Almont North Dakota

EARLY PIONEER LIFE
by Caroline Larson

     “Come on in Tennius,” said Thorvald, “seems like winter has finally come. Dinner is ready, so just as soon as you get your coat and wraps off, it will be ready.”
     “This winter reminds me of when my mother and I came over here in 1881,” said Tennius. “We didn’t have cars to meet us. My mother carried me on her back across the river. There wasn’t any bridge across the Missouri so she walked across on the ice. You see, the railroad came right up to the bank of the river, and in the summer they used ferries, but they couldn’t use them in winter, so they had to walk across. We journeyed foreward until we got to Sims, the mining town. There Dad worked in the mine. We built a shack 12 x 12. We three lived in there. Dad homesteaded on a piece of land. Then he proved it up with money and sold it to a man for a Brick Yard.
     “Then both Mother and Dad homesteaded on adjoining land. They built the house on the line, so each one would sleep on his own land. Then Dad decided to build a boarding house in Sims, so he did. These boarding houses aren't like the ones we have today. It was two stories, and the top story was one large room where the boarders slept. We boarded between 25 and 30 mine workers and brick workers.
     “Then in 1883 we had a terrible tornado. We saw this funnel shaped cloud coming so we all ran for Dad’s barn. We had a dugout barn. The wind was so strong that it blew the roof off the three story hotel, and the water tower was blown into many different pieces. The wind was so strong that when it blew down Johnson’s house it picked up their son Albert and carried him in the air, and finally left him hanging in a tree. His brother told the people that he saw Jesus flying, and there it was his brother.
     “Many strange things happened in the town of Sims. One night there was a fight between a homesteader from Glen Ullin and and Pue, a homesteader about 7 miles south of Sims. Pue was killed, from being kicked in the stomach. No inquest was taken or any punishment was given. Pue was buried in the English Cemetery about 2 miles northeast of Sims.
     “In the spring, they’d farm. At first Dad used oxen. Then he bought a team of mules, which he used for a while and finally he bought a team of horses. They would cut the grain with a scythe and then wrap some straw around it some way, so it was tied into bundles. For threshing the wheat our they used a flail.”
     “That certainly is different from what we use now.” said Thorvald, “We hardly ever use horses now, and then to think of cutting grain by hand., It certainly must have taken a long time.”
     “Oh! we got up early,” said Tennius, “got our chores done, and we kids would help Dad.”
     “Boy, the way it’s snowing out now reminds me of that snowstorm we had in 1885,” said Tennius. “That was really terrible; you couldn’t even see a foot ahead of you! Two homesteaders had come to Sims that day and on their way home, they got lost. The men were both frozen to death, and they found the horses in the snow-drift some time later.
     “The following spring Dad sold the boarding house and moved out in the country about nine miles south-west of Sims. Here Dad built a log-house right on top of a spring. In the kitchen we had running water. Then we piped it down to a tank in the cellar where we cooled the cream and milk, then they fixed it so the water would run down into the cow barn and horse barn, and in the summer we had it fixed up for running water in the corral. Off the kitchen was the Blacksmith shop, and from there you could go into the coal mine. It was really the handiest home you would ever want to see. Dad had several hired men, so one summer we built a stone fence. In the coulees, we laid stones four feet high. We fenced in about a quarter section. In the summer we kids used to run up and down the hills picking wild strawberries, wild raspberries, plums, chokecherries and June-berries.”
     "Yes,” said Thorvald, “when I was little we’d go out and pick strawberries with large dish-pans, but after we got the sheep they really cleared them out. There are a few now, but not very many. Maybe now they’ll come back again. Lucille saw some wild raspberries down in one of the creeks last summer.”
     “Oh! but I’ll never forget the Indians,” said Tennius. “One day--I can see them just as plain as if it happened yesterday--they ere walking along the ridge of the hill single file, and finally they came own to our place. Dad told Ma not to give them any food. When they came to the house my little brother, Ole, liked them. He went and sat with one, and when they were leaving , they wanted to take him, and he wanted to go with them. But Ma wouldn’t hear of it. She grabbed Ole, and ran into the house in fear of them taking her little boy.”
     “I remember when I was little,” said Thorvald, “we used to find Indians beads. Of course, we never thought much of it then because there were so many. And all the arrows heads and Indian Hammerheads there were. We still find some, after a hard rain in the seven acre field by Dina’s house.”
     “It seems so different now on Sundays”, said Tennius, “In the olden days we’d leave about an hour or two before Church started. We’d start out walking single file across the prairie. then we’d meet the neighbors and we would all walk together single file to Church. When I was reading for the Minister before confirmation we had to read for a whole month every day, because our minister was leaving. I’d get up early in the morning, do my chores, then I would run to Sims. In the afternoon I would run home again to do my evening chores.”
     “Here comes a car,” said Thorvald, “I don’t know that car, do you Tennius?”
     “No, I don’t think so,” said Tennius, “It looks like Joe Peterson sitting in the front seat.”
     That’s who it is,” said Thorvald. “It looks like we really have an “Ole Timers” reunion this afternoon.”
     “Come on in Joe,” said Thorvald. “We were just talking about the good old days.”
     “Thank you.! said Joe. It’s certainly has been a long time since I’ve been out in these hills.”
     “Say Joe, what year did you come to Sims?” asked Tennius.
     “In 1885,” said Joe. My uncle wrote and told us to come here for free land. So we did. Nine of us lived in a shack 12 X 12. We had a three bunk bed, one bed slid under the regular bed in the daytime and at night we would move the table outside, to make room for the lowest bed. We had to hide many of our belongings in the haystack so no-one would steal them. We only had three dollars left when we came to Sims. The prairies were covered with bones, so we children would go out picking buffalo bones. When we’d get a load, Adolph Jacobson would take them to New Salem and sell them for ten dollars a ton.
     “We raised two steer calves, which we used as oxen when full grown. My uncle had three cows, so he gave Dad one, and from that one cow we raised 800 head by saving all the heifer calves. It took about 25 years. Later on, we had two cattle camps, between the Heart River and Cannonball River. Our cattle sheds were made out of Lumber and hay, the front walls of lumber and the rest of hay. Everything was free in those days."
     “We also, had fire guards of six plowed furrows. Because prairie fires were such a hazard, people would come from 50 miles away to fight the fire. In the fall we’d stock up on food for all winter, because of the terrible snowstorms we would have. Sometimes you couldn’t even see a foot ahead. The snow would get so deep that even the horses would sometimes get stuck. Sometimes these storms would last for three days, and we couldn’t risk the chance of losing our lives or the livestock unless absolutely necessary. We got our supplies from Sims. On these trips some of the main stopping places were the homes of Gus Johnson and Otto Ledstrom.”
     “I think this is one of the most interesting and precious Sundays I’ve ever spent,” said Thorvald. ‘It doesn’t seem possible that the pioneers could go through all of that.”

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