Pennsylvania USGenWeb Archives

Clearfield County

Clearfield County Pennsylvania

Present and Past

by

Thomas Lincoln Wall

Ex-Supervising Principal

Boggs Township Schools

Library Edition

Published by Author

Copyright 1925

by

T. L. Wall

Transcribed for the Clearfield County PAGenWeb Project by

Ellis Michaels

printer friendly version of this page

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CLEARFIELD COUNTY - PRESENT AND PAST

CHAPTER XIV

Agriculture

     Farm Census, 1924. By the Pennsylvania Farm Census for 1924, Clearfield county has a little over 3000 farms, (a slight decrease from the 1920 census) containing a total of over 204,000 acres. But of these acres only something over 76,600 were in yearly growing farm crops, as follows in round numbers: Winter wheat, 4300 acres; rye 3100 acres; oats 13,800 acres; corn for grain 8000 acres; corn for silage 980 acres; buckwheat, 6400 acres; potatoes, 3200 acres; tame hay, except alfalfa, 36,400 acres; alfalfa hay, 260 acres.

     There were also almost 99,000 apple trees of bearing age, nearly 16,000 yet too young to bear, and over 25,800 peach trees of bearing age.

     There were over 4,400 horses and 313 mules. Of dairy cattle there were over 6,800 cows two years and older, and over 1,100 other dairy cattle. There were 3,400 other cattle making a total of 11,400 cattle in all.

     There were about 11,000 swine and over 1200 sheep.

     There were 133,000 hens and pullets, over 3800 hives of bees, 210 silos, 214 tractors, 218 motor trucks and almost 1600 automobiles on farms.

     There were 566 farms more or less equipped with electricity and 69 had radio outfits. To operate these farms, there was a total farm population of nearly 16,000 of whom

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over 7800 were males and nearly 7100 were females. Over 2800 farms were operated by their owners and 275 by tenants.

     Decrease in Tilled Acres and in Most Products. In five years the number of farms decreased nearly 100, while the total acreage in farms decreased nearly 35,000 acres. There were decreases in the acreage of wheat of 2500 acres, of rye 750 acres, of oats 3200 acres, of corn nearly 2000 acres, buckwheat over 1500 acres, of potatoes 600 acres, of hay nearly 6000 acres. The horses on farms in the county decreased in the five years 1300, dairy cattle more than 4000, sheep 1100, while hogs increased over 400, chickens increased more than 10,000 and hives of bees increased slightly.

     In spite of this decadence of agriculture in the county it seems quite probable that it is now at or near its lowest ebb. It is possible that sometime in the future there will be a reaction toward farming as a livelihood, brought about by the number of people who have gone from country to city, but must still be fed.

     Farming as a Business. There are only a few farms in the county that are strictly self-supporting, and they are almost all specialized, that is, their activities are centered upon the production of one or two articles, such as fruits, truck, butter or milk.

     By a self-supporting farm, one is meant that pays its way and produces a profit on its value, after all expenses are paid,including the labor of the farmer, his wife and family.

     Some of the milk dairy farms, and possibly a few truck farms come the nearest to doing this. Milk dairy farms that are located near DuBois or Clearfield or other towns have the best chance of success. Yet it would be easy to overstock the market in these places, especially with summer milk. The best general farming section, at present, is probably Brady

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township, with its Pennsylvania Dutch farmers, who are thrifty and willing to work hard.

     Opportunities in Special Farming. There are, undoubtedly, opportunities for young people to engage in special farming. With all the opportunities that now exist for gaining information on special agriculture, it should be possible for a young man or woman to do very well in poultry, fruit or vegetable farming, or a combination of two or more of them, if satisfied to work hard and live within their income. Beef cattle is a possibly good business also, and not so confining as dairying. But in all lines of farming as of any other independent occupation, business ability is the controlling factor. One must know how to buy and sell and keep strict account of his or her business.

     The Problem of Waste Land. The economists of the nation and of the world, have long been discussing the "problem" of how to feed the people as they increase in numbers, but in our county where less land is cultivated than formerly, because it does not pay to farm it, the problem is how to make profitable use of this surplus land. Not only have the number of farms decreased in the last five years, but the average number of acres actually being cultivated on each farm is much less. It seems that through the use of machinery and other better methods of production, especially in the great farming districts of the Mississippi Valley, less men and less acres produce more food than ever before, while increased transportation facilities bring these products into direct competition with the products of Clearfield county farms, whose rougher aspect makes the use of machinery, etc., less effective. Then too, the demand for labor at wages higher than a farmer dares to pay and expect to make both ends meet, makes it necessary for him to cut down his farm operations, as nearly all are doing, or to give up the business entirely and enter the

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army of wage earners, as many have done. Though almost any farm in the county could now be bought for less than the cost of buildings and equipment, very few young people are going into the business, because they are not satisfied to live within the income that it would provide and do the work that it would require for any kind of success. So there is the big problem of waste land.

     Advantages of Progressive Farm Life. Looking at it from its higher aspects, and apart from financial considerations, farm life in a progressive community in our county has many advantages. By progressive, I mean a community whose citizens are intelligent morally and intellectually, and show it by having good working community churches, sabbath schools and public schools, and the ways and means of getting to and from them, and who take a friendly interest in each other.

     Under such conditions, the country districts of our county, with its pure water and air and bracing climate for health, and its varied and beautiful scenery of hill and valley, mountain and stream, for its artistic uplift, is one of the best places in the world to live, and for the bringing up of children, in the way they should go.

     Pioneer Farming. In our county as it was one hundred and twenty-five years ago, and for many years after that time work was done in a very crude way indeed. There were hardly any tools. The axe and the flint lock gun were at first, the mainstays of people's lives. The cabin had to be made out of rough logs cut from the trees that grew in the woods. The flour for bread had to be gotten from wheat carried miles and miles on horse or man-back to mill, or made by pounding the wheat with a stone.

     Eighty or ninety years ago, the mother of a well known resident of Clearfield, then a girl of twelve, carried a sack of

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wheat on her back four or five miles to mill, and brought back the flour. Her brother tied the sack on her back for her. They lived five or six miles east of Clearfield.

     The grain, (threshed with a flail or trampled out by oxen or horses), had to be gotten directly from the soil after the ground had been laboriously cleared of logs and brush. The seed was sown broadcast and worked into the soil with a single shovel plow, among stumps, stobs, stones and roots, and cut, when ripened, by hand, with a sickle.

     When the family wanted meat, bullets had to be moulded of lead in the bullet moulds, and then, armed with the army musket, game had to be hunted in the woods. The material for clothing, was either wool from the sheep's back, washed, carded, spun and woven at home, or linen and tow cloth made from flax grown in the clearing, and also manufactured into clothing. Coverings for the feet, generally worn only in winter, had to be fashioned from the skins of wild animals, made into moccasins, or if made of leather, it had to be carried fifty miles or more, from the nearest store and then roughly made into shoes. Small tanneries were an early requirement and were soon provided.

     The Factory System. Now we may call up the "butcher" and "baker" and not the "candlestick maker", but the department store or some other business place and get anything we want, for money. Since that far off time, the Industrial Revolution has occurred. This means that instead of manufacturing things at home, as formerly, everything is now made in factories, and by machinery to a great extent, instead of by hand, as in the old days. To be sure, foods still have to be grown from the soil, though machinery lessens the hand labor still necessary in farming, especially in the West from which much of our food now comes.

     Why People live in the Towns. But the division of

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labor occasioned by the factory system, has changed over every industry, and has caused the people to congregate more and more in towns. This has had its advantages and disadvantages. The farm boy and young man now goes out in the world to school or to work among strangers, not under the protecting eye of his father as formerly. The farm girl and young woman likewise must get her education, or seek a job away from the loving care of her mother. On the other hand, there is "more going on",—more entertainment than formerly, though some of it may be of doubtful value.

     Conveniences on the Farm. The farmer if he can afford it, may have the telephone, the electric light, the radio and the automobile. And he may also have the gasoline engine or electric power to do his threshing and corn husking and fodder cutting or water pumping and feed grinding, his tractor for plowing and his truck for taking produce to market, etc. Then the farmer's wife may have electricity in the house to light it and to supply power for the electric washer, iron and sweeper, and even dish-washer, or other labor-saving devices, if the farm is near an electric line. However, all these helps and conveniences cost money and the farm operation must pay, or they cannot be secured. Where the farmer and his boys and girls have stuck to the job, using good business judgment, especially in dairy or truck farming, the outcome has been as good if not better, in the long run, than that of any other producing occupation.

     Labor Saving Appliances. There are some excellent farms in the county, but the clean, well kept farm, whose fertility and productiveness have been kept up or increased, is too much the exception rather than the rule. There are a number of agencies and organizations that have helped and are still helping to make farming a better and more pleasant business than it was in the pioneer days. The invention and

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introduction of better tools and implements were of much advantage to the farmer in making his work less laborious. The grain cradle was a great improvement over the sickle, the drop reaper over that, and the reaper and binder still over that. The mowing machine beat the scythe entirely for smooth ground and the tedder was an easier way to dry hay than throwing it around with a pitchfork. The hay loader saves much hard labor where it can be used, and the hay fork or slings is a much quicker and easier way to unload the wagon than the old muscular way. The horse rake beats the hand rake, the potato or seed planter is away ahead of dropping by hand, and the potato digger is a much easier and quicker way than with a hoe or fork.

     Yet, for some reason we do not clearly understand, the farmer of 1830 to 1850 somehow made out to be able to leave each of his sons a farm, and each of his daughters a cow and some money, easier than the farmer of 1925 can do it, with all his improved machinery and methods. Probably most of the reason lay in their ability to live within themselves,—to keep down the outside expenses, as one of these did, who remarked that "be as careful as he could, his store bill would be $10.00 a year."

     The Grange. One of the most important organizations for helping the farmer and his family to help themselves, has been the Grange, as a social and co-operative agency. The first granges in the county were organized in 1875, and a Jubilee Meeting was held by the county or Pomona Grange in April 1925 to celebrate the event.

     There are now twenty-eight subordinate granges in good standing in the county, with a total membership of 1760. There are 750 Pomona members. Men and women farmers and their children above fourteen years of age may belong.

     Co-Operative Associations. There have been a number of

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Co-operative associations formed in the county to aid the farmers. They have had a certain amount of usefulness, but do not seem to have accomplished very much in solving the farmers' financial problems. Our average farmers are producers only, not distributors or salesmen. Individually, they often fail to understand the consumer's point of view. So they have allowed the Clearfield county produce markets to be captured by the importer of products grown in other counties or states. A co-operative association can only be valuable as it overcomes this tendency by better methods, and uses better business ways in the supplying of farmers with the fertilizers, machinery, etc., that they need.

     County Fairs. The County Agricultural Society chartered in 1854, had Ellis Irwin for its first president. The first county fair was held in October 1860. The exhibit of fruit was claimed to equal any in the state, one gentleman, George Thorn, exhibiting 53 varieties of apples. The gate receipts were only $253.00 though there were 5000 people at the fair. The Society lay dormant at times, but was reorganized later. Many county fairs were held, not every year, generally at Clearfield, but two successful ones were held at Grampian in 1895 and 1896, without gambling features. New plans were made in 1916, and after an advertising campaign during the summer, a successful fair was held in Clearfield.

     Every year since that time fairs have been held at Clearfield with a large attendance and good exhibits. A new grand stand was built in 1924 and there were about 53,000 people in attendance, with three thousand automobiles, that year. There were 1100 agricultural and 100 industrial exhibits, also a fine educational exhibit.

     Objectionable features, as gambling and indecent or brutal shows, have at times marred the fairs, but they are being gradually eliminated.

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     The Children's Fair was held at Grampian for a few years, the last one being in 1923. It is being revived this year.

     Fairs have also been held at DuBois, at which at times there have been splendid exhibits of farm products, especially from Brady, Sandy and Huston Townships.

     The fairs have been quite a stimulus to better farming.

     The County Farm Bureau. The County Farm Bureau, a county organization having as its main function the dissemination of agricultural information to the farmers of the county, was organized July 1st, 1916, with A. T. Kearney, representing the Extension Department of State College, acting as the first county agent.

     Clearfield county, while not the first, was among the first counties to take advantage of the Smith-Lever law, which provided funds for agricultural extension work, and the placing of extension workers out in the counties to carry results of demonstrations and experimental data obtained in the various agricultural colleges and experiment stations.

     The work of the Farm Bureau is carried on through an Executive Committee, composed of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, together with men supplied from the different communities of the county. Meetings are held and programs of work outlined to suit each individual community, these programs being the result of suggestions offered by the community groups.

     The first outstanding piece of work accomplished by the Farm Bureau was the organization of the DuBois Co-operative Milk Plant, which was the first of its kind in the state, and the forerunner of all co-operative movements in the state. The organizations which followed in the county were the County Co-operative Association, a buying and selling organization, which has saved the farmers of the county many thousands of dollars, the County Bee Keepers' Association,

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Luthersburg Strawberry Growers' Association, and the East Ridge Potato Growers' Association, have all been the means of demonstrating that the co-operative movement is sound when properly organized and efficiently managed.

     The introduction of seed corn and other farm seeds, of proven varieties, were among the early projects of the Farm Bureau, and have been continued year after year ever since.

     The first change in county agents took place in March 1919, when W. C. Sterrett took charge of the extension work in the county. During the period following, boys and girls potato clubs were started, which was a means of distributing good seed over the county and uniting the business and farming interests more closely together.

     The introduction of pure bred livestock, together with the tuberculin testing of cattle in the county, were perhaps the biggest achievements of the Farm Bureau during the last few years.

     More efficient production on fewer acres, more milk from less cows, better hogs and poultry, all of which tend to produce more wealth and happiness on the farm, is the keynote of the Farm Bureau, and assistance along any or all of these lines is available through the agency, free of cost, to any farmer in the county at all times.

     To secure the services of the Farm Bureau, all that is necessary for anyone to do is to write, phone or call upon the county agent at his office in Clearfield.
Corn Testing by the Clearfield County Farm Bureau in 1918. In our county of Clearfield and in other mountain counties of Pennsylvania, 1917 season was a very short one between frosts and the small amount of corn that ripened was full of moisture.

     The Fall of 1917 was cool and damp and the long hard winter setting in early, made it of the utmost importance that seed be taken care of in the best possible manner.

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     Many farmers did not realize this in time and the result was that seed not thus taken care of had little germinating power, as those who planted it found out to their sorrow.

     This condition was anticipated by Mr. A. T. Kearney, our county farm agent, who early in the Spring, sent out a circular letter to farmers calling attention to the necessity of care in the selection and testing of corn for planting.

     It soon developed that there was not half enough good seed corn in Clearfield county to supply the needs of farmers and, therefore, that it would have to be secured elsewhere and tested if a good stand were to be secured.

     Inquiries sent to State College and to other county agents soon located a number of lots of good seed grown under similar climatic conditions as our own. This seemed quite necessary in order that early ripening varieties capable of giving a good yield in Clearfield county be secured for planting.

     An organization already existing, The Clearfield Bankers' Association, made possible the financing of the plan for buying, testing and supplying the tested seed to farmers at cost.

     It was quite a proposition to locate and get delivery of this corn under the circumstances of congestion of transportation under the stress of war conditions.

     Several large lots had to come by express and on one occasion a 200 bushel truck load was brought fifty miles in order to be put to test in time for planting.

     Then too, the testing of nearly 1000 bushels of corn, ear for ear, is no small job. Five grains were taken from each ear, placed on sheets of muslin, marked off in numbered squares and spread in trays partly filled with damp sand and covered with an inch of sand on top.

     The ears, each with a number attached corresponding to the numbered square on the sheet on which the five grains were placed, were then put on shelves to remain until the

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grains in the trays had time to sprout. These trays were kept in a warm room and sufficient water applied to furnish good conditions for sprouting.

     The reading of the trays was accomplished by uncovering the sheets separately and discarding every ear that did not show a good germination of at least four grains out of five tested. After this discarding of unsatisfactory ears, the remainder were taken from the shelves, the tip grains taken off and the corn shelled and sacked ready for sending out as ordered by the farmers.

     Owing to the scarcity of labor, it would have been impossible to make these tests if it had not been for the help of the High School boys, who, under supervision, were paid twenty cents per hour for their work. As many as twenty of these boys were at work at one time.

     It was hard sometimes to keep on hand a sufficient supply of tested corn to keep up with the demand for planting, as this demand could not easily be foreseen.

     The period of testing covered in all about eighty-three days, from March 1st to May 22nd.

     From five days to a week was required to sprout the corn in each tray, depending upon conditions of temperature.

     In all 956 bushels of ears were tested, of which 200 bushels were silage corn and the remainder corn for husking; and this was used by almost 500 farmers to plant more than 2,000 acres of land in the county.

     The price fixed per bushel of 56 pounds for tested corn was $6.50 a bushel with the promise that if it cost less, a rebate would be given. The actual cost of corn and testing was slightly more than this. The deficit was borne by the Bankers' Association.

     From reports that have come in, and from a comparison of fields, personally observed, we are led to believe that a very valuable work was accomplished. There is no doubt that ob-

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servation has convinced everyone that the average stand of tested corn (90%) in Clearfield county was away above that of any contiguous county in which this ear for ear test was not made.

     The Farm Bureau has done many good things since it was organized, but we believe this corn testing was one of its very best accomplishments.

     The Farm Labor Bureau During the War. This Bureau was organized with the appointment of a Farm Labor Manager, April 15th, 1918.

     Before that time farmers had felt undecided what to do in view of the actual and probable scarcity of labor, and the high price demanded by men unskilled in farm work. The best of the young men who had been raised on our farms had either gone to the army, were making big wages digging coal or fire clay, or working in munitions works, or going to school or college.

     Some farmers seemed to have faith that their troubles were over as far as getting farm help was concerned when they found that a man had been appointed for that special purpose.

     But soon it was found to be some job to wean a man off from work paying from $5 to $20 a day (necessary work, too) of 8 hours and get him to go on a farm and work 10 hours, for which the farmer could not afford to pay him more than $2 or $3 and board at most, or by the month $40 to $60.

     However, a trip was made to State College at Commencement time, which was held two months earlier than usual so the boys could go and help out on farms, and the manager succeeded in rounding up a few good men, though the other fellow was there too looking out for his county and naturally there wasn't enough to go around, so other means had to be taken to get the crops in the ground.

     By securing all the help possible, including some men who made considerable financial sacrifices, and a number of boys

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from the towns who to some extent made up in enthusiasm what they lacked in experience, he succeeded in helping the farmers out so that a splendid acreage was planted to the usual farm crops including an extra number of acres of spring wheat. However this could not have been accomplished had it not been for the splendid work of the farmers themselves, their wives and sons and daughters. Twelve and eighteen hour days were not unusual.

     But one man can plant what it takes two or three men to harvest. The crops were planted, the season was good, the prospects for bumper yields fine. Where was the extra help to come from that would be needed in harvest?

     Besides, the calls for men for the army became more and more insistent, and our farm boys, than whom there were no more patriotic citizens in our country, were feeling more and more uneasy about staying on the farm when others were going to face death in the Nation's cause.

     Then came the order that deferrment of entrance into military service would be granted upon application for men engaged in a necessary farm operation.

     In many instances the young farmer of military age did not like to make the application for defemnent himself, even though we were assured of the very great need of food production by the government authorities, because there were those who seemed to know no better than to call any one a slacker who did so, no matter how patriotic the motive.

     So in most cases the father or employer had to make the request.

     In all, deferrment was secured in 65 or more cases, which helped out a good deal when it is remembered that these were young men in the prime of life, who were skilled in the use of horses, tools and farm machinery, and in doing and managing all kinds of farm work.

     In many cases farm operations would have almost stop-

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ped had these men been taken away, especially in harvest time.

     But more help was needed to take in the hay and the grain as it ripened.

     So we organized the merchants and "the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker" of the larger towns for volunteer harvest work on the so-called "New Castle Plan," and secured a list of one hundred in Clearfield alone, men who volunteered to go out on certain days of the week and help take in the crops as called on, for any farmer who needed him, at a wage of 20 to 25 cents an hour. These men certainly deserve praise for their efforts.

     A great deal of help was secured for nearby farmers in this way, and though these men, who were not used to work in the hot sun could not be expected to be as efficient as hardened workers, yet their labor was certainly appreciated, and they aided much in saving crops at a critical period.

     The most critical time for farmers came towards fall when the registrants for military service in class one had been about all taken, excepting those who had been deferred so they might stay at farm work, with the understanding, as the farmers took it, that they should remain and not be taken for military service until the crops were taken care of. But the ruling of the military authorities higher up was that class one must be absolutely exhausted before class two could be called, except that men in class two might volunteer to go in place of men who had been deferred in class one, which only a few did.

     However, one of our Exemption Boards took the grounds that as "food will win the war" and the farmers need was great for these men to help save their crops that so much effort had been made to produce, the spirit rather than the strict letter of the law should be obeyed, and in view of the promise that if extensive planting was done, these men would

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be allowed to stay and help care for and harvest the crop, they were not called until the fall work was done. This district covered one of the best agricultural sections of the county and the action of this Board probably saved the loss of considerable farm produce.

     The plan of farmers co-operating in their work, which was already being used in some neighborhoods, was advised by the Farm Labor Manager as a partial solution of the labor problem in all districts of the county through newspaper articles and otherwise.

     The Clearfield county newspapers were certainly deserving of credit for the great amount of free space given, making it possible to do a greater amount of publicity work of value in the getting and placing of labor than could otherwise have been accomplished.

     Many farm visits were made by the Manager often at the suggestion of the different Exemption Boards, for the purpose of investigating claims for deferred classification for agricultural work and only in the very fewest instances was it found that these claims were undeserving. In all cases such a thorough examination and report was made that only one or two were afterwards turned down by the Board, and even these were all worthy from an agricultural stand point, but the Board thought that as individuals the parties making the claims were not showing the right patriotic spirit in some of their actions, so their deferrment was not allowed.

     In making these visits of investigation, the Manager was very materially assisted by the County Agent, Mr. A. T. Kearney, who always stood ready to help through the facilities of his office in finding out farmers needs and at times locating help, and in the matter of transportation.

     The then County Superintendent of Schools, C. A. Weisgerber also assisted in many ways as did all the office force,

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the Labor Bureau office being located in the same room with the Farm Bureau, in the office of the County Superintendent of Schools. The Farm Labor Bureau placed 88 men and 65 boys on farms in the season. Calls for 93 men and 30 boys could not be filled.

     The summer of 1918 will be long remembered in Clearfield county as a most strenuous one for everybody, and in this great effort none worked harder nor to better purpose than the farmers and those who by their actual physical labor helped to plant, care for and harvest the bountiful crops which added to bountiful crops produced by the agricultural workers in other counties all over our broad land nullified the food crisis not only at home, but all over the world.

     The need being over, and the war ended with the armistice, November 11, 1918,the Farm Labor Bureau was discontinued soon after this time.

     Moving In. "In October 1806, Benjamin Hartshorn, Sr., decided to move with his family from Center county, into the woods on the ridge a mile or two back from where Curwensville now stands. He purchased a wagon and two yoke of cattle, packed all they could haul and started for Clearfield county. Near Five Mile Run, a wagon wheel broke. They made a fire by the roadside, of fagots and logs and soon had the kettle boiling; cooked beefsteak, and then spreading the tablecloth on the ground, ate their meal. Then Mr. Hartshorn drove the cattle to Philipsburg where they could be put out to pasture, and got the wagon-maker to come and get the wheel, take it to his shop and mend it, which took two days.

     "In the meantime, the family consisting of the father, mother and six children and their aunt, camped by the wagon, keeping up a log fire and sleeping the first night on the ground which was pretty well covered with leaves. The next day, the mother discovered a camp where the men who worked on the road, stayed.

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     The Whole Family Moved Over. "But soon the men came in from their work. However, they allowed the travelers to occupy the tent until ready to go on. They slept at a house some distance away. Then they passed on reaching David Litz's at Clearfield Creek, in time to stay there at night. It rained and snowed so that by morning the creek was so high they could not ford it, and they had to wait until the next day, when Robert Askey came and helped drive the cattle, and they reached his house before dark, by way of Hogback.

     "Next day the father and Mr. Askey blazed a road among the trees, then they rested over the Sabbath. That week they moved into the woods on what is now known as the Jonathan Hartshorn place. The first thing done was to cut forks and poles and make a frame between two pine trees. This was covered with hemlock limbs and in this shelter they lived for two weeks before the log house was raised. During this time it rained, snowed, thundered and lightened and the wind blew so hard that little could be done.

     Building the Cabin. "Finally the men of the neighborhood got together and helped to raise the house and roof it with clapboards. As soon as the hole for the door was cut, they moved into the cabin. The father then worked until late every night chunking and daubing the cracks between the logs. He hauled the boards for the upper floor, door, table and stools, from Mr. Henny's mill at the mouth of Montgomery Creek, so that by the time winter fairly set in, the family thought themselves quite comfortable. Then Mr. Hartshorn sold the wagon and one yoke of cattle, to get grain and fodder to put them through the winter.

     Working for a living. "In the Spring, work began in earnest and by fall they had grain, potatoes, turnips, pumpkins and other vegetables. The wheat, however, was so full of smut that it had to be washed and dried before it was fit to

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grind. A hunter from Center county killed 13 deer in the fall and Mr. Hartshorn bought six of them for winter meat, so they were quite well provided for. Huckleberries were plentiful, but on account of the rattlesnakes, it was dangerous to gather them."

     How Mother Bear fed her Babies out of the Cream crock. The following incident occurred in the experience of the Hartshorn family the next summer after they moved into the county, in 1806, as told in later years by one of the daughters, who was a child of twelve and the oldest of the family, when the incident occurred.

     "Father made a place to put the milk. It was made of small logs and was located just below the spring. One night a mother bear came along, took the covers off of the vessels, ate the butter and then took the cream crock, which was over half full of cream, into the laurel bushes, where she fed her cubs, and without breaking the crock. We could trace her by the droppings of cream, to where the feeding was done."

     Lack of Schooling. "Years rolled on with their ups and downs. No schools. I, the oldest, had learned to read and write a little, being twelve years old when we came here. Father would make us spell and with my assistance the younger ones learned to spell and read."