140 Singing Valleys 



thodical young man and he kept a diary of his activities 

 through four years. A brief excerpt and the brevities are his 

 own reveals what life on a prairie farm was like a century ago. 



1836. Jan. i. Attended to the survey of my claim. 



2. Drew rails. 



3. Sunday. Wrote poetry. 



4. Made shelves and split rails. 



5. Went to Chicago with a load of potatoes. 



6. Sold my potatoes for .75 a bushel. 



7. Cut apples, worked at my house, husked corn. 



8. Attended a meeting of settlers for securing to each 

 man his present claim. 



9. Cut rail and timber. 



10. Sunday, went to Chicago. 



11. Commenced thrashing. 



12. Still thrashing. 



May 10. Mrs. Hoar and Betsy Kelsey arrived. 



11. Planted corn and prepared for the wedding. 



12. Married Betsy Kelsey. 



June 3. Made a table and borrowed 6 bu. of potatoes to 



be paid back with interest in the fall. 

 4. Wife 18 today. Made a few articles of furniture. 

 Made a churn. 



Sept. Heard big wolves howling. Hunted deer, worked 

 at shoemaking. Made a coffin for H. Dougherty. 

 Plastered my house. Dressed pig and calves torn 

 by wolves. Dug a well. Killed a badger. Killed a 

 wolf. Corn half destroyed by blackbirds. Set out 

 small trees. Took up a bee- tree to hive for honey. 

 Hunted deer. 



It is quite understandable that the diarist should have con- 

 densed his records, with so much on his hands to be done 

 each day. 



The years 1835 to 1836 marked the heyday of speculation 

 in government lands, even though ten years later Wisconsin 

 was offering 500,000 acres at $1.25 per acre on thirty years' 



