Chester Howe opened his law office that year. John Thatcher astounded his neighbors and townsfolk by making the first ''brimstone'' matches produced in the town.

The vi1llage was gaining professionally, too. Dr. Seth Fields arrived in 1833 and other physicians during this period included Dr. Merrick, Dr. Fritts, Dr. Merritt, Dr. Davidson and Dr. S. Ellis. Solomon Dunham and Daniel Wheeler moved to Illinois. Turner Aldrich also left the village, selling his holdings and moving with his family to Michigan.

The Mansion House was built in about 1836, by Phineas Spencer and managed by Zebedee Macomber. It had three stories and basement

Its location was on the corner now occupied by the Bank of Gowanda

An inventory of the village in 1840 would show a population of about 400. There were 15 stores including the gun shop of Gool Redfield and the harness shop of Col. Thomas Parker. The merchants included Welch & White, Zimri Wa1·ner, Helvin Weaks, Hiram Palmer, Leander Orr, Amasa Chaffee and H. N. Hooker. There were six taverns, two churches, two schools-and a lot of traffic coming across the bridge. It was a time of progress and the village was becoming closely knit community which was steadily utilizing its resources and preparing-consciously or otherwise-for further expansion.

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DURING tl1e decade of 1840 to 1850, the great majority of the original log cabins were replaced by frame houses. While money was somewhat more plentiful in town, the farmers in t,he vicinity continued to trade by barter for the supplies they needed.

But the days of stark want and poverty were passing. For one thing, food was abundant and homes were being furnished in a more luxurious manner. Cord bedsteads with husk or straw mattresses, topped by great soft feather ticks, replaced the old "horse-bedstead" which had been such a permanent fixture in the corner of the pioneer's log cabin. Guests were made comfortable in winter time by hand

woven woolen sheets, heated soap-stones and warming pans. Hand dipped candles furnished the evening light. The big fire-place was always eady to house a roaring fire where the children would gather round the hearth to roast apples and hestnuts. Barrels of salted beef and pork assured the meat supply and there was usually a chicken o be had for the Sunday di11ner. Everyone had their garden, a cow and several hogs .

As lawn mowers were unknown, the big scythe was used to cut down the hay in the front yard. Since the cows were prone to stray on their way to pasture, most folks put up

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picket fences to keep animals out of their front yards. Cast iron stoves for kitchens and living rooms were coming into use, displacing fireside cookery.

Another source of food was obtained from the flocks of passenger pigeons, which were so numerous that they often broke down the tree limbs on which they happened to congregate. Pigeo-n nets were used to snare the birds. The breasts would be packed in barrels, covered with strong brine, for future use.

1840 was a year of ''Hard Cider Politics''. The Whig party was in the local ascendancy at that time&emdash;and party spirit ran high. A log cabin was raised at Lodi on July 11th where the Tippecanoe Club met every Saturday night.

Hon. N. M. Alleo said years later, that the outward appearance of this log cabin during this campaign would have frightened an Indian. The log cabin stood on the lot now occupied by Harry Whiting's store at 34 West Main Street. The officers of the Tippecanoe Club were: Dr. Seth Field, President; L. H. Pitcher, John L. Henry, James H. McMillain, John Pierce, Alanson Dewey, Edward Van

Drake, Wilber Wilcox, Leander Orr and Willard Slocum, Vice-Presidents; Chester Howe and S. C. Springer, Secretaries; D. C. Amsden, Treasurer.

Not to be outdone, Ahaz Allen built a canoe of white-wood, twenty feet long, and named it John Tyler. He kept it at the mouth of Point Peter Brook where there was a pond of slack water and sometimes it would float out on the Cattaraugus Creek and bob merrily down stream. Finally a flood carried the canoe to the lake and that was the last of Allen's political craft.

It was a period when energy and ambition were having their reward. The brief history of Judge Ashbel H. Hurd is interesting as indicative of what could be accomplished in those days:

Born in 1814 in Oneida County, Ashbel Hurd was the son of Nathanial Hurd who moved his family to West Perrysburg about 1820. The Methodist Church, of which the boy's father was a devout member, was near the Hurd home. When the boy was about fifteen he made the mistake of shooting a hen

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