Chapter 4

September 30, 1847

We approached the ferry with the new hired hand. We were third in line to board and as we waited I looked around and spotted a house I just had to look at more closely. I approached a man near the house and asked who it belonged to, "That's the house of Jason Lee." I admired the house and walked up to the door. Knocking on the door, I asked if I might look at the house, as I would like to have one similar built. I looked at the layout of the house and thought to myself that with minor modifications I could manage to fit the entire family in a house like that. I especially liked the second story balconies as I imagined looking over the fields with our children by my side. I knew that for now my vision for the house needed to be more modest. Still, one day... I returned to the wagon and dreamed of the future as we began to board the ferry. I was surprised at the many houses made of planks in the city and when I asked found that the sawmill had been set up by the Methodists in 1841. I quickly determined that I would come back when it was time to build my house and buy enough cut lumber to make it and the barn.

When we got off the Willamette ferry we formed the wagon train again and set off for our land claims. As we got further away from Salem the landscape become more raw, changing from cultivated fields with neat fences to open prairie that had never felt the touch of the plow. We stopped for the nooning and Elizabeth went forward to ride with the captain's wagon. Looking at her list she began calling numbers as we came to the edge of the claims, "15!" "20!' "9!" Between the claims there was a wide stretch of land that the people had set aside to use as a road between the claims and the township. After another two miles we came to our claim and peeled off. Elizabeth hopped off the captain's wagon and ran to ours. Finally we were home.

Claire excitedly showed us the rise and where she thought we could put the kitchen garden and dig our well. Elizabeth and Louise joined her and they began laying out everything as if the house was already there. The dogs jumped out and started to mark their territory as well. While they ran around, Michael and I unloaded the tents and enough of the wagon to permit someone to lay down in comfort. Pointing to the wagon I told Michael, "That's your home until we get a house built. I need you up by daybreak and ready start when the light is enough to read by. Elizabeth and Louise will be here to tell you what they want you to do if I'm not here."

Claire came over and dragged me away from the wagon to show me what they had decided they wanted. I made some suggestions as far as positioning of the house and the gardens and then headed back to the wagon to help Michael set up the tent. After getting the tent set up I cut a forked branch and started to dowse for water to find where we could dig the outhouse without contaminating the water well. I soon found an underground stream near the house and followed it for a ways. It was about 15 feet down and was fairly strong. I marked the course and looked around for a good position for the outhouse. I finally found a good area away from the open water and downstream from the underground stream I wanted to use for our well.

Calling to Michael to bring two shovels, we began digging. The work wasn't hard until we began to get down below our shoulders in the pit. I had the women bring the biggest pots we had over to us. We filled them and handed the pots up to my wives to dump. Finally we had dug it six feet deep and with the aid of my wives we climbed out of the hole. By now both Michael and I were covered with dirt and sweat. Grabbing a bar of soap from the wagon, I asked Claire where the nearest pond was and headed toward there to clean up. I told Michael that he had a choice, either clean up or sleep on the ground. He didn't want to bathe with me so I had Claire show him where the other pond was.

Since he wasn't going with me, I asked my wives if they wanted to take a bath and everyone decided to wash off the trail dust for the last time. Grabbing my pistol and a rifle, we headed toward the pond. Laying the weapons on the ground I looked around before I got undressed. My wives didn't wait for me and were soon in the water splashing around and playing. I was about to join them when I heard the dogs growl and saw a movement in the rocks near by. Telling Elizabeth to take my pistol I wandered over in the direction of the movement. Circling around to the back of the location I crept up and found Michael peeking at my wives bathing. Sticking my rifle in his back, I had him stand and face me.

"They are lovely, aren't they?" I said in a conversational voice. "They are also my wives. I believe every man gets one free pass, and you just got yours. Get your belongings and get off my property." Reaching in my pocket I pulled out a silver dollar and tossed it to him, "Here's your wages for today."

Resentfully he took the dollar and asked, "How do I get back to town?"

"The same way you got here, walk!"

"It'll be dark before too long!" he objected.

"You should have thought about that before you tried to spy on my wives bathing. Leave, I don't want to find you around when I get back!" I walked him to the wagon where he picked up his bag and walked away. I returned to the pond and told my wives what had happened and warned them not to let him back on the property. I got undressed and washed off, wondering what I was going to do now. I could help Elizabeth but I hadn't done farm work for more that 6 years and never used horses or oxen to do it. I could run a tractor, but there was s distinct lack of those around right now.

We headed back to the homesite where I found Willy and Ola waiting to greet us. Willy had come over to ask if I would buy game from him. I hadn't thought about how Willy and Ola were going to get by. The only skills Willy had were hunting and trapping, and after he spent the money he got from his last trapping trip what would they live on? The Simeroths had helped them as much as possible, but with the big family they had there wasn't a lot they could spare. When I asked Willy about it, he told me that he had been offered a job at the Simeroth place to work for them, but they didn't really need help and he refused to take charity.

Quickly I asked if he would consider working for me as well as himself. Pointing toward the boundaries of our property I showed him where a field could be made on both sides of the stream. I offered to stake him the seed to plant his field if he would help me by plowing both fields at the same time. When he looked doubtful, I offered him the same deal as I had Michael but raised the salary to $40 a month, since I wouldn't have to pay for his meals. He and Ola looked at each other and he quickly agreed.

We decided that for the moment we would worry about building his house as we were going to be building his cabin out of logs and it was going to be smaller. He showed me the place and it was only about 600 square feet. When I asked if this was going to be big enough, everyone looked at me as if they were wondering what I was talking about. Claire later told me that their house near Philadelphia wasn't any bigger than 600 square feet either, and it had held both their parents and four children. We decided we would have the raising next week after we got the foundation prepared. Ola and Elizabeth both were told to ride to the other claims and we would arrange to have a 'raising' to build the houses on each claim as they got the foundations ready.

When Willy saw the underground stream marked he asked what it was. I told him I dowsed the stream and showed him my stick. He got excited and asked me to do the same for his house. I was curious because the ability to dowse where I lived is such a common thing. Willy told me that not many people around here had the ability to dowse. Figuring it wasn't important enough to worry about right now, I walked over to his plat and began to dowse for a stream near him. I was able to find one but it was a hundred feet from his house and 20 feet down. One other stream was a hundred and thirty feet away and 10 feet down.

He decided to move the cabin closer to the stream that was 10 feet down, as he and Ola didn't have any preference for a location. Willy's plat had more rolling hills than mine and a somewhat smaller flatland area. He also had a lot more timber than I did. He finally sited his cabin near the part where the mountain began to become steep.

When I looked around I noticed that there was a cave nearby. I noticed that there were droppings around the mouth of the cave and when I got closer the smell of the bat guano almost killed me. When I told Willy about it he celebrated his good luck. He had a source of fertilizer that would last him for years if he kept it all for his own use or could bring him cash if he needed it. I quickly offered to buy as much as he could spare for my fields every year. I knew fertilizer for the fields was going to be a problem. There were no artificial fertilizers or sprays available here and now. Either you made a big compost pile every year or bought it from someone who did. Here everything was organic.

We went back to my place where we found the women involved in fixing a large meal for everyone. Ola was showing my wives how to prepare schnitzel while Louise was cooking johnnycakes. Louise immediately hit me with a plea for a clay oven. I didn't know what she meant until she described it. She wanted a beehive oven that would allow her to place a fire in the oven and when it was hot enough to bake bread or pies. I had no idea how to do that but Willy, who had done more traveling than I, did. He promised Louise that, for a steady helping of her good bread, he'd make one after the houses and barns were built.

Claire and Ola told us that the other people to whom they had talked agreed that they would do as we had suggested and have a 'raising' to build the houses when the foundations were prepared. Little did I know how difficult that was to be making that foundation, but I soon found out.

October 1-7, 1847

We began clearing out the area of Willy's house of topsoil and brush. We dug down two feet and using the biggest flat stones Willy and I could lift, placed them in the dug out area of the house. While Willy and I were doing that the women were bringing smaller rocks and the purest clay they could find and placing it between the stones, finally lathering clay on top to make a smooth top layer. It took us all day long but finally we finished. While the floor was curing, Willy and I went logging. We were looking for smaller trees about 50 feet tall that would allow us to cut logs big enough to use for the walls. At the same time the women were splitting several cedar trees we had felled and cut into one-foot sections into shakes, which they stacked near the foundation.

After felling the trees and cutting them to length we hooked up the oxen and dragged the logs to the work site. Using an adze we cut two sides of the logs as flat as possible and notched each end to lock into the crossing logs. Willy knew what he was doing, which was a good thing, because I had no idea how to do this. I think I was more hindrance than help until I finally learned how to do it correctly. Finally we ready for the 'raising'.

By this time I had already gone to a 'raising' so I knew what to expect. We started by inviting the neighbors for a day two days away. Immediately the women started preparing a large assortment of desserts and breads, while Willy and I scoured the hills to find enough game to feed a large group. Even Willy wasn't able to find much in these hunted out hills, so we decided to buy a pig and butcher it.

I went to Salem and managed to buy a pig and while I was there stopped by the saw mill and ordered 4000 square feet of lumber for the next week. I took what lumber they had on hand, about 600 square feet of 2-inch thick planks as a belated wedding present to Willy from me for his roof. Altogether it cost 25 dollars. I checked with the ferry captain who told me that the Mogul was headed upstream and was expected to get here sometime next week.

When I got back I found Willy making a flat hearth under the direction of a neighbor, Sam Hodges. I found that Sam was the expert in making well drawing fireplaces and helped everyone build theirs. I watched as he directed Willy in making sure the stones were level and went out far enough to keep embers from falling into the room. With his help we soon had the firebox finished and the women began to plaster the inside with clay to make a smooth surface. Sam made sure to tell us of the importance of insuring the inside of the firebox and the flue was smooth. Imperfections, he told us, would gather creosote and cause a flue fire otherwise. We continued on the fireplace until it was dinnertime and almost completed. Sam ate with us and told us we could expect a crowd of about 50 to 70 people tomorrow for the 'raising'.

October 8, 1847

People began arriving soon after dawn, with the women pitching in helping our wives fix meals for those who hadn't eaten yet. It seemed like every woman had brought at least one dish and by the time 9 o'clock rolled around everyone had gathered into groups to begin raising the house and barn. It didn't take long before the walls started taking shape and by noon we had everything but the roofs put on. By 2 o'clock the roofs were on and the shakes had begun to be placed. By 4 o'clock everything was finished and the party began.

Several people had brought their fiddles and began to play. Soon the dancing started and the young people danced while their mothers finished preparing the meal while the men gathered around the Ale barrel and swapped lies about the fish they'd caught or the size of the game they'd hunted. Everyone ate until there was no more room to eat more, then danced and came back for more food. People began bringing out gifts for the new house and in short order Willy and Ola were the proud owners of several rag carpets, two chairs, a small table and a frame for a bed. My wives surprised me by giving Ola a dry sink that they had bought in Salem while Willy and I were hunting. I gave Willy one of the beagles.