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TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State

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Told<br />

<strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong> Pioneers<br />

small lad, and watched <strong>the</strong>se operations with gTeat interest.<br />

never done things like this back east.<br />

They had<br />

The family's first conveyance was a cart. It was made <strong>of</strong> two<br />

rounds <strong>of</strong> a log two feet in diameter. These rounds were used for<br />

wheels. They were about seven inches thidL Next a square hole was<br />

chisled out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> center <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> wheels and an axle was fitted. A box<br />

<strong>of</strong> rough lumber was pegged to this. This home-made cart did very<br />

well for hauling farm crops to <strong>the</strong> beach, where <strong>the</strong>y were loaded into<br />

sailboats and rowed to LaConner. Here crops were exchanged for<br />

groceries and clothing.<br />

I neYer saw a piece <strong>of</strong> money until I was grown. I had all <strong>the</strong> boating<br />

I cared for. Many a time I've rowed until my hands were entirely<br />

covered with blisters. We always had to take advantage <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tides<br />

and this meant that we would get out at any time <strong>of</strong> night or day. It<br />

was necessary to do this, for instance if we planned to go out, and <strong>the</strong><br />

tide was coming it, all <strong>the</strong> hard work <strong>of</strong> rowing would get us nowhere.<br />

The water was stronger than our efforts.<br />

GEORGE MILLER<br />

Pioneer Days in <strong>the</strong> Palouse Count'ry<br />

-Whitman County •<br />

One afternoon we came down to a good sized stream, a small river,<br />

where <strong>the</strong>re was a ferry boat with a couple <strong>of</strong> men to operate it. The<br />

fee was one dollar per wagon, in advance. We were ferried over, one<br />

wagon at a time. The boat was equipped with long oars, or sweeps,<br />

and <strong>the</strong> passage took some time, each man tugging at an oar. The<br />

water was slack with no current to speak <strong>of</strong>, but at that it looked like<br />

hard -work to us, and I thought it well worth <strong>the</strong> price, especially when<br />

I remembered what a strenuous time we had in crossing <strong>the</strong> Blue<br />

river. I was thankful those men had <strong>the</strong> enterprise to build and operate<br />

this ferry.<br />

•<br />

There was a nice camp ground near <strong>the</strong> crossing, so we concluded<br />

we had gone far enough for one day. While we were cooking supper,<br />

five freight wagons came down <strong>the</strong> grade. They swung <strong>of</strong>f <strong>the</strong> road<br />

and across <strong>the</strong> river a few yards above <strong>the</strong> ferry. The water was not<br />

up to <strong>the</strong> hubs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> wheels. I changed my mind about those good<br />

men and true. Crumbaker said he'd wa.ger <strong>the</strong>y put in <strong>the</strong>ir spare<br />

time hauling water to keep <strong>the</strong>ir boat from going to pieces.<br />

178

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