SETTING STEEL TRAPS 

 were trappers and trapped many years after 

 their father had retired. There was another old 

 time hunter whose locks were as white as the 

 driven snow when I first knew him. He had 

 settled on Long Ridge in the Fall of 1838, and 

 dug a cave in the side of the Ridge where he 

 lived for many years. Fifty years ago this old 

 hunter was known as Uncie Frank Sweny. lie 

 was the oldest residential hunter and trapper on 

 the "river, having commenced hunting on the 

 Kankakee as early as 1833. V/illiam Bissell, 

 one of thepioneer settlers of Forter county, spent 

 much time hunting on the Kankakee in the 

 early days. In the early Fall of 1847 Heck 

 Goodridge and his brother John built a shanty 

 on French Island. This was the first American 

 trapper's shanty. The French and Indian 

 hunters had settled on this island many years 

 before the arrival of the Qoodridges and from 

 whence it derived its name. I will give more of 

 its early history later on. In 1852 John Broady 

 an early pioneer of this region, began trepping 



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