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Page 22
CLEARING THE LAND
CHAPTER IV
CLEARING the land was hard work. There was no demand for lumber,
therefore the forests had to be disposed of by burning the trees, on
the
ground. When the pioneer selected
the part of his land which he wished to clear (usually three to five
acres),
he went through the forests and girdled the oak trees standing on
the selected
land which he did not wish to use for rails or fences. The purpose
of this was
to be relieved of chopping down the trees, and eventually getting
rid of the
stumps. The trees girdled would die the following spring, and in
four or five
years the wind blew them down. The other trees were cut down, and
chopped into
log heap lengths, of about fourteen feet. this cutting into logs was
done with
an ax, as few settlers could afford a cross-cut saw.
After the trees had been chopped down, trimmed and cut into logs,
the
brush was pitched into heaps. 'In the month of June or July, when
the dry
season had set in, the brush was burned. This was called "firing the
clearing".
This burning usually occurred in the evening after the wind had gone
down and
the dew had fallen, which prevented the fire from spreading.
After these preliminary preparations for clearing purposes, it was
necessary to pile the logs into heaps for burning. It was not
possible for one
man to pile up his logs, and therefore the "rolling" was a
co-operative
process. The one clearing the land would set a day for rolling, and
invite his
neighbors to help him. One neighbor would bring a team of horses or
oxen.
Others would come with hand spikes, cant hooks, axes or any
apparatus they
might have that would be useful for the day's work. The neighbors
were divided
into crews consisting of a team with a driver, and two men to do the
rolling.
These crews commenced on one side of the clearing, and each crew
selected the
part of the clearing, about one hundred and fifty feet wide, in
which they
proceeded to pile the logs in the middle of this path or road way.
The
frequency of the log heaps depended on the quanity of logs on the
ground
cleared, and some times they were not over ten or fifteen feet
apart, The log
heaps were from eight to ten feet high, and probably spreading out
at the base
to fourteen or sixteen feet.
After the rolling, a party was usually held in the evening, for the
women
of the neighborhood had come to help their neighbor out in preparing
food for
the noon and evening meals. The local fiddler appeared and they
would have a
barn dance, if the pioneer were fortunate enough to have a barn at
the time.
After the rolling, the log heaps were permitted to stand for a week
to
dry out, and then the process of burning commenced. If the
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