I am now going to take you to the prairies, to show you the very
beginning of our settlement. Having fixed on the northwestern portion
of our prairie for our future residence and farm, the first act was
building a cabin, about two hundred yards from the spot where the
house is to stand. This cabin is built of round straight logs, about
a foot in diameter, lying upon each other, and notched in at the
corners, forming a room eighteen feet long by sixteen; the intervals
between the logs "chunked," that is, filled in with slips of wood;
and "mudded," that is, daubed with a plaster of mud: a spacious
chimney, built also of logs, stands like a bastion at one end: the
roof is well covered with four hundred "clap boards" of cleft oak,
very much like the pales used in England for fencing parks. A hole
is cut through the side, called, very properly, the "door (the
through)," for which there is a "shutter," made also of cleft oak,
and hung on wooden hinges. All this has been executed by contract,
and well executed, for twenty dollars. I have since added ten dollars
to the cost, for the luxury of a floor and ceiling of sawn boards,
and it is now a comfortable habitation.
We arrived in the evening, our horses heavily laden with our guns,
and provisions, and cooking utensils, and blankets, not forgetting
the all-important ax. This was immediately put in requisition, and
we soon kindled a famous fire, before which we spread our pallets,
and, after a hearty supper, soon forgot that besides ourselves, our
horses and our dogs, the wild animals of the forest were the only
inhabitants of our wide domain. Our cabin stands at the edge of the
prairie, just within the wood, so as to be concealed from the view
until you are at the very door. Thirty paces to the east the prospect
opens from a commanding eminence over the prairie, which extends four
miles to the south and southeast, and over the woods beyond to a
great distance; whilst the high timber behind, and on each side, to
the west, north, and east, forms a sheltered cove about five hundred
yards in width. It is about the middle of this cove, two hundred and
fifty yards from the wood each way, but open to the south, that we
propose building our house.
Well, having thus established myself as a resident proprietor, in
the morning my boy and I (our friend having left us) sallied forth
in quest of neighbors, having heard of two new settlements at no
great distance. Our first visit was to Mr. Emberson, who had just
established himself in a cabin similar to our own, at the edge of a
small prairie two miles north-west of us. We found him a respectable
young man, more farmer than hunter, surrounded by a numerous family,
and making the most of a rainy day by mending the shoes of his
household. We then proceeded to Mr. Woodland's, about the same
distance southwest: he is an inhabitant of longer standing, for he
arrived in April, Mr. E. in August. He has since built for us a
second cabin, connected with the first by a covered roof or porch,
which is very convenient, forming together a commodious dwelling....
There are no very good mill-seats on the streams in our
neighborhood, but our prairie affords a most eligible site for a
windmill; we are therefore going to erect one immediately: the
materials are in great forwardness, and we hope to have it in order
to grind the fruits of the ensuing harvest.
Two brothers, and the wife of one of them, started from the village
of Puttenham, close to our old Wanborough, and have made their way
out to us: they are carpenters, and are now very usefully employed in
preparing the scantlings for the mill, and other purposes. You may
suppose how cordially we received these good people. They landed at
Philadelphia, not knowing where on this vast continent they should
find us: from thence they were directed to Pittsburg, a wearisome
journey over the mountains of more than 300 miles; at Pittsburgh they
bought a little boat for six or seven dollars, and came gently down
the Ohio, 1,200 miles, to Shawneetown; from thence they proceeded on
foot till they found us....
By the first of March I hope to have two plows at work, and may
possibly put in 100 acres of corn this spring. Early in May, I think,
we shall be all settled in a convenient temporary dwelling, formed of
a range of cabins of ten rooms, until we can accomplish our purpose
of building a more substantial house.