The First Crop of Wheat

"In the fall of 1845, Mr. HENSLEY, who had sown winter wheat on the land he had broken the previous fall, raised a bountiful crop. This was the first wheat known to be grown in Fayette County. In the Autumn, as soon as he could get some of it threshed and dry enough to grind, he sent his two boys, Andrew J. and Jacob G., with twelve bushels loaded on an ox wagon to Cascade, Dubuque County, to mill. It was not an easy task "to go to mill" in those days, and the boys were gone eight days. They had reached Hewett's on their way home with the first flour made from Fayette County wheat, but during the night their oxen strayed away, and, and, the next morning, not finding their team, they started for home. They were barefooted, and were in constant dread of rattlesnakes as well as Indians. Arriving in sight of home, the boys were terrified, as they could discover no signs of life about the premises, and feared that the rest of the family had been captured and carried away by the Indians. They approached their home very cautiously, with heavy hearts, but were much relieved and rejoiced when they found their father and mother, at the other side of the cabin, digging potatoes. Mr. Hensley went to Hewitt's, found the stray cattle, and brought the flour home in safety. The boys dreaded the Indians, and the family appears to have had good cause for hating their uncomfortable and insolent neighbors."