Niles's school history of the United States .. by Niles Sanford

Author:Niles, Sanford. [from old catalog]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: New York, Cincinnati [etc.] American book co
Published: 1901-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

SETTLERS FROM THE OLD WORLD.

165

How the Settlers Lived.— In

those early days, the settlers had no store goods, except such as were brought over the mountains from the East. They lived in log cabins, with floors of earth, or of hewn logs; sat on home-made stools; slept on bedsteads of poles; ate from wooden dishes; and wove most of the cloths they wore.

Going" to Market.— When the settlers began to raise something to sell, flat-boats were loaded with produce, and floated down to New Orleans, the boatmen sometimes walking home. Water-roads were the chief dependence, and \vhen steamboats began to run (1812), goods and produce were taken along the navigable streams of the "Great Valley." Settlements then sprung up and grew rapidly.

"In 1793, the first newspaper in the Northwest was issued at Cincinnati, while it was yet a town of about a hundred log cabins. In 1794, two large passenger boats ran regularly between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. They were moved by oars, had bullet-proof sides, and were armed with cannon to protect them from the Indians."

The Orleans was the first steamboat built for Western rivers. She was launched at Pittsburgh, October 11, 1811. In August, 1818, the first steam vessel was set afloat on the Great Lakes. In 1886, there were eleven hundred and five steamers in use on Western rivers; twelve hundred and eighty on the Northern lakes; twent3'-six hundred and sixty-two on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, and four hundred and twenty-five on the Pacific Coast.

Settlers from the Old World.— After the War of 1812, still larger numbers went West to seek their fortunes, and

Daniel Boone. — As early as 1759, Daniel Boone, a famous hunter, went, with five others, from North Carolina, to explore the forests of Kentucky. He ^vas captured by Indians, but escaped, and reached home in 1771. Two years later, he took his family and other settlers to the wilds he had explored, where they were in perpetual danger from the savages. Boone had many hard fights with the Indians, and in 1775 built a fort on the Kentucky River. Several attacks were made on the fort, in w^hich the red-skins were beaten back; but, in 1778 Boone was captured and taken to Detroit. He escaped and returned to his settlement, \vhere his two sons fell in battle. After all his hardships, Boone lost his lands through a defect in the title,and went to a new wilderness in Missouri, to follow^ hunting and trapping. Died September 20, 1820. His remains, -with those of his wife, rest in the cemetery at Frankfort, Kentucky.— See Spark's American Biograi)hy.

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