TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State
TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State
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 />
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