Did you know?

[Uncle Russ]

DID YOU KNOW?
Families on the frontier paid a high price for their free land. They paid literally in blood, sweat, tears and anxiety. Hostile Indians could be a worry but any stranger in a land without established law could prove to be disastrous. The weather could be and often was worse. Floods, fire, hail, snow, wind and ice could destroy a year’s work in a few days. Injuries or illness could wipeout everyone. There wasn’t much of a safety net, just a few neighbors that lived far apart.
After a long and arduous journey, the real work began. A hastily built shebang and the wagon was temporary living quarters until the log cabin was built. There was a race to get a barn built to protect animals and supplies. A log home wouldn’t be built for years if things went well. Land had to be cleared, plowed and planted as a crop was essential to survival. While this was going on all the other work had to be done simultaneously, hunting, preserving, gathering, cooking, carrying water, washing, repairing, cutting wood, sharpening and caring for animals etc. It is estimated that 80% of their efforts were to feed themselves leaving little time for other duties.
Cabins averaged 10’ by 20’ in size, one room that was kitchen, dining room, family room and bedroom, and often workshop. Everyone trekked to the outhouse no matter the weather. Chamber pots were used at night and emptied in the morning. You were well off if you had, ”a pot to piss in and a window to throw it out off”. The kitchen table was often a top set on horses that could be lifted off and hung on the wall to make space. This led to “setting the table” for meals and a rebuke for elbows on the table as it might flip the unsecured top.
The rifle and powder horn were hung above the hearth to allow the rising heat to keep the metal and powder dry. Oil cloth was hung over windows until glass could be obtained, shutters kept weather, intruders and animals out. Dishwater was poured on the floor in different places to keep the dust down and eventually make a hardened layer on the dirt. Kids were home schooled when there was time. They all slept together for lack of space and warmth.
Was it worth it? Yes, because the conditions were actually worse in most settlements due to crowding, pollution, sickness and lack of freedom. The memory and history of these rugged, hardworking, courageous people gives real meaning to “Live Free or Die”.

We have tendencies to add a lot of romance to the real "old time" days, and that is as it should be.
Still yet, we should never forget the reality of those years IMO.
And, we should always hold a certain amount of respect for those we attempt to emulate from this bi-gone era.

Russ...

[Hank in WV]

Take a lot of the glamour off of it when you think it out fully.

[rollingb]

Back then,.... kids grew up "tough," and had a deep respect for their elders. 

[Hawken]

Uncle Russ

"any stranger in a land without established law could prove to be disastrous"

No we don't have the hostile Indian problem today but we have probably much worse with the fact that we have literally millions of invaders coming into our country that are unknown as to their intent and home invasions are steadily being reported on the news! Exactly the reason that at night I have a M1911 within reach when Angie and I are in our den reading or watching a movie! I discovered long ago that bad things don't always happen to the other guy!!

[Winter Hawk]

I can't really blame the Indians in this clash between two cultures.  If in our time those who would end private property rights were to get the upper hand there would be blood on the ground from both sides also.

On another note, I have lived without electricity or running water in several cabins I built.  The outhouse was my friend!  The first one was 12' x 16' and I shared it with my first wife.  The second was a bit larger, 18' x 20' with a full loft.  We owned the land, only bill we had was to the tax man once a year.  I worked seasonal, and when the snow flew it was "termination dust" and time to relax around the fire, run dogs, go snow shoeing, etc.  The summers were for work, fishing, getting in firewood, buying propane, kerosene and whatever else we would need for the rest of the year.  Not a bad life at all!

I mind one Spring day we were visited by a couple of ladies who lived down the road from us.  Both worked for Social Services.  After we had tea and chatted, they said they were really there because there was a new program which was perfect for us.  If we only applied, we could get vouchers from the government which could be used to buy food.  We asked what the catch was, and there wasn't any, just that we had to earn less than a certain amount per year.  Wife and I looked at each other and said "no, we don't need a government hand out.  Give it to those who really need it."  In reply they said that was what everyone was saying, no one wanted to accept these vouchers and "if we don't use them, the money is going to be gone and the federal government won't give us any more."  I didn't say anything to that but my thoughts were that, if you didn't have it before you surely don't need it now.  Those vouchers were, of course, the food stamp program which did catch on a couple of years later.

And that is all I have to say about THAT.

-Kees-

[Ohio Joe]

Good post to reflect on of just how hard our ancestors had it, and how tough they were... All of us alive today (good or bad people) would have to have come from some very "tough hardened stock" in their genealogy to be living today. This toughness can be reduced out of the gene pool as time and generations pass with the easier living conditions we enjoy, but that old saying "he / she comes from good stock" is why we are here, and we have our ancestors to thank for that. 

[Uncle Russ]

Good post to reflect on of just how hard our ancestors had it, and how tough they were... All of us alive today (good or bad people) would have to have come from some very "tough hardened stock" in their genealogy to be living today. This toughness can be reduced out of the gene pool as time and generations pass with the easier living conditions we enjoy, but that old saying "he / she comes from good stock" is why we are here, and we have our ancestors to thank for that. 

I think Joe is spot-on with this.
One can't begin to imagine poverty and hardship unless it has been experienced first hand.

Winter Hawk seems to have a knowledge of just how hard it can be in regards to "just getting ready" because he knew what was coming if he didn't.
But imagine those same hardships, day after day with no income coming in.....unless you somehow made that happen.
In order to make it happen, you would have to stop all those preparations and go somewhere else to earn, or trade for something in order to own, and have ready, that much-needed something else......does that make sense?

I do believe, with all my heart, that making a living while providing for survival and facing all the hardships was certainly very difficult at that time in history.
I also believe that this is the very glue that has held this Nation together and help build it.

Russ...


 

[Oldetexian]

Makes a fella kinda wonder if us folks today could begin to even halfway measure up to the determination, grit, and perseverance of those of that period. Sorta doubt it, myself...we are too privileged, too spoiled, and just too weak by a far shot But, that is just my opinion, fer what it's worth...

[Uncle Russ]

Makes a fella kinda wonder if us folks today could begin to even halfway measure up to the determination, grit, and perseverance of those of that period. Sorta doubt it, myself...we are too privileged, too spoiled, and just too weak by a far shot But, that is just my opinion, fer what it's worth...

 

I totally agree!

[Hawken]

Makes a fella kinda wonder if us folks today could begin to even halfway measure up to the determination, grit, and perseverance of those of that period. Sorta doubt it, myself...we are too privileged, too spoiled, and just too weak by a far shot But, that is just my opinion, fer what it's worth...

Well...just ask yourself if you could walk 50 miles bare-footed over rough ground and quite regularly in snow!! Many of General Lees' men did just that!

[Oldetexian]

Well...just ask yourself if you could walk 50 miles bare-footed over rough ground and quite regularly in snow!! Many of General Lees' men did just that!
[/quote]

Fifty miles? Barefoot? 

Most of us can barely spend a weekend in mocs...using insoles and all the padding we can find. Our feet are softer than a baby's bottom fresh out of a bath...we "play" at being tough, but for the most part, except when in combat, we have never been forced to endure anything close to the reality of such a lifestyle...and that's a good thing...right?

[Einsiedler]

Uncle Russ

"any stranger in a land without established law could prove to be disastrous"

No we don't have the hostile Indian problem today but we have probably much worse with the fact that we have literally millions of invaders coming into our country that are unknown as to their intent and home invasions are steadily being reported on the news! Exactly the reason that at night I have a M1911 within reach when Angie and I are in our den reading or watching a movie! I discovered long ago that bad things don't always happen to the other guy!!

Hawken,

Typical evening meal when Im alone at the deep south Texas ranch.

[Hawken]

OUTSTANDING!!

[Uncle Russ]

Uncle Russ

"any stranger in a land without established law could prove to be disastrous"

No we don't have the hostile Indian problem today but we have probably much worse with the fact that we have literally millions of invaders coming into our country that are unknown as to their intent and home invasions are steadily being reported on the news! Exactly the reason that at night I have a M1911 within reach when Angie and I are in our den reading or watching a movie! I discovered long ago that bad things don't always happen to the other guy!!

Hawken,

Typical evening meal when Im alone at the deep south Texas ranch.

       

That Pearl Beer Can has sure changed its looks since I last saw one. 

We used to keep a old metal cooler in the pick-up, it held 36 cans and two 5# bags of ice when filled up, and whoever took the truck to town had the "job" of filling it up, put it on the Ranch's tab...which meant it was absolutely the cheapest beer to be found, a lot cheaper than even Lone Star.
When Cours Beer finally did come to town, it was so dadburn expensive that the sales demand on Pearl Beer skyrocketed!
All at once EVERYBODY was drinking Pearl...the Brewery even came out with a Pearl Lite, which was very similar to drinking straight out of the Rio Grande, but at least it was always cold.

There was always a loaded 1911 in the Glove department of the pick-up, the gun had been shot so much that when you shook it, it rattled like a rock in an empty rain barrel.....but it still shot and still shot good.
I replaced that barrel bushing once when I came back home from overseas, shortly after that one of the old-timers asked me to take a look at the gun, as it "didn't sound right anymore"....

Our early forefathers had a really rough go of it, there should never be any doubts about that.

But something few today seem to understand is that those same "Hard, Rough, even dangerous Times" lingered on for many years, up until at least the 1960's, early 1970's for a lot of folks living in isolated places throughout this country.

Quite a while after the turn of the 19th Century, much of that hard life-stye was quite likely a choice, a choice made following the Great Depression of the 1930s, and WWII.
It seems there was a desire to be totally independent, leave civilization behind, live off the land, and make-do with those things at hand...and that choice was made by folks on their own free will, not a necessity.
They were simply sick of "the modern Life" during those times.
Still yet, even today, there are many isolated Ranches and Farms that only make three or four trips to town during the summer months, to trade and barter, while stocking up for the winter.
What is it in a man that brings out such inner desires to put himself through such times?
Is it the blood of our forefathers, is it simply in all of our DNA, or is it something even deeper than that?
A lot of us feel inside that we could manage just well, but could we?

[Ohio Joe]

1911 in the Glove department of the pick-up, the gun had been shot so much that when you shook it, it rattled like a rock in an empty rain barrel.....

Russ, that sounds like one of the many 1911's I had charge of in my Arms Room back in the '70's...  IMHO, you can't go no better! 

The way the world is going today - it don't hurt to have something stashed and handy if ever needed.