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FALLON COUNTY
O’Fallon Flashbacks
Copyright 1975 O'Fallon Historical Society, Baker, Montana. ALL RIGHTS RESEVED
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Copyright 1975 O'Fallon Historical Society, Baker, Montana. Printed by Western printing & Lithography
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The Fertile Prairie Community hall was built to the east and south of us. Dances, plays, socials and card parties were held there. Children were always brought along. A bunk was built in one corner by the stove where they could sleep when they got tired. The school I attended was built across the road from it.
OLIVER [OLLIE] G. HEDGES
written by Oliver G. Hedges in 1969
My parents, Judd P. and Barba Boggs Hedges, lived in Ekalaka, Montana in 1888 when I was born on September 28th of that year. My father was a dentist in Ekalaka but he did own some livestock. My first school was in a log cabin a few miles up Russell Creek. Later I finished grade school in Ekalaka.
J.P. [Doc] Hedges, father of Oliver [Ollie] Hedges.
When I was riding for the large stock companies there was no such place as Baker, Montana. In my early days I used to work large herds of cattle where Baker is now located. We would ship to Wibaux, Montana or to Belle Fourche, South Dakota which at that time was the largest shipping point for range cattle in the United States. I rode for these large outfits until I went to World War 1. Shortly after returning from the war in 1919, 1 was employed by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railway, in the Police Department until I retired in 1953.
I am now in the Harvest Home for old folks in Portland, Oregon. My health is gone. I took on too many cold winters in the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming. I'll be 81 years old this coming September.
My address; Oliver G. Hedges, 6921 North Roberts, Portland, Oregon, % Harvest Homes.
The picture of J.P. (Doc) Hedges and the following poem was on a Christmas Card sent to the John Coldwells and given to the O'Fallon Museum by Mrs. John Coldwell. Doc Hedges lived to be 100 years old.
Take me back to old Montana,
where the bobcat builds her lair;
where there's rattlesnakes and sagebrush,
grey wolves and grizzly bear.
Where gambling's wide open,
white chips are five a stack,
where the Yellowstone busts through the mountains;
where the prospector builds his shack.
Take me back to the grazing country,
where the wild horse holds the band;
the longhorns graze the prairies,
and the cowboys rule the land.
Back to the Powder River,
where the signal lights were lit,
when the Sioux were on the warpath
and the Injun fights were fit.
Back to the Old Rockies,
where the yellow gold was panned;
where the sluices gave up plenty and the sixgun ruled the land.
Take me back to Old Puptown (Ekalaka),
where the cowboys fill their tanks,
with native hootch and homebrew,
and there ain't no busted banks.
GLOOMY
CLARENCE HEISER
Clarence Heiser, the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Burkhardt) Heiser, was born on July 23, 1894 at Coleman, South Dakota. He was the youngest of a family consisting of six boys and four girls. As a child he lived with his family in several small towns in South Dakota., in Iowa and then back to South Dakota where in his early teens he worked for various farmers.
In 1914 or 1915 Clarence came to Montana and took up a homestead in Fergus County. This land is still in the possession of the Heiser children.
Clarence Heiser,1917
In 1917 when World War I started, Clarence enlisted in the Army and saw service in France. On his return from Europe after the Armistice, he went to South Dakota to see
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Clarence Heiser, 1919.
his mother. For a time after the war he worked as a boilermaker in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
In 1923 or 1924 he decided to come back to his homestead in the Big Sky Country, and take up the business of farming and ranching again. To supplement his income he did some farm work for those of the area who needed extra help.
Bernie Heiser, brother of Clarence, had opened a bar in partnership with L.E. Baker beside the Baker Hotel in 1935. By that date it was legal to sell beer. Bernie prevailed upon his brother to come to Baker and go into business with him. So Clarence sold his livestock, machinery and other equipment, married Ruth, the girl with whom he had been going and off to Baker they came. Clarence bought an interest in the business so there were three of them now; L. E. Baker, Bernie and Clarence. Later they moved across the street to the present Heiser's Bar building which was owned by Charles Voss at that time. As time went by Bernie and Clarence bought out L.E. Baker's interest and in 1937 Bernie sold his interest in the business to James Mulry. Mulry was Heiser's partner until 1945 when Clarence bought his interest from him. This business first sold beer. Later when hard liquor became legal, Clarence acquired a license to dispense it.
Clarence Heiser, 1960.
He operated the tavern until 1965 when he turned the management of the business over to his son, Bernard. In 1968 Bernard and his wife bought the business and they are the operators at the present time.
Clarence and Ruth had three children; Bernard, Mildred and Rae Ardith.
All of Clarence's time was not devoted to the running of the lounge. In 1949 he and Ruth built the Heiser's Apartments and in 1956 they built another three units onto it. This was when the big oil boom was on in Baker and living places were scarce. Clarence also helped with the unemployment service and was never too busy to lend a helping hand or give money to the needy. Mr Heiser passed away in November of 1968.
Leon W. Heftie
LEON W. HEFTIE
I was born September 10, 1907 on a farm close to Stockham, Nebraska to Mr. and Mrs. Martin Heftie. My father, who had homesteaded in Nebraska, was a rancher as well as a farmer, so as a child I helped at home and as I became older, I worked on a road construction crew.
Marion Watson Heftie
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I received my elementary and high school education in Stockharn and then attended Peru State College in Nebraska where I earned my A. B. Degree. I received my A. M Degree from the University of Nebraska and also worked on my PH. D. there.
Marion Watson and I were married at Aurora, Nebraska in 1933.
I was Superintendent of the Baker Schools from September 1945 to June 1961,. During this tenure the Lincoln Elementary School was constructed, the Woodworking Shop and the Vocational Agricultural Shop were constructed, the groundwork for the present high school was completed and the new High School was in the process of being completed.
I enjoyed my work in the education field. I was a school superintendent for 35 years.
In 1961 we moved to Three Forks, Montana where I was Superintendent of Schools for nine years. I resigned in 1970 and since that time I have been in the Insurance work in Three Forks.
I am a past president of the Baker Lion's Club and am a Past Master of Three Forks Lodge A. F. and A.M. #73.
MARION WATSON HEFTIE
Bertha and Albert E. Watson did not homestead in Nebraska but they were stockmen. I, Marion, joined their family February 21, 1912. 1 went to grade school and high school at Dannebrog, Nebraska and then attended the Kearney State Teacher's College at Kearney, Nebraska, in order to become a teacher.
We, Mr. Heftie, our daughter, Beverly and I, went to Baker in 1945 - Mr. Heftie had been asked to fill the position of Superintendent of Schools there.
Our neighbors in Baker were; Mrs. John Weinschrott. Mr. and Mrs. Ed Lawler and Mr. and Mrs. L. Price (Bud).
We have one child, Beverly J. Heftie Bawden, two grandchildren, Hilary Bawden, age 7 and Darin Bawden, age 5.
Beverly was married in the Baker Community Church, which was our church preference when we were in Baker.
Being a school administrator's wife for thirty-five years was interesting, some times difficult, but always rewarding. We are gratified to hear from so many former teachers, former students and other friends through the years, at Christmas time.
Editor's Note: Marion Watson Heftie passed away February 19, 1974 of a tumor on the brain. She is buried in Nebraska.
MR. AND MRS. ARNOLD HELDT
Arnold (A.A.) Heldt of Redfield, South Dakota and Bessie Laun, of Colton, South Dakota were married at Madison, South Dakota on September 28, 1908.
They had lived in Wisconsin and came to South Dakota at an early age.
They lived at Redfield for two years where Arnold worked for a produce company.
In 1910, they came to the Willard and Medicine Rocks area where they took up a homestead. They and others from Redfield came by train. They brought ponies and some farming equipment with them.
The site they chose had a good spring. In those years the water was close to the surface and at one time there were six wells and several springs on the place. It was nice to see the sheep grazing on the hills. At present three wells are still in use and two reservoirs supply water for cattle. The place is located ten miles south of Willard and about four miles from the Medicine Rocks.
In later years more land was added by buying or leasing.
The first house and barn were made of sod. While this was being done, Bessie stayed with the Shady sisters, also from Redfield. Anna later became Mrs. Art McClain.
1970, the Heldt place as it is today. The small white house is part of the house built in 1912 or 1913.
The next house was built about 1912 or 1913. Part of it, a small white house, still remains. It was repaired in 1951 by J.J. Staff. The big barn was built in 1916 and the big house was built in 1917. Nels Nelson from Ekalaka was the carpenter. The lumber was hauled from Plevna where there was a lumberyard at that time. Other buildings were added later.
Barns on the Heldt place as they look today.
Barton Enos was a close neighbor the first years. His son David and family still live on that place.
In the fall of 1914 Bessie and Arnold returned to South Dakota where her folks still lived at Chester. Poor crops, hail and grasshoppers had discouraged them in Montana. By the
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spring they were anxious to return. From then on everything seemed to go better and they stayed in Montana.
Some of their early neighbors were Mrs. Jones and her daughter, Maud, the Blakes, the Jollys and the Schneiders. In later years other neighbors were the Barbridges, the Holmes, the Kuehns, the Mortons, the Loutzenheisers and the Sawyers. The Bartelsons had a store across from the Sawyers.
Picnics were held at Medicine Rocks and Fourth of July celebrations were held at Calumet, a store and post office to the north. In the early years church services were sometimes held at "The Rocks".
Arnold passed away in February 1950. Bessie has stayed with friends in Billings since 1962.
They had two daughters. One passed away in infancy and Irene teaches at Plevna and lives on the home place.
The Arnold Heldt Place-1970
THE REVEREND AND MRS. ROBERT L. HEMPEL
Robert (Bob) Hempel, the son of Marie T. and William E. Hempel was born in 1937 in West Columbia, Texas. He grew up and acquired his grade school and high school education at West Columbia. He attended the Texas Wesleyan College where he earned his B-B S degree, and the Southern Methodist University where he received his B-BD degree.
In 1969 Bob came to Baker as the minister for the Baker Community Church. He had a little trouble at first adjusting to our cold winters, a small town and having to drive such distances to get his work accomplished.
On April 18, 1972 Robert Hampel and Karen Ann Treberg were married at Portage, Michigan. Karen is the daughter of Berniece T. and Virgil Treberg of Portage. Karen grew up and attended elementary and high school at Portage. She attended the Michigan State University after which she became a Psychologist and Social Worker.
Bob enjoys music- Hi Fi Stereo, small group discussions and traveling. Karen plays the guitar, does some painting and home decorating.
MR. AND MRS. HENRY HEPPERLE
By Magdelina Krueg Hepperle
I was born in Artis, South Dakota on May 12, 1908. My parents were John and Magdelina Krueg, who in the spring of 1910, when I was two years old, came by train to Plevna, Montana to take up a claim on a homestead. They located south of Plevna. I did not go to a country school but attended school in Plevna.
In 1926 Henry Hepperle and I were married at Plevna. Henry was born in the Ukrane of South Russia in February of 1906. In October of 1923 he came to Plevna with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Hepperle and a brother Albert.
Karl, an older brother who was one of the homesteaders and then a businessman in Plevna for over a half century, sponsored his parents and brothers to the United States. Henry and his family lived through some very hard and dangerous years in Russia. Through World War 1, then Bolshevism and then Communism.
Father Hepperle was a successful farmer and a big landowner, but every thing was taken away by the Communists. Their home, being the largest in the village, was used as a soldier’s headquarters.
After coming to Plevna, Henry worked for his brother, Karl, who owned an elevator and gas business. One year he went to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where a sister lived, and worked in a paper mill.
Before we were married Henry had started farming south of Plevna.
Henry and I had six children. There are; Eleanor, who died in childhood, Burnette who married Lawrence Liming of Arnes, Iowa; Dolores who married Stanley Erlenbush of Baker, Montana; Carl H. married Gloria Hartse who had grown up around Carlyle; Elaine who married Paul Schieffer of Wibaux, and Edith who married Dick Schwede of Ekalaka. We have twelve grandchildren.
In 1940 we bought the Helgeson place northeast of Baker -now the Ernest Lang place. Later in Baker Henry did carpenter work and we ran the Lakeside Hotel.
We are members of the First Baptist Church in Baker, and enjoy going to church picnics at the Medicine Rocks. We have always liked to go to Fairs and Rodeos and Fourth of July Celebrations at Plevna.
Herman Korth's first house, 1910
HERBST - KORTH STORY
By Earnest and Delilas Herbst
Mary and Peter Herbst, the parents of Earnest P. Herbst, came to Montana in 1910, when Earnest was six months old.
Nannie and Herman Korth, the parents of Delilas Korth, came to Montana in the fall of 1909, when Delilas was twenty one months old.
The Korths homesteaded and first lived on the southwest corner of what is still known as "The Korth Place." Herman Korth and Fred Livingood brought their belongings in emigrant cars on the Milwaukee Railroad from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They landed in Westmore, Montana which
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had only a couple of tarpaper shacks at that time. One was a store with living quarters.
Korth went about five miles south of Westmore and Livingood homesteaded three more miles south of him. Charles Millard and parents lived not far from the Korths. A letter to Mrs. Korth stated that the cows were at Millards where they were milked until a shelter was built.
Korth put up a tent that he had bought from another homesteader who had made use of it until his shack was built. Lumber was shipped into Westmore by train from Marmarth, North Dakota. From Westmore it was hauled with wagons to where a two room house was built.
In November Mrs. Livingood, Mrs. Korth and her little girl arrived in Westmore. The families worked to get shelters for the stock. The Korths hauled water from a spring almost a half mile away.
An attempt to dig a well proved futile, so they moved the house to the north side of the section. A good well was dug. They broke some of the new fertile land and planted wheat and oats.
A barn was built. Later some more room was needed, so the Korths hauled logs from the "Pines" southwest of Livingoods.
Four people laid claim to parcels of land in this section. After Thorsen proved up he rented his quarter to Korth. Jack Paul sold his 40 acres as soon as he could.
More homesteaders came, In the fall of 1909, Pete Herbst came to Plevna on the train. He walked over the great expanse of open land, and found a half section, five miles west of Plevna, that looked good to him. lie found the corner stones before he left for South Dakota.
Pete Herbst's house, 1914. The far right part was built in 1910.
In the spring the Herbst family left Ipswich, South Dakota and took up the Montana homestead. They had two boys at the time; Melchior, past two years and Earnest, six months old. They built a small house at first and later added to it. Pete had been a carpenter, barber, worked on an Iowa farm and did whatever he could find.
The Herbsts and the Korths lived about 2 1/2 mile apart. They helped each other in butchering, threshing or building. As time went by there were more neighbors. Elias and Margaret Carrington, the Miles Carringtons, the Art Schimmels and the Holies.
Late in 1919, Pete Herbst sold his homestead to Fred Brummer, his brother-in-law, and bought a half section 9 miles south of Plevna near some land he was farming.
There were six Herbst children; Millie, Ernie, Wilda, Margaret, MaryAnn and Joe.
The Korths had two children Delilas and Donald.
In the early days the children didn't start to school at the age of six, since there were no rural schools. Delilas Korth stayed with a family in Westmore and attended school. In 1916, the Korths decided to move to Ismay to be closer to school They rented the farm to Charles Huber, Harman's brother-in-law. It was at Korth's auction sale that Pete Herbst tried auctioneering for the first time, and it became a sideline for him.
The Korths bought a house in Ismay but having less to do, they became dissatisfied, even after getting a quarter of land close to Ismay. They contacted their old neighbors the E. Carringtons, the Herbsts and the Adolph Riegers to find out if they were in favor of getting a school. These people got busy and went about getting a rural school. The Korths moved back to the farm and got a spot in the northeast corner of that section and a school was built. They contacted Bessie Collette (Millard's daughter) and hired her for the teacher. School was held in Jack Paul's shack the winter of 1917 and 1918. By the next fall the schoolhouse was ready.
School, Jack Paul's Shack, 1918. Left to right: Evelyn Huber, Wilda Herbst, Delilas Korth, Alice Carrington, Lorina Rieger on horse, Ernie Herbst, Lawrence Carrington, Millie Herbst, Harold Thayer, Ed Rieger and Leon Rieger on ground.
There were ten children attending ... 3 Riegers - -Leon, Ed and Lorene, 2 Carringtons - -Lawrence and Alice, 3 Herbsts - Millie, Ernie and Wilda, I Huber - -Evelyn, 1 Korth - -Delilas.
All the families grew larger and the younger ones entered school. The Herbsts moved out of the district and 3 Brummers came.
Korth, Carrington School, 1921.
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Delilas finished the eighth grade at the Korth Carrington School with Leo Riddle as teacher the last year. She went to high school in Plevna. Her folks bought a new Ford Coup'e for her to drive to school. By this time the Yellowstone Trail came through Plevna and went on west past the Korth place. It was an all scorio surfaced road. Delilas would pick up Mildred Brummer along the way and take her along to school. In 1928 Dehlas was one of five to graduate in Plevna's first 4 year class.
After the Herbsts moved away from the homestead, the children stayed in Plevna with relatives and went to school. Then the Sieler-Steffes School was built and the children drove a horse and buggy the 3 miles to school.
The girls and Joe attended high school in Plevna, as Pete Herbst was postmaster in Plevna from 1933 to 1953.
Ernie Herbst started helping his father farm as soon as he could drive a team of horses. There were chores to do after school before he was old enough to take on harder jobs with more responsibilities.
He thought that gathering eggs was fun especially if he found a nest in the barn inhabited by new kittens or sometimes he would find a bird's nest in the corner of the barn with eggs in it. He would check each day for fear he would miss the little birds when they hatched.
Both the Herbsts and Korths used headers to cut grain. Ernie and Delilas both drove "hedder box" as they called it. A team of horses on a wagon with a box like a hay rack, with one side built high and one side built low, to hold the headed grain as it came from the header, up on the elevator into the box. A box to stand on was built in front of the wagon box so the driver could reach the reins and see the track that was the guide as to how close he could get to the header, so the grain would land inside the rack. When the box was full it was unloaded. It took two grown-ups to do this. One to drive the four horses on the header and stack and one to load and unload the box. They thought this a quicker way to cut grain than with the binder. Then the combines came and headers went out of use.
Korth's wheat field, 1916. This snap shot was taken and developed by Mrs. Nannie Korth in about 1916. Some of the People are Fallon County homesteaders. Left to right: Mrs. Fred Livingood, Grandma Perau, Mrs. Miles Carrington, Peterson, Fred Livingood, Miles Carrington, Grandpa Perau and Herman Korth. Delilas Korth in front.
Dances were held at the schoolhouse usually someone in the neighborhood could play a violin or an accordian and someone would cord on the piano. When Charles Huber lived on the Moire place, before the coal heater was set up in the fall, Mrs. Huber would have a dance. John Howe would play his favorite piece "Red Wing" on the violin.
Fourth of July Celebrations were held at Westmore. The grownups would take part in nail driving contests, foot races, tug of war, and sometimes catching the greased pig. Plevna had celebrations, too. Card parties were held in the dining room of the Plevna Town Hall. Lots of people turned out for these. In winter people thought nothing of going with horses and sled to some "get-together". Sometimes the neighbors would go together. The women and children would keep warm with horsehide robes and foot warmers or heated rocks or bricks to help keep them warm. The men wore sheepskin overcoats or coats made from tanned skins.
Wedding anniversaries were always celebrated. For the special ones the women would stage a "Mock Wedding". A mail order catalogue was used for the Bible, the ring was some outlandish thing such as a bullring or harness ring. Lace curtains were used for the veil and vegetables took the place of flowers. There was as much fun in preparing the "Mock Wedding" as there was in having it.
The children of the early settlers have many fond memories to cherish because the families worked together and played together. The parents took the children along where ever they went. The younger children were wrapped in blankets or covered with coats and put to sleep on benches or tables while the adults continued with their fun. The grownups taught the older children to dance.
Special occasions such as Valentines Day, there would be box socials. The men would try to find out which woman fixed and decorated which box then bid high enough to buy it. The highest bidder had the privilege of eating lunch with the girl who owned the box. Sometimes some of the men would end up with more than one box.
HELMER AND AUDREY SHIELDS HERIGSTAD
All of us followed our dear friends, Bill and Addie Stephens, from Oklahoma to Montana. They came in 1913 by covered wagon over cross country trails, and filed on a homestead west of Big Pumpkin Creek about 65 miles south of Miles City. They built a very large half dugout and made their gracious and happy home in it for over a quarter of a century.
My mother's parents, James and Frances Pittman Waddell, moved by covered wagon from Texas to the Cheyenne Country in 1892. They made their home in a large half dugout for a year, then deserted their homestead and moved to Indian Territory.
My father's parents, John and Clara West Shields, Moved by covered wagon from Texas to Indian Territory about the same time. He worked for the railroad that was laying the first tracks from Dallas to Kansas City, Missouri. Tiiey lived in a dugout covered by a tent.
Later both families rented farms near Ardmore, and became good friends. The Waddell girls married: Permelia to Yancey Sandefer, Ellene to Joe Love, Pauline to William Isaacs, Odie to Claude Shields.
Oklahoma and Indian Territories were called the Twin Territories, and in 1907 joined together to become the state of Oklahoma. Indian territory was the eastern part and Oklahoma Territory the western part. The Cheyenne Country was the northern part of Oklahoma Territory and the Comanche Country the southern part of it before statehood.
My two brothers, Melvin and Lonnie, were born in Indian Territory. Then my parents moved by covered wagon to the Comanche Country, and I was born there in 1906. Our Oklahoma homestead in the Wichita Mountains joined that of Bill and Addie Stephens. Grandma Waddell and her two
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youngest children, Charles and George, lived on a farm nearby.
Charles Waddell married Willie Carpenter in 1914. They came by train to Montana and filed on a homestead that joined that of Bill and Addie Stephens. George Waddell married Ollie Hourigan and they came by train to Miles City and filed on a homestead that joined that of his brother, Charles, in 1915. Pauline Isaacs and family came by train in 1916. Their homestead joined that of her brother, George.
They all stayed with Bill and Addie in the half dugout home until their log houses were built. Charles and Willie lived in a dugout covered with a tent, but for only a few days. A fierce blizzard hit. The tent blew away. The young couple went back to Oklahoma.
Permelia Sandefer died, and her husband and two boys came by train to Miles City. Yancey finished the half dugout on Charles's homestead. He and the boys lived in it many years. Wesley and Eural were the boys.
World War I caused my family to move to Montana. We came by Model T Ford touring car and arrived at Uncle George's on June 3, 1918. That afternoon the folks bought a relinquishment from another Oklahoma couple, Clarence and Jessie Drew. Their house had burned down and they were living in a half dugout that was built for the chicken house. That half dugout became our home for the next two years. Our place joined that of Uncle George.
That fall my brother, Melvin, was a victim of . the flu epidemic. After that my mother had poor health, so we moved to Miles City in 1920. My father gave up his dream of having a ranch, and went to work in the roundhouse at the Milwaukee shops. A few years later, my other brother Lonnie, quit school and went to work at the shops with father. (Years later, during the depression, Lonnie became a barber.)
My sister, Antoinette, was born in Miles City in 1926, and I graduated from Custer County High School later that same spring. That fall found me teaching at the Millison School on Pennel Creek north of Ismay, Montana in Custer County. I had attended summer normal school in 1925 and again in 1926 and earned the 24 college credits that were required for certification. I had to take the state teacher's examinations as a final requirement. I was one of the few who passed them! I was issued a two-year certificate to teach anywhere in Montana. (By teaching regular terms and attending summer sessions and one spring quarter I worked my way through five years of college. I received my degree from Eastern Montana College at Billings in 1958.)
The social life of a rural teacher during the early years of my teaching career was exciting and interesting. All the big ranches employed many cowboys who would ride horseback for many miles to call on a teacher or attend a country-dance. I've attended dances in many ranch homes, schoolhouses, community halls as in Westmore, Ismay, and Twin Buttes. There were barn dances, platform dances, and even the elite dance halls in Miles City. My father, my brother, Lonnie, and many friends played for dances. I gave many dances in my schoolhouses. There were rodeos (called roundups in those early days in Montana) and community picnics. Occasionally there was a church service in a home, a school, or a hall.
Helmer Herigstad and I were married in Sidney, Montana in 1935. 1 was teaching in the Midway Community where he was a farmer. His parents were immigrants from Norway who homesteaded about 40 miles north of Glendive before Sidney existed. His uncle, Nels Paulson, had a sod house on his homestead. Helmer's brother, Roy and family, lived in it for many years. It is in use today as a garage.
In the spring of 1936 Helmer decided to quit farming. He rented his place out, and we went to Fort Peck. We lived in a tent covered dugout in McCone City that summer, and he worked on the dam. (The place where McCone City was located is now under Fort Peck Lake.)
Helmer Herigstad home at McCone City, Montana, 1936. Half dugout and tent. McCone City is now under Fort Peck Lake.
World War II created a big demand for railroad workers. We moved our house from the farm north of Glendive to Miles City, and were home at last. Helmer worked in the car department of the Milwaukee shops from that time until illness forced his retirement over 25 years later. Teachers were scarce, too, during the war. I taught in and near Miles City. I was an office manager at the State Industrial School for about two years.
All the rural schools where I once taught are gone now, closed, abandoned, moved away. I taught many years near Ismay and the Fallon County line. I had many friends in that county, and attended social events there. Once I was at a rodeo at Bob Askin's ranch, and took in the platform dance that night. In Miles City I have taught in each of the elementary schools, the high school, and the college.
After 18 years of teaching I was elected Custer County Superintendent of Schools, and held that position for 16 years, then worked part-time in the same office as deputy for one year, then retired. One summer I helped the Carter County Superintendent of Schools, Mrs. Maysel Denton. She had taught under my supervision, and took the Ekalaka position because the county commissioners couldn't get anyone else to take it. Actually, we worked together that summer and fall.
During the 1960's my parents, brother Lonnie, and husband, Helmer, passed away following heart attacks.
My husband was a carpenter. He built several houses at various locations in Montana. I now have a small real estate business to take care of, houses to rent and maintain. Maybe we went into this type of business because of some of the hardships we lived through in dirt houses, tents, dugouts, and such when we were young. It didn't seem like hardships when we carried in coal and wood, and carried out ashes and clinkers by tons. Water most always had to be hauled or carried, too. We did appreciate the modern conveniences that we enjoyed after we had our home in Miles City.
Yes! I've come quite a distance from horse and buggy days to the space age! I have been a pioneer on the last frontiers of this great country! Pioneer child, teacher, wife, and mother!
My great grandfathers, Waddell and Pittman, helped Texas win her independence from Mexico. The other two, Shields and West, rode horseback from Illinois to California during the gold rush of 1849. They all survived and helped settle Texas and Oklahoma.
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Our son, Vernon, married Delores Quade. She was raised on a farm near Wibaux. Our son, Dennis, married Temple Bailey. She was raised in San Francisco. They all live in California now. There are seven beautiful grand daughters. My sister and family live in Reno, Nevada.
Several times each year I drive my car back and forth from Montana to California over splendid super interstate highways. I never cease to marvel and wonder how the wagon trains of long ago made it.
Life has been wonderful, but I would not want to travel the trails again. My first airplane ride was in a small plane during the roaring twenties. My most recent was in a jet from Los Angeles to Montana. Yes! Life has been wonderful!
Herigstad family, 1969. Left to right, front row: Shawn, Karen, Sandra. Next row: Cheryl, Audrey, Helmer, Roberta. Third row: Shelly, Teresa, Temple. Top row: Vernon, Delores, Dennis.
L. K. HILLS AND IDA MADGE HILLS
Autumn, 1924. The Bank of Baker was opened, an infant business in the site of the old Baker State Bank.
L. K. Hills of Miles City was one of the executives who headed up this highly successful endeavor, and an early fellow participant was L. E. Rushton.
In no more than a day, and before the first snow, 39-year-old Kirk, born and raised in Michigan, but by now a true Montanan, made the 135 mile trek from Miles City to Baker through Terry, Mildred, Ismay, Plevna, via very early automobile. With him came his wife, Madge (Wisconsin-bred) and their three children - Bill, Kirk, and Catherine. How Prince the pony and Tom the cat made it is probably the railroad's story - but into a fine, modern apartment over the market that is still LaCross's Economy Grocery they all moved. And they commenced a much different life from that of the settled ol' cow town from which they came.
For Baker was so new a town. It was, perhaps, fifteen years old. In its short span of existence, this growth town, true denizen of the twentieth century, had developed schools, churches, libraries, electric, gas, water, telephone systems, fire control, police protection, businesses of all kinds, movies, clubs, two passenger trains daily and forever-long freight trains, stockyards, five, six, or perhaps seven grain elevators. And it had a deep lake with public swimming beach and organized swim activities still to be developed.
It had climate and seasons galore!
It had a population of westering merchants and promoters. Baker and its environs was immigrant and Eastern U. S. homesteaders, ranching elite, and even a corporate payroll. The windmilled farms were already mechanized.
It was a truly lively area in which to operate a bank situated at a corner of two of what could be the widest streets in the world!
As the bank prospered, Kirk and friends went on to build a nine-hole golf course on Watertank Hill. Madge joined Pearl Lake and others in developing the new Christian Science Society (first meeting in the old Hubbard Hall and later occupying its own church premises). The children found niches in the schoolrooms and playgrounds of the old south high school and the Lutheran Church then housing the Eastside's first three grades.
To trace their movements from residence to residence, through activities galore, and among acquaintances and friends - this would require a long narrative, no doubt subject to much nostalgia.
Suffice it to say that LKH continued the bank work for 26 years through boom, drought, depression, and into the roaring 50's.
JUDSON W. AND ELOISE HISCOCK
by Frances Hiscock Stamm
My father, Judson Hiscock, early rancher in the Ekalaka area of then Custer County, first came to Montana in 1891 working for ranchers and the convent in Rosebud County. He was born in Adover, New Brunswick in 1868, of English ancestors, who had settled in Maine over a century before.
He bought his first ranch on Otter Creek in 1895, sold in 1899, and returned to Maine and New Brunswick working in the woods. The next year he came back to Miles City and began to work for H.H. Hunter on the Tongue River. The same month he started cross-country with a load of freight bound for the Bennett and Hunter Ranch, ten miles east of Ekalaka. That was quite an adventure. Some places were too steep for the horses with a full load. What the team couldn't pull, he had to carry himself. The next spring he suggested to Ids bosses that he could build them a dam across a draw with an excellent spring and irrigate a piece of ground. All he would need was a team of horses and a two-handled scoop and would do the job in his spare time. They laughed and said, "Water doesn't run up hill. "A bet was on! They let him
Eloise And Judson At The Ranch Home 1923
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go ahead. The fateful day arrived when water would stop running. The water inched slowly along, and when it arrived at the deciding spot, it kept right on going much to everybody's delight.
The very next year, Mr. Hiscock bought the ranch from Mr. Bennett and a band of sheep from Mr. Hunter. In time he added to his holdings, built no less than six stock and irrigation dams, ran horses on Powder River in the days of roundups, and experienced the range wars when the homesteaders took over the range. One ordinary horse seemed to have extraordinary swiftness. Mr. Hiscock took him home, trained him, and he became the famous "Society Bill," who never lost a quarter mile race until he was nearly 20 years old.
Gene Hiscock Leading "Society Bill"
Judson Hiscock married Eloise Wilson from Pilot Grove, Missouri, one of four sisters who came to Montana in the nineties. Katherine married Henry Smith a Miles City Jeweler, Mrs. Jack Taylor had a hotel in Ekalaka and Mary Lee Martin was County Superintendent of Schools before Custer County was divided --- in the horse and buggy days.
Mother, thanks to Dad's water supply, had a wonderful garden, even watermelons, which provided much of the family needs, along with chickens, home produced milk and meat and Dad's ice. Often on a hot summer day people came miles for ice. During the time of the economic disaster in the thirties, both Father and Mother were most generous. One hot day a family arrived with a half-starved horse and nothing to eat for themselves. Dad fed the horse, mother filled up the people, and both loaded their wagon with supplies of all kinds.
Father helped organize the Ekalaka State Bank and was interested in the R.C. Carters Co. along with Mr. Beasley and Frank and Charles Emerson. He became interested in Polled Hereford cattle and survived the terrible years of the drought. Finally he sold out in 1942, still full of vitality at 74, and came to live near us in Dillon. Dad was a great storyteller, one for every occasion and every one original.
He told this one: The cattlemen used to accompany their cattle on the way to market, such as Chicago, riding in the caboose and tending to the cattle on the way. Coming home on a passenger train they would have a little game. One morning a heavy loser appeared, and he was asked how he had slept. "Never slept a wink; all those dam wheels said all night was, "Jacks 'n sixes, jacks n'sixes, jacks n' sixes, jacks n' sixes.
My father died in 1957 in Dillon, and my brother, Gene, in 1964. Mother is alive and well, watches the interstate traffic go by, shovels snow if you don't beat her to it, and just loves Montana. It is her predominant thought at eighty-eight.
Judson Hiscock On Gunhammer
COUNTY SCHOOL TEACHING 1922
FRANCES HISCOCK STAMM
One of my experiences teaching school in a one-room school house with all eight grades was at the O'Donnell School about five miles northeast of Baker.
When I applied for that school, I was told by Miss Lamb, County Superintendent of Schools that they had disciplinary problems and wanted a man teacher. I decided I could at least try for it.
Jeanette Price drove me out in her father's car to find the clerk of the school district. We found Mr. Maddler threshing grain. When I addressed him, I was wearing short skirts to my knees, red lipstick and bobbed hair. I was with it and a "flapper" of the twenties. After some conversation and much skepticism, he said they would give me a try, as it was late and no man teacher in sight.
I did have some problems, which were ironed out with the wonderful cooperation of the parents. I liked the children and won them over. I will always remember the many fine people in the community. It was one of the most interesting and challenging times of my life. Teacher after teacher had quit before me. How did I rate as a teacher? Somebody told Ed Lake I was the best (g-- d--) teacher they ever had --saying it as it was.
ALBERT AND EVELYN B. HITCH
Albert Hitch had the first restaurant in Baker. It was in partnership with his cousin Marion Hitch. The restaurant was in connection with a saloon run by S.F. Way, and was located down near the railroad tracks where the Corner Bar is now. They also built the Baker House, later called Cafe House and still later known as the Fallon House. They built it for an icehouse but before it was finished it was turned into a cheap rooming house for the teamsters. It was just a shell of a building but survived several fires until it finally burned down in recent years. Mr. Hitch also had the first meat market of any kind in Baker.
Mrs. Albert (Evelyn B. Hitch) came to Baker in September 1909 and son Gerald was born in October of that same year making him the first baby born in Baker. A daughter, Maxine, was born to the couple on January 7, 1914.
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Evelyn B. Hitch
Both children attended the Baker schools through high school and Maxine went on to Eastern Montana Normal School at Billings and has made school teaching her life's work.
Evelyn B. was active in Eastern Star, the Community Church, the Women's Club and was clerk of the school board for many years. Gas was discovered on her place and her homestead is now the Hitch Addition on the East Side of Baker next to the lake.
The gas well was known as Hitch no. 1 of the Montana Petroleum Company.
CLYDE RAYMOND HOGARTY
I was born at Hogarty, Wisconsin on February 9, 1895. My father D. Hogarty and my stepmother, Bertha, raised me. The family came to Montana in 1912 by train, wagon and on foot and located at the head of Lame Jones Creek. I was 17 at the time. We homesteaded in 1915 in the Powder River Hills. Dad wasn't a stockman but his hope was to raise stock.
The first year in Montana was good and we had a fair crop. Winters were mostly plenty cold with blizzards and the neighbors were far apart. Our home was 20 miles to Baker and 13 miles to Plevna.
After two months in the ninth grade, I dropped out of school and went to work with my dad in the woods. In the winter we sawed logs, and in the spring and summer we peeled bark from the Hemlock trees for leather-tanning purposes.
Our neighbors were my aunt and uncle, the Art Lobdells, the Bill MacKays, the Gregersons and the Art Reinholts.
My schooling was at Hogarty, Wisconsin and Rhinelander, Wisconsin, at Bozeman College in 1920 and Helena, Montana Business College.
During the depression years I lived on the Pacific Coast and on September 6, 1931 1 married Ethel Hagerman at Bremerton, Washington. Two children Donald C. and Charles S. joined the family. My wife, Ethel, had two children by a previous marriage; Lola and Jack Hagerman. My second wife, Margaret, had seven stepchildren; Jack, Beverly, Pat, Colleen, Tom, Denny and Micky. My wife has had both hips operated on during the winter of 72-73.
Our social life in Montana was scarce as there were very few dances and picnics to remember, and the 4th of July was just another day. We were Protestant but had no church near.
My first real thrill came after my dad and I disembarked at Glendive, Montana and then proceeded up the Yellowstone River as far as Fallon where we crossed the river on a cable ferry at night time with the water fairly high after the early spring breakup of the ice. The water level had been several feet higher as evidenced by many cakes of ice lodged in the trees higher up along the banks. The stream was still plenty swift and the night was plenty dark.
Some of the people I used to work for are Johnny Lambert, a week of haying for Fred Anderson-Postmaster of Willard, the MacKays quarter circle 7UP ranch, Adam W. MacLay and in the summer and fall of 1915 1 worked for Harry F. Schlosser and repped for him with the TN wagon along the Powder River. The Schlosser Ranch was about four miles south of Knowlton in the Pine Hills. When I left the Schlossers late that fall, Mr. Schlosser let me have a partly broken bronc to finish breaking for the use of him. He proved to be very reliable little animal and wasn't hard to handle and became a good cow-horse in a very short time. I could go on but I will tell of a never forgotten event. When four of us young "guys" on a bright and cold morning, after two weeks of snow and blowing, started from Carl Stout's who lived on a tributary of Sheep Creek, with our destination the Art Lobdell place at the head of Lame Jones Creek. It was a trip af about thirty-five miles. One-eyed Mike Martin was on a one-eyed Jakima pony which he had bought from the Jarrel horse outfit. The two owners, Frank and Ira Jarrel each had only one eye a piece so naturally they were known as the " One-eyed Horse Outfit." Mike was the oldest of the four of us at 23. Then came myself at 20 and Harold Lobdell at 16. Donald Lodbell was 13 and driver of the four horse team.
We were all bundled up like mummies and you can imagine the circus I had when it came my turn to open and close a gate. It was about day fight that morning when we started out and it was about noon when we reached O'Fallon Creek which was generally related to as about the halfway point to the head of Lame Jones. We had to follow the Ismay-Ekalaka road about three miles southeast to the mouth of the Lame Jones Creek where Albert La Bree's spread was located.
We had gone about a mile on this road when Don came to a point in the road where he had to skirt a sort of hummock and it was slick enough that it caused the sleigh to slip sideways and roll over and play dead with all four runners It was necessary then to unhook the gentlest horse and somehow we managed to make use of an extra length of chain to get a roll on the load after the horse was put to use. The sleigh had to be partially reloaded and while we were busy with that, Albert La Bree came along on his saddle horse. He wanted to know what we "dam fools" were doing out in. this kind of weather. He asked us what time it was when we left the hills and we told him it was about daybreak. He said, "Do you realize what my thermometer registered about that time at my place? "We told him that we had no thermometer where we were so wouldn't have any idea how cold it was. He said it was 49 below and right then, at noon, it was 25 below and believe me that cooled us off in a hurry. Mr. La Bree maybe didn't know it but we hadn't figured to go farther than his place that day anyway. He emphatically invited us to stay the night at his ranch. The next day started out with a howling wind and drifting snow and it was dark again when the load of lumber finished its trip. We were thankful for LaBree's kind hospitality and his 49 degrees wasn't far off as Jordan, Montana had 60 below that same time.
In 1971 1 made trip back to Montana and looked up some of the Lame Jones folks, the William MacKeys, the Lamberts in Baker and the Adam MacLays at Miles City.
CLAYTON FINDEIS HOGEBOOM
Clayton Findeis Hogeboom, the son of William Henry and Emma Fredrika (Fendeis) Hogeboom, was born in Rockham, South Dakota on August 24, 1902. Clayton is of pioneer stock as his grandparents had migrated from Wisconsin in 1883 to the Hillsdale Township, Faulk County, South Dakota area because they felt that Wisconsin was too
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