THE PAST

It is said that the Wampanoag Indian chief Massasoit and his brother Quadequina brought several deerskins full of popped corn to the feast at the first Thanksgiving in the year 1621.

The Indians popped the corn in clay pots over a fire or skewered an ear of corn over a fire and gathered up any popped kerneas that escaped the fire.

There were no glass windows and people had to make their tables, benches and chairs. Cooking utensils were scarce and large cooking pots and Dutch ovens took the place of a cook stove.

As times got better and the English ships brought tools, cloth and manufactured goods to the seaports at New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Charleston, the colonists' lot improved. Brick houses lined the rough dirt streets of small towns and villages.

Tradsmen plied their craft of smithing, metal work and carpentering. Housewifes found a greater variety of food in which to trade for or buy,bakers sold bread, muffins and sweets,farmers brought eggs and produce and meats to towns, and exotic spices,teas and chocolate were becoming affordable

The days in the gold fields were long and back-breaking. A few found their fortunes;many more made just enough to afford a little bacon and flour. And there were many who lost everything they had in their mad search for the elusive riches that lay just over the next hill.

No. 23R5548 Miners' Gold Pan, smooth steel, polished, inside diameter, 16-1/2". Weight, 1 - 7/8 pounds. Price, each ............20 cents.

There were others on the Oregon Trail who weren't looking for gold. They wanted land, land of their own. They would take their families with them to the fertile land in Oregon. There, they would plant orchards and grow crops and they, too, would find the things they were looking for.

Many people died on the way to the promise land either by sickness or indians who didn't want the white man to trespass on their land. There is a scar left on the land by the homesteaders and it's still there today.

These were times when life was hard. A young cowboy, working for ten dollars a month and his board and keep, earned every penny he made. A man plowing a yoke of oxen in a field that seemed never to end did not see much that was romantic. He was too tired.

Get your things and come to Texas I hired on to the circle c ranch in Amarillo and they are always looking to hire a good man. The pay is $10 and keep and they have a good cook. He makes the best cobblers I ever tasted. We get eggs and flapjacks and biscuits for breakfast. Each man has a bunk in the bunkhouse. I hired on as a wrangler. That's to start with. I'm going to get my own ranch one of these days.

Just preparing meals was tedious and time consuming, there was wood to chop for the fire,

water to fetch, meat to wash off as it was salt cured and too salty unless rinsed.

When garden vegetables ripened, everyone pitched in to help with the canning and preserving.

Childern shelled peas and beans and helped to dry peaches, apples and apricots , grather pecans and walnuts. Some even ground acorns that were dryed to make acorn flour.

During the Civil War, there were no refridgerators or freezers, no microwaves. Ovens and stoves had been greatly improved, but were still crude by present standards. A lot of cooking was still done in kettles over fireplaces and open hearths.

to fight the Yankees at Williamsport. General Jackson says there must be no cookfires tonight, lest the foe is warned. I fear it is hardtack again for supper." Tell Becky when I get home we will be marred. Hope this letter finds things good at home. Your son

From what I understand a letter during the civil war sometimes would take several months to be delivered and some never were

Native Americans had developed a process by which dried cactus-eating insects could be turned into red dye called cochineal.

This "Indian" dye, one of the most important exports from the New World in the late 16th century and highly valued by the European cloth industry for hundreds of years, was used to dye the red British uniforms in the Revolutionary War.

Since Christopher Columbus had never seen anyone smoking before, he was very surprised to observe "Indians" holding "burning leaves" in their mouths. The "Indians" called these strange things "tobacos."

Native Americans used pine sap to help heal cuts, and they found that witch hazel tea was a good remedy for sprains and bruises.

Squash" comes from a Native American word, "isquoutersquash," which means "green thing eaten green."

During World War II, the Japanese army could not break the "secret code" of the U.S. Military. The "secret code" was simply a group of Native American volunteers speaking their Native American language on their field radios! (Navajo, Sioux and other tribes)

The countries of Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru have something in common? They all have a Native American language as an official language, in addition to Spanish.

If you have any stories of these hard times and want to see them here mail them to me

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