Making a Living the Hard Way

Pioneers for the most part were self-sufficient, but there were needs which required money.

Industry was a sunup to sundown venture.  Hunting, fishing, petty trading, and harvesting nature's fruits was possible to survive on,  but most pioneers considered this hand-to-mouth existence from year to year as unacceptable.  Those who wanted to gain a measure of wealth and status for the family, had to be prepared to work, plan, economize, and sacrifice.  

Forests had to be felled, great logs rolled together and burned, crops of maize, tobacco, oats and cane had to be planted, cultivated and harvested.  Livestock had to be housed and fed.  Fences and barns had to be built.  Pork, beef, grain and whiskey had to be prepared for market, and carried over miles for shipment. All these tasks had to be done in difficult conditions.  Any night his home might be raided by Indians who would carry off part of his livestock or burn down his barn.

Sickness was also a terror, isolated in times of emergency with no doctor without a hundred miles.  A falling tress, a wild beast attack, a poisonous snake bite, an accidental gun shot, or even a tomahawk injury, were all very real situations in this hostile land.  Without medical attention, death was certain.  Weather related illnesses were very common - constantly wet and damp conditions led to widespread rheumatism.  Malaria and fever (ague) on homesteads in the bottom lands took many lives that today we would wonder how they could die from something so simple.  Land clearing and home building prematurely aged and broke the pioneer, making they more vulnerable to illness and disease.

The frontier man's best friend was his trusty rifle and one was found in every cabin over the fireplace in easy reach.  He defended his home, crops, livestock. as well as waged warfare on Indian attacks, and hunted game with his rifle.  He was a poor marksmen who could not shoot running deer or elk at a distance of 150 yards, or kill ducks and geese "on the wing."  Boys of 12 years old knew how to shoot and provide supper.  

Life on the frontier was full of hard work, danger and anxiety.

Next time...Enjoying pioneer life

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Today in Pioneer History:  "On April 18, 1906, the Great San Francisco earthquake begins to shake the city in the early morning hours.  It was powerful enough to be recorded as far away as Cape Town, South Africa.  Fires swept the city after the shocks subsided and when it was all over, 28,000 buildings burned down, 700 people died and $500 million dollars in damage was done."