at the house, on we jogged to where Homer and the rest of the boys
were preparing to thrash out two wheat-ricks, at a neighbour s.
The great machine was placed beteen the ricks, and all were busy.
A call to dinner all in the house. Coffee, bacon & fixings. Then
the thrashing began right bonnily. Four horses the propelling power,
a man standing whip in hand at the centre of the horizontal wheel
they caused to revolve; Homer feeding the machine with what his
brother pitchforked from the rick above. Three or four others busily
employed also. Clack went the iron & wood work, straw & chaff
mounted aloft by means of revolving canvass, (falling & commencing
a rick on its own account); while at the side sacks were busily
filled with the grain. An hour or so, then Mr Hall intima-
ting he was ready, to the buggy again, and off for four or five
miles of hot dusty road, the latter part of it wild & pictures-
que looking. Up-hill & through thick trees, valley & rock &
stream below us. Scarcely did a mortal pass us. Arrived at
the spot, we dismounted, tied horse, clambered through fence &
passing across a meadow came to what should have been Buttermilk
Falls. But the hot Summer had caused the stream to dry up &
sink into crevices above, so standing at the centre of the edge we
could but look down. Some seventy feet perhaps, a small though
deep pool, (semicircular the basin) and beyond all thicket rock
and woodland, tall cliffs rising on each side, all hidden by trees.
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Five: page seven |
| Description: | Describes witnessing the thrashing of wheat ricks. |
| Date: | 1852-08-02 |
| Subject: | Agriculture; Farms; Food; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Hall, Elisha; Hall, Homer; Horses; Nature |
| Coverage (City/State): | [Genesee County, New York] |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-02 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Five |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of Gunn looking for drawing and writing work among New York publishers, witnessing a fire at a chocolate factory, attending a religious camp meeting, his friendship with Lotty Whytal, the 1852 presidential election, a visit to Niagara Falls in the winter, a visit to Toronto, Canada, and the Crystal Palace in New York. |
| Subject: | Gunn, Thomas Butler; Railroad; Publishers and publishing; Religion; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Niagara, New York; Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2011 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
