The Young Trailers | Page 6

the grass and the trees. Never before had the
travelers seen oaks and beeches of such girth or elms and hickories of
such height. The grass was high and thick and the canebrake was so

dense that passage through it seemed impossible. Down the center of
the valley, which was but one of many, separated from each other by
low easy hills, flowed a little river, cleaving its center like a silver
blade.
It was upon this beautiful prospect that the travelers saw the sun rise
that morning and all their troubles and labors rolled away. Even the
face of Mr. Ware who rarely yielded to enthusiasm kindled at the sight
and, lifting his hand, he made with it a circle that described the valley.
"There," he said. "There is our home waiting for us."
"Hurrah!" cried Henry, flinging aloft his cap. "We've come home."
Then the wagon train started again and descended into the valley,
which in very truth and fact was to be "home."
CHAPTER II
THE FIRST GREAT EXPLOIT
They found the valley everything in beauty and fertility that Ross had
claimed for it, and above all it had small "openings," that is, places
where the trees did not grow. This was very important to the travelers,
as the labor of cutting down the forest was immense, and even Henry
knew that they could not live wholly in the woods, as both children and
crops must have sunshine to make them grow. The widest of these open
spaces about a half mile from the river, they selected as the site of their
new city to which they gave the name of Wareville in honor of their
leader. A fine brook flowed directly through the opening, but Ross said
it would be a good place, too, to sink a well.
It was midsummer now and the period of dry weather had begun. So
the travelers were very comfortable in their wagon camp while they
were making their new town ready to be lived in. Both for the sake of
company and prudence they built the houses in a close cluster. First the
men, and most of them were what would now be called
jacks-of-all-trades, felled trees, six or eight inches in diameter, and cut

them into logs, some of which were split down the center, making what
are called puncheons; others were only nicked at the ends, being left in
the rough, that is, with the bark on.
The round logs made the walls of their houses. First, the place where
the house was to be built was chosen. Next the turf was cut off and the
ground smoothed away. Then they "raised" the logs, the nicked ends
fitting together at the corner, the whole inclosing a square. Everybody
helped "raise" each house in turn, the men singing "hip-hip-ho!" as they
rolled the heavy logs into position.
A place was cut out for a window and fastened with a shutter and a
larger space was provided in the same manner for a door. They made
the floor out of the puncheons, turned with the smooth side upward,
and the roof out of rough boards, sawed from the trees. The chimney
was built of earth and stones, and a great flat stone served as the
fireplace. Some of the houses were large enough to have two rooms,
one for the grown folks and one for the children, and Mr. Ware's also
had a little lean-to or shed which served as a kitchen.
It seemed at first to Henry, rejoicing then in the warm, sunny weather,
that they were building in a needlessly heavy and solid fashion. But
when he thought over it a while he remembered what Ross said about
the winters and deep snows of this new land. Indeed the winters in
Kentucky are often very cold and sometimes for certain periods are
quite as cold as those of New York or New England.
When the little town was finished at last it looked both picturesque and
comfortable, a group of about thirty log houses, covering perhaps an
acre of ground. But the building labors of the pioneers did not stop here.
Around all these houses they put a triple palisade, that is three rows of
stout, sharpened stakes, driven deep into the ground and rising full six
feet above it. At intervals in this palisade were circular holes large
enough to admit the muzzle of a rifle.
They built at each corner of the palisade the largest and strongest of
their houses,--two-story structures of heavy logs, and Henry noticed
that the second story projected over the first. Moreover, they made

holes in the edge of the floor overhead so that one could look down
through them upon anybody who stood by the outer wall. Ross went up
into the second