JUST UP THE ROAD - HISTORY OF ELKMONT, PART 10

Submitted by Gary Compton

Things were shaping up for winter.

Next morning everyone was up early. The air was cool and they all knew winter was not far away. Ducks and geese filled the sky. They were heading south for the winter. (All Levi could see was good food going to waste). The boys were already taking the meat down from where it hung. Pa a few weeks earlier, built a table and a log smoke house. He knew this day would come when they needed a place to prepare and store the meat. Taking the axe, he begin to cut the meat up into smaller pieces, shoulders, hams, ribs, neck, loins,  hides, all were saved. They carefully rubbed it all down with salt and hung it up in the smoke house. Pa built a small fire in a pit he had dug inside, placing piles of leaves on the fire to create lots of smoke. He would keep the fire going for six days and nights. this insured the meat would be preserved. Ma cooked out small batches of bear grease and poured it into the clay jugs that Levi traded for when he went to Mooresville. All the meat preparation took all day. everyone was tired and retired at sundown.

The cool weather causes fur bearing animals to get thicker pelts. This made them more valuable for trade. Levi made more snares and trapping became very busy. He would stretch the hides over hand hued boards and hang them up in the top of the barn to let dry. The furs could be sold for money or traded for other goods. This was everyone’s source of income during this time. The Simms family was totally self sufficient, but it was evident, there was desires for more modern things that would make their lives easier.-----To get ahead, even back then, was the American dream.

The boys at this time were busy clearing land. It was early November and they had cleared about eight acres preparing for the spring planting. They had no means to remove the larger stumps so they worked around them. Ten acres of cleared land at this time was considered large especially in frontier country.

Every thing was going well for the Simms and prosperity was just around the corner. The fur trade was doing well, his livestock collection was increasing, the family was healthy and all was working hard to make things at it’s best.