became the first order of business. With the more rugged, this was often just a lean-to, built against a pair of trees and open to the fire on the south.

Often they constructed what were termed “three faced camps” or, in other words, three walls with one side open and exposed. They were described in the History of Hardin County as follows: “The walls were built seven feet high. Poles were then laid across the top about three feet apart, on these a roof of clapboards about four feet in length and eight to twelve inches wide that had been spilt from oak timber were laid. The camp had no floor, and required no door, windows, or chimney. The one side was left open and served all three of these purposes. In front of the open side a large stack of firewood was placed to block the wind and serve for heat and cooking purposes.”

These “three faced camps” were easily and crudely constructed and were meant to serve until a more substantial permanent cabin could be built. They were certainly not substantial enough for winter.

A cabin was considered to be a major advancement in comfort and protection from the elements.

In almost every case the cabin was built of logs with the space between the logs filled with split sticks of wood called “chicks,” and then daubed over both inside and out with mortar made of clay. The floor was sometimes nothing more than earth tamped hard and smooth, but was commonly made of “puncheon” or split logs, with the split side turned upwards. The roof was made by gradually drawing in the top to the ridge pole and on cross pieces clapboards were laid. Instead of being nailed poles called weight poles were laid on top to weight them down. A fireplace was cut out of the logs on one side of the room, usually about six or seven feet in length, and three sides were built up of logs making an offset in the wall. This was lined with stone if available, if not earth was used. Stone was available in quantity in Clay Township. The upper part of the chimney was built of small split sticks, two and a half or three feet in length, and extended a little above the roof. This was then plastered over with clay.

The door of the cabin was cut on one side of the room. The door itself was made from clapboard secured with wooden pins to two cross pieces. The hinges and latch were also made of wood. To open the door from the outside, a strip of buckskin was tied to the latch and drawn through a hole a few inches above the latch bar, so that on pulling the string the latch was lifted from the catch and the door was free to be pulled open. To lock the door, the string was simply pulled through the hole to the inside leaving no way to open the door from outside.

Here is where the settler’s family lived and where travelers were always made welcome. The cabin had one large room that served as all rooms. It was the living room, bedroom, parlor, arsenal, and kitchen with slabs of bacon and rings of dried pumpkins, and herbs suspended from the rafters.

It had the potential of having a steamy, odorous atmosphere. Cooking, eating, sleeping, washing, nursing the sick, laying out the dead, even dressing game, were all tasks that were performed in this one room, when weather would not permit their being done outside. The wet clothing of the men folks were hung before the fire to dry when needed, and that was often.

Prairie wolves made it difficult to keep sheep at first. Wolves were still being trapped in our area as late as 1887.

After flax was raised in sufficient quantities, and sheep could be protected from the wolves, a better more comfortable style of clothing came into existence. Flannel and Linsey were woven and made into garments for the women and children, and jeans for the men. The wool for the jeans was colored from the bark of the walnut. The black and white wool mixed, varied the color and gave the name “pepper and salt.”

Just to set the record straight, the History of Hardin County tells us that the boys and men of the area did wear “coon-skin-caps.”

In summer, nearly every person both male and female went barefooted. Buckskin moccasins were sometimes worn. Boys of twelve to fifteen never thought of wearing anything on their feet, except during the three or four months of the coldest winter weather.

A final thought on clothing is that the wardrobe of the pioneer usually at best consisted to not more than one or two suits of clothing. One for work and one for dress. The work clothes were usually worn for the entire week, and could often stand on their own by weeks end.

The pioneers had to think about preparing ground for crops–clearing woodlands or breaking prairie. If he was fortunate enough to have cattle he had to prepare shelter for winter and to put up hay.

A family was quite fortunate if they could go through the first winter with shelter, adequate fuel, and enough food to tide man and beast through until spring.

The thick prairie sod could hardly have been broken without oxen. From Old Testament times, the ox was used to aid man’s labor. Elisha was plowing with oxen when Elijah’s mantle fell upon him.

The ox was the prime mover of agriculture in the territory which became the Corn Belt as well.

Oxen were no special breed of cattle. A castrated male of the bovine species was a steer if raised for beef and an ox if trained to drive. When properly trained, the oxen would move forward almost inexorably with little speed, but immense power. A “fast walking” yolk was in great demand, but if they were trotted they were ruined. Oxen hardly knew their own strength and it was up to the driver to control their efforts lest they strain (rupture) themselves.

It was no fun to drive oxen. Early farmers love their horses, but the same can not be said of their oxen. In spite of the fact that far more of the world’s work has been performed by cattle, and in many parts of the world still is, oxen have no power to stir men’s souls. So they proliferated on the mid-Iowa prairie until the land was broken, and then they disappeared, almost as quickly at they had arrived.