Читать книгу The Canadian Settler's Guide - Catharine Parr Traill - Страница 26

Extracted from Major Strickland's "Twenty-seven years' Residence in Canada West."

"On the 16th of May, 1826, I moved up with all my goods and chattels, which were then easily packed into a single-horse waggon, and consisted of a plough-iron, six pails, a sugar-kettle, two iron pots, a frying-pan with a long handle, a tea-kettle, a few cups and saucers,[7] a chest of carpenter's tools, a Canadian axe, and a cross-cut saw.

"My stock of provisions comprised a parcel of groceries, half a barrel of pork, and a barrel of flour.

"The roads were so bad (in those days when there were no roads) that it took me three days to perform a journey of little more than fifty miles. [This was twenty-eight years ago, let it be remembered, when travelling was a matter of great difficulty.] We, that is my two labourers and myself, had numerous upsets, but reached at last the promised land.

"My friends in Douro turned out the next day and assisted me to put up the walls of my shanty and roof it with bass-wood troughs, and it was completed before dark. [This shanty was for a temporary shelter only, while working on the chopping, and preparing for the building of a good log-house.]

"I was kept busy for more than a week chinking between the logs, and plastering up all the crevices, cutting out the doorway and place for the window-casing, then making a door and hanging it on wooden hinges. I also made a rough table and some stools, which answered better than they looked.

"Four thick slabs of limestone placed upright in one corner of the shanty, with clay packed between them to keep the fire off the logs, answered very well for a chimney, with a hole cut through the roof above to vent the smoke.

"I made a tolerable bedstead out of some ironwood poles, by stretching strips of elmwood bark across, which I plaited strongly together to support my bed, which was a good one, and the only article of luxury in my possession.

"I had foolishly hired two Irish emigrants who had not been in Canada longer than myself, and of course knew nothing of either chopping, logging or fencing, or indeed of any work belonging to the country. The consequence of this imprudence was that the first ten acres I cleared cost me nearly £5 an acre—at least £2 more than it should have done.[8]

"I found chopping in the summer months very laborious. I should have underbrushed my fallow in the fall before the leaves fell, and chopped the large timber during the winter months, when I should have had the warm weather for logging and burning, which should be completed by the first day of September. For want of experience it was all uphill work with me.

* * * * *

"A person who understands chopping can save himself a good deal of trouble and hard work by making what is called a Plan heap. Three or four of these may be made on an acre, but not more. The largest and most difficult trees are felled, the limbs only being cut off and piled. Then all the trees that will fall in the same direction should be thrown along on the top of the others, the more the better chance of burning well.

"If you succeed in getting a good fallow, the chances are, if your plan-heaps are well made, that the timber will be for the most part consumed, which will save a great many blows with the axe, and some heavy logging.[9]

"As soon as the ground was cool enough after the burn was over, I made a Logging Bee, at which I had five yoke of oxen and twenty men. The teamster selects a large log to commence a heap—one which is too pondrous for the cattle to draw: against this the other logs are drawn and piled: the men with handspikes roll them up one above the other, until the heap is seven or eight feet high and ten or twelve broad—all the chips, sticks, roots, and other rubbish are thrown up on the top of the heap. A team and four men can pick and log an acre a day if the burn has been good.

"My hive worked well, for we had five acres logged and fired that night. On a dark night a hundred or two of such heaps all on fire at once have a very fine effect, and shed a broad glare of light over the country for a considerable distance.

* * * * *

"My next steps towards my house-building was to build a lime heap for the plastering of my walls and building my chimneys. We set to work, and built an immense log heap: we made a frame of logs on the top of the heap to keep the stone from falling over the side. We drew twenty cart loads of limestone broken up small with a sledge hammer, which was piled into the frame, and fire applied below. This is the easiest way in the bush of getting a supply or this useful material.

"I built my house of elm logs, thirty-six feet long by twenty-four feet wide, which I divided into three rooms on the ground floor besides an entrance-hall and staircase, and three bed-rooms above. I was busy till October making shingles, roofing, cutting out the door and windows, and hewing the logs smooth inside with broad axe." [Then follows a description and direction for making shingles.]

In the XII chapter we have an excellent passage about the choice of land, but I must refer my reader to the work itself for that, and many other most valuable hints, and go on to select another passage or two on building &c.

"The best time of the year to commence operations is early in Sept. The weather is then moderately warm and pleasant, and there are no flies in the bush to annoy you.

"A log-shanty twenty-four feet long by sixteen feet wide is large enough to begin with, and should be roofed with shingles or troughs.[10] A cellar should be dug near the fireplace commodious enough to contain twenty or thirty bushels of potatoes, a barrel or two of pork or other matters.

"As soon as your shanty is completed, measure off as many acres as you intend to chop during the winter, and mark the boundaries by a blazed-line [notched trees] on each side. The next operation is to cut down all the small trees and brush—this is called under-brushing. The rule is, to cut down every thing close to the ground from the diameter of six inches and under.

"There are two modes of piling, either in heaps or windrows. If your fallow be full of pine, hemlock, balsam, cedar and the like, then I should advise windrows; and when hardwood predominates, heaps are better. The brush should be carefully piled and laid all one way, by which means it packs and burns better.

"The chopping now begins, and may be followed without interruption until the season for sugar-making commences. The heads of the trees should be thrown on the heaps, or windrow; this a skilful chopper will seldom fail to do.

"The trunks of the trees must be cut into lengths from fourteen to sixteen feet, according to the size of the timber.

* * * * *

"The emigrant should endeavour to get as much chopping done the first three years as possible, as after that time, he will have many other things to attend to. [It is a mistake to clear more wild land than a man and his family can work, as it is apt to get overrun with a second growth of brush and the fire-weed, and give a great deal of trouble, besides making a dirty-looking, slovenly farm.]

"In the month of May, the settlers should log up three or four acres for spring crops, such as potatoes, (which are always a great crop in the new soil,) Indian corn and turnips, which last require to be pitted or stored from the effects of the severe winter frost.

"The remainder of the fallow should be burnt off and logged up in July; the rail-cuts split into quarters and drawn aside ready for splitting up into rails. After the log-heaps are burned out, rake the ashes while hot into heaps, if you intend to make potash.[11]

"As soon as the settler is ready to build, let him if he can command the means, put up a good frame, rough-cast, or a good stone-house. With the addition of £150 in cash, and the raw material, a substantial family-house can be built which will last a vast number of years."

So far my brother. I will now add a few remarks myself. There are many very substantial dwellings now seen on the old clearings, built of stone collected from the surface of the field. These are faced with a proper instrument into form, and in skilful hands are used as a proper building material. They have rather a motley surface, unless the building is rough-cast, but are very warm in winter and cool in summer. I like the deep recesses which the windows form in this sort of building; they remind one of some of the old-fashioned houses at home, with low window seats. I enjoy to sit in these gossiping corners. A good verandah round takes off from the patchy look of these stone-houses. Then there is the strip-house, and the vertical clapboard, or plank-house, and the block-house, either upright or horizontally laid; all these are preferable in every respect to the common log-house or to the shanty; but persons must be guided by their circumstances in building. But those who can afford a hundred or two pounds to make themselves comfortable, do so at once, but it is not wise to expend all their ready money in building a frame house at first. Among other reasons I would urge one, which is:—in building on wild land, owing to the nature of the forest land, it is very difficult to select a good site for a house or the best; and it is mortifying to find out that you have selected the very least eligible on the land for the residence: it is better to bear with cheerfulness a small evil for a year or two than have a ceaseless cause of regret for many years. It is always necessary to have water both for household purposes and near the cattle-yard. Good chain pumps can now be bought at a cost of a few dollars; and for soft water, tanks lined with water-lime can be constructed to any size. This is a great comfort if properly finished with a pump—the coldest water can be obtained; the expense is proportioned to the size.

In building a house a cellar lined with stone or cedar slabs or vertical squared posts, and well lighted and ventilated, is a great object: it will be found the most valuable room in the house. The comfort of such an addition to the dwelling is incalculable; and I strongly commend the utility of it to every person who would enjoy sweet wholesome milk, butter or any sort of provisions. A good house is nothing, wanting this convenience, and the poorest log-house is the better for it; but the access to the under-ground apartment should not be in the floor of the kitchen or any public passage: many limbs are broken yearly by this careless management. An entrance below the stairs or in some distant corner, with a post and rail to guard it, is just as easy as in the centre of a floor where it forms a fatal trap for the careless and unwary.

An ice-house in so warm as climate as the summer months present, is also a great luxury. The construction is neither expensive nor difficult, and it would soon pay itself. Fresh meat can be hung up for any time uninjured in the ice-house, when it would be spoiled by the ordinary summer-heat in any other situation. A lump of ice put into the drinking water, cools it to a delightful temperature, and every one who has experienced the comfort of iced butter, and the luxury of iced creams, will agree with me it is a pity every housewife has not such a convenience at her command as an ice-house.

I have placed my notice of this article in the chapter that is more particularly addressed to the men, because it depends upon them and not upon their wives, having these comforts constructed. A little attention to the conveniences of the house, and to the wishes of the mistress in its fitting up and arrangements, would save much loss and greatly promote the general happiness. Where there is a willingness on the husband's part to do all that is reasonable to promote the internal comfort; the wife on hers must cheerfully make the best of her lot—remembering that no state in life, however luxurious, is without its trials. Nay, many a rich woman would exchange her aching heart and weary spirit, for one cheerful, active, healthy day spent so usefully and tranquilly as in the Canadian settler's humble log-house, surrounded by a happy, busy family, enjoying what she cannot amid all her dear-bought luxuries, have the satisfaction of a hopeful and contented heart.

[7] Instead of crockery, the old bush-settler's plates and dishes, cups, &c. were of tin, which stood the rough travel of the forest roads better than the more brittle ware.

[8] The usual price for chopping, logging and fencing an acre of hardwood land is from eleven to twelve dollars; but if the pine, hemlock and spruce predominate, fourteen dollars is given.

[9] I have been told that in the western townships where the land is very heavily timbered, the usual plan now adopted by the settlers is to chop one year and let the timber lie till the following year when it is fired. The fire burns all up, so that a few charred logs and brands which are easily logged up is all that remain. This lightens the labour I am told very much; it is practised in the "Queen's Bush."

[10] This is a chopper's shanty: a good shelter for those who are clearing in the bush or lumbering. It should be chinked, and made wind and water tight.

[11] See chap. xiii. page 170, "Twenty-seven years' residence in Canada West." I could, with great advantage to the emigrant, have made more copious extracts from my brother's useful work, but I must content myself with such as more especially bear upon the subject of the first settlement. It is much to be regretted that the high price of these volumes places the work out of the power of the poorer class of the settlers, who would have found much that was practically useful to them, as well as to the reader to whom it is more particularly addressed. A cheap abridgment would be very useful to all classes of emigrants, and I hope may be published soon.