CHAPTEE V. 



FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 



In the early settlement of the country, about the 

 year 1792, the manner of life of the settlers, and the 

 hardships and privations they were called upon to 

 endure, rendered them capable iof bearing up under 

 fatigue and exposure, which those more tenderly 

 reared would be unable to surmount. At that time, 

 panthers, wolves, bears, elk, deer, and other wild ani- 

 mals filled the forest, and fish in great abundance, 

 the streams. A person could go up the stream to 

 where a dam had been built, and at any time with a 

 hook and line could in an hour catch trout sufficient 

 for a lanz;e family a day. Quite late one afternoon as 

 I was fishing, I saw a great number of tfout trying 

 to jump over the dam. Two thirds of them suc- 

 ceeded in going over, but some of them would start 

 too far away, and fall upon the dam, where 1 could 

 catch them in my hands. While looking at them I 

 contrived a plan for catching them, which was to set 

 up a board about two feet in width, on the dam, to 

 intercept them, and cause them to fall upon the dam. 

 I at once set to work, and before leaving the place 

 that night I placed boards the entire length of the 

 dam. Early the next morning I took a basket and 



