202 The Winning of the West 



of refuge to the settlers in case of an Indian inroad. 

 In time of peace, the inhabitants moved out, to live 

 in their isolated log-cabins and till the stump-dotted 

 clearings. Trails led through the dark forests from 

 one station to another, as well as to the settled 

 districts beyond the mountains; and at long inter- 

 vals men drove along them bands of pack-horses, 

 laden with the few indispensable necessaries the 

 settlers could not procure by their own labor. The 

 pack-horse was the first, and for a long time the 

 only, method of carrying on trade in the backwoods ; 

 and the business of the packer was one of the lead- 

 ing frontier industries. 



The settlers worked hard and hunted hard, and 

 lived both plainly and roughly. Their cabins were 

 roofed with the clapboards, or huge shingles, split 

 from the log with maul and wedge, and held in 

 place by heavy stones, or by poles; the floors were 

 made of rived puncheons, hewn smooth on one sur- 

 face; the chimney was outside the hut ? made of 

 rock when possible, otherwise of logs thickly plas- 

 tered with , clay that was strengthened with hogs' 

 bristles or deer hair; in the great fire-place was a 

 tongue on which to hang pot-hooks and kettle; the 

 unglazed window had a wooden shutter, and the 

 door was made of great clapboards. 15 The men 

 made their own harness, farming implements, and 

 domestic utensils; and, as in every other commu- 

 nity still living in the heroic age, the smith was a 



15 In "American Pioneers," II., 445, is a full description of 

 the better sort of backwoods log-cabin. 



