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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 16, 1936)
• I WOLFPEN Harlan HaicKer^ ration/ ^Qlp(»»»vMy C «, Mt ».*».*.M~*M (t ** WHO. JfHVKt ^j^Vs5p^»S^ik ~^~ --~^"TT PRELUDE TflEWED from the valleys of Vir ginia, the jagged line of the Cum berland mountains is a prodigious row of black dominoes toppled over on one another by the finger of God brush ing about in the blue. This great wall of purple and green is neither inviting nor forbidding; it is just inescapably and beautifully there, removed from the ambitions and worries of men. In the morning the notched shadows crawl obliquely up its northern slope; they linger at noon on the faulted uplifts; and then hurry obliquely down the darkening south slopes in the early evening. A hundred miles to the north lies the Ohio valley, flul and fertile be tween its borders of lower hills. The willow-fringed river sweeps in a long leisurely curve around the southern most tip of Ohio, receives the waters of the Rig Sandy at the corner of IVest Virginia and Kentucky, and then bends languidly on toward the Mississippi. It is both inviting and forbidding; in escapably and beautifully there in the midst of the ambitions and worries of men. The spring rains swell it to the limits of its ample banks, and send it muddy and churning toward the west. The summer droughts relax it into a somnolent stream of limpid green tran quility. Between the river and the mountain range lies the Big Sandy valley. Its hills rise slowly from the squat bluffs on the Ohio to the blue peaks of the Cumberlands; its valleys widen progres sively from the precipitous canyons of the Breaks on the south to the sweep ing flatlands on the Ohio to the north. And the Big Sandy river with its forks 1 and its tributary creeks veins the whole ' region like the ribs in a pawpaw leaf. Guarded on the south by the Cum berland ridge, protected on the north by the lure of the great river and its level bottoms, fenced in on the west and on the east by row upon row of rugged hills, the Rig Sandy valley pocket preserved its isolation until the “What a Place for a Man to f „ . . Live In!" ■encircling territory was conquered and cleared. Traveling westward through the Eighteenth century, the immigrants stared at the great harrier of the Cum her lands, and continued the easier road down the Clinch river into Ten nessee, leaving the mysterious beyond to the desperate Indians, struggling against dispossession. Cuddling down the Ohio, the pioneers peered up the bright highway of the llig Sandy, bend ing into the unknown, and continued down the easier road toward the roll ing blue-grass country, leaving the legend-haunted pocket to the fright ened wild game fleeing extinction. But its protection was not perma nent. The solid-looking wall of the Cumberlands proved not to be un broken when assaulted by a few dar ing men who were determined to ex plore it. One by one they spied out the four gateways to the north: the canyon-like water-gaps at the heads of the Tug river and Dry Fork; the thou sand-foot gorge in the Breaks of Sandy; and the twenty-five-hundred-foot wind gap in Cine mountain. Each gateway proved to be an Indian trail from north to south: a turn-pike creek which led. fork by fork, to the full stream of the Rig Sandy at Louisa, and then like a broad highway into the Ohio. Fork by fork—the F.lkhorn to the Rus sell, the Russell into the Levisa, then the Levisa joins the Tug and becomes the Big Sandy. The mysterious pocket was open at both ends to those who would risk its perils. The perils were menacing. The Shaw nees held on to the Big Sandy valley after all other hunting grounds were captured from them. It was both n game preserve and a colossal forlifica lion, with a moat on the north over which thev could strike at the whites on the Ohio and posterns on the south through which they could raid the rich settlements in Virginia. They held on until 1795, while the immigrants filled up the outside flats and encamped against the walls surrounding it. Then the Indians were trapped and defeated, and the valley was taken up. It filled up quickly with white set tlers. Riffraff squatters washed in near the mouth of the river and occupied the lowlands: inhospitable, lazy people who allowed cocklebttrs to overrun the patches of corn and entangle and de stroy the fleece of their few sheep. Itul at the Cumberland end of the Rig Sandy and its forks, hardy, industrious settlers from Virginia toiled through the gaps and took possession of the fertile bottoms. A few brave souls had already looked at the land and established claims. Saul Pattern hud explored the country in the late spring of 1785. crossing the mountains from Tuzewell county, Vir ginia. and following the Indian trail through the Breaks to the mouth of Cannon Fork, as it was afterward named. There he was hailed by fresh signs of war and scalping parties lit tering the tru'd, lie had to retreat, lie left the Big Sandy and returned south ward by way of Cannon Fork which bends to the southeast, and then paral lels the Big Sandy. Thirty miles above its mouth, he saw a great hare pin nacle of yellow sandstone protruding from the trees above the creek, and overlooking the valley, lie toiled up ward through the underbrush, and there, standing on a jutting ledge, he had his first comprehensive view of the finest district in the entire country. Cannon creek, nearly as large as the Big Sandy river, came in sweeping curves through the rich valley which held the chain of hills from five hun dred feet to a fifth of a mile apart. It lay there virginal and undisturbed in its primeval quietude, surrounded by endless acres of forest. At the foot of the Pinnacle began Wolf pen Hollow, making with Gannon creek a Y in the hills. It was only a little more concentrated than the val ley of the Cannon Fork. Rising in a rock spring near the hilltop a few miles up the hollow, the little stream, only ten feet wide in repose, fingered its channel toward the great Pinnacle and merged with the waters of Gan non. The two valleys made a wide flat place among the hills for a man to rest on and take root. Saul Pattern was not given to emo tion. But as he stood there on the rock looking up and down Cannon creek and at the fat bottoms up Wolf pen, he fell a glow of pride and an eagerness to possess it. With some four thousund square miles of moun tain wilderness to choose from, he se lected these bottoms at the mouth of Wolf pen, crying aloud to the deer and the wild turkey: "Cod Almighty, what a place for u man to LIVE in!” Five years later he came back with his fifteen-year-old son Burton and built a rude cabin up the hollow on the Wolfpen Fork of the Y. The coun try seemed quiet and ready for a pio neer, But one evening toward the close of the summer of 1790, just as the dark began to tumble into Wolf pen, Saul came back to the cabin with a turkey he had shot while out survey ing the land. The cabin was deserted, and Barton was not in sight. Saul found him on the bank at the mouth of the creek where the Indians had left him for dead with his throat cut but his head unscalped. Saul pulled the wound together and bound it with guncotton. Barton lay in a delirious fever for long days in the cabin hover ing precariously between life and death. Then, miraculously, he began sloicly to mend, and bv the first snowfall be was able to travel back to Virginia. Saul Pattern bore with impatience the next five years while the Indians were being overmatched. At last in the spring of 1796 when life was reas onably safe, he came back to the chosen spot with his wife and children and m Virginia patent for four thou sand acres of land as surveyed by him self in 1790. This time he did not re turn. He planted the bottoms with corn and beans, fattened his stock on the Wolfpen meadows, built a great room in front of the old cabin which u«s still standing, and became the first settler on Gannon creek. And all through the upper region of the Big Sandy valley through that year and those that followed, came strong men and fertile women to plant themselves on the flat pockets between the hills, and to build cabins on the sheltered spots in the wide mouths of number less hollows. It was a moment unique in the history of man: a clean slate before them, a virgin district at their feel; what would they not make of this new land! “Great God, what a place for a man to live in!" CHAPTER I AN AFTERNOON at the be ginning of the spring of 1885, Cynthia Pattern sat on the Pinna cle of sandstone, studded with stra ta of white pebbles, and looked down upon the fourth and tifth gen orations of Pattern men still mak ing something of the new land. A century of life, of making things of these bottoms in the Kentucky mountains, separated Cynthia from her Oreat-Great-Orandfnther Saul who first strode through the wilder ness on his long legs spying out the land. During that century, wave after wave of change and reform, sweeping over the Republic and hearing It on Into fh, Westland, had broken against the mountain walls. I leaving the valleys within almost untom hed. The way of life which Cynthia Pattern from the brown Pinnacle saw in the valley below her was the Indigenous fruit of an unbroken tradition of family lifede veloped without benefit of the world beyond the wide horizon of the Rig Sandy hills. If there were surviv ing anywhere In America in 1885 anything resembling a native cul ture. It was represented by the life of the Patterns now In their fifth generation on their six thousand acres of hills and valleys surround ing Wolfpen Rottoms. Rut a new steam-mill would not he indigenous. Cynthia had slipped away from the weaving room of the big farm house and gone around the palings of Julia's garden, and under the grape arbor, and through the peach orchard, across the creek and up the steep path which led her through the yellow girdle of the poplar for est, through the dark belt of pine trees, into the clump of rhododen dron where the rock pushed out of the black leaf-mould to look at the valleys anil the undulating expanse of untouched timber-land. Sitting at the loom she had thought: “Daddy and the boys have been down at the mill all morning and this evening they’ll start the new engine. I'd like to see him start it but womenfolk can’t hard ly ever go anywheres like that when all the menfolks on the creek gang about and Mother wouldn't ev en think about going down there. Rut if I was on the Pinnacle I could look right down on the mill and watch just like I was one of the buzzards or a hawk or a crow and see them without them taking any notice of me." Cynthia sat on the ledge watch ing Sparrel Puttern while he con verted to modern steam-power the old water-wheeled mill her grand father had built. The mill gathered up for her the romance of a fam ily tradition and became the sym bol of progression for the genera tions of her men. She had sat on the Pinnacle watching the arc of the great wheel loaded with water spin without effort in the sun, re volving to the muted rumble of the stones within the log mill. It turned her thoughts into the pust where In Imagination she recreated the lives of her grandfathers. They were not dead and forgotten; they had built themselves into the place and looked out at her from the barn, the house, the bottoms, the old mill. The life span of one man does not permit the fashioning of a culture from a raw wilderness; his vision must be curried on by his sons and his grandsons. Grandfather Saul was sorely pressed during the first hard years in the mountains; he had to be content with the temporary make shift of a hand-mill. The wooden bench on which it was mounted was decayed, hut the two little stones no larger than a milk crock were pre served in one corner of the present mill. They seemed little beside the great stones grandfather Barton had fash ioned for the horse mill he had built on the level spot below the ham. The top framework of rough-hewn wood was gone, and the skillfully carved stones were moved to thei water-mill; but the weathered cen tral axis, the two thick wooden wheels which rolled on the ground, and the chnnnel worn by the mule as It tramped endlessly round and round were right where her great grandfather had pnt them In 1810. The dimensions of the rude contrap tion made more real for Cynthia the legends of Grandfather Barton's gi ant strength. He emerged from ob livion and took form for Cynthia In all his two hundred nnd thirty pounds when she looked at his mill stones, and heard her father, Spar rel, explain the mechanism of his horse-mill. That mill, which she was looking down upon from the rock, was built by her own Grandfather Tlvls In 1825. It seemed to Cynthia a nat ural part of the landscape of the valley. Wolfpen Creek cuine down the hollow through the bottom to the foot of the Pinnacle, and then broke Into a rapids as It fell over a smooth rook channel into Gannon creek. At the head of the rapids, Tlvis Pattern felled willows across the creek, piled stones against them and tilled in with a layer of clay. Then he wove a mat of cane stalks on the upstream side, plastered It with clay, and formed the mill pond: In tlfty-flve years the dam had not leaked or washed away in the spring floods. And still before Cynthia was born, her father Sparrel had Improved the r *.... Of Course the Old Milt of Ston* and Wood Was Wearing Out. mill by widening the conduits from the dam and enlarging the size of the wheel to speed production. "Such a gang of menfolk," look ing down at the crowd moving about on the creek bank and in the mill yard, "as a body wouldn’t see near er than the public square at Pike vine on a court day. It’s a won der they’re not swapping mules, on ly they're so taken up by Daddy's boiler und saying It won’t work.” She could see where many of them came from merely by turning her head. The old families were branch ing out, tilling up the bottoms. A few new people were still com lng in wherever they could Und enough Hat land to build a cabin on. She had beard her father talk about the growth of the mountains and wondering what would happen when there was no more land, won dering where it wns all leading to. It seemed to him that it led first of all to a steam-mill that would run all the year round and grind their corn a little faster. "The way Dad’s been the last year about a stenm-englpe Is the way I guess it was with Grandfather Bar ton making a horse-mill and Grand father Tivls making a water-mill. Only they made theirs and Daddy had to buy most of his. They never let well enough alone. Mother’s loom and churns and cook-stove and things are Just like they always were, but the menfolk always keep changing from one thing to another.” Of course the old mill of stone and wood was wearing out and needed repairs badly, and since peo ple came to It all the year round now but could not be served if the season was too drv.be ought to im prove It. When the good days of February came round, he took the Flnemare and rode down to Green up to visit his sister and to see a steam-driven mill actually at work, lie was so taken with the mechan ism and the quick trickle of yellow’ meal pouring into the sacks, that he decided forthwith to have one for himself (TO RE CONTINUED) Today * * * Begins a Stirring and Vital ******** Story of the Kentucky Mountains pOR a hundred years the ramparts of the Cumberland range had proved invulnerable to the spearpoints of advancing civilization. But the world was moving closer. The march of industry, demanding timber, now threatened destruction to the century-old peace of Wolfpen—the beautiful mountain valley where lived the Patterns. You’ll thrill to each new chapter as it unfolds the heroicstruggle of this fine American family to preserve the complete happiness of their jealously^guarded way of life. START READING THIS REMARKABLE SERIAL NOIV HO$^RE ^Wj©DAY f DR. JAMES W. BARTON Talk* About ® Safety in Reducing Weight A YOUNG woman weigh ing 150 pounds consulted a physician as to the best method of getting rid of twen ty pounds. At first glance she appeared to be well, as do most stout individuals, but there was a lack of color in the face and the eyes had a “tired” appearance. Further, the physician noted that the excess weight on her body was about the hips, abdomen and shoul ders, and that her hands, wrists, feet and ankles were small and slen der. This showed that her over weight was mostly due to a lack of juice from the small pituitary gland lyintr at the base of the brain. Dr. Barton As was his custom, i the physician began to make a routine ex amination and found that the temperature was below normal and the haemoglobin was only 6J per cent instead of 85 to 95 as in normal healthy women. He stopped the examination and advised the patient to see her family physician and get built up physically bcrore ne De gan any weight reduction treatment. She admitted that she had eaten meat only once and eggs only once during the previous two months. The point, of course, is tha* while reducing overweight is wise from a health standpoint, the patient should be thoroughly overhauled by his or her family physician before weight reduction begins. Planning the Campaign Dr. W. A. L. Styles in an article "The Campaign Against Corpu lence,” Hygeia Magazine, says: “In the ambition to shed weight, men and women have never paused to consider the advisability of mis directed endeavor. As a conse quence death has been the end re sult of numerous treatments for jbesity (overweight). Before launch ing an anti-fat offensive, every pros pective patient should undergo a thorough physical examination at the hands of a reputable physician. “Merely because discretion (or common sense) has not been com bined with determination (and many of our fat friends are determined in their wish to lose weight) failure crowns many efforts to regain nor mal weight. The reducing of weight should come second to improvement in physical condition as a goal in the campaign against corpulence.” The two outstanding suggestions in Doctor Styles’ article are (a) to eat nothing between meals and (b) to leave the table while still hun gry. These two suggestions are not only simple but uite safe, and safe ty whilst reducing should never be forgotten. Physicians now have so many overweight patients seeking a safe method of reducing weight that they outline diets which will maintain strength and yet reduce weight if faithfully followed. “Proper diet to which is added exercise suited to in dividual needs brings dividends in the form of health; whereas wrong diet and faulty exercise, particular ly when aggravated by faulty treat ment by medicine—epsom salts, thy roid or pituitary extract in the wrong type of cases—may wreck health and bring on premature death.” So widespread is the desire to re duce weight that all sorts of short cuts are being tried often with dis astrous results. The 18-day diet, the use of pituitary and thyroid ex tracts in non-suitable cases, the use of the new drug dinitrophenol, using large doses of epsom salts or pro prietary medicines containing ep som salts are all responsible for many cases of chronic illness and also many deaths. + * • Fighting Noise When London, New York and Pafis decide that measures must be taken to make these large cities less noisy, there must be some reason for it. Everyone recognizes that there must be some street noises as foods and other supplies must be moved from place to place, automobiles must transport people for business or pleasure, street cars and busses are likewise needed, factories must manufacture necessities, and vari ous other noises are really "neces sary” noises. However, everyone must recog nize also that while all the above are necessary noises, the amount or degree of noise now created is not necessary; that a large percentage of it is really unnecessary. Noise, whether we realize it or not, causes us to tighten or tense the whole body; it is one of nature’s old, old ways of preparing our mus cles to attack or resist an enemy. This tenseness tires us just as if we were attacking or resisting an en emy. And much of the noise is un necessary. Other cities, large and small, are investigating the noise situation, not to learn its effects upon the popula tion because that is unfortunately only too well understood, but with the definite purpose of getting rid of unnecessary noise. ®—WNU Servlo*. ■ III ^ Cherry Pie Made From Home Canned Cherries Cannot Be Beat a. It** Time to Preserve Your Quota of the Delec table Fruit. By Zella Hale Weyant If you are lucky enough to have a few cherry trees of your own, or if not as you shop in the mar ket or drive in the country we know you have watched the ar 'ival of the cherries. Something about their bright red color and tart flavor appeals to all of us. They seem to be the “spring ton ic” for which we have been wait ing. Cherries belong in the acid group of foods and are very easily canned. They may be canned with or without pits. However, most homemakers prefer to pit them because they lend themselves to a greater variety of ways in which they may be served. And now for a small amount a cherry pitting machine may be purchased. The cherries should be stemmed and washed before pitting so that none of the good juices of the cherries are lost during the pitting process. Because of their acid content the color and flavor of the canned cherries will be better if they are processed in the hot water bath, and in order to carry the canning procedure through without delay, it is always best to assemble the canning equipment before the work on the fruit is begun. See that all the necessary pans, knives, spoons, to be used in cleaning and preparing the cher ries are clean and ready to be used. Have the water bath can ner on the stove and enough wa ter in it to cover the jars at least one inch over the top. The water in the canner should be near the boiling point before the jars are placed into it for processing. Also collect and inspect the jars and caps that are needed for the canning. Be sure the jars are free from nicks, cracks and sharp edges that would prevent a seal. Remember to have a sufficient amount of jars and caps on hand to complete the canning. The two-piece “self-sealing” caps will require a new lid and the screw top caps a new rubber ring. And again we present the simple rules for correct use of each type of jar cap: When using the two piece “self-sealing” cap, place lid on jar with sealing composition next to the glass and screw the band firmly tight. If using the wire-clamp glass lid Jar, place glass lid and rubber ring on jar and put the upper bail in position across the glass lid. If using the zinc top cap, place rubber ring on jar and screw the cap down, then turn back quarter inch. On the jars using the rubber rings, the seal is completed as soon as the jars are removed from the canner. The self-sealing can requires no fur ther adjusting at the end of the processing period, but is simply removed from the canner and set right side up to cool. The home canning of such fruits as cherries is so easily done that even a novice may be assured of success if proper canning pro cedure is followed along with these tested recipes: Cherries (Cold Pack) Wash, stem, pit if desired. Pack into clean jars to within half inch of the top. Fill to within one and a half inches of the top with a medium sirup (made of two part* water to one part sugar) or if de sired a heavier sirup may be used. Process in water bath for 20 min utes. Cherry Preserves 10 pounds cherries 8 pounds sugar Wash and pit the cherries. Add the sugar. Boil until the liquid ia of the desired consistency. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Cherry Conserve S cups cherries 3 cups watsr 3 cups seedless Sugar raisins Remove the pits from cherries and cut raisins in pieces. Add water and boil 30 minutes. To each cup pulp add one cup sugar. Cook until thick. Pour into ster; lized jars and seal. © Bell Syndicate.—WNIT Service. Luxurious Peacock Motif To Do in Cross Stitch Pattern 1164 The Peacock’s regal beauty— worthy of your finest linens—in spired this beautiful design, and is sure to inspire you with the da sire to embroider his splendid im age in cross stitch. You can, you know, for the pattern’s a very easy one, despite its rich effect. Wool, silk or cotton floss in real istic bluish-greens and warm browns, or one color only if you prefer, will make a handsome scarf, pillow, chair set or re freshment cloth. Pattern 1164 comes to you with a transfer pattern of two pea cocks 12 1-4 by 14 1-2 inches and four motifs 3 1-2 by 3 1-2 inches; color suggestions; material re quirements; illustrations of all stitches needed. Send IS cents in coins or stamps (coins preferred) to The Sewing Circle, Needlecraft Dept., 88 Eighth ave., New York, N. Y. Write plainly pattern number, your name and address. Personal Prejudice Let a man offend another man, and personal prejudice will be so strong that he cannot even think well <5f any good thing that this man doe9, much less speak well of the man.—Van Amburgh. go KtxnrcA. BEFORE YOU NEED A QUART Prove It for yourself with the “First Quart” test. Drain and re fill with Quaker State Motor Oil. Note the mileage. See how much farther you go before you have to add the tell-tale first quart. Quaker State Oil Refining Com pany, Oil City, Pennsylvania. Retail Price... 35^ per quart. £