Almont North Dakota
1906 Centennial 2006
Pioneer Life
by Romona Zempel
My grandfather
and I were sitting at the table at our house in Almont, and I asked
him to tell me about the early days of his life.
“What would you like to know?” he
asked.
“Oh--tell me about all the hardships
you had, some of the bad winters, failures of crops, how you got your land,
and anything else you can tell me.”
“All right,” said Grandpa, “I
will start by telling you how I got my farm.”
“First of all, I got all the information
I could about the ways of getting land. I had heard that the government
of the United States was giving away land or selling it at low prices. I
went to the land office and got my information. I asked the man, ‘Could
you give me some information on the different ways of getting land’?”
“I can tell you about all you need to
know in homesteading and preemption, but I don’t know too much about
tree--claiming.
“Tell me about homesteading, would you?
I think I would like to try that.”
“You can file for an application and
move in right away, this land is either given away or sold at low prices
by the government. If homesteaders have lived on the land for five years
and made it productive the land becomes theirs.”
“How much land can a person get by homesteading?”
“No one can get more than 160 acres, “the
man replied, “but if you have over 360 acres already, you can’t
get any more.”
“Does the homesteader have to live the
full five years on the farm?”
“The man said, “No, homesteading
requires a person to live only a certain amount of months out of the five
years.”
“Could the land be taken away from the
homesteader if the land isn’t made productive after the five years
are up?”
“Yes, it could,” replied the man, “but
usually the land is improved within that time.”
“Are there any qualifications that have
to be made?”
“Yes, there are a few,” said the
man, “A homesteader has to be 21 years old, or the head of a family,
and he must be an American citizen.”
“When the man was through telling me
all I needed to know about homesteading. I was ready to begin making my
home. “Thank you very much for spending your time with me.” said
Grandpa, “I appreciate it very much.”
“I wish you all the luck in the world,” said
the man, “I think you have made a wise choice in choosing homesteading.”
“I went around looking for pieces of
land that I thought would bring me a good profit, and one that wouldn’t
be too hard to make productive. I got the land that I am now living. It
is about seven miles west of Almont.
“In 1908 I got my farm. that was the
limit. In 1911 I got 40 acres of additional land.
“What did you have to pay for the additional
homestead, Grandpa?”
“I had to pay $2.00 an acre for the
extra land.”
“Did you live on the farm the whole
five years, or just a certain number of months out of the five years?” I
asked.
“I loved on the farm the whole term
of 5 years, and I improved it, so the land became mine. We had many hardships
during that time. Only the very best pieces of land were broken up for crops
such as wheat, corn and potatoes. the only way of planting then was horses
and walking breakers, which broke up the sod. Then someone would walk and
plant by hand.
“Most of the time there wouldn’t
be a crop to harvest because it was so dry and the wind would blow away
most of the top soil and seed that we had planted. But when the crops did
turn out, we would harvest with a reaper, and most o the time we didn’t
get back the money that it cost to put the seed in the ground. Some would
rake with a hand rake and some with the reaper, as there was no twine in
those days, they would twist some straws together and tie it around small
bundles of grain. This method of harvesting is a very slow and tiring process.
Most of the time it didn’t pay to even put in a crop.
“I’ll have to tell you about the
days of my father. My father Ben S. Olson and Jacob Olson worked and made
enough money to buy a team of oxen and a wagon. They did their farming together.
When the first started, they cut with a scythe, made small piles, and hauled
it in with the wagon and oxen. I can’t remember how they harvested
their crops.
“I’ll have to tell you about one
incident that I thought was pretty good. Soon after they got their team
of oxen, they were going to church one Sunday. It was very hot that day
and the oxen took off for the creek,--that is where Oliver Anderson lives
now,--wagon and all. They worked for hours trying to get the wagon out of
the creek.
“My father worked at the coal mine in Sims after that. He had a black
horse that he rode to work every day. In those days there weren’t
very many safety devices for the workers. One day the top of the mine caved
in and his hips were crushed and his leg was broken in two places. He was
a cripple after that, so it was up to my mother to take care of things.
Most of us children were very young.
“One day my mother had to go to town
for groceries. The nearest town then was Sims. She went on skies and brought
home a 25 pound sack of flour, sale, sugar, coffee, and a small can of kerosene
for the light. She made the trip in one day.
“One day my parents and the rest of
the settlers heard that the Indians were on the rampage. The people that
had horses scattered around the country to warn the settlers. The people
all made a rush for Sims. the women and children were put in the coal mine
for protection. the men made a fort on a big hill one-half mile west of
the Sims Church.
“One thing my father surely thought
was funny was when a man came running toward the Fort with a shirt tied
over his head. Everybody said, “Shoot him!” Hi’s an Indian”.
Pete Hoovestol said, “No, don't shoot, he’s a lone fellow. If
he is an Indian, he’s bringing a message.” When he got to the
fort it was a Norwegian man, Hans Benson. the Indians didn’t make
an attack. they passed Mandan and went up towards Elbow Woods. Everything
quieted down and the people went home.”
Grandfather continued, “In my time there
were no gentle snow storms. Some farms were completely snowed under. The
people had to crawl out the attic windows and dig out the buildings. We
didn’t have any telephones then to call for help. When it would sleet
and snow the cattle would drift with the storm. They would either get stuck
in a snow drift or fall over a creek bank and freeze to death. Many cattle
were lost this way and the people would have hard times trying to make ends
meet.
“I did road work for the county and
made $5.00 a day. I had to travel 12 miles morning and night with a team
of horses.
“I worked so I could buy your grandmother
a washing machine. It was a hand machine. You had to move a lever back and
forth to keep the agitator (dasher) moving.
“At that time we had one cow and we
kept it picketed in front of the house. Your grandmother tied it to the
washing machine and somehow the cow was frightened and it took off with
the new machine dragging behind. It was mashed to pieces so she had to go
back to washing clothes with the wash board and tub.”
“I’m sure glad we have more modern
things now than you did in your days, Grandpa.”
“The people now days don’t know
what its like to have the terrible hardships we did in those days.”
“We can be thankful that we have the
many new inventions that we do have.” I said, “and we can hope
for still more inventions to help make things easier for the world of tomorrow.