TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State

Told by the Pioneers
fat with a wick in it. Not very good light, but one could see to get
around.
We had puncheon floors. ]'01' furniture, we had homemade benches,
for the most part. There were very few chairs in the neighborhood,
and some homemade rockers.
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The story is told of the pioneer, ~1r. Heisseir, that he placed his
foot in a nail keg while chopping' to avoid gashing his leg with the axe.
All the houses had fireplaces in the early days, not only for heating,
but were used also for cooking. Dishes were not too plentiful. Our
nearest store was 10 miles from here at Stotten. vVomen often walked
that far to sell produce. I've often known my mother to kill chickens
and carry them ten miles, to exchange them for sugar, tea, coffee
or other supplies at the store, and walk both ways.
I've often driven oxen and a sled to Stotten. That ,vas a hard trip
for the steers and slow, too, because they often gave out. The hills
were many and steep and the sled a heavy load. There was no horse
team here for many years. Mr. Goodnight had the first team of horses
in this community.
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Women all wore calico dresses in those days.
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We used venison a lot, and also bear meat. We used to salt it down.
We didn't use much salt salmon, because the salmon in the Lewis river
are not good, although the early comers here did eat the dog salmon.
My cousin settled one and one-half miles from to"\\ll on Toot moun-
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tain. We had to carryall his house furnishings in by hand over a
trail, as there was no road. 'that was tough work, as it '~laS up hill
all the way.
vVe had plenty of potatoes. We used to flail out the wheat and take
it to the grist mill at Salmon Creek, seven or eight miles away. We
paid mill toll on it, a part of the flour being kept as recompense for
the grinding. Later there was a mill at Lewisville.
There were Indians here when I was a boy, but they were always
peaceable. I remember once when a band of them were riding through
and stopped at the house for something to eat. I was alone in the
house at the time and was frig'htened to death. I went to get them a
pan of milk and spilled it all over myself but I quieted down when the
leader told me not to be afraid and that they wouldn't hurt me.
I was out of the state two years during the Spanish war. In 1900 I
had two birthdays. Impossible ~ 'VeIl, we were coming home from the
Philippines and on March 23rd, my birthday, we crossed the meridian,
and since a day is always added there, I had two birthdays to celebrate
on this occasion.
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