Dubois County, Indiana - Chapter 6: Early Bird and Animal Life in Dubois County, 1910

Forest birds - Water birds - Eagles - Swans - Ducks - Woodpeckers - Turkeys - Ravens - Paraquets - Pigeon roosts at Huntingburg; at St. Henry - Bee Hunting- Honey - Bee habits - "Survival of the fittest" - Deer - Deer paths - Black bears - Wolves - Wild hogs - First entry on existing official records - Other entries - Native products - Fox hunt - Pioneer hunters - Indian burials - Piankishaw Indians.

In no other respect, perhaps, have there been greater changes in Dubois county, in its first century, than in that relating to its birds and wild animals.

In I Sod, Dubois county was a grand wilderness. Through it ran its swollen streams and the "Buffalo Trace." The forests were so dense that they were almost impenetrable. Here and there were marshes. Those in Madison township and along the "Patoka Lake" bottoms were like lakes, except that the marsh grasses and flowers gave them the appearance of fields. These conditions were favorable to two classes of birds, to-wit: those that love a dense forest and those that love the water. Both were to be found in Dubois county in the early part of the nineteenth century, in great numbers.

It is difficult for the young people of this day and generation to realize how great has been the change, in this respect, in this county, within the last century - the life-history of the county. The change of topographical conditions has worked an almost entire change in the birds inhabiting the county. Many of the kinds that it formerly contained, such as the ivory billed and pilated woodpeckers, wild or passenger pigeons, wild turkeys and paraquets are now almost or entirely gone.

One hardly thinks of the kingl)^ eagle, of which we have alwaj-s heard such fine stories, as being at one time found in Dubois county, yet both varieties, the bald and golden eagle, were in early days found here, and occasionally even in our day we hear of one being killed. The bald eagle, the bird of our coin, still rears its young in unfrequented spots of Indiana, and was once quite plentiful in Dubois county. In June, 1883, a bald eagle's aerie was found on "Pond Ridge," south of Birdseye. This king of birds, we are sorry to say, does not deserve the admiration he receives. He was simply a greedy robber, and spent a good part of his time deliberateh' taking fish from the osprey, or fish hawk, which also lived along White, Anderson, and Patoka rivers.

The stately swan, one of the largest of flying birds, whose wnngs, when spread, were sometimes eight or ten feet from tip to tip, used to make Dubois count}^ a way-station in its long journeys between the tropics and the far North ; and along with him came no less than six different varieties of wild geese and at least twenty kinds of wild ducks. Old settlers in Dubois count}' tell of seeing ducks covering an acre of backwater at a time. Other water fowls, such as gulls, terns and even the great cormorant and unsightly pouched pelican belong to our list, while such visitors as the ibis and the roseate spoonbill from the tropics, and the snow bunting and great snowy owl from the arctic regions, were not altogether strangers to Dubois county.

Occasionally a crane was found, sometimes of great size. One was killed that measured six feet and two inches from tip to tip, and stood five feet two inches high.

There were here two very large members of the woodpecker family that are now growing scarce. One of them is occasionally found in this county, where woods still remain. This is the pilated woodpecker, log-cock, or wood-cock, which, including the tail, measures from fifteen to nineteen inches in length. He is a noble looking bird. Any one who has noticed the common "red-head" hammer may guess how this powerful fellow could make the bark and chips fly. The other one, known as the ivory bill, because of his white beak, is still larger and yet more rare. Once he was found in Dubois county, but so far as is known, none exist here now.

Another bird that is now very rare is the noble wild turkey, which was once so abundant that the early settlers frequently shot it from their cabin doors. It is not likely that there are an}' in Dubois county to-day. Wild turkeys were used by the pioneers for food. In the meat line turkeys and deer were the chief subsistence. They were so plentiful that it did not pay to kill the smaller game for food. If needed, a pioneer could kill a dozen or more wild turkeys in a day. Often a load of them would be taken, on foot, to Vincennes, and exchanged for a bag of salt, which would be carried back home.

A bird not now found in the county is the raven. It looked like a crow, but was considerably larger. Ravens were seen at "Raven Rock," near Ellsworth, as late as 1894. Within later periods none have been seen in the state, with perhaps one exception. Once there were many in Columbia township, and two romantic rocks bear their name.

Of the other birds that were once common here, but which are found no more, two will be mentioned - the Carolina paraquet and the wild pigeon. The paraquet was a small parrot, brightly colored with green, yellow and red, and was frequently found in large flocks, especially in the low lands around "Duck Pond" in Patoka township, and "Buffalo Pond" near Jasper. Their brilliant plumage and noisy chatter made them very noticeable, and so we find them mentioned by our pioneers. The Piankishaw Indians were fond of their feathers for ornamental purposes. They were wasteful and mischievous, destroying both the buds and the fruit of the orchards bej'ond all reason. Before the forests were cut away the fruit-trees grew better and bore more regularly. The pioneer set great value on his fruit crop. So he waged a war of extermination on the paraquet, and their going caused no sorrow.

Almost every one has heard of the enormous number of wild pigeons formerly in this county. When they came it was by the million, the great clouds of them fairly darkening the sky. What has become of them is one of the mj'steries not explained. Like the robins, crows, and blackbirds they would select roosting-places, which they would occupy every nio-ht, and settle so thickly on the trees as to break down the branches. People would go with torches to these roosting-places, and with guns and clubs, wage warfare on the flocks. Then there would be a strange and exciting scene.

The poor, bewildered birds would be dazed by the glaring torches. Sometimes, at the report of the guns, the pigeons would rise in a vast swarm, only to settle again in a moment, and the thunder of their wings, followed by the cracking of tree limbs, as they came down, was like the sudden coming of a hurricane. The dead ones were carried awa}- by the hundreds by any one who came to the hunting. The shame was that hundreds were killed that nobody could use. They could be purchased for twenty-five cents a bushel delivered at j'our residence.

About 1838, a famous pigeon-roost occupied the trees where Huntingburg now stands. The pigeons were so numerous that even large trees were broken down. People for many miles around secured all the birds they wanted at this roost. Louisville people came here to hunt. Goodlet Morgan, at that time assistant county clerk of Dubois count}', and a member of the county council of Pike county when he died, (Sunday, October 14, 1907), reports that forest trees were stripped of their branches by the weight of the birds. The roost covered several hundred acres and was famous, even in those days of plenty, in the wild game line. These wild pigeons practicalh' located "Hunting" - burg.

In the springtime, the wild pigeons were frequently so numerous that they appeared like so many floating clouds in the sky. They also had a roosting place near St. Henry, and almost destroyed a forest near there, by breaking off the limbs of the forest trees.

John W. Kemp, of Cass township, says: "I can remember the pigeon roost in Cass township. Pigeons were so numerous they darkened the sun when in quest of food, going out in the morning and returning in the evening. The timber broke under their weight. Their excrement covered the ground to the depth of several inches. Jonathan Walker, the well known fist fighter, lived on the pigeon roost land."

In 1875, the wild pigeons made their la.st visit to this part of the country. Boys, then just beginning to carry a gun, well remember how it used to excite them to see the great flocks come streaming overhead. Every old gun was popping all the time, but as the pigeons were swift flyers and hard to bag when on the wing, the boys' warfare was chiefly noise. Wild pigeons were frequently in the woods in countless numbers, hovering close to the ground searching for beech-nuts, and the wind from their wings was continually blowing the dry leaves about. When they would suddenly rise, on such occasions, a sound like a roll of thunder would result. Somewhere, perhaps, a few wild pigeons may still exist. They are supposed to be almost extinct. No wild pigeons have been seen in Dubois county for many years. The birds that zucre, are now, in the main, replaced by birds that love small wooded areas, thickets, and the open fields. The birds of our pioneers are practically gone.

The "bee-hunter," or "bee-tracer," was a character among the pioneers. To be a successful bee-hunter one had to have some special gift in that line. To locate a bee-tree and recover many pounds of wild honey (often hundreds), was a piece of work to be looked upon with pardonable pride and pleasure, for a bee can outfly a pigeon.

A bee-hunter had various ways of following his occupation. Having, with the keen eye of the pioneer, spied a bee flying by, he sat down and patiently waited for another bee to pass, and then carefully noted its course. Marking the spot where a bee was first seen by blazing a tree, he proceeded to mark the place where a bee was last seen, in the same manner. Then ranging himself with the two blazed trees, he waited for another bee, which, if he had his range true, would soon pass him. Another bee, another blazed tree, and so on until the bee-tree was located. An ax would do the rest.

The pioneer bee-hunter kept his sharp eye on the red and the sugar maple trees, where the wild bee went to get sap during the first warm spring days. He also watched the catkins of the willows along Mill creek, and other creeks in this county. The first spring honej^ was obtained from the flowers of the red maple and the golden willow. The dandelion, a wild and humble plant, not only furnished greens for the pioneers, but nectar for the wild bees in spring. Indian corn, catnip, and mint, (the latter brought here by Kentuckians, from the mint patches of Kentucky), were favorites of the wild bee, but the bloom it loved most was from the linden or bass-wood tree. From one of this kind the pioneer alwa3^s felt sure of getting a line on a bee tree. The basswood was a tall, smooth, light-gray tree found on rich lands, and it grew high enough to carry its deep-green crown far above the surrounding forest trees. Melissa, the goddess of honey, has placed her seal upon this tree and marked it as her own. The pioneer knew little and cared less about that, but he did know where to go to get a "line." Wild bees often went three or four miles in quest of honey, hence it required much skill to locate their hive.

Sometimes the bee-hunter would bait the bees; that is, he would burn honey, or honey-comb, in the woods, which would attract the bees, and noticing their departure, he would range his line to the tree. Again bees visit certain places, usually low and muddy, to drink. Spying bees at such a place the bee-hunter would get his range on the bee. Many bees at a drinking place usualh- indicated that their hive was near by. If the bee flew low it meant he was near his hive. If he flew high it indicated that his hive was beyond the first strip of timber.

Indians knew of the habits of bees and often Indians and pioneers found themselves after the same hive, only to find a bear in possession. A bear loves honey and when a bee-tree was located, it was always watched for bears. Judge Arthur Harbison and William Curry, each killed an Indian near the old "Buff'alo Trace" southwest of Hay.sville. The redmen had located a bee-tree and were gathering the honey, when the white bee-hunters came up.

People marvel at what they call the wisdom of the wild honey-bee, yet there were some things it never learned from experience. It never knew when it had done its work, when it was time to quit, and that it was storing up honey for the use of others. Gather and store honey as long as there was any to be had was its motto, and in that rule it was safe. Perhaps for it to do just this way was the design of Providence.

The Indian, pioneer, and bear knew just when, where, and how to profit b)' the industry of the wild hone}' bee, and they ate its honey - and such honey as w^ould tempt the most fastidious appetite of an epicure - with evident gusto and satisfaction. It was a fit reward for the success of their prowess. Frequently the bear found the honey, the Indian found both, and the pioneer found all. It w^as then a case of the "survival of the fittest."

Before he was driven awa}^ by the woodman's ax, the primitive agent of civilization, the deer, like the other native animals, was at home in the woods of Dubois county. Occasionally deer would become frightened and run into the smaller towns. Dr. E. Stephenson used to relate that when was deputy count}' clerk, in the "forties," he shot two deer in Jasper from a window at the north side of the county clerk's ofiice. They were running down Main street, between Seventh and Eighth.

The red deer were plentiful, and had paths across the divides in the hilly country and to springs and "deer licks" in the valleys. The deer path often became a path for human feet, then a bridle path, and finally a wagon road and public highway. The deer was inclined to be social, but suspicious, and well he might be. When a deer was killed, in the early days, only the skin and hams were taken. Sometimes the hunter kept the branching antlers to grace his cabin.

One way the women had of cooking venison (or turkey) was by hanging it beneath a piece of bear meat, allowing the dripping grease of the bear meat to fall on the venison (or turkey) and thus season it by means of the rich grease of the bear. Mills were scarce, and frequently wild meat and hominy were the only articles of food.

The black bears were plentiful in the forests of Dubois county, and left the imprints of their powerful claws upon many of our large forest trees. Bear wallows were often to be seen in the deep woods, and of all vicious wild animals that lived in this county, the bear has left his mark the most enduring even to this day. In Yowell cave, in Columbia township, are to be seen, at this time, bear wallows, or nests, or lairs, in which bears hibernated many, many years ago. They were clawed out of the soft floor of the cave to the size of a bath-tub. The prints of their monster claws may be seen very distinctly.

The black bear was ever a troublesome and intrusive neighbor, while the wolf was dangerous and menacing. The latter was so undesirable that the first general assembly that met at Corydon, 1817, passed a law allowing a bounty on wolves, if killed within six miles of a settlement. If the wolf was under two months old the hunter got one dollar, if over, he got two dollars. The hunter had to produce the wolf scalp and both ears to prove his claim and get his bounty. Even so late as January 24, 1828, the Indiana legislature, in session at Indianapolis, made appropriations out of the state treasury to pay for their destruction. Wolves were often killed b}' hunters finding their dens, catching the puppies and making them cry. That would bring up the old ones only to be shot.

Hogs were wild in the woods, and roamed in such great numbers that they were dangerous. One pioneer did lose his life, in Hall creek bottoms, through their viciousness. They were allowed to feed on the masts and roots and to care for themselves. About the only thing the pioneer would do would be to determine how many he wanted or needed, and when they became fat, proceed to supply himself. No one seemed to care ; they required no trouble to raise and brought a very small price upon the market. However it is said that in 1S35, a flat-boat was loaded with pork and taken down to the southern markets. Wild hogs destroyed many rattlesnakes and moccasins.

Hogs and other stock ran in the open woods and pioneers protected their property by cuts and marks upon the animals. In a little record of seventeen pages that, in some mysterious manner, escaped the court house fire in 1839 appears the following entry:

The above paragraph is a copy of the first entry in this old book and thus becomes the first entry on existing official records in Dubois county.

In 1832: William Shoemaker, Jacob Weidman, Ashbury Alexander, Jr., Thomas Alexander, Adam Miller, Robert Oxley, Moses Kelso, Alexander Bowling, John Bowling, Stephen Robinson and Raleigh Horton.

This list gives the reader reliable information of the class of men constituting the original resident pioneers of this county, between 1833 and 1838. Not all were land owners, but resided here, which some land owners did not do. In a sense, the little record is a roll of honor.

The pioneer kept his squirrel rifle in a rack over the door and his hounds in the yard, and a blast from his horn and a call to Watch or Tyler, the hound by that name which was trained to lead the pack, always brought them. They were the signals for the chase that all well understood, and it may be said, parenthetically, that to the man who loves dogs and a fox hunt there is no other music so sweet as that of a pack of hounds on the trail of a fox on a frosty October night when there is naught to mar the melody. A "coon" hunt perhaps comes nearer to it than any other sport.

The old-time fox chase would continue all night and would frequently take those engaged in it ten, fifteen, and sometimes, twenty miles away from their starting place ; and woe to the rail fence that was too high for the horses to jump. It was thrown down and left down. The pursuers of reynard were too eager in the heat of the chase to put up fences. Fortunately, in that day, such an act was not considered seriously. The present law of trespass had not evolved so as to punish the devotee of the chase.

The commissioners of Dubois county would pay out of the county treasury fifty cents for each fox scalp, with both ears attached, that hunters brought to their court. Occasionally a hunter killed a shy gray fox. The pioneer always wore the " brush " of this fox with pride, for he was hard to kill. The red fox lingered in Dubois county for years after the gray fox had disappeared.

Pioneers claimed that a common fox could cover a mile in two minutes and twenty seconds, a fox hound in two minutes and forty seconds, and a gray wolf in three minutes. A first class grey hound can run a mile in two minutes.

To save their fences from being torn down by men on the chase, pioneers, in the course of time, often built their fences " horse high, pig tight, and bull strong." No fences bounded contiguous fields ; the settlers lived too far apart. Contiguous fences came into use in 1850, but are now rapidly passing away, under the operations of the stock law requiring stock to be fenced in, not out.

The pioneers of Dubois county, as a general rule, settled along the rivers and creeks. The country was then in a normal condition, an unbroken, dense forest of various kinds of timber, with a rank undergrowth of bushes, vines, and weeds. It was a perfect jungle, and the hunter and pioneer, in order to pass through it, were compelled to follow the deer paths, which usually crossed ridges in low places. It was the natural abode of wild animals - the black bear, panther, wolf, lynx, wild cat and other smaller carnivorous animals. It was a hunter's paradise. It is said that there were more beavers on Patoka river than anywhere else in Indiana. Even to-day many signs of their industry are to be seen, mostly in the shape of " beaver dams."

Among the mighty pioneer hunters in Dubois county might be mentioned Robert Stewart, (who was also gunsmith for both Indian and Caucasian), William Fisher, James Cox, Sr., Henry Bruner, John Mayraw, Nelson Harris, Sr., (the first land owner in Bainbridge township), Griffith Evilsizer, Isaac Alexander, Thomas Simmons, of Cass township, who was born in Kentucky, October 12, 1807, (Mr. Simmons shot black bears in Cass township), and Martin Mickler. Mr. Mickler, in his old age, was presented with a medal for his prowess as a "mighty hunter." There is a story that once upon a time John Mayraw climbed a tree which was bent very low, over-hanging Patoka river, in order to get a shot at some wild turkeys across the river. He noticed a peculiar blazed spot on the upper side of the body of the tree, and that the tree w^as trying to grow over a dead piece of timber that had been pinned into its body. With the assistance of Nelson Harris, Sr., a few days later, the dead piece of timber and the new growth of the tree that was holding the timber in its place, were chopped away, only to find in the hollowed place beneath it the shrunken remains of an Indian child.

railroad and the Kellerville pike meet, about two miles from Jasper. He was of heroic stature, buried face dowmward, the head of the body being to the nortli. With the remains were found tomahawks, beads, arrow heads, and a copper spear. The spear was nearl}- nine inches long, onehalf inch wide at one end, and tapering to a fine point.

This Indian burial ground eventually became a " pigeon roost," and there are many inches of pigeon excrement above the original land surface. The Indian was buried about four feet below the original land surface.

About two miles northeast of this Indian burial ground, and near the corner of Harbison, Marion and Bainbridge townships is an Indian cave. In this cave many beads, arrow heads, tomahawks, and other Indian relics have been found.

The Piankishaw Indians were not savages as Indians are sometimes considered. The tribal village, Chipkawkay, was on the banks of the Wabash, at Vincennes. and the friendly influence of the French made itself felt. They got beads, crosses, blankets, hatchets, guns and trinkets at Vincennes. As a rule, the Piankishaw Indian buried his dead in the ground.

The present generation cannot possibly have any clear conception of Dubois county at the time the McDonalds entered its dark shade with the determination to make a home for themselves and families. From our knowledge, gained by conversations with many pioneers now dead, and from ofiicial records and laws then enacted, we \vere able to record the obstacles that had to be surmounted. The constant daily toil and hardships endured by the first pioneers, in their heroic struggle to transform the wilderness into cultivated fields, deserved to be broken, occasionally by merry hunts and other recreations.