e only kind of tie or
binder they have; and when the building is raised as many rounds as
it is intended, the ribs are raised, on which a course of clapboards
is laid, butts resting on a "butting pole." A press pole is laid on
the clapboards immediately over the ribs to keep them from shifting
by the wind, and the pole is kept to its berth by stay blocks,
resting in the first course against the butting-pole. The logs are
run upon the building on skids by the help of wooden forks. The most
experienced "axe-man" are placed on the buildings as "cornermen;"
the rest of the company are on the ground to carry the logs and run
them up.[21]

In this fashion, the frontier cabin was raised and covered in a single
day, without a mason, without a pound of iron, and with nothing but dirt
for flooring. The doors and windows were subsequently cut out of the
structure to suit the tastes of its occupants.

In this one-room cabin lived the frontier settler and his family, who
might be joined by guests. Small wonder, then, that additions to this
construction took on such significance that they were items of mention
in later wills.[22]

Once having cleared a reasonable portion of his property, raised his
cabin, and scratched out an existence for his first few months of
occupation, the pioneer was now ready to get down to the business of
farming. Working around the stumps which cluttered his improvement, the
frontier farmer planted his main crops, which were, of course, the food
grains--wheat, rye, with oats, barley, and corn, and buckwheat and corn
for the livestock. Some indication of the planting and harvesting
seasons can be seen from this account:

I find Wheat is sown here in the Fall (beging. of Septr.) Clover &
timothy Grass is generally sown with it. The Wheat is cut in June or
beginning of July after which the Grass grows very rapidly & always
affords two Crops. Where Grass has not been sown they harrow the
Ground well where the Wheat is taken off & sow Buck Wheat which
ripens by the beginning & through September is excellent food for
Poultry & Cattle & makes good Cakes.[23]

The amazing fertility of the soil, as noted by more than one journalist,
eased the difficulties of the crude wooden implements which were the
farmer's tools. Reference is made to "one [who] plowed the same spot ...
for eight years ... [taking] double Crops without giving it an Ounce of