Page 174 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

170 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.

state that ~hile in St. Louis there was an arrival of a small
flat-bottomed steam-boat, and the whole population rushed 60
the river to see the great sight.
It took me some six weeks to effect my purchases. I
purchased altogether two hundred and sixty-two head very
cheap, paying about two dollars per hundred pounds for beef
cattle, and from five to seren dollars a piece for oows. I lefk
Carrollton about the middle of May; passed through Jackson-
ville where there were a few houses; the next place was
Springfield, which had a population of about two hundred.
Thence I went to Sangamon, where I met EBENEZER BRIGITAM,
from Worcester county, hlassachusetts. Hc was the first live
Yankee that I had seen from my native county, since I had left
there in 1816, and I was the first that he had seen from that
county. I had a yoke of blind oxen that gave my men a great
deal of trouble to drive. As BRIGHAM had a tread-mill, I
thought my blind oxen would do as well for that purpose
as though they could see; so I proposed to the gentleman
from Worcester county to exchaage my oxen for a horse. He
said as we were both from Worcester county he would try and
accommodate me. I told him my oxen were a little blind, but
I thought they would do him good service. After it became
a little dark, I took him to see my oxen; he liked them very
well. He then took me to see his horse. It was by this time
quite dark; I did not exnmine him much, but he appeared to be
a fine looking animal. We exchanged honorably, as wc were
both from Worcester county; we did not wish to take any
advantage of each other as we were from the same native
region. In a word, we Felt and acted like brothers. But the
next morning, when I joined the drove, I found that my new
horse was as blind as a bat, and I do balieve he had not seen
for ten years; and he appeared older than the ancient hills
around us! Iiut it was a11 right, as friend BRIGHAM and 1 were
both from Worcester county. We have, many a time since,
laughed heartily over our early trade.
Thence we went to the rapids of the Illinois River, a ehort