HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY	421

grain having then yet been produced in the virgin soil of the county. His
family, as well as some of his neighbors, were without bread, subsisting
for the time on game and a few vegetables. Though corn could be bought
at places, he bad no money to pay for it. One day, while out at work,.
clearing up ground, his attention was drawn to the barking of his dogs
in the distance, as though they had some game at bay. On going to them
he found that they had an otter run in, which he caught and skinned, and
the next day took the hide to Terre Haute and sold it for $2.50. Return-
ing home, he went up into Raccoon valley and purchased a couple bushels
of corn from a farmer who had a surplus. This corn he took to the Kil-
gore mill, in Parke county, where he had to wait two days to have it
ground, all customers taking their turns. This lucky find, by the help of
his dogs, provided the family with bread for some time, with a small
cash balance for other necessaries.

A Case of Tcnacity in Hog Life.
	Seventy years ago there was a most remarkable example of tenacity
in the life of the hog, in Lewis township, as vouched for by A. J. Baber.
On the west side of Eel river, a little below where the Eldorado mill stood
at a later day, a large hog lay in a hollow log from the 26th day of
November, 1838, to the 8th day of January following, a period of forty-
three days, closely confined and without anything to eat. Having wasted
away in flesh and size sufficiently to extricate itself, the animal cam.e out
and soon recovered from the effects of its protracted imprisonment and
fast.

First Stray Horse in the County.
	In the spring of 1829 one of Martin Bowles’ horses strayed away
from the family home, near the National road, in Posey township, a mile
east of Cloverland. Thinking it to have gone in the direction of Eel river,
Bowles started in pursuit. There was then but one house between his
home and that of James P. Thomas, on Eel river, near Bowling Green,
which was Levi Walker’s cabin, on what was afterward long known as the
Gilfillan place, immediately east of the present town of Center Point.
Walker accompanied Bowles in the search for his horse. It was in time
of high water, and they had to swim the streams. The search was con-
tinued as far as Jared Peyton’s, who lived between Eel river and the
site of the town of Poland, where they stayed all night. They did not
find the missing horse, nor did Bowles ever hear of the animal afterward.

Sixty-eight Cents for a Public Service.
	In 1846 the board of trustees of Harrison township appropriated all
the available funds in the hands of the township treasurer to the purchase
of shovels for road working, and constituted Harvey Lankford agent of
the township to make such purchase. It is not said in the record of this
transaction where the agent should buy the tools, but, presumably, at
Bowling Green, Point Commerce or Terre Haute. At a subsequent meet-
ing of the board of trustees, Lankford having discharged the duty com-
mitted to him, so reported and was allowed sixty-eigbt cents for the
service.

Slept Out and Lost His Gun.
	At one of the pioneer shooting matches, at Rawley’s mill, at the Old
Hill, James Treasher, who lived across the line in Greene county, became
intoxicated, lost his way and lay out all night, losing his new rifle, worth