IMH 74:4 p 336

"Chronicles of Upper Burnet" (1)

Tuesday October 26th.

The day was damp cloudy and disagreeable. Work on the everlasting cow barn however progressed without interruption.
I was sent up to Bob Foster's to see about some potatoes but found him not. I soon came back and found Jake here. He
wanted a barrel of salt hauled out from town. He soon left. I hitched to the wagon, went down and picked up the corn I
pulled yesterday. I left part of it on the pen in the calf-lot and brought the rest of it to the crib. After dinner, Alvin helping
me load, I started with a load of wood to town. When I arrived at Donald Bain's,43 for the first time in the family history,
the king-bolt of the wagon broke. I borrowed one of Bain's, partly unloaded the wagon and with the help of the boys got
things righted, and started on again. After unloading I drove down to Kiefer's,44 had the king-bolt mended then went and
got Jake's salt, and lastly got home about six o'clock. Nathe Whitson came this afternoon and got his broad-ax

Teaching Notes: The king-bolt or king-pin connects the rear set of wheels to the front set and its breaking would be a
major problem. In Indiana and other corn belt states, you will find a community on about a 4-5 mile grid. Usually these
small "burgs" had at least two buildings--- a church and a blacksmith. In your classroom you might draw your community
on the board and then have the students name the small communities around them with the distances from the town.
Some may be gone by now.

The broad ax was probably used to hew up the timbers for the new cow barn