SETTING STEEL TRAPS 



were trappers and trapped many years after 

 their father had retired. There was another old 

 time hunter whose lochs were as white as the 

 driven snow when I first knew him. Me had 

 settled on Long Ridge in the Pall of 1838, and 

 dug a cave in the side of the Ridge where he 

 lived for many years. Fifty years ago this old 

 hunter was known as Uncle Frank Sweny. He 

 was the oldest residential hunter and trapper on 

 the -river, having commenced hunting on the 

 Kankakee as early as 1833. William Bissell, 

 one of thepioneer settlers of Porter county, spent 

 much time hunting on the Kankakee in the 

 early days. In the early Fall of 1847 Heck 

 Goodridge and his brother John built a shanty 



on French Island. This was the first American 



i 



trapper's shanty. The French and Indian 

 hunters had settled on this island many years 

 before the arrival of the Qoodridges and from 

 whence it derived its name. I will give more of 

 its early history later on. In 185 2 John Broady 

 an early pioneer of this region, began trapping 



41 



