Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/252

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAI^D COUNTY.

��oats, 12 cents per bushel ; corn, 20 cents per bushel ; whisky, 15 cents per gallon ; pork, $1.50 per cwt. ; cows, $8 to $10 each ; horses, |30 to $40 each. Coffee bought from 75 cents to $1 per pound ; salt, from $4 to |G per barrel ; cali- coes from 50 cents to $1 per 3'ard, etc. Money was the exception, traffic and trade the rule. The great wagons carried the produce to Port- land (now Sandusky City) and Huron, and re- turned with salt, fish, etc.

In trading with the Indians it was customary to set a bottle of whisky on each end of the counter, that the purchasers might help them- selves gratuitously, and thus facilitate the busi- ness. These cabins for the purposes of trade and traffic sprang up along the new roads, and were occupied by some hardy pioneer and fam- ily, who procured his living partly by hunting, partly by trading whisk}', tobacco, blankets, knives, tomahawks and trinkets with the Indi- ans and settlers, and, as travel on the roads increased, by keeping travelers over night, finally converting his cabin into a ''tavern." Frequently these taverns were the means of starting a town, which afterward grew and pros- pered, or became extinct. p]stal)lishinga town was like investing in a lottery ticket, which might draAV a prize or a blank. Nothing now remains to mark the site of many early towns platted on the soil of Richland ; others are marked by small clusters of partially deserted houses.

One of the earliest settlers thus writes : " Our social parties consisted of cabin-raisings, log-rollings, quilting parties, corn-huskings, etc. Our sports were various gymnastic exercises and shooting matches. There was no punctil- ious formality, nor aping after fashions. The rich and poor Avere dressed alike. The clothing of the men consisted of coarse material for hunting shirts, and pants made of buckskin. The women were also attired in coarse fabric ; if a young damsel wanted a magnificent wed- ding dress, she Avould have her highest aspira-

��tions in this respect gratified by obtaining a suit of American cotton check, which then cost from 50 cents to $1 per yard, but which can now be obtained for one shilling. Silks, satins and other varieties of fancy go(jds. which now infest society, were never thought of Our drink was whisky toddy, which we thought was good enough for a king. The Avoods furnished us with abundance of meat, and corn-pone sup- plied the place of the present dyspeptic-produc- ing pastry."

This pioneer might have added that, in addi- tion to their gymnastic exercises and shooting matches, the}' frequently engaged in ring-fights b}' Avay of variety. Mr. John M. ^lay. the firet law3'er in Mansfield, thus describes one of these affairs :

•' Every neighborhood had its bully or chief fighter, and these were pitted against each other like game-cocks. These fights often ended in a general melee, in which whole neighborhoods Avere sometimes engaged against each other. I remember one fight of this kind which took place on the public square in Mansfield, be- tween the Clearforkers and Blackforkers. The Clearforkers Avere the fighting men living in the southern portion of the county, in the valley of the Clear Fork, and the Blackforkers were from the northern and eastern portions of the county, liAdng along the Black Fork. These two regions AA'ere alAA'ays at enmity, and ahvays getting up fights Avith each other.

" Among the Blackforkers were the Prossers, Burrels and Pittengers, noted fighting men. Jonathan Prosser was their champion man. Among the Clearforkers were the Brodies, Slaters and Driskells. Of these Stephen Brodie was the champion.

" At the time referred to, I noticed Stephen Brodie and Bill Slater riding up to the North American corner.

'• They hitched their horses, and there I no- ticed Burrell and tAvo of the Prosser boys ride up also.

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