ingly scarce and the pioneers overcame the difficulty by helping each other. After the cabin was built, the next step was to clear and fence a piece of ground upon which to raise a crop. The trees were felled by the settler and cut into such lengths that they could be handled, when the other settlers in the vicinity were invited to a "log-rolling." By this means the logs were piled in great heaps, so that they could be burned. Enough valuable timber was destroyed in this way to pay for the land upon which it once grew, if it could be replaced at the present time.

While the men were rolling the logs, the women folks would get together and prepare dinner, each bringing from her own store some little delicacy that she thought the other might not be able to supply. Bear meat and venison were common on such occasions, and, as each man had a good appetite by the time the meal was ready, when they arose from the table it "looked like a cyclone had struck it." But each man had his turn and by the time the work of the neighborhood was all done, no one had any advantage in the amount of provisions consumed.

The same system was followed in harvest time. Frequently ten or a dozen men would gather in a neighbor's wheat field, and while some would swing the cradle the others would bind the sheaves and shock them, after which the whole crowd would move on to the next ripest field until the wheat crop of the entire community was cared for, or at least made ready for threshing. No threshing machines had as yet made their appearance and the grain was separated from the straw by the flail or tramped out by horses or cattle upon a smooth piece of ground, or upon a barn floor, if the settler was fortunate to have a barn with such a floor.

Just now it is an easy matter to telephone to the grocer to send up a sack or barrel of flour, but in the early days going to mill was no light affair. Mills were few and far apart and the settler would frequently have to go to such a distance that the greater part of a week would be required to make the trip. To obviate this difficulty various methods were introduced for making corn meal-which was the principal bread stuff of the first settlers at home. One of these was to build a fire upon the top of a large stump of some hard wood and keep it burning until a "mortar" had been formed. Then the charred wood was carefully cleaned off, the corn would be poured in small quantities into the mortar and beaten with a hard wood "pestle" until it was reduced to a coarse meal. In the fall of the year, before the corn was fully hardened, the "grater" was brought into requisition. This was an implement made by punching holes

through a sheet of tin and then fastening the edges of the sheet to a board, with the rough surface outward, so that the tin would be slightly convex on the outer surface. Then the corn would be rubbed over the rough surface, the meal would pass through the holes and slide down the board into a vessel placed to receive it. A slow and tedious process was this, but a bowl of mush made from grated corn and accompanied by a generous supply of good milk, formed a repast that was not to be criticized in those days, and one which no pioneer blushed to place before a visitor.

Matches were exceedingly rare and a little fire was always kept somewhere about the cabin "for seed." In the fall, winter and early spring, the fire was kept in the fireplace, but when the weather grew so warm that it would render the cabin uncomfortable, a fire was kept burning out of doors. If, by some mishap, the fire was allowed to become extinguished one of the family must go to the nearest neighbors for a fresh supply.

How easy it is at the present time to enter a room, turn a switch and flood the whole place with electric light! It was not so eighty years ago in the Black Hawk Purchase. The housewife devised a lamp by using a shallow dish, in which was placed a quantity of lard or bear's grease. A loosely twisted rag was immersed in this grease, the end of the rag was allowed to project slightly over one side of the dish and this projecting end was lighted. The smoke and odor emitted by such a lamp could hardly be tolerated by fastidious persons now, but it answered the purpose then. Next came the tallow candle, made in moulds of tin. Sometimes only one set of candle moulds could be found in a new settlement and they passed freely from house to house until all had a supply of candles laid away in a cool dry place, sufficient to last for many weeks. Often, during the winter seasons, the family would spend the evening with no light but that which came from the roaring fire in the great fireplace.

No one wore "store clothes" then. The housewife would card her wool by hand with a pair of broad-backed wire brushes, the teeth of which were slightly bent all in one direction, then spin the rolls into yarn upon an old-fashioned spinning wheel, weave it into cloth upon the old hand loom and make it into garments for the members of the family. A girl sixteen years of age who could not manage a spinning wheel or make her own dresses was a rarity in a new settlement. How many girls of that age now can make their own gowns?

Too busy to visit during the day, one family would often go over to a neighbor's to "sit until bed time." On such occasions the women

would either knit or sew while they gossiped and the men would discuss crops or politics, while the children cracked nuts or popped

And bed time did not mean a late hour on such occasions, for all must rise early the next morning for a fresh day's work.

But if the pioneers had their hardships, they also had their amusements and entertainments. Old settlers can recall the shooting matches, when the men met to try their skill with the rifle, the prize being a turkey or a haunch of venison. Or the husking bee, where pleasure and profit were combined. On such occasions the corn to be husked would be divided into two piles, as nearly equal in size as possible; two of the guests would "choose up" and divide the crowd into two sides, the contest being to see which side would first finish its pile of corn. Men and women alike took part and the young man who found a red ear was permitted to kiss the lassie next to him. "Many a merry laugh went round" when some one found a red ear and the lassie objected to being kissed. After the orchards were old enough to bear, the "apple cuttings" became a popular form of amusement, when a number would assemble some evening to pare and slice enough apples to dry for the winter's supply. The husking bee and the apple cutting nearly always wound up with a dance, the orchestra consisting of the one lone fiddler in the neighborhood. He might not have been a classic musician, but he could make his old fiddle respond to such tunes as "The Bowery Gals," "Money Musk," "Turkey in the Straw" and "Devil's Dream," and he never grew tired in furnishing the melody while others tripped the light fantastic toe.

On grinding days at the old grist mill a number of men would meet and pass the time in athletic contests, such as foot races, wrestling matches or pitching horse shoes. After the public school system was introduced the spelling school became a frequent place of meeting. At the close of the exercises the young men could "see the girls home," and if these acquaintances ripened into an intimacy that ended in a wedding, it was usually followed by a charivari, or, as it was pronounced on the frontier, a shivaree, which was a serenade in which noise took the place of harmony. The proceedings were generally kept up until the bride and groom came out where they could be seen, and the affair ended all the more pleasantly if the members of the shivareeing party were treated to a slice of wedding cake and a glass of cider.

One feature of pioneer life should not be overlooked, and that is the marks by which the settler could distinguish his domestic animals. In early days all kinds of live stock were allowed to run at

large. To protect himself, the frontier farmer cropped the ears of his cattle, hogs and sheep in a peculiar manner and these marks were recorded with the same care as titles to real estate. Among the marks were the plain crop, the under and upper bits, the swallow fork, the round hole, the upper and under slopes, the slit, and a few others, by a combination of which each settler could mark his stock so that it could be easily identified. The "upper bit" was a small notch cut in the upper side of the ear; the "under bit" was just the reverse, being cut in the lower side; the "crop" was made by cutting off a small portion of the ear squarely across the end; the "swallow fork" was a fork cut in the end of the ear, similar in shape to that of a swallow's tail, from which it derived its name, and so on. If some one found a stray animal marked with "a crop off the left ear and a swallow fork in the right," he had only to inquire at the recorder's office to learn the name of the owner. These marks were seldom violated and protected the settler against loss as surely as the manufacturer is protected against infringement by his registered trademark.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY

Immediately after Iowa was attached to the Territory of Michigan, by the act of Congress, approved June 28, 1834, the territorial authorities began the preliminary work of establishing civil government in the region west of the Mississippi. On September 6, 1834, the Territorial Legislature passed an act creating two new counties in the newly attached country. All north of a line drawn due westward from the lower end of Rock Island was to be known as Dubuque County, and all south of that line as the County of Des Moines. John King was appointed chief justice of the former and Isaac Leffler of the latter. Later in the fall the first election ever held in Southeastern Iowa was for officers of Des Moines County. There were two voting places-Fort Madison and Burlington. William Morgan was elected presiding judge of the County Court; Young L. Hughes and Henry Walker, associate judges; John Whitaker, probate judge; W. W. Chapman, prosecuting attorney; Solomon Perkins, sheriff; W. R. Ross, clerk, recorder and assessor. John Barker and Richard Land were appointed and commissioned justices of the peace by the governor of Michigan Territory.

When the Territory of Wisconsin was established under act of Congress, approved on April 20, 1836, Iowa was made a part of the new territory. On December 7, 1836, Henry Dodge, governor of

Wisconsin, approved an act of the Territorial Legislature dividing Des Moines County into the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Louisa, Muscatine and Cook. The name of Cook County was afterward changed to Scott.

There is some difference of opinion as to how Lee County received its name. At the time the county was erected by the Wisconsin Legislature, Robert E. Lee, then a lieutenant in the regular army, was engaged in making a survey of the Des Moines Rapids, with a view to the improvement of navigation on the Mississippi River. It seems that he was one of the most popular subordinate officers of the garrison at old Fort Des Moines and some authorities state that the county was named in his honor. Others claim that the county was named for Charles Lee, a land speculator from New York, who was then operating in the half-breed tract. Albert M. Lea surveyed and mapped the shores of the Mississippi River and explored the Des Moines in 1835. He was an officer in Colonel Kearney's command at Fort Des Moines and some writers are inclined to the opinion. that the intention was to name the county for him, but that a mistake was made in spelling the name. It is quite probable that the county was named for Lieut. Robert E. Lee.

In the session of the Wisconsin Legislature that established the county, Joseph B. Teas, Arthur B. Ingram and Jeremiah Smith, Jr., were members of the council from Des Moines County, and Thomas Blair, John Box, George W. Teas, Eli Reynolds, Isaac Leffler and Warren L. Jenkins were representatives.

The first session of the District Court in Lee County began on March 27, 1837. It was presided over by Judge Irvin, who appointed John H. Lines clerk of the court.

By the act of December 7, 1836, it was provided: "That each county within this territory now organized, or that may hereafter be organized, be, and the same is hereby declared one township for all the purposes of carrying into effect the above recited acts, and that there shall be elected at the annual town meeting in each county three supervisors, who shall perform, in addition to the duties heretofore assigned them as a county board, the duties heretofore performed by the township board."

The first election for county officers in Lee County was held on Monday, April 3, 1837, "for three supervisors, three commissioners. of highways, three assessors, one county treasurer, one coroner, one collector, one register, one township clerk and thirteen constables."

At the election William Skinner, William Anderson and James D. Shaw were chosen supervisors; E. D. Ayres, Samuel Hearn and