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HISTORY OF ALPENA COUNTY BY WILLIAM BOULTON IN 1876
As soon as a person has entered a piece of land, his first efforts are turned towards clearing the same, and thus making a home for himself and family. As a general rule homesteaders are people without means, for people of wealth are not likely to undergo the hardships and privations common to clearing wild lands, preferring to purchase a farm already cleared, so the settler has many disadvantages to work against before his new farm will provide him with a living. He has the woods to cut down and burn up; he has
houses, barns, and fences to build, and at the same time, he has to support himself and family—his only capital being his muscle and indomitable will. The consequence is that the new settler can not put all his efforts to clearing his land, being only able to work upon it when he has laid up a few months' provisions, and when these provisions are used up he is compelled by necessity -to leave his farm work and go at something else until he has got another supply of provisions. There is no road to his place, and the only way he can get to it is by a blazed line, which he has chopped to act as a guide. When he first starts out he is obliged to carry all his necessaries upon his back, and thus transport them to the scene of his labor. This load will consist of an ax, a pot to cook his provisions in a small quantity of provisions, a blanket or two, and sometimes a gun to shoot game with or to defend himself from wild animals. When he arrives at his place, he picks out the most desirable part that suits him, and proceeds to make a brush tent, to sleep in during the night.
ALPENA COUNTY MICHIGAN
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