THREE PIONEERSHIPS 



dians, it was found that the noble red man 

 was much more bent upon disfurnishing the 

 outside of other people's heads than on fur- 

 nishing the inside of his own. In all that 

 first pioneership, mastering physical difficul- 

 ties such as streams to be forded or bridged 

 and plains to be crossed, springs to be 

 found, dams and mills to be built the hos- 

 tility of the red man was a constant plague. 

 Our fathers encountered all sorts of wild 

 beasts, snakes, and poisonous plants. There 

 are poisons still, but they are known. The 

 poisonous qualities of plants were not 

 known to the early settlers. They had to 

 become so at the cost of sickness and death 

 on the part of many. 



Into that wilderness of dangers brave 

 men and women plunged with a resolution 

 that is hardly to be matched in history. 

 Then, as men pressed farther and farther 

 west, the difficulties of the climate were en- 

 countered. At places no water was at first 

 to be had without long hunting up and 

 down. No facilities for sinking wells ex- 

 isted. My heart swells with pride and my 



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