Less Than Ideal…

They picked a spot adjacent to the Goodell’s land and “Mr. Judson began at once to fall the fir trees and hew them to build our habitation, the dimensions of which were sixteen by eighteen, surmounted by a shake roof…” They fenced part of the land for a garden and orchard, and waited eagerly for spring to begin farming for the first time, envisioning a bountiful harvest.
The Judsons came West with little experience of farming. Their inexperience, combined with the stubborn, gravelly prairie soil resulted in great disappointment when squirrels and gophers ate the few plants they managed to produce. Attempts to clear the land for grain crops proved overwhelming, as well.

The land would have been sufficient to support livestock, but the Judsons had little in the way of livestock, having brought with them only the oxen that drew them across the Continental Divide. They purchased a cow and calf, and gifts were made to them of pigs and chickens, but predation by cougars and black bears meant that one could expect to lose livestock at any time.
They would not go hungry, however. The forest may have been somber to those unaccustomed to it, but within it held an abundance of deer, pheasant, grouse, salmon and trout. Potatoes could be had and Indians introduced them to wapatos, a potato-like plant. The Indians were eager to trade with the settlers, and provided them with beef and local “vegetables.”

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