In
the year 1852 my father moved to the northern part of Iowa,
and located in Chickasaw County, where he rented what was called
a double log house, which had been used as an Indian trading
post and here we spent part of the winter. There being no school
within reach of us, we boys spent much of our time in hunting
through the woods and over the prairies for the wild deer, turkey,
prairie hen, and rabbit.
We lived about one mile from the woods, where we got fuel for
the house, which was drawn on handsleds that we boys made with
our own hands. Sometimes we were half a day making the trip,
but there being four or five of us together, we brought plenty
of wood to keep the fire going.
Source:
Charles Wesley Wells, who was 11 years old in 1852, A Frontier
Life, p. 1.
