We of this generation little realize the hardships and trials which our
forefathers underwent early in the nineteenth century. They spent much time
clearing forests, which are now fertile farm lands.
At this time the
most popular animal used as the beast of burden was the ox. The first oxen
brought to La Salle county were from New England, and were of the Devon breed.
They were considered the best cattle for working because they had more speed
than other oxen. They were slower than horses but had much more strength. In
summer they couldn't stand much hot weather. They were much cheaper than horses
and could stand hard work better than horses.
The owner put the ox in
the yoke when they were about three years old. The yoke was worn on top of the
neck. Sometimes the oxen would turn in the yoke; that is, one would turn one way
and one the other way. When this happened it usually led to a fight. The only
way to break them of this habit was to tie their tails together.
In some
parts of the country it was necessary to drain the land. They dug ditches with
three yoke of oxen hitched to a machine called the capstan.
When full
shod, each ox had to wear eight shoes. While shoeing the ox it had to be lifted
entirely off the ground, because it would not lift its foot, as a horse will.
Mr. H. C. Chapman has a pair of old oxen shoes which he found on his farm many
years ago. They do not look at all like horse shoes. His father, Mr. H. W.
Chapman, owned a pair of twin oxen in 1860. At night he put them in the pasture,
and one of them would always open the gate and get out. He would rub the bars of
the gate and slide them back so they would fall to the ground, and then they
would walk out. So finally Mr. Chapman had to put holes in the bars and put a
pin in so the oxen couldn't open them and get out.
In those days they
used the oxen to haul grain in sacks to Chicago. A supply of provisions was
brought back for the neighborhood. These people would pay this man with
something he needed. In this way one person would help another. The trip to
Chicago took from eight to ten days. On this trip they often got stuck in the
mud, because in those days the people didn't know what gravel or concrete roads
looked like. When they got stuck they just waited until another driver came
along and then hitched his yoke of oxen to the load, also. Sometimes they had
three yoke of oxen on one load before they got it out.
At one time of
the year the neighborhood around where Mr. Ambrose Trumbo lived were out of
salt, so Mr. Trumbo got up early one morning and hitched up a pair of wild oxen
that he broke to drive, and started for Chicago. The next morning he came
driving down the road toward home with the salt. He always said he went to
Chicago, but people didn't believe this because it is almost a hundred
fifty-four miles the round trip. Such speed was unheard of in those days.
One of the oldest settlers of our township, Mr. Walter Stebbins, came with
his parents to La Salle county in 1854. They drove five yoke of oxen and two
teams of horses, arriving at the homestead, now occupied by Charles Blackwell.
They put in their crops with these oxen, except one yoke, which they sold to Mr.
Eastman, who used them to break prairie sod on his farm, now occupied by George
Barber. In the fall of the same year they sold another yoke to Mr. Patrick
Mitchell, who lived in a log house where P. A. Oleson now lives. Another yoke
was sold to Mr. Steve Meagher, who lived on the farm now owned by Edward
Zimmerman.
The oxen could be used in every kind of farm work but plowing
corn. They would walk along and bite off the corn.
Much oats and wheat
was stacked in the early days. They left it stacked until about the first of
November and then started to thresh. It took them all winter to do their
threshing and husking. They didn't use the oxen in husking because they would
eat too much of the corn.
What a great change has taken place in the
past seventy years. How strange it would look to us who see modern machinery
being used everywhere.
In time the oxen were replaced by the horses, and
they are being fast replaced by the tractor and all kinds of modern machinery.
These changes cannot help but be a great help to mankind, as much more work can
be done in a shorter length of time. I wonder, though, if we, with all our
modern machinery, are any happier than our forefathers were doing their work in
their simple way?
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 50.
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