reused as a substitute for cords. Upon this, the wife
    :iedher straw tick, and if she had a homemade feather
    she piled it up into a luxurious mound and covered it
    thher sheets and quilts. Sometimes sheets were hung
    istthe wall at the head and side of the bed, which added
    chto the coziness of this pioneer bedroom. The sleeping
        aneetwas generally called a "prairie bedstead."
    If the settler arrived in* the early part of the season and
    dnot time to plant, or had no fields prepared, he could, at
    thave a truck-patch, where a little corn, a few potatoes
    dturnips, and some other vegetables were put in the
    un.Of course this was only to make his small supply,
    hihhe had brought with him, reach as far as possible. His
    egrstores consisted of flour, bacon, tea, and coffee. But
    eesupplies would frequently be exhausted before a regu-
    rcrop of wheat or corn could be raised, and game being
    etflhelped to eke them out. But when the corn was
    seit was not easily prepared for the table. The mills for
    inigwere at such distances away that every other device
    asresorted to for making meal.
  SSome grated it on an implement made by punching small
  'hlsthrough a piece of tin or sheet iron and fastening it
  upna board in concave shape, with the rough side out.
Upon this the ear was rubbed to produce the meal. But grat-
ing could not be done when the corn became so dry as to shell
off when rubbed.


     While most of the earliest settlers built houses
of logs, later and more affluent arrivals offered diver-
sity. The settlers who had left behind good houses
usually built good houses in Wisconsin as soon as
possible. These dwellings might have sawn lumber,
glass, smoothed floorboards, and mortar neatly point-
ed. Lumber was obtained from small nearby mills;
mill sites were in great demand, and establishing
sawmills had top priority, since the demand for sawn
lumber was so great. Oak, basswood, elm, maple, and
walnut were favored in southern Wisconsin. Soon,
however, pine lumber was available from Sheboygan
and Manitowoc counties.
     Some of the Wisconsin farmhouses were even
pretentious, with brick shipped up the Mississippi to
Prairie du Chien and by wagon overland to the home
location. Other enterprising settlers built their
houses of stone, or at times of stove wood, laid up
and mortared. When "Cream City brick" became
popular, many farm homes were built of that distinc-
tive brick made in Milwaukee.
     Settlers often tried to make their Wisconsin


The best clothes came out to show the family pride.


17