Sketch XXXIV
Whiskey: A Medium of Exchange
In the early days of old Long Point Settlement, money was a scarce article among the settlers. Their wants were few, and the most of these were supplied by crude, house-devised means. An iron kettle was the great desideratum after the log-house had been erected¾in fact, it was an indispensable article of domestic use in the log cabin era. By its use a family supply of sugar, potash, soap, and various other necessaries was obtained. The “six-pail” kettle was the usual size, and more than one Long Point pioneer carried one of these kettles on his back from Niagara through the forest; and we must not forget that the old-fashioned kettles, like the old-fashioned stoves, were much heavier than the kettles and stoves of like dimensions are in our time. Tea was very expensive in pioneer times. It was a luxury quite beyond the reach of the settler, and but little of it found its way into the log cabins. A warm drink made by steeping various kind of barks and roots was used as a substitute; and a kind of coffee made of roasted corn and other home-prepared materials was used.
A cow, or two, a few sheep, a yoke of oxen, two or three pigs, a few chickens, and a big iron kettle, was considered a good start for any family. With this outfit, the settler was pretty much independent of the outside world. The dairy was in full operation from the day the log cabin was built, as the cows were able to get their living in the forest. A supply of pork, also, was readily obtained in the start, as the pigs found an abundance of nuts to grow fat on. Skins of wild and domestic animals were tanned in troughs, and thus, material was obtained for footwear and various other purposes. An early supply of wool was available, as sheep, also, were able to subsist on Nature’s supply of herbage. As soon as a little virgin soil was reclaimed and brought under cultivation, flax was sown and soon the settler was provided with two raw materials¾wood and flax; and necessity found ways and means of converting these two all-important products of pioneer life into nearly every article of bedding and wearing apparel needed. Coons were plentiful, and a home-made cap made of a home-tanned coon-skin, was just as comfortable, and far more durable, than the three dollar caps worn by us. In fact, as before stated, the pioneer’s wants, out side of what he was able to supply at home, were few; and, consequently, there was not much use for money as a medium through which the settler might exchange that which he had and did not want, for that which he did not have, and wanted.
Later on, this isolated, self-dependent condition, gave way to a system of barter, or an interchange of commodities. Sawmills made their appearance, and the settler exchanged saw-logs for lumber and shingles. Grist-mills were built, and the hollow in the white-oak stump was no longer used as a grain mortar. Tanneries were erected, and the old tan-trough went into decay and took its sickening odor with it. Stores of merchandise appeared here and there, and a sort of home market was established where furs and other commodities might be exchanged for articles of food and comfort which could not be produced at home; and thus the settler’s wants began to multiply.
In this stage of development, numerous distilleries made their appearance.
As we look back at this distillery epoch in our history, we feel inclined to place a low value on the moral tone of pioneer society at that time. We often hear it remarked that whiskey was cheap and pure in those days, and that drunkenness was less prevalent than it is to-day. This sounds well as an apology for the enormous quantity of whiskey consumed by our hearty old ancestors, still it does not quite remove the feeling that the moral tone of those times was not as good, so far as the use of intoxicating liquors is concerned, as it is in our day. But we must not boast, as individuals, of being more temperate in the use of ardent spirits on account of our superior virtues and moral excellences, for this would place our staunch old forefathers in a false light. We drink less whiskey than they did, not because we are better men and women, but because we live in a better age. Then, it was the fashion to drink whiskey; now, it is not. Then, it was deemed a universal tonic for every weakness of the flesh, and was considered indispensable in the daily transaction of business; now, we look upon old king Alcohol as a deceiver, a mocker and a destroyer. If our fore-fathers had seen the old tyrant in the brighter light of our times, they would have shown him less favors that we do, for their convictions of right and wrong were stronger than ours, and they were more courageous in giving their convictions practical effect, than we are.
These distilleries made a market for rye and corn, and as the larger portion of the cleared lands in the settlement were especially adapted to the growth of these two cereals, they became staple crops. The distillers operated with limited capital which was sometimes tied up in stock, and, consequently, they were not at all times able to pay the settlers for their grain in the coin of the Queen’s realm. And even when they were in a position to pay cash, the price offered in trade was so much better, the settlers got into the habit of exchanging their grain for whiskey. In this way whiskey became a sort of medium of exchange. It was not an unusual thing at this time for a well-to-do settler to have his cellar full of 50-gallon casks of whiskey. Of course the stock improved with age, and when he was able to hold it, it was as good as so much money put out at interest with the advantage of retaining it in his own hands and realizing upon it whenever he wished to. The settler who “set ‘em up” in a liberal way was more apt to find a market among the tavern-keepers for a barrel of whiskey now and then, then the fellow who did all his drinking out of a quart dipper in his own cellar. Every storekeeper dealt in it, and a barrel of whiskey might always be turned in on account, or exchanged for other supplies. Whiskey was sound currency everywhere, and instances are recorded where labor contracts were based on a whiskey consideration. “Boot money” at this time invariably meant whiskey; and one instance is related of a man who obtained a wife in consideration of a barrel of whiskey, and after she married him he stole the whiskey and drank it himself. Whiskey during this period seems to have been looked upon as the “staff of life.” It was found everywhere, at “raisin’s,” at “loggin’ bees,” at “plowin’ matches,” at “quiltin’s,” at “huskin’ bees,” and, in fact, wherever the people assembled; except, perhaps, at the weekly prayer meetings.
The quantity of whiskey consumed by some of the old pioneers is a sufficient proof that it must have been “cheaper and purer” than it is to-day. When the business affairs of one prominent old pioneer were settled up after his death, his distillery bill showed that he had consumed a half gallon of whiskey per day for some time previous to his death. The pages of Cross & Fisher’s old day-book tell many a similar story; but it will be sufficient to mention one case only. The name of a certain old pioneer, whose descendants are very numerous and highly-respected, appears on nearly every page of this old blotter. It seems that on the 22nd of July in a certain year, this almost daily customer made up his mind that he was squandering too much valuable time in buying his whiskey from day to day by the single gallon, and so he made a purchase of a 54-gallon cask of whiskey. On the 22nd of September¾just two months after¾the cask was empty and the thirsty old pioneer was again buying by the single-gallon. Oh! yes; whiskey must have been cheaper and purer in those days.