Archive for January 20th, 2008
‘In the fall of the year, after seeding time, every family formed
an association with some of their neighbors, for starting the
little caravan
‘In the fall of the year, after seeding time, every family formed
an association with some of their neighbors, for starting the
little caravan. A master driver was to be selected from among
them, who was to be assisted by one or more young men and
sometimes a boy or two. The horses were fitted out with
packsaddles, to the latter part of which was fastened a pair of
hobbles made of hickory withes,–a bell and collar ornamented
their necks. The bags provided for the conveyance of the salt
were filled with bread, jerk, boiled ham, and cheese furnished a
provision for the drivers. At night, after feeding, the horses,
whether put in pasture or turned out into the woods, were hobbled
and the bells were opened. The barter for salt and iron was made
first at Baltimore; Frederick, Hagerstown, Oldtown, and Fort
Cumberland, in succession, became the places of exchange. Each
horse carried two bushels of alum salt, weighing eighty-four
pounds to the bushel. This, to be sure, was not a heavy load for
the horses, but it was enough, considering the scanty subsistence
allowed them on the journey. The common price of a bushel of alum
salt, at an early period, was a good cow and a calf.
