Welcome To
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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My parents bought their first car in 1921. It was a Buick and they bought it from George Hough. We were really proud of that and I remember riding around the pasture in it so Dad could practice driving. It was a touring car and had curtains that were put on in the winter time. It was about that time that my folks started the dairy. They bought their first cow from the Crosbys and the L.E. Bakers were the first customers. They continued with the dairy until 1958. We kids helped with the milking, bottling it and delivering it every morning before school. Sometimes it wasn't easy, especially in the winter time. It seems like we had such a lot of snow then and if the snowplow didn't manage to get out our way, the road was blocked. We would start out in the Buick and Dad would shovel through the drifts. I often wonder how many tons of snow he shoveled. Sometimes when it was really bad, we kids had a homemade box on a sled which Dad built and was pulled by a team of horses. We took the milk to town in that and put the horses in a stable near the school until we were ready to come home in the afternoon.
Phylis,
Robert and Priscilla Larson going to deliver milk and go to school, 1927.
There was always plenty of work to do but we had lots of fun besides. We had a Shetland pony and a little cart and I remember how much fun we had riding in that. My mother always encouraged us to bring friends home with us and we had lots of parties. The folks played Whist and (luring the winter months it was one of the main entertainments. I remember some of the players as the Albert Gustafsons, the Gunder Gundersons, the Bill Olsens, the Vic Norths. the Everson, and many more.
My mother was a wonderful cook and enjoyed inviting people for dinner parties. Sundays usually meant company and a big meal. I don't think anyone ever stopped at our place and went away without having something to eat.
Bruce Burt was one of our neighbors and owned the land where Green Acres is now. He had a wonderful idea for a recreation area there and built a big dance pavilion and cleared the grounds for a picnic area. It was a wonderful place for school picnics and I'm sure lots of people remember the dances that were held there. The pavilion was flooded away several years ago.
Tragedy struck in 1928 when Phyllis died of leukemia. She was only 15 years old. It seemed like the whole world fell apart. I think all of us depended on Phyllis for all the things she did.
We had lots of wonderful neighbors during all those years. There was lots of visiting back and forth. Some of the neighbors were the Dave Goods, the John Karches, the Al Knesals, the Wallace Ettles, the John Gundersons, the Gunder Gundersons, the Albert Gustafsons, the Bruce Burts, the George Shucks, the Henry Fuchs, the Nick Weinshrotts and many more.
My dad worked hard all his life and I think he did more than his share in building up the west. It was a shock to everyone when he suddenly died in 1958. After his death, my mother was really lonesome but kept on being keenly interested in the ranch. She saw a need for a florist shop in Baker and took a course in flower arrangements and management of a shop. She got Bonnie Larson interested and together they started the Avenue Floral Shop. She was also interested in antiques and really enjoyed going to auctions to hunt for them. Another dream of hers was to start an antique shop but she didn't get that done before her death in 1967.
Robert Larson still lives on the home place and Relvin Larson is nearby on Dave Good's old place. Rodney Larson lives in Baker and drives out to help Robert with the ranch. I live in Miles City and go home to the ranch as often as possible. It's still home to me and I'll never forget my happy childhood spent there as well as all the rough times we endured.
Louis J. Larson at Pleuna, Montana, 1941.
LOUIS J. LARSON
by Harold Larson
Louis J. Larson took an emigrant car from St. Paul, Minn. and located on a homestead 3 miles directly north of the town of Plevna, Montana in March of 1910. In the car he had 3 horses, a cow and calf, a walking plow, disc, a harrow and a grain drill, plus a wagon and some lumber for a small house and barn.
His wife, Caroline, and son, Harold, 6 1/2 years, arrived by Milwaukee passenger train two weeks later. We had located on the west 1/2 of section 8 and soon had neighbors, Mr. and Mr. Geo. McHoes, who homesteaded the east 1/2 of the section. Miss Bertha Good and her father, John, took up the E. 1/2 and Chas. Cremer homesteaded the W. 1/2 of the section cornering our place to the northwest. Every one was busy the first years trying to get enough sod broke up to put
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in a good crop, this along with building fences and buildings around the place kept every one busy.
The first school in Plevna was a very small building which set about on the site where the present Post Office now is. Our seats were a couple of planks laid over some beer cases and the teacher was Mr. C. C. Conser. Later a larger building, one room, was built on the present grade school grounds but just ahead of the present schoolhouse. Even later a new schoolhouse consisting of 1/2 of the present grade school was built which had 4 rooms. I finished the 8th grade in Plevna and took my exams in Westmore. My 4 years of High School were taken at Terry.
DOVE E. LAWLER
I was born in Little Falls, Minnesota, on September 5, 1888. The family moved to Duluth, Minnesota, a few years later. I was a cashier in a drug store in Duluth for a number of years. Then I went to Harvey, North Dakota, and worked in a millinery shop.
I was married to Edward Lawler of Rochester, Minnesota, on March 2, 1908.
We traveled by train to Marmarth, North Dakota, in 1908 and took up a homestead near my mother's and brother's homestead, nine miles south of Marmarth. My mother and brother were Ida and Harry Schenck. The family still owns the homestead which is planted to wheat each year.
Ed had a drug store in Marmarth in a two-story brick building that is located next to the present post office building. We roomed upstairs.
About 1909 Ed came to Baker to work in a drug store. About 1910 we built a home in Baker where I still reside.
Picnics and general social gatherings were held at different ranches in the early days. The Mulkey Ranch (101), now owned by Darrel Johnson, saw countless good times in the 1920's. The Yokley Ranch, the Flastad Ranch, the Smith Ranch and Lang's Ranch were popular places. Lots of times people would have to stay overnight due to weather and roads.
Fourth of July celebrations would be real big affairs in Ismay, Marmarth and Opeechee Park by Ekalaka. Again, we always had to watch the weather because the roads weren't too good in the early days.
Our social activities centered around the Catholic church, bridge clubs, commercial clubs, business and professional clubs and the American Legion Auxiliary. I was a charter member of the auxiliary. The high point in my Legion days was when I was district president and traveled through this area visiting the different clubs. I was also a charter member of the Altar Society.
Our first nice car was a Buick touring car bought around 1924. It had curtains with windows made of some clear material that you would snap in place in case of bad weather. Jess Barstow showed us how to drive the car. Our next car was a Nash bought around 1929.
The thirities were very bad for business in this area, but those who stayed on, both farmers and business people, did all right.
There were many highlights in the county- discovering natural gas, county seat elections and the discovery of oil at Little Beaver by the MDU in 1936 or 1937.
We raised two children: Anna Mae and Jack. Both graduated from school in Baker and went on to college. Jack owns the drug store now and Anna Mae lives in Illinois.
Ed died in December of 1951 at the age of 71.
CLARENCE LEISCHNER
My father, Otto Leischner, came to Montana in 1914 from Elgin, North Dakota. He homesteaded eighteen miles south-west of Plevna and raised both grain and livestock. He married Emma Krause after he came to Montana and I was born six miles southwest of Plevna on November 21, 1917. My father died when I was a year old and I went to live with my uncle Ed Krause.
I attended elementary school in District 66 and at Baker. I didn't attend high school.
I spent three and one half years in the service during World War 11. When I came home I bought a ranch south of Plevna. Lillian E. Janz and I were married in 1946 at the American Lutheran Church in Baker on August 30.
We lived on the ranch until 1957 when we moved to Plevna and ran a cafe for one year. We then moved back to the ranch where we lived for twenty-five years. In October of 1971 we moved to Miles City where I am Custodial Supervisor in the Miles City School System.
We have two children; James and Jacqueline.
James graduated from the Plevna High School and attended the Miles City Community College for two years and then Eastern Montana College at Billings and got his degree in Secondary Education. He is now Assistant Manager of the Town and Country Store in Billings. He married Kathryn Taylor in 1970. She is a Dental Assistant.
Jacqueline graduated from the Plevna High School and attended the Miles City Community College for two years and then started work as a secretary at the Bank of Baker and is still working there. She married Tom Rieger on April 4, 1970. They live in Baker where he is a City Policeman.
MR. AND MRS. JOHN LEISCHNER
John Leischner was born in Seimentahl, South Russia to Mr. and Mrs. John Leischner, Sr. on February 7, 1874. In 1888, at the age of fourteen years, he came to the United States. He lived in Parkston, South Dakota at first, then later moved to Lehr, North Dakota.
He married his first wife, Emilia Koening in 1892. They had five children; Edmund, William, Paul, Emma and Molly. After his first wife died he married his second wife, Bertha Leischner, on March 18, 1910 at Lehr, North Dakota. They had nine children; Theodore, Clarence, Harold, Bernice, Ida, Isadore, Florence, Esther and Elmer.
Mr. and Mrs. Gottfried Leischner were homesteaders, farmers and stockmen in Logan County, North Dakota in 1886. Their daughter, Bertha, was born to them in South Russia on November 7, 1885. This was before they came to the United States.
After the family settled in North Dakota, Bertha helped her parents on the farm and learned to knit, crochet, embroider and cook when she wasn't going to the elementary school at Lehr, North Dakota.
When John was thirty-six and Bertha was twenty-five Years old they packed their belongings and family on to a train and came west to Montana. They took a claim six miles south of Plevna, Montana, where they lived in a tent while the house was being built. The nights were plenty chilly.
In 1910 both John and Bertha became Charter Members of' the Plevna Emmanuel Congregational Church.
In 1928 they moved the family into Plevna so that the children would be closer to school.
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The Leischners have been very active during their lives. Bertha was a very busy housewife and was very active in the church until the last few years. She had made quilts for all her children, grandchildren and most of her great-grandchildren.
Bad eyesight is hindering her from making quilts now, and her hearing is bad.
John and Bertha had twenty-eight grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
Picture loaned by Frances Hiscock Stamm. Irene Lentz graduation picture, Baker High School, Baker, Montana, 1920.
IRENE LENTZ
Irene Lentz was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ed. Lentz of Baker, Montana. Mr. Lentz owned a clothing store in Baker. The place of business was on the west side of Main Street in a building which sat on the lot which is now occupied by Ole's Coffee Shop.
Clipping from Film Fun.
Picture loaned by Opal Long Emerald, swimming in Baker Lake, 1915 or 16. Left to right, Mrs. Latham, Irene Lentz and Opal Long.
Irene attended the Baker schools and graduated from the Baker High School in about 1920. She evidently went to Hollywood soon after graduation as we find a picture of her in the 1921 Film Fun Magazine when she was a Mack Sennettor.
In the 1940's she became a well known dress designer for the MGM Studios in Hollywood and owner of IRENE'S, INC. her own wholesale business and released originals through some of the finest stores in the United States. In the 1940's if one went to the Movies one would often note that the dresses were designed by IRENE, which was her trade mark.
Sometime in the thirties she was married to Elliot Gibbons, screen writer who in later years suffered a stroke and was confined to a convalescent home. She was a custom designer at Bullock's Wilshire, a position she gave up when she went to MGM for a career in fashion designing.
Clipping from Los Angeles Paper, Irene. Loaned by Frances Hiscock Stamm.
Creating fashions with world wide impact for such stars as Marlene Dietrich, Rosalind Russell, Irene Dunne, Vivian Leigh, Greer Garson, June Allison, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young, Carol Lombard, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Paulette Goddard and Ava Gardner, her influence on the fashion world was unmistakable. Most of the stars followed her for their own personal wardrobes when she finally gave up motion picture designing.
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Leaves Suicide Note
Designer Irene Leaps to Death
Clipping from Hollywood Paper, Irene's suicide. Loaned by Jean Hamilton.
From a newspaper item of November 1962 we read; Hollywood-Last Tuesday famed fashion designer IRENE unveiled her latest creations and commented to an interviewer, "Anything new and beautiful makes one think beautiful thoughts." Thursday, Mrs. Irene Gibbons leaped to her death from the 11th floor of the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel after apparently trying to cut her wrists.
She left a note which said in part; "Please see that Elliot is taken care of. Take care of the business and get someone very good to design. Love to all- IRENE."
She was evidently despondent over her husband's illness, her own ill health, which had been going on for two years, and business problems.
MARY ETTA FOSTER LESTER
[Mrs.
Avon Lester]My mother's folks, the William Carters were the first settlers in Carter County and Carter County was named after them. They took up land there in 1892.
My folks came to this country in 1900 and homesteaded on Little Beaver Creek. 1, Mary Etta Foster, was born on the homestead on January 3, 1910 and I still live just three miles from my old home.
We lived eighteen miles from Baker and our only transportation was with a team and buggy. The winters of 1919, 1949 and 1969 were the worst. The year of 1915 was a wet year with lots of moisture.
As a child I attended the Rasmusson School, rode horses and helped with the horses, cattle and sheep on the ranch. We went to visit our neighbors at times. They were the Freezings, the Ed. Deadys and the E.A. Mulkeys.
We attended church at Baker, Old Time Dances at Rasmussons, rodeos at Marmarth, North Dakota, picnics at Medicine Rocks, Box Socials at the Wells School and Fourth of July Celebrations at O'Peechee Park south of Ekalaka.
Avon Lester and I were married at Ekalaka on March 22, 1930. We had four children; Jewel, Virgil Mike, Eugene Derrel, and Robin Angla.
My husband and I bought the old Rasmusson ranch and the Jack Miller place. We run cattle, horses and do some farming.
My parents are dead and are buried at Camp Crook, South Dakota, and I still have their old homestead.
Our oldest daughter Jewel Avon Plummer is dead and we have her three children with us. Jack J. Plummer, Aleta Itae Plummer and Darla Gae Plummer came to live with us in 1962.
Lena Linden, Fallon County school teacher.
LENA DRAGSETH LINDEN
My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stinus Dragseth, came from Norway. They were married in Miles City in 1894. 1 had four sisters and one brother.
They bought a place out near Knowlton from a man by the name of G. Terryl. The land wasn't surveyed at that time arid later they had to buy the land again because it was on a railroad section instead of government land. We lived six miles east of Knowlton, and that was the nearest school. Knowlton was a small inland village with a store, dance hall, hotel, schoolhouse and stage station. The mail was carried from Miles City to Ekalaka with teams and wagons. Several families built houses in Knowlton where they could live during the school term. This was where we received most of our elementary education. I remember the many trips we
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made with team and wagon from home to Knowlton. Weekends were usually spent at the home ranch.
I was in the eighth grade when a school was built near our place. This was during homestead days and we had many neighbors by then and enough children for a school. I had to wait a year for my sister, Hannah, so we could go to high school together. We went to Miles City where I took a teachers' training course and was ready to teach when I graduated in 1920.
CT Ranch, owned by Stinus Dragseth, six miles east of Knowlton, Montana. Dragseth Post Office was here. Lena Dragseth Linden grew up here.
My first experience as a schoolteacher was at the Gregerson School near Willard, Montana. I went on teaching and going to summer schools until I had a first grade certificate and later graduated from the Normal College at Dillon, Montana. I enjoyed country life so never tried to teach in town. I had 22 years of teaching. After teaching several other places I came back to Willard in 1932, where I taught the Gregerson School again. I taught at Lame Jones in 1933-34. In February of 1934 1 married Art Linden. Then I taught two years at Willard. I quit teaching when the family of five children grew up. They are; Doris Skidmore, Alvin, Agnes Braun, Arthur and Alice, (deceased).
Art Linden and sons after hunting.
In 1952 my husband lost his health. We sold our property at Willard and moved to town. I went teaching again, this time at the Fletcher Creek School for two years. In order to do that I had to go to summer school in Billings to renew my certificate. I then taught the Yokley School one year, The Hidden Water three years and the Lame Jones one. I had to quit teaching because of Arthritis.
My brother and a sister were living on the old place at Knowlton when he passed away in 1958 and willed the place to my sister, Betty, and me. We sold it to Bill Bonlware in 1959 after which I bought my home in Baker where I now five.
Fletcher Creek School, Lena Linden teacher, early 1950's.
ALICE LOBDELL NISTLER
Arthur Clark Lobdell and wife Jennie Evelyn and children, Harold, Arthur, Jr., Donald, Gordon, Alice, Raymond, John and Thelma came from Wisconsin and homesteaded in the Lame Jones Community in 1910. The Hogarty family, relatives, came about the same time. The children were the first pupils in the Lame Jones School.
Neighbors were the G. W. Sparks, the Amos Greenlees, the Greger Gregersons, and the Wm. MacKays.
Social life was with the neighbors, Mrs. Lobdell often assisted with births and was called in during sickness. It was very hard to feed a large family and the folks then moved on to the West Coast.
Alice married a Nistler and until she retired in 1971 she worked as a Nurse-Medical Secretary. Her home is in Spokane. She says that her sister, Thelma, is still working and her two brothers still alive are, Donald and Gordon. She has never been back to Montana but her cousin Clyde Hogarty, was here two years ago and still found many friends he knew. He worked for Fred Anderson, the first Postmaster of Willard.
FAITH FOR LIFE - A TRUE STORY
By Frances Loger
Carl Loger was born in 1888 at Hotedrisca, Austria, to John and Mary Loger. His parents were millers. He had five brothers and one sister.
I, Frances Gruden Loger was born in 1900 at Hotedrisca to John and Mary Gruden. My father was a farmer. He died when I was six years old. I had three brothers and one sister. Two of my brothers were killed in World War I.
Carl came to the United States in 1911 and for a time he worked in the coal mines in Illinois. He later moved to Colorado and worked as a painter. In 1915 he came to Montana and he filed on a homestead claim in Carter County in 1921. He worked for 0. H. Knipfer for 15 years during which time he also proved his homestead claim. In 1926, Carl
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purchased Preacher Backeus' homestead. It bordered Chass Phillips land. Carl with the help of Chass planted his first crop in 1927. It was a good one.
With a little extra money in his pocket, Carl decided to visit his parents in Slyvania, Austria. His stay was from December until March, during which time we met, courted, and on January seventh were married. Carl's passport expired in March, and I was unable to obtain one until June, so he returned to Montana alone. On June 22, 1 said goodby to parents, brothers, sisters, friends and country. I arrived in France via Germany and Switzerland and boarded a French ship "The Mary Queen." Five fellow Slyvanians and I (two ladies and one man) shared the same ship and sleeping quarters for five and one half days. I bade them goodbye in New York and was virtually alone on the ship as I couldn't speak or understand English.
The following day, after going through customs and being approved by the health authorities I was taken to the train depot. I wanted to stop at Sheboygan, Illinois to visit a Slyvanian friend, but was told I could not because my ticket was from New York to Baker. The ticket agent called my friend in Sheboygan. She agreed to meet me and help me get to Baker.
We arrived in Chicago at 11 P.M. one night after three days of riding. I was alone, couldn't speak English and didn't know what to do. I took my suitcase and started walking with other people. I remember turning a corner and going into a room. I finally showed my ticket to a man. He took me to a door and pointed to a number, I then counted on his fingers to seven, indicating that I was to go to door seven. I went in and showed my ticket to a lady. She opened a door and said something to someone and out came a man, a black man. He took my suitcase and motioned for me to follow him. I had never seen a black man before. It was a strange place in the middle of the night and I was petrified. I stood there too seared to move. I finally went with him to a waiting room where I waited until 2 A.M. for my train. I finally arrived in Sheboygan at 4:30 where my friend and her family were waiting for me. I spent a week with them. This was to be the last time I saw any of my Slyvanian friends or relatives again until 1965.
My friend sent two telegrams to Carl telling him to meet me at Baker on Saturday afternoon, August 5,1929 at 4 P.M. Carl wasn't there to meet me. I found out later that he didn't receive the telegrams until two or three weeks after I arrived. I waited until 5 P.M. when the depot closed. A man came over and was talking to me. I didn't understand him. Finally I showed him Carl's address. He laughed and indicated he knew him. I arrived at Knobs at 6:30 by car over a dirty, bumpy, cowpath. There were no trees, just barren hills and shanties with no paint. There was no paint anywhere. The car stopped where some men were working. They all wore bib overalls, old straw hats, were mustashed and covered with dirt. I couldn't tell which one was Carl. When the car stopped I gave the driver $5. He wanted more so I gave him another $5. He still wanted more. The dirty bumpy, barren ride out here over an old cow trail cost me $15. Carl was really mad. He said I should have waited for him to pay the man.
The men quit working and Carl took me up to the Knipfer ranch where he still worked. I can remember that supper was ready. They had a huge table with easily a dozen people sitting around it. I asked Carl where they all came from, and he told me to keep still since I couldn't speak English and he didn't want them to think we were talking about them. He didn't think about what I was thinking with all those people I couldn't understand laughing and talking.
I stayed at the Knipfer ranch for two weeks while Carl helped them trail their cows and sheep to Marmarth, North Dakota, They had given us the Kraft house (currently the Bud Stangford home) to live in until we got ours fixed up. It started to rain while Carl was gone, and I wanted to see the house to make sure the roof wasn't leaking. I couldn't make the folks understand what I wanted. Finally Louise Knipfer (Strangford now) saddled up two horses and we rode over there. The roof was sod and when we got there we found piles of mud on the floor. We had a new mattress on the bed and it was soaked with mud. OH! I was mad.
I told Carl when he got back that I wanted to move to our own house on the Backeus place. He said he'd take me over there for our honeymoon. There were no doors or windows and about two feet of cow manure on the floor. This was our honeymoon.
0. H. Knipfer gave me an old saddle horse to ride. Her name was "Daisy." That fall and winter I rode from the Kraft to the Bakeus place on old "Daisy" to clean up our house. There was no well and I had to pack water 200 feet from the creek to clean with. The floor had one-inch cracks in it and it stank from cow manure. We fixed up one room and moved in the next spring. This was in the dry 30's.
The first winter I was here it was 30 to 40 degrees below zero. The house in the Kraft place had no floor. We had a stove and a stovepipe that went through the roof. We had to leave space in the roof around the pipe for fear of fire. I'd build a fire in the stove and in a heavy sheep skin coat look up at the roof and see the stars while roasting on one side and freezing on the other. We had no cattle and not much food. Carl ate dinners and suppers at Knipfers and didn't realize how little food we had. I couldn't speak English and couldn't ask for what I needed so I was hungry half the time.
I was sick and went to see a Doctor in Baker. This was near Christmas. He said I had to have an appendectomy and that it would cost $200. We didn't have any money. I was hungry and cold, the country was nothing but sagebrush and coyotes, I couldn't visit anyone and I didn't care if I lived or not. I said no. We were in the Doctor's office; Carl, I, the nurse, the Doctor and the Doctor's wife. The Doctor's wife thought I said no because I was afraid, so she whipped up her dress, pulled down her pants and showed me all her scars from all her operations. She is still alive. She told me it was a free country and I could do as I wanted. I had the surgery. The next summer the Doctor's wife came out every two weeks wanting her money. I finally told her I din't have it and couldn't dig it out of the dirt.
I had ordered a Chicago Newspaper written in Slyvanian when I first came out here so that I could keep up with the news. Franklin D. Roosevelt was president at that time. The paper said he wanted to help the poor people, so I wrote to him in my language. I told him that I had my appendix removed and it cost $200. 00 and that I had no money to pay it and that the Doctor's wife was pestering me for the money. I told him that I had a saddle horse, a few chickens, and a milk cow. I asked him if he couldn't loan me $200. A few weeks later I received a reply in Slyvanian. The letter said he had written to the Doctor's wife and told her to leave me alone for three months. It also said I should go to the Federal Land Bank, borrow the money I needed and I would have 10 years to repay it. The letter was signed Franklin D. Roosevelt. That was over 40 years ago and the letter is gone now.
I cried when Roosevelt died. He was the best President this country has had.
Carl didn't know I wrote to Roosevelt until the Doctor's wife stopped him in town one day. She was really mad and so was Carl when he got home that night. Years later the Doctor and I patched up our differences by his buying me a beer.
I remember when our son, Henry, was born in November 19:34. Carl was working at Knipfers. I went out and milked the cows then went to bed. Carl came home at nine P.M. He wanted to take me to the hospital. I said no not if I was going to give them $200.00 again. Carl hitched up the horses and
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Schuyler Mosts's threshing machine, 1935. Carl, Frances and Baby, Henrv Loger.
went after Mary Birtic. He picked up S.E. Most on the way back. Carl and Schuyler had a jug and started celebrating early when they got back. I could hear them laughing and singing in the kitchen. They finished the jug after Henry was born. I told Carl I had saved him $200. So he could buy me a radio. He and Schuyler went to town and bought a radio the next day. They hooked it up that evening and this is how I learned to speak English.
Carl applied to the W.P.A. for a dam. The application was accepted and in September of 1936 they started building the dam with teams of horses. I fed six or seven men. Two of them slept in the chicken house. They repaid me by helping wash and dry the supper dishes, as I was expecting my second baby any time. She was born Saturday, September 19. 1 didn't have any doctors or nurses when the kids were born. Carl went and got Mary Birtic. She stayed until Monday morning. Tuesday morning I was up doing the chores and feeding W.P.A. workers again.
One of the workers had a toothache. He came to the house to ask for something for it. I didn't understand what he wanted. Henry, who was two or so, was up at the dam watching the men work. The man with the toothache told Henry to come tell me that he needed something for it. Henry told me in my language and I gave the man something for his tooth.
On May 11 the dam was finished and the Community gathered to watch the opening of the headgate. Henry was there also. He stood in silence for a few minutes watching the water run after the headgate was opened then said, "Oh --------I look at that ---- water run." That started the celebration. The beer and Oscar Knipfer, Jr. and his broomstick pony helped keep it going.
Carl and I went to visit Birtics one day on horseback shortly after I came to this country. I was riding "Daisy" the horse 0. H. Knipfer gave me. When we were mounted and ready to leave one of the kids threw a rock and hit "Daisy." She bolted. We had four gates to open and "Daisy" cleared every one of them while I hung on scared to death. We got home one half hour before Carl. The children, Henry and Rose, had set some traps. One morning while I was doing the chores and Carl was sleeping, the kids went down to check their traps. They had caught a skunk and had put it in Carl's bed. When I got back to the house the skunk had left its calling card and Carl was up and wide awake.
Preacher Backeus died in our front yard beside his old homestead shanty which was then our home.
September 22, 1950 Carl passed away while he and Henry were hauling coal. Henry was a freshman in high school at the time. He quit school to help me on the ranch. Rose finished high school and received her degree at Billings. She taught school for eight years before marrying Arthur Straub from Plevna in 1964. They have one girl, Alice Elaine, and farm and ranch near Plevna.
Henry ranches and farms on the home place south east of Baker. He married Deanna Jensen of Redfield, South Dakota in 1967. They have a daughter, Theresa Lynn, and a son, Gregory James.
In 1968 1 bought a house at 107 South Side Lake in Baker where I now live. I decided that it was time to retire since I could no longer jump fences. I can still ride a horse though. I have a new hobby now, a three wheeled bike.
The old Backeus house, 1935. Henry Loger and turkeys in fro n t.
John J. Long, 1872-1961. Buried in Bonnievale Cemetery, Baker, Montana.
HOMESTEADING IN EASTERN MONTANA
By Opal 0. Emerald
My father, John J. Long, was among the first to file on a homestead in the area six miles south of Baker going there early in 1909 from Madison, Wisconsin. He filed on a quarter section of land and built a shack about 14 X 20 feet, tarpapered on the outside with a heavier rubberized paper on
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the roof. The shack stood all alone with the wide prairie around and the sky above. There wasn't another building nor a fence for miles.
The Milwaukee Railroad Co. laid rails westward through Montana in 1906 and 1907 and established the town of Baker and constructed a dam below some springs to form a lake of water so the steam locomotives could take on water there. My father had gone to work as a brakeman for the Milwaukee Railway while at Madison. As an employee, he could get free transportation west to file on his claim and build his shack. Later he took his family of three daughters, Opal, Ruth and Ruby, his second wife, Augusta, a cow, 2 young pigs, a half dozen chickens and household goods.
The Long sisters, Opal, Ruby and Ruth.
I remember the walk out from Baker. There were no doubt livery teams available but that cost money and there was little money. My father, being a hardy soul, expected the same of his family. Since the railroad car with our household furnishings had not yet arrived, our first meal was prepared out of doors at our shack over a fire of scraps of sage and buffalo chips. It was late as my father went for water to the mile away spring, the stars came out and the coyotes howled. We slept on the floor inside the shack.
Our stepmother, an identical twin, was a mail order bride from Evansville, Indiana. She came from a frugal living family, so the twins had gone into a cotton mill to work at the age of 14 before child labor laws and she worked in the mill to the age of 26 when our father married her. How she stood the plains hardships, I'll never know, but she proved hardy, keeping house under the most primitive conditions and learning to shoot game for the table. There were prairie chickens, sage hens, cottontails and jackrabbits, an occasional goose in the fall. Antelope were glimpsed on rare occasions, fleeing to the southeast, but we never had one for the table.
I remember our food of those early years. There was lye prepared hominy, potatoes, refried pork preserved in its own fat, lots of homemade pickles and in the spring, fresh garden vegetables.
Our father worked on the railroad, his run from Marmarth to Mobridge. He came home on his long days off and managed to build a lean-to for the daughters' bedroom and to partition the large room into a kitchen and bedroom. He sodded the outside and built a dugout barn for his cow and pigs. The winters were very cold, sometimes 40 to 60 degrees below zero. Blizzards lasting three or four days occurred frequently those early winters with snow sifting in around the windows and the windows frosted in plumes and ferns. We would thaw a warm circle on them with our breaths to see outside. Often we awakened to see the nails along the ceiling tipped with frost. There was only a small laundry stove for heat. The first couple of years we burned coal bought from town. Later lignite was hauled from an adjoining property by team and wagon in chunks three or four inches thick. In summer we carried water from the mile away spring even for washboard laundry until horse and buggy was obtained, then it was hauled in five gallon gasoline tins. In winter these tins were filled with snow to melt on the small laundry stove. These tins were procured filled with gasoline for the three-burner stove used for cooking in summer.
All three sisters were born in Wisconsin near Madison, although each in a different location. There was myself, Ruth and Ruby all born within four years. We were close and happy together. 1, being eldest, was the main helper in the house, also doing the wash. When there was time for play, we roamed the prairie. There was a spur of badlands nearby and we used to go there to play and to pick chokecherries, cramming our mouths and lard buckets. Our stepmother made a rich syrup of them for hot cakes or homemade bread. We met many rattlesnakes and once saw a badger. A neighbor about three miles northwest named John Caldwell ran a few thousand sheep and his herder's chuck wagon was sometimes not too far from our home. Occasionally we would pay him a visit and he would treat us to lunch. There were two cattlemen to the south. One, Billy Wagner had cattle and horses, the other, E.A. Mulkey had cattle and had been in the area a few years. Their cattle ranged to the south and I never heard of a sheep and cattle feud. Then a few homesteaders came. There was a family named Garvin with three or four children who we used to visit. Another was named Peck with children.
About this time my father decided a school was needed so he built a schoolhouse which was known as the Long School. The first teacher was a Miss Gertrude Smart who lived with her mother about three and one half miles south and east of Baker. Other neighbors were Mr. Meffort, a bachelor, a couple named Copeland, my uncle Bert Long who had married my stepmother's twin. Another to the north and west of us was named Witte. A Russian by the name of Schlecht who did not remain long was about one half-mile east. Some came and filed on a one quarter section and
George Long on the right with three Long cousins [Bert Long's boys].
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remained only long enough to prove up on their claim then moved elsewhere. That was the intention of our father but he stayed to file on another one quarter section and to buy a railroad section. He was a member of congress representing the Baker area in the state capitol at Helena in 1938 and 1939.
About a year after we came to Montana, a son was born dead to our parents. Another son was born in Miles City by Cesarean section in 1913. He was named George and went to schools in Baker and Marmarth.
Left to right; Ruth Long, Minnie Pratt on horse and Opal Long. Opal is wearing the too old, too long dress told about in the article. Minnie Pratt was killed in a car wreck on Water Tank Hill while still young.
I went into Baker to work and helped do housework in the home of a family named Creel then into a home of the name of Baker. I later worked in a candy store and soda fountain on Main Street run by people named Dapp. In 1916 1 married a Baker man, Roy Smith, in Miles City but the marriage lasted only about two years as I was too immature for marriage.
Ruth attended high school in Baker and the State University in Missoula in 1916 and 1917. She was a teacher in a small country school near Baker in 1918.
Ruby graduated from the Holy Names Nursing School in Miles City.
In 1917 a small pox epidemic swept through Baker but it was in a mild form. I could count the pocks I had. Only a few people were broken out all over.
Opal Long, 1918.
While we were all still at home, our father invited Ruth and me down to Marmarth to visit him. A sister of our stepmother had sent us several of her cast off dresses and shoes. The dresses were quite fancy and we loved the shoes because they had heels and were for young ladies. So we dressed in the fanciest dresses and shoes and started to walk to Baker to ride by train to Marmarth. The shoes, alas, were a bit small and before we had gone far we decided to carry the shoes and walked on the dusty road barefoot. We must have looked a bit strange to Marmarth folks in our too long dresses and high heeled shoes. But our father entertained us royally, showing us the caboose in which he slept while on his train trips. He took us to his boarding house where he lived at the end of his run where we enjoyed the meals. It was altogether an enjoyable trip.
Ruth Long taught the Hidden Water School in 1918. The three children in the dark clothing are Noftskers. The two girls in light dresses and the boy to the left are Jordans. Anna and Margaret De Grand not pictured.
Opal Long Emerald, husband Bert and Opal's great granddaughter, Brett Sharkey, 1966.
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From Baker I went to Seattle and married Herbert R. Lawson newly from Fairbanks, Alaska. We had two children, Dolores Y. Weston of Jamestown, California, and Herbert R. Lawson II of Berkeley, California. From these children, I have seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Thirty-one years ago I married my present husband, a native Californian, Bert Emerald.
Cornelius and Anna Loran, Wedding Picture, 1909
CORNELIUS B. AND ANNA LORAN
By Anna Loran Schultz
My parents, Mathias and Maryann Rambur came to America from Russia with nine children leaving their home in a small town near Odessa. They crossed the ocean on the steamship "Kaiser Wilheirn Der Gorse", the fastest ship in the world at that time. It took seven days to make the crossing to New York in that November of 1903. They went by train from New York to Mandan, North Dakota. Every stopping place there was a man to help them get on the right train. All these men spoke the German language, which helped a lot and also saved time. My folks had heard so much about America from a man who had been over here three times.
Cornelius B (C.B.) Loran and I (Anna M. Rarnbur) were married on November 23, 1909 at a double wedding with my brother, Sebastian Rarnbur, and my husband's sister, Sorphina Loran. They lived with my folks at Mandan, N.D. and my husband and I lived with his folks, the John Lorans at Richerton, N.D. until the fall of 1910 when we all moved to Montana.
The men came out first. The three men, C.B., Nick Loran (C. B.'s brother) and S.F. Rambur (my brother) each had a wagon and three horses. Each wagon was loaded with one walking plow and other household goods. Our house went up first and then the barn. One barn for all three sod shanties. Of course the houses were just one room made of board with sod three feet deep on the outside. The inside of the house was lined with heavy building paper. There was no heater but a
Cornelius Loran's sod house and barn, 1910
nice cook stove with a nice built up warming closet. I gathered gunnysack after gunnysack of "Cow Chips", stacked them up to dry out. After that all you needed to have a good fire to cook with was a little paper and a few shavings of wood. When the weather got colder we did have coal.
We were located about 2 1/2 miles southeast of the 101 Ranch and 22 1/2 miles from Baker. The wells weren't very deep and were boarded out at first. Later they were rocked out. There was no snow for Christmas that first year but winter came on New Years and what a blizzard. We lived mostly on jackrabbit (they were good to eat in those days), cottontails and sage hens. For Christmas, Father Loran sent us a big butchered hog and eight-gallon cream cans of butter. The butter was to be divided between three families.
In the spring of 1911 each family got 1 milk cow, 3 hens and a rooster, a pair of geese and 3 ducks from Father John Loran in North Dakota. We bought 3 more hens for 50 cents a piece, so that is how we got our start.
C. B. taught himself the art of Taxidermy and mounted many birds and animals, including a two-headed calf belonging to a rancher.
The children came fast - 10 of them. First - Mary Ann died when 2 days old, then Eva Elizabeth--Johnson, Rosemary Varner, Elenor White, Laura Carter, Mary
S.F. Rambur and his pet antelope - Loran Buildings in the background
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Ziebarth, Geroline Hudson, Cornelius, Jr., Winona died in a car accident when she was 17 and Virginia Stade. I have 24 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren.
Our neighbors were Wm. Rost, S.F. Rambur, Clarence Northrup, George Colbo, Chris Idecker, Nick Loran and the Mulkey's at whose place was our post office, The post office was named Violet, Montana at the 101 Ranch.
Visiting was the most common social activity. Box socials and card parties were held in the School House. As the youngsters grew up they added their own fun. The Northrup boys would hitch up a team of horses to a sled and then they would pick up the Ramburs, the Lorans and the Myhres. They called it moonlight sleigh riding. Guess they had a lot of fun driving around and singing songs. Several homes were always open for dinners and card parties. When the better homes went up they gave dances to get their floors polished. When Ramburs built their barn, they had a dance. The women brought sandwiches and cake. The men dropped 25 cents in a hat to pay the musicians. Gottlieb Kingsley played the accordian and his 10-year-old son, Jake played the drum. They made good music. Look what we pay now when we go to a dance. When the Ideckers moved away an old bachelor lived there by the name of Jack Hinchen. We liked to have him come to our Basket Socials because he would bid "sky high," especially if it was a schoolteacher's basket. Some times they had a Shadow Social. The ladies were behind a sheet. One at a time they would step close the the sheet and lift her skirts to the knees and the men would bid on the legs instead of baskets. How Jack knew the teachers' legs, I don't know, but he always had two or three teachers eating supper with him. These were usually held at the Webster Hall.
School first started in Rambur's house. The little Red SchoolHouse was later built near our place. The children, other than ours, were the Ramburs, the Colbos and the Northrups.
In 1915 we had a good crop but the government put it's hand on it for war reasons and prices weren't good. After that everything went wrong. We had a nice bunch of cattle but Black leg set in and all our young ones died. They burned them in the straw stack. We had a small crop for a few years, then in 1919 we lost all our old cows. Eggs sold for 5 cents a dozen and pork for 3 cents a pound. In 1922 grasshoppers and then came 6 years of drought. The seventh year we had a good crop but lost everything to a hailstorm, even the young turkeys, geese and chickens. Two of the girls got married in one year and the other the next. C. B. had a light stroke in his right arm, then he just gave up. Everything was mortgaged by then, anyhow. His arm got better after a few months so in the spring of 1937 we sold out and moved to Baker. After a time in town he got a job on what they called WPA Program. He taught Taxidermy and Wood Craft. Then he had a bad stroke but lived three years more. He died at home in 1940.
JOHN W. LOSING
John Losing married Christine Bechtold on May 25, 1930. After their marriage they went to Sheboygan, Wisconsin to live. To this union were born two sons; Ralph and Roger.
John worked in the Kohler Company for many years. During the depression when jobs were so scarce he walked the streets looking for work. He later worked for a hydraulic factory until they bought the Beck place north of Baker in 1946. In 1947 they came back to Montana where they farmed until 1963.
The John W. Losing Family, L to R; Ralph, Roger, John and Christine
They had built a new house in Baker in 1962 so when John retired in 1963 they moved to town where they have enjoyed living since.
John is interested in the church, loves to read and travel while Christine loves to crochet, knit and sew. They have eight grandchildren.
ESTHER LUDWIG
My father, Jacob Ludwig, came to Montana in 1910 to homestead, because in Montana he wouldn't have to clear the land of trees and stone as was necessary in Wisconsin. He settled seven miles north of Plevna. Some of his neighbors were; Charles Huber, John Ludwig, Jake Simmermeyer and John Howe. He had difficulty in getting enough good water for drinking and etc. He did farming and raised dairy cows. There were a number of dry years when he had to buy hay for the cattle, and the distances were great. The nearest doctor was fifteen miles away.
My mother came out in 1915 and I was born on the farm near Westmore on December 29, 1915. 1 helped on the farm, sometimes doing fieldwork, and in the home. I attended the Lincoln Rural School and the Plevna High School. I was also a member of a 4-H club for a while. After I finished high school I attended college at Billings and Missoula, Montana and at Stevens Point and Superior, Wisconsin to become qualified to teach school.
There were social activities in and around our community. We attended St. Anthony's Church in Plevna and were very active in it especially helping with the Bazaars. There were usually Fourth of July Celebrations at Westmore or at Plevna. We most always attended the County Fair at Baker.
TOM AND LILLIE ROGET LUNDER
By Marion Hanson
Land south of Baker was not yet open for homesteading in 1906 but many people had come west to squat on land, run horses or cattle and to make a home for a family. Tom was the son of T.T. Lunder and 13 years old at the time when he came with his father and uncle. They put up a house and after several months the family came from Hawley, Minnesota.
Since there were other families, also squatters, school was in session in a log house between the T.T. Lunders and the M.A. Shreves where Tom attended for awhile.
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Tom and Lillie Lunder, 1917.
Lillie Roget had two married sisters, Mrs. Albert Fost and Mrs. Elmer Anderson living here and in 1916 she came to visit. She was very popular and on one occasion her basket, at a basket social at Willard, sold for $26 - more than twice any of the others. Tom and Lillie married in 1917 at Murdock, Minn. They came back to Montana and spent the first winter near his parents and later rented the Chris Noben place where all but their youngest daughter were raised.
Raising a family was a struggle and school was five miles away to the Willard school. In good weather the children rode ponies. In winter they were taken by sled if the ponies got away it was a long walk home. Hardly ever was there a night when a school chum or cousin or some lonely bachelor didn't spend the night. Frank Pitney, the Gregerson boys, the Myhres, the Molstads, the Lunder brothers would gather for ball games, cards, horse shoe or just to fancy up their horses by braiding tails and manes. Tom was the community barber and it was not uncommon for the Wootzier Westropes and the Billy Leichner families to combine an evening of trimming and the rest of the night with whist.
Besides farming Tom had about the only truck in the community and did hauling for everybody. During the depression he would load up wheat, drive to Sidney and exchange it for flour and coarse grain for cereal. When the neighbors needed a hand with sick animals he was called. As the years went by he got better trucks and hauled bailed hay from Minnesota during the depression years. He worked on the W.P.A. as a boss on the roads, digging water wells, or trucking. Before his marriage he had worked as a barber on a traveling carnival, so through the years he had quite a way of telling stories and held the children in suspense up to the end. He also went south during the fall to do custom combining using his truck as his cook house for the crew. Friday most generally was his day for cooking and even with company it was a huge kettle of ham hocks and beans and lots of home made bread.
The family was included in the dances at Willard and many a evening they slept under the benches on the side lines. Rodeos at Ekalaka and Baker attracted them, as well as Box Socials and card parties and ball games at Webster and Willard.
Neighbors were L.H. Strommen, Ted Bergstrom, Albert Fost, Red Race and Carl Fost. Their church was the Lutheran at the Willard Hall and later in Baker.
Eight children were born in the family; LaVerne at age 1:3 died in 1930. Emelyn, (Mrs. Wilford Lindstrom), Roger, Alvina (Mrs. Robert Maddaugh, Colleen (Mrs. Richard Lindstrom), Robert, Howard and Irene (Mrs. Max Mann). There are 25 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
While working on a county road crew Tom was injured and his health failed. He passed away in 1941. Lillie raised her young family. She married L.H. Strommen who also passed away and now she is married to her first beau she had while a girl in Minnesota, Oscar Sjelstad. They make their home at Miles City or at his home at Sunberg, Mn.
T. T. AND SALLY CARLSON LUNDER
As told to Robert and Beatrice Lunder, January 30, 1973 by Harry Gregerson
The parents of Torvil and Nick Thompson came from Norway. In 1903 when the brothers decided to come to Baker, Montana they left Torvil's wife and children in Hawley, Minnesota. The two brothers took the name of Lunder when they filed on a homestead located five miles due south of the present Willard Store. The two men will be referred to in this story as T. T. (Torvil Thompson) and N. T. (Nick Thompson).
Lunder and son, Thomas, and N. T. Lunder established a home site. They built a three-bedroom house, a large barn, a granary, a work shop and etc. When these tasks, that had taken several months of work, were completed they went back to Minnesota for the family. They came by emigrant car with their belongings, live stock and family all in one car. So we are told.
After the family was living on the homestead, T. T. carried out a tub of hot ashes from the stove and set the tub outdoors along side the house. A strong wind came up and blew the hot ashes against the side of the house and set it on fire; so the first house burned to the ground. The family stayed with the Eddie Burke family until a new house was built. The second house was much smaller so T. T. built a bunkhouse to accommodate the family and visitors. This building was northeast of the house, next to the shop. The second house is still standing as well as the granary, shop and bunk house on the Wilford Lindstrom place. Mrs. Lindstrom was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Lunder. The first big barn burned down too so they converted the big granary into half barn and half granary. This is the barn that is still standing and has been in use through the years.
T.T. and sons built the large dam by using several teams of horses and a fresno to move the dirt, and build up the dam site. This was a big task and took several weeks to complete.
T.T. Lunder was a big man, standing six feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds. He had sandy blond hair, blue eyes and his complexion was rather rough and ruddy. He always dressed in a suit, white shirt and tie. He had great strength and engaged in seemingly numerous land deals and at one time owned many sections of land. He gambled and played cards with the best of men, drank his share of liquor but never over-indulged. He had a reputation of being a jolly natured fellow who got along well with both men and women.
The T.T. Lunder children from the first marriage Alfred, Thomas Lunder married Lillie Roget in 1917, Harry, Dave, Melvin, and Gilbert.
T.T. and his first wife were divorced and she left the place taking the youngest son with her. T.T. married S
ally Carlson whose brother worked for T.T. for 15 years. Children from the second marriage: -Olga, Irene, Sanford, Floyd, Boyd and Earl.
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The Lunder family later moved to the Eddie Flasted place northeast of Ekalaka,
The Lunder children attended school in a log schoolhouse located on the Grandpa Shreve place. Later a school was built south of the Lunder Dam and was known as the Lunder School. The six younger children attended that school and also the Willard School.
In 1936 Mr. and Mrs. Lunder joined their younger sons on a farm at Hawley, Minnesota.
MRS.
GULNARE LUTTSMy parents were Mr. and Mrs. Ernest C. Stark. I was born November 24, 1894 at Lisle, Minnesota. My folks came to Montana in 1908 by train. They wanted to come west for my father's health and then there was the opportunity of developing a new land. We came to Montana by train and then went to the Ollie country by team and wagon where my father had taken up a homestead. There the folks did farming and ran a dairy farm. We had from twelve to fifteen dairy cows.
The weather that year was moist and it rained so often, until the creeks were full and the soil was saturated. The winters were milder due to Japanese Ocean Currents coming closer to land on the West Coast. These currents caused mild Chinooks.
Ira Jay Stark and Ox Team, 1909
While I was growing up on the farm, I went to school and church, helped with housework and with the general farm work. At first we went to Sunday school and church in the schoolhouse until the Ollie U. B. Church was built. We attended that church until it dissolved.
After elementary school I was tutored by my father at home and later I went to school at Dillon for three months. I spent two and one half terms teaching rural schools. This was a most gratifying experience for me. I also tended telephone switchboards at Ollie, Carlyle, and Golva. When I wasn't doing these things I helped at home where I was most greatly needed. Father and mother both helped neighbors in need when I was at home. I worked with other people in the community to establish a school and a church.
We had time for pleasure, too. Most of our gatherings were picnics due to the small homes and lack of space in the schoolhouse. Later on there were programs, parades, dances and always horseback riding.
On October 17, 1923 Rudolph Lutts and I were married in my mother's home in Ollie, Montana. We had five children. They are Jule Kathleen, Marlys Ruth, Robert Rudolph, Lolita Hazel who was born April 6, and died May 4, 1931 and
GuInare Stark Lutts and her Aunt, Lauretta Stark, 1912
Shirley Gail. I have thirteen grandchildren and one great grandchild.
The depression came on when the children were small. We had built up a good herd of Polled Hereford cattle and had to sell them at give away prices. My husband and his brother took wheat to Belfield, North Dakota where there was a mill. They would wait until the wheat was ground, then loading the flour, cereal and bran into the wagon, they would come home. The miller was paid with a share of the wheat.
I now live in Baker where I keep active with church, Senior Citizens and The O'Fallon Historical Society.
MR.
AND MRS. JOSEPH [JOE] MADLER, SR.
Mr. Joseph Madler, was a native of Dolatz, Austria Hungary. He was born on July 5, 1883 to Ignetz and Margaret Madler. Here he grew up and received his elementary education to the sixth grade. His parents were
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Madler, Sr. and son Robert, 1935.
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farmers who raised cows, pigs, chickens and other poultry, as well as a lot of garden produce.
The Madlers sold their property in Austria-Hungary and migrated to the United States and settled in the Dickinson, North Dakota area where they continued farming. In Dickinson a man, named Ed Berry, owned and operated a hotel and saloon. Young Joseph, still in his teens, worked as a porter at the hotel and on the side he formed a trio with two other musicians. Joe's instrument was the accordion, which he played with facility. The trio played at many weddings and dances in the vicinity of Dickinson. It was through this activity that he met Miss Rosa Lampi, whose family lived in the area. Ignetz Madler passed away shortly after coming to America leaving the boys to look after their mother.
Joe took a fancy to Miss Lampi, and to make a long story short, they were married at Dickinson on June 26, 1904.
Rosa was the daughter of Mike and Anna (Weinschrott) Lampi of Bakovar, Austria-Hungary. She was born there on March 7, 1888. It was here that she received her education up to the sixth grade.
The family lived on a farm, but Mike was a businessman at Bakovar Village. He ran the business while the family and some hired men ran the farm under the direction of Mrs. Lampi. They raised general farm produce including garden stuff.
Her parents saved passage money and sent her brother, Mike, to Dickinson where he worked on a sheep ranch until he could own a ranch of his own. Young Mike was a machinist by trade, but never practiced it after coming to the United States. He saved money and sent for his father, Mike, Sr., and one sister. Mr. Lampi and daughter settled at Baltimore, Maryland. The going was rough for them because of the "Language Barrier." But the farmer found work as a gardener and yardman in the vicinity. The daughter found employment in the city.
When they had saved enough money they sent for Mrs. Larnpi and the four other children, including Rosa who was eleven or twelve years of age at the time. For something to do, Rosa enrolled in a Convent School for three months to learn the English language. She found work as a baby-sitter and later she worked out as a "hired girl."
In about a year and a half the family had sufficient funds to go on out to Dickinson, North Dakota where they worked on son Mike's ranch until they were able to secure a homestead of their own. It was 25 miles south of Dickinson. They built a sod house and later, when the sod house began to disintegrate after a rainy season, they constructed a good stone house, such as was the custom in Austria-Hungary.
Rosa again "worked out". Later she worked at the same hotel where Joe Madler worked as porter. She was gaining much experience in the skills and arts of homemaking which she could put to good use later.
After the wedding in 1904 Joseph and Rosa Madler continued working in Dickinson. When Mr. Berry purchased the Jordan Hotel in Glendive, Montana, he sent the couple out there to work. Later Mr. Berry acquired some farmland along the Yellowstone River about 11/2 miles from Glendive. He sent Joe and Rosa there to oversee and work the farm. They employed irrigation and produced garden vegetables as well as lamb, beef and pork to be used at the hotel in Glendive.
When the Milwaukee Railroad was put through the Baker vicinity, Joseph, his brother, Nick, and three other young men decided to come to Baker and have a "look-see." This decision resulted in Joe and Nick Madler and one of the other fellows filing homestead rights in the Baker area.
They returned to Dickinson where Rosa and children had gone to make final plans. Joe and Nick returned to the homesteads by wagon team. They brought meat, vegetables and led four cows all that way, beside the wagon. Slow going! Eh? The trip required four or five days. After arriving at their land they proceeded to put up small dwellings. Joe's and Rosa's had two small rooms. Joe then sent Rosa the money to come, but before she received it, Rosa became impatient and eager to be on her way. She borrowed money from her parents and with her two small sons, Louis and Kert, she took the train to Terry, Montana where she changed trains and soon reached Baker. Of course there was no one there to meet her. There she sat, in the newly built but still unfinished depot, wondering what her next move was.
Finally a gentleman approached her and introduced himself as Frank Becker. She discovered that Joe and Nick were staying at his "shack" while building their own dwellings. He loaded her and the boys into his rig and quickly drove to his place which was not far north of town. They found the two Madler men busy making "flap-Jacks" for breakfast. What a joyous memory!!
Joe Madler homestead.
The homestead was only five miles north of Baker. Rosa was 21 and Joe was 26 at that time. It was too late to put in a crop that summer as the men had arrived in June of 1909. It was a good season and there was an abundance of prairie hay which they cut and sold to the livery barns in Baker. They saved enough cash to purchase seed for the next spring's planting.
They soon added another room to the house, planted a grove of trees, and proceeded to build up their farm operation as well as adding to their family circle. Neither of them was afraid of work. The Bad Lands supplied them with wood, posts, lignite coal and wild fruits. A schoolhouse was built about two miles from their home and since Baker was only five miles away they didn't have to worry about traveling long distances.
Original Madler homestead cabin with one room added.
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They underwent all the failures and successes of the years. There was drought, hail, 'hoppers, illnesses and rigorous winters including one that began in October and lasted into May. They managed to survive and progress.
During the depression they were forced to borrow money to make some necessary repairs on the house. The interest on the money was 12 per cent.
Some of their neighbors in their new home were William Beck, Flohr, John Jalmans, H. Helland, C. Sarg nt, Mike O'Donnell and Nick Madler.
Altar Society meeting at the Madlers in the early thirties, after the porch and living room had been added to the original house.
The family enjoyed music and Joe often played his accordion during the evenings and they would sing the familiar old songs. They often visited neighbors and entertained them in their own home. There were P.T.A. meetings, box socials and dances at the school or in the homes. There were card parties and 4th of July celebrations, meetings of the Big Hill Homemaker's Club, attending the St. John's Catholic Church and entertaining the Altar Society ladies.
Mrs. Madler always raised a big garden and many flowers, which she still loves and raises.
Madler Farm, 1937.
As time moved along they improved and enlarged the house. They lived on the farm until 1948 when Mr. Madler's health began to fail. The sons took over the farm and Joe and Rosa moved into Baker. Joe worked part time during the summer months with Henry Jensen in the carpentry trade, but his health did not improve and on August 17, 1953 he passed away.
Mrs. Madler now lives in retirement in her Baker home still working with her beloved flowers. The Madlers had eight children, two of whom lived only briefly. The children were: Louis Joseph (deceased), Karl (deceased), Margaret (deceased at the age of 12 from diphtheria), John (resident of Baker and at present running the farm), Helen Madler Hensleigh of Kalispell, Montana and Robert of Baker (employed at the post office.)
There are 19 grandchildren.
MR. AND MRS. JOHN MADLER
My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Madler, came from the Dickinson, North Dakota area and homesteaded five miles north of Baker, Montana in the spring of 1909. It was their desire to get a start for themselves, rather than working for others. I was born at their home in 1918 to join two brothers and a small sister. It was there that I lived and grew to manhood.
I attended the O'Donnell School, which was only about 2 miles or so from our home. I chose not to go to high school as I was always very interested in farming and the times were very hard and I was needed at home.
My parents did not go into the stock raising business except for milk cows, poultry and some pigs. They farmed and always had a big garden. More acreage was added to the original homestead as time moved along.
During my boyhood, I went to school and helped with the many duties that are performed on a family farm. I attended dances around the area, "get-togethers" at the school and rodeos on the Fourth of July. It seemed that these Fourth of July celebrations often came just when the corn was in need of cultivation.
We were members of the St. John's Catholic Church at Baker and at this time it was still Mission Territory, so the services were very irregular. Later when St. John's obtained a local pastor, there were services and other church activities to participate in.
On January 18, 1948, 1 was married to Miss Matilda Bertha Paul at the St. John's Catholic Church at Baker. Bertha was the daughter of Peter and Rose Paul and was the youngest and only girl in a family of five. She was born at Stanley, Wisconsin on October 15, 1912. She received her education there. Her father was a farmer and carpenter.
An older brother owned and operated a restaurant at Stanley. His wife did the baking for the restaurant in her home. When Bertha had completed her education, she became an assistant to her sister-in-law. They made many pies and found that apple pie was the favorite with the customers. Of the many types of cookies made the oatmeal ones were in greater demand. They made huge jars of strawberry and raspberry toppings for ice cream sundaes. The chocolate topping was made in huge basins because it was the most popular topping. Later Bertha worked in the linen department of the Stanley Hospital.
After Bertha and I were married, my parents retired from active farming and moved to Baker. We lived on the Madler farm. Bertha had some real adjustments to make. She fell right into line and raised poultry, a garden, did other chores and cared for four daughters who had come to bless the home. When she lived in Stanley she used to complain that the price of vegetables was too high, but after she learned to produce them by the "sweat of her brow," she changed her mind.
The children attended the O'Donnell School. When it came time for them to go to high school I bought a house in south Baker and we moved into it in 1964. Since then I
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have commuted to the farm where I still carry on the operation of it while the family stays in town.
Our four daughters all graduated from Baker High School. They are; Lynn (Mrs. John Weber of Billings), Rita (deceased as a result of a car accident), Rayna and Gale who are both attending college in Bozeman, Montana.
MR. AND MRS. JOSEPH [JOSE] MADLER
I first put in an appearance on my parent's homestead about 5 miles northeast of Baker, Montana, on October 2, 1912, joining a small brother and sister. My parents were Ignatz (Nick) and Margaret Madler.
There, accompanied by 9 other brothers and sisters, I grew to young manhood, assisting in the farming operations: milking cows, feeding pigs, making hay and in doing a hundred and one other chores a boy can find to do, besides going to school, studying evenings, learning my Catechism lessons. I also acquired the ability of playing the accordion; an instrument my father played with facility.
We were only a short distance from the O'Donnell SchoolHouse, so getting our grade school education was no problem. My parents did not go into stockraising, though we did have milk cows and pigs. I did not go to high school, as I was more interested in the farm activities.
In June of 1938, 1 was married to Miss Olga Tronstad at Baker, Montana. Her parents were Harry and Inga Tronstad. Her father and his two brothers had migrated to America earlier from Norway, and all had taken up land south of Baker in the Bisher area. A young woman of Norway had also settled in that neighborhood and somewhat later, Harry Tronstad married his wife, Inga.
It was there that my wife, Olga Tronstad was born on Nov. 14, 192 1. She attended the Prairie Rose School and then attended Baker High School for two years. About then, she became interested in a homemaking career so did not go on to school.
We took up farming on a place about 1/2 mile north from the original homeplace of Nick Madler and that has since been our home and where we reared our 7 children, who are: Carol J. Brush of Kalispell; Larry of north of Baker; Gerald (Jerry) of Baker; Alice R. Halmans, north of Baker; Alvin J. of Baker; Raymond L., deceased; and Rodney J. still at home.
We have experienced the usual run of the good and bad years; recalling the May blizzard of 1927 and one in the spring of 1919-1920 which killed sheep and other livestock, as well as some very snowy more recent ones. Before the days of gas and electricity, we had to travel several miles over into the badlands to dig out lignite coal and secure fence posts and fire wood during my boyhood.
Our early day neighbors were Mike O'Donnell, Sydney Finch, Wolverton, H.O. Helland, Cobleigh, Oliver Ames, Gus Crawford, Joe Madler, C. Sargent and families. Present neighbors are the Arthur and Edward Koenig, Herbert O'Donnell, Roger Losing and Clyde Crawford and families.
We are members of the St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church at Baker and take part in its activities. Through the years we have enjoyed school programs and picnics, visiting friends and neighbors. We also like to travel and have done some of that as well as a little hunting and fishing. We have traveled to Kalispell to visit our eldest daughter, Carol and family. We now have 15 grandchildren.
My father purchased a piano during the years so there was music and we heard it often. We still enjoy spending the evening at home playing the accordion. Members of our family 'nave, and still do, play for dances around our area.
MR. AND MRS. IGNATZ [NICK] MADLER
Ignatz Madler, better known as Nick, by friends and neighbors and relatives, first saw the light of day at Dolatz, Austria in 1884. There he lived and worked with his family and received his schooling, and as a young man migrated to America with his family. They came west to the area of Dickinson, North Dakota and worked for farmers in that area. After a time, Nick moved farther west to Glendive where he worked on a ranch and also was engaged in the carpentry trade at times.
While here he became acquainted with a young woman, Miss Margaret Petkopp, who had come with her family from Germany. She was employed as a waitress in a restaurant there. They married and, a little later, returned to Dickinson, where they worked on a farm for awhile.
Nick and a brother Joseph decided to come to this community. They took land about 5 miles northeast of Baker. They came from Dickinson by team and wagon to build their new homes, leaving the wives with their parents until the houses were finished.
The men arrived on June 26th of 1909, and the wives arrived later in the summer. So they became " honyocks. " It was too late to plant crops in 1909, but it was a good summer and there was an abundance of good prairie hay. They cut hay to sell to the livery barn in Baker. So they had money saved to buy grain seed for the next spring.
Nick Madler was a farmer, rather than a stockman, although they raised milk cows, pigs, etc. along with a large garden.
Mr. and Mrs. Madler raised a family of 10 children, during the following years, who all attended the O'Donnell school near by.
Their children were: Adolph, now at Hardin, Montana; Mary, in Glendive; Joseph (Jose), north of Baker, Frank, Betty, Raymond, also of Hardin, Tessie, Florence, Jane and Eva.
As the family grew, additions were made to the original small dwelling; a fine grove of trees was planted. Posts, firewood and lignite coal were hauled from the badlands several miles away.
They experienced the same successes and the same discouragements as the others in the locality. At one time the family underwent a siege of diphtheria, as did the Joe Madler family. Strangely, they were the only families stricken. The Joe Madlers lost a young daughter, Margaret, at that time.
Some of their neighbors were the Mike O'Donnell, Wolverton, Cobleigh, Sydney Finch, Joe Madler, Gus Crawford, H.O. Helland and Oliver Ames families.
They were Catholics and took part in the church's activities, school programs, picnics and enjoyed visiting and having friends at their home. Mr. Madler played the accordion and at times played for dances. He purchased a piano for his family and they enjoyed music in the home.
By 1927, they decided to build a new and larger home. They worked 2 years at it. There was a full basement, with furnace, and he had carbide lighting. Walls were of interlocking tile and pipes were installed. Paint and the needs to complete the interior finishing were on hand when Mr. Madler was stricken by a serious ailment from which he did not recover. He passed away in Dec. of 1929. The family continued to carry on the farming operation. After 5 years had passed, Mrs. Madler also developed ill health and passed away in 1934.
Presently, their son, Jose, living a half mile to the north, also works the original homeplace, and rents the house to tenants.
The children are all long grown and living in other localities, Jose being the only one now in this area.
Mr. Madler was considered to be a very good farmer and neighbor.
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