Not So Far from History

I'm always so grateful to hear my furnace kick on when it's this cold. When it's really cold, it seems to take longer to start, and I hold my breath until I feel that rush of warmth pushing through the registers.

Sometimes while I'm holding my breath, I think about pioneers; the early settlers who decided to start encampments in places like Buffalo, Maine, or North Dakota. The places that get lots of snow and bone-chilling cold. What made those first settlers decide, “sure, we can live in 7 feet of snow”?

I know some places started out as military outposts; they built forts in strategic places, but what made them stay? What makes us stay? We have the modern conveniences of electricity, automatic heat, insulation, and supermarkets. Those early people did not have it so easy. They chopped wood to build shelter, they chopped wood for heat, they had to hunt for food, and during the winter, there were no fresh fruits or vegetables. Heck, even during the summer, fresh fruit wasn't plentiful like it is today.

Oh, I know they dried fruit and cured meat; they needed food to make the long voyages to where they were going. What I mean is that they couldn't go to Wegmans to grab oranges, bananas and the like.

I was just reading some brief history about Fort Niagara, the fort that is closest to me. Pretty normal stuff pertaining to military outposts, but there was an interesting incident they call “The Morgan Affair”. Quite the little mystery, that is. Essentially, Morgan spoke out against the Masons, was kidnapped and held prisoner at Fort Niagara. Then he disappeared. Masons claim he left while anti-Masons say he was murdered. You can read more here if you'd like.

But I digress. I always digress. I'm just a digress-er from way back, aren't I?

What I'm getting at, is, even if I were completely healthy, I'm pretty sure I would have never made it. If I were in the Donner Party, I think I'd have been lunch, or perhaps brunch. I don't like the cold, or the extreme heat. Pioneers didn't have climate control. They didn't have regular access to coffee, and if they did, making coffee was a job in itself. Most families got their coffee green, roasted it themselves, and if they didn't have anything to grind the coffee (meaning a handmill, not an automatic coffee grinder like we have), they had to pound it with a hammer. Here are some interesting tidbits.

Yea, I know, I'm comparing modern me to hypothetical pioneer me, and it's really not an accurate or fair comparison. I suppose if I were raised having it (what I think is) really hard, I'd be accustomed to it, and get through it because I wouldn't know any different. I come from sturdy stock, as my mom used to say. My mom's side hails from Ireland and Italy while my dad's side is from Germany and Poland. My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents (who I never knew) were all strong, resourceful and resilient.

I guess it's possible some of that trickled down to me, too, but I like being a city girl with all of my modern things. I complain about grocery shopping, not chopping down trees. I complain about slow internet, not snow coming through the spaces in the walls of my cabin where the mud fell out. I complain about dogs barking, not a bear raiding my larder. I choose my laundry products carefully so they aren't too scented, I don't have to choose the best rock on the river bank.

I wonder what pioneers would think of how easy we have it (at least how easy I have it)? Would they be amazed? Disgusted? I suppose just like modern us, some pioneers would be amazed, some would be disgusted, and some would be totally confused. In that respect, we're really not so far from our history.