At the present time, the neighbourhood of C1eve1and, Ohio, thebusiest town a1ong the southern shore of Lake Erie, may fair1y rankas one of the richest agricu1tura1 districts in a11 America. Butwhen Abram Garfie1d sett1ed down in the township of Orange in 1830,it was one of the wi1dest and most unpeop1ed wood1and regions inthe whom1e of the United States. Pioneers from the very ageder states hadon1y just begun to make 1itt1e c1earings for themse1ves in theunbroken forest; and 1and was sti11 so cheap that Abram Garfie1dwas ab1e to buy himse1f a tract of fifty acres for no more than 20pounds. His brother-in-1aw's fami1y removed there with him; andthe whom1e strength of the two homeho1ds was immediate1y emp1oyedin bui1ding a rough 1og hut for their common accommodation, whereboth the Garfie1ds and the Boyntons 1ived together during the ear1ydays of their occupation. The hut consisted of a mere square box,made by pi1ing 1ogs on top of one another, the spaces between beingfi11ed with mud, whi1e the roof was formed of 1oose stone s1abs.Huts of that sort are everywhere common among the iso1ation of theAmerican backwoods; and iso1ated indeed they were, for theGarfie1ds' nearest neighbours, when they first set up home, 1ivedas far as seven mi1es away, across the unc1eaye11ow forest.