of Menard and Mason Counties
By T.G. Onstott
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CHAPTER XLII Page 392 Mention might be made of Pulaski Scovel who lived at Waterford and at whose mill all the lumber was made that was used till the canal was finished, which was in 1850. The families that lived in the town got their living from the sawmill. The whole country was heavily timbered, the bottoms with burr oak walnut and hickory, while in the uplands was the finest of white oak. The mill at Waterford sawed some of the finest oak lumber that was ever marked, and Pulaski Scovel was the man that sawed it. Scovel owned a fine farm east of Havana where Rube Henninger now lives; but in after years moved to Leases Grove, where he lived and died fifteen years ago, an old but much respected man. He delivered his lumber at Havana with ox teams. George Morganville was one of his drivers and could make an ox do anything he wanted. The day of oxen has passed away and a new era has dawned. Gore Palmer said at Old Salem that the horse race and shooting match had to go as the Chautauqua had taken its place. A circular sawmill at Havana in 1854, run by the Webbs, worked up the elm and cottonwood. I recollect getting a couple of thousand feet of it that shrunk four inches endways and that twisted around like a gin barrel. Yet the people were happy in those days, their wants were about in keeping with their income and there was more friendly feeling among the people. A man was measured by what he was worth, mentally and morally. Now we have so many pumpkin fed aristocrats that a modest man is kept in the back ground. As before mentioned we drove an ox team at Havana for years. Most of our hauling was from the bluffs above Waterford in Fulton county, where many good people lived and some that were not so good. There were the Mileses, the Warners, the Arnots and the Pottses, all good honest people. We often drove up there and stayed over night and the neighbors would come in to hear the news from town and to get us to do their figuring for them. Most of their figuring was as to the number of acres or rods they had grubbed for their neighbors. The land would be in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Sometimes they would want to know the amount that their rails would come to. There were no schoolhouses in the neighborhood at that time. But finally they agreed to build a schoolhouse and it was located on Tom Arnot's land. The people turned out and hewed the logs and built the house. Then the question arose as to who should teach the school. Tom Arnot thought as the building was on his land he could teach the cheapest because he could board at home. Mrs. Potts objected. Her daughter, Hulda Ann had better "larnin." "Now," said she, "Tom Arnot has got no book larnin." He says there is only two rules in grammar; one is to write the English language correctly and the other is to write it properly. "Now," said she, "I know three more than that myself. There is ettymology, sintax and prosidy and I don't know how many more." But Tom got the school. There were many outlaws living in the bottoms and on the bluffs above and below Waterford who would steal, rob hen roosts and drive off cattle and hogs. They would hide from the officers during the day time and make their escape at night. Dave Waggoner, who was sheriff for twenty-five years, would take Tow Ellsworth, who now lives at Forest City, go out and lay for the outlaws at night and capture their men before daylight the next morning. Mr. Ellsworth can relate many thrilling experiences he had with Waggoner.
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