The Pioneer Home

by Anonymous

Also just outside the back door was a rough wooden water bench on which were a wooden basin, a gourd dipper, and soap made of grease, ashes and sand.

As was the practice in those days, the house was located on the bank of a small stream, a tributary of Hole’s Creek. Near this stream, a well was dug and a well-sweep erected for lowering the oaken bucket into the well.

This Pioneer Home was placed in Carillon Park to show the people of this generation how their forefathers lived. The purpose of this book, too, is to describe the hardships overcome by the pioneers who braved the unknown wilderness to help carve the destiny that we, as Americans, enjoy today.

Of William Morris and his wife, little is known. But much is known of the era in which they lived.

Most of the early pioneers who came to the Miami Valley trekked westward over the rough mountain trails to Pittsburgh and then sailed down the Ohio River. A few more hardy souls came overland all the way.

These settlers were attracted to the Valley by descriptions of this “fabulous” land where the earth needed “only to be tickled with the hoe to laugh with the harvest.”

The trip westward was both expensive and uncomfortable. Household goods and supplies were loaded in “road wagons” and the wife and children clambered on top of the load. The man of the family and the larger boys usually rode horses.

As many as six horses were used to pull the lumbering wagons over the steep mountain trails, and often it was necessary to stop during the ascent to rest the horses. At these times large rocks were placed behind the wheels to keep the wagons from rolling backward. The deep mud of the valleys was almost as difficult to overcome.

It was a relief indeed when the Alleghenies had been crossed and the family safely transferred to the “broad horn” river boat. The journey downstream was more serene, but was long and tiring. However, there was always something new to be seen around the next bend of the river and always stories to listen to ... stories of singing fish, of wild Indian raids, and of the fine town of Losantiville, the early name for Cincinnati. The entire journey from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati required about six weeks. The trip from Cincinnati to Dayton was usually made by wagon, although some boats were “poled” up the Miami River at a speed of about eight miles a day.