Have you ever wondered how our forefathers, the pioneers, got along without all the things we take for granted? They didn’t have supermarkets, Walmart, phones and i-pods, or even McDonald’s and Taco Bell. How did they ever survive?
For instance, in 1849, everything consumed by people and animals had to be brought up the river from Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. Even grain for horses. Upon arriving in Minnesota, the early pioneers found they could no longer obtain provisions the way they did “back home.” So the settlers were compelled to find other ways to feed themselves. The most important of which was to start a garden. Nearly every family had a garden large enough to raise potatoes, beans, onions, beets and cabbages. Rutabagas thrived almost everywhere and sweet yellow turnips were a favorite dish of rich and poor alike.
Breadstuff was not easily solved when Minnesota was first organized as a territory. In 1849 the old Government mill at St. Anthony Falls was leased to Robert Smith of Alton, Illinois and was used to grind flour (such as it was) for the settlers. Other grist mills were established, but they were few and far apart. Good flour, brought up the Mississippi on steamboats, often sold for $15 to $20 a barrel. Because of the high price, corn bread was used much more. Pioneer women found ways to make bread from whatever was available such as buckwheat, ground in a coffee mill and put through a horse-hair sieve. Another way they ground grain was by hollowing out a log and rolling a cannon ball in it. Today we could do the same thing with a bowling ball (if necessary).
Coffee, also, was made from unusual ingredients such as browned and crumbled chipped potatoes, beets, corn meal crusts, pounded corn, rye and barley. If the family had a cow, milk was readily available, but if it had to be hauled any distance by cart, it often turned to butter. The meal at some stage coach stops was clabbered milk with maple syrup, which sounds pretty good to me!
As for meat, wolves were so numerous that it was difficult to raise small domestic animals such as sheep and hogs. Even cattle were not safe, for wolves seemed to have a liking for young calves. It was almost impossible to raise poultry with a country so full of wolves that had not yet learned to fear the white man. Constant watch had to be kept to prevent the robbery of the hen roost at night and the chicken yard by day.
However, a good supply of meat could be procured in another way. Deer were so abundant that all it took was a good marksman to keep the larder stocked with venison. Bear meat could also be obtained without much trouble. Small game—rabbits, squirrels, quail and prairie chickens—were plentiful and at certain seasons wild ducks and geese infested the lakes. These ducks and geese were valuable to the pioneers in more ways than one. The flesh was used for food and many a bed tick was filled with the feathers of these wild fowl.
Then there were the passenger pigeons. In the spring and fall they arrived by the thousands. A favorite way of catching them alive was to spread a net a few inches above the ground, supported by small forked sticks. Corn was scattered under the net and the birds, eating the corn under there, would rise up their heads and get caught in the net. Once entangled, they were easily captured. The pioneers sold them for 25 cents a dozen.
If one desired larger game and more excitement, he would head to the prairie where the buffalo roamed. The hump of the young male buffalo made an excellent substitute for roast beef, while the tender parts of the carcass were used for making pemmican.
Cooking stoves in the early days were rare and most meals were made at the fireplace. The principal cooking utensils were a large iron pot, a long handled skillet with a lid, a cast iron teakettle and a coffee pot. Today we have crock pots and other cookery but back then they used the iron pot to prepare a “boiled dinner” which consisted of meat and vegetables. Bread was baked in the skillet by setting it on a bed of coals, then placing more coals on the lid so it would bake evenly. For the way we live today, this sounds a little inconvenient!
So, whenever we start feeling like we have it bad, think back to what all our ancestors, the pioneers, had to endure, and just be glad that times have evolved so far that we don’t have to go through what they did!
Note: Taken from the book Personal Recollections of Minnesota and its People and Early History of Minneapolis by John H. Stevens, 1890, and the booklet Floyd B. Olson Jr. High and The History of Camden.
Correction: In the November Camden News the Flagpole article was written by Barbara Meyer Bistodeau, not Gladys Vinje Wells. We apologize for any confusion.