PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE 



those days, I would sometimes get sleepy and 

 snuff the wick a little too low and put the light 

 out. A few yards in front of our cabin ran a 

 small creek that spread out over a low marsh, 

 or rather a slough, as they are sometimes called, 

 just below our house. This formed a great 

 musk-rat pond and was also a great place for 

 wild ducks to nest and rear their young. About 

 a mile above our cabin was another musk-rat 

 pond, and this little creek was its' outlet, mak- 

 ing it a run-way for the rats from one pond to 

 another. Father gave me two or three old steel 

 traps which had weak springs and which I could 

 set without breaking my fingers, should they 

 happen to get caught between the jaws. I set 

 the traps along the creek where the rats would 

 stop to feed on roots and such vegetation as 

 musk-rats usually feed upon. I caught fifteen 

 rats that fall. One morning I went to my traps 

 and found a raccoon in one of them. Ay young- 

 est sister usually went with me to the traps and 

 she was with me this morning. To say we were 



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