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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

 

ANNA KLAUZER MALENOUSKY

My folks, Frank and Anna Klauzer, lived in Cumberland, Wyoming when I was born on June 28, 1909.

Dad came to Montana in 1911 to homestead and lived there until his death in May of 1937. He raised cattle and farmed. He came alone, leaving Mother, my baby brother and me in Cumberland. We joined him in the spring of 1913. I still remember how cold it was that day we came to Baker by train. Dad had a big team of horses hitched to a lumber wagon. Before starting home the folks wanted to buy a few supplies. 1, like a curious kid, went and put my tongue on a cold metal doorknob. It sure did hurt to pull it off.

We got all bundled up and went as far as the 101 ranch and stayed there overnight. I don't remember much else about that trip.

My father had built a two-room house with a built on shed, to store things in. Half of it was used for coal and some wood. More rooms were built on later.

It was my job, after school, to get in the wood and coal, carry water, take care of the chickens and wash the clothes on Saturday. The wash was done by hand on a washboard.

Annie Klauzer's school, 1919. Annie at the corner.

I had to walk 3 1/2 miles to school. I usually walked alone in the mornings but had neighbor children as companions on the way home. That was when there was no snow or cold weather. In the wintertime I stayed with an old couple and helped with the housework and chores. This was only a mile from school and I walked most of the time.

I remember the drought of 1919, then an early winter. We had bad blizzards and lots of snow. The folks sold most of their cattle because they didn't have enough hay to winter them. We did put up some hay and that was mostly Russian Thistle which was cut half grown. The cattle would eat this kind of hay if there was nothing else. We didn't lose any cattle like some people did on account of lack of hay.

Dad went to Baker in the spring of 1920 to get some hay. It started to thaw and Little Beaver Creek, at the 101 Ranch, was flooding and he couldn't get across. There were no bridges at that time. Well, he had to stay there three days. Another time when Dad went to Baker, it was raining real hard. Half way home he let the horses drink from a mud puddle, so the best horse got the colic. We tried to save it by driving it around, but it didn't help much. The next morning the horse was dead.

The crops were pretty good during 1920 until 1931 and 1932 when it was dry again, but they got along some how. They sure were lucky that no one got sick and had to have a doctor's care in those depression years.

During World War I we got along on homemade food and with homemade clothes, but we were satisfied and had plenty to eat and wear, even if we didn't have anything extra. We kids were satisfied to find an apple with a dime in it at Christmas time. Some times we might get a little toy.

When my brother started to school we had a one-horse buggy with 2 wheels that we drove the 3 1/2 miles to school. Some times we rode one horse double.

I got married May 21, 1929 to William Malenouskey. We lived on his homestead north of Ekalaka. We lived there until his death May 15, 1970.

The William Malenousky ranch where Annie Malenousky liued for 41 years.

I lived on the farm all of my married life where I did all kinds of work except drive the tractor. I could drive the pickup if I just had to, or wanted to, but really didn't care to very often. I liked to ride horseback to visit the neighbors.

We had a good garden spot. We plowed it and put fertilizer on it; then we watered it from a ditch which ran from a dam 1/4 mile away. We raised all kinds of vegetables and one year we had 6 watermelons that averaged 18 pounds each. The seeds for the watermelon were some we had saved from one bought in the store. Our vegetables always did well too and I canned a lot. We raised our own meat, lot of turkeys and chickens. One year I had 70 turkeys so at Thanksgiving and Christmas time, we butchered, dry picked them and packed them in wooden boxes or barrels which we sent to Swift and Co. at Chicago, 111. We farmed with horses until son Albert finished high school when we bought a tractor, but we still did field work with the horses. When we threshed grain I cooked for three or four days before that so there would be plenty of food for the men who were helping.

The hay was pitched by fork by hand until we got a baler. I did a lot of hay handling even in the wintertime when we had to feed the cattle. Anyway, after the children had gone from home, I thought it was kind of fun. I didn't get very cold, either, if I just kept moving, excepting for my right thumb which helped hold the pitchfork. I sure did and still do like to walk. I used to walk three miles to get the mail and back and it took me less than two hours. A good walk in the good fresh air!

We had sold all our land and cattle the January before William died, but we continued to live on the home place. After Bill had gone I still stayed there until the fall of 1970 when we had an auction sale. We sold all the personal property, but I kept my household things and put them in a house in Baker which I had bought.

I have had some nice trips since I moved to town. I went to Victoria, Canada, to Seattle, where I went up in the Space Needle, to Bremerton Washington, to the Sacramento Valley, California, to Ogden, Utah, to Greeley, Colo., to Omaha, Neb.

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and to St. Paul, Minn. After living on our farm for 41 years I really enjoy traveling.

I am in good health most of the time and I don't believe in complaining, as it doesn't do any good and you make yourself feel worse and others, too. So I take life as it comes by each day, for I think it is planned that way from the beginning to the end. I plan to take life easy from now on and enjoy it.

Chimney Rock is on the old Malenousky ranch three fourths

of a mile west of the house. It is abut 200 feet tall and has a hole at the bottom big enough to ride a horse through. The rock is shaped like a chimney on a house, thus its name. The Fletcher Creek School is about a mile east of the rock so it was the favorite sport of the pupils to hike to the rock during noon hour.

Annie Malenousky's home in Baker.

OLGA MAIINKE FITTON

Olga Mahnke was born at Fessenden, North Dakota on July 12, 1889 and came to the vicinity of Baker at the age of 30 to keep house for L. Price, Sr. and his son "Bud," L. Price , Jr., who was a high school student at the time.

The following is in her own words: I came to the town of Baker in the fall of 1928. 1 wasn't a pioneer as far as homesteading went, but I was a pioneer in my own mind. I was going west to a new life. I was going to Montana.

I was engaged as a housekeeper by L. Price Sr. and his young son "Bud." It meant leaving friends and familiar surroundings but after much deliberation I decided to take the step.

I was met at Beach, North Dakota by Mr. Price. I had called him on the phone to tell him I was there. I saw the hills surrounding Baker on a dreary, dismal morning on the 30th of October. By the time we got to Baker I was homesick for the flat plains of home. For two months I was so homesick and lonesome that I did not think I could stand to live in Montana. Little did I think I would last through 13 years, but I did and found much beauty in the hills and the sage brush.

Olga Mahnke [Fitton], WACS, World War II.

Gathering at the Bob Morris Ranch about 1930. Back row, left to right: Horace Sparks, "Bud" Price, "Lew" Price, Mrs. Hitch. Front row: Lloyd Owen, Mrs. Sparks, Olga Mahnke, Bob Morris, ?, and Maxine Hitch.

My social life was limited but I did work in the Community Church Ladies Aid and was a Social Member of the Royal Neighbors. Mrs. George West, a next door

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neighbor, helped me get into the organization. The family was great for picnic excursions and we went on many of them.

In the 30's, Miss Fern Carrick, the Music Teacher at the High School roomed and boarded with us, and she was instrumental in drawing me out into the flow of life outside the home. I went with the group of young folks to some of the Musical Events in surrounding towns. These trips were usually in the spring. So! I learned to love the natural beauty of Eastern Montana.

"Bud" Price and Airedale dog "Rex", 1928. Rex met the boys each noon and evening at the school. Since music was the last period in the morning in the music building and since Miss Carrick was the teacher he was often allowed to lie in the class room until class was over. He also attended all the operetta practices in the evenings and never once howled. He was a good dog.

Some of the boys whom Olga watched grow up while she was at the Price's, left to right - L. "Bud" Price, Jr., Leroy "Bud" Blanchard.

Vernon "Red" West

Myron Olson and "Bud" Price

I helped arrange for the wedding of "Bud" and Jessie as it. was held in the living room of the Price home and I was still there when their oldest son, Dick, was born. I stayed until 1941 when "Uncle Lew" (as I called him) passed away in March 7, 1941, thus ending my residence in Baker some weeks later.

Later I joined the WACS and served my country in that capacity during World War 11. 1 was married to E.E. Fitton after I was discharged from the WACS.

Editor's Note: Olga was such a "good scout." One time when Mr. Price, Sr. was in California Bud called to ask her if she would fix dinner for about twelve of his friends. She said "Sure, if you bring the steaks." She fixed a beautiful dinner on the "spur-of-the-moment," white linen table cloth, good china, crystal and silver.

MRS. REBECCA MARKIN

Mrs. Rebecca Markin was a native of Valparaiso, Indiana, where she was born on Sept. 27, 1864. It was here she lived and received her education. In 1882, she married George W. Markin in Jasper County, Indiana. They had 5 children: Nell, Fred, Leona, Lucille and Cecil. Later a move

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Rebecca Markin, 1930.

was made to Iowa. It was from here that Mrs. Markin came to Baker in 1908 accompanied by her two daughters, Leona and Lucille. She homesteaded 480 acres a couple of miles south of Baker. Her son, Fred, came in the spring to put in crops although he never lived nor owned property here. Daughter Cecil, came in 1912 after having completed her Teacher Training in Iowa. The 3 girls all owned property in Baker at one time.

Mrs. Markin was a member of the Methodist Church. She also held the presidency of a Women's Christian Temperance Union Group. She spent 35 years of her life in this community, either on the farm or in Baker itself.

For many years she worked as a practical nurse, having had most of her experience in Iowa before coming to Baker at the age of 42. It is told that she once nursed H.S. Proctor, formerly of Baker, through a very severe siege of typhoid fever, and that he often spoke of his appreciation of that.

Her neighbors on the homestead were Reuben Marks, John and Gunder Gunderson, and the John Coldwell family, and her special friends were the Andrew Speelmons, the George Staffs, the Reuben Marks family, Mrs. Hildreth and Mrs. Shreve.

In 1943 she traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska to live there with her daughter, Lucille, and it was there that she passed away in November 1945 and it is there she is buried.

MR. AND MRS. MAGNUS A. MARKUSON

Ole and Christina Markuson came to Montana by team and wagon or buggy. They had heard of the opening of the land for homesteading. In 1908 they were induced to take the trip and found a likely homestead site twelve miles northwest of Ekalaka, Montana. Their son Magnus was born at Ekalaka on July 26, 1909.

Magnus grew up on the ranch where he helped take care of the stock and with the haying and gardening. Sometimes the moisture was not so plentiful and they encountered several severe winters between 1917 and 1968. The distances were great. It was twelve miles to Ekalaka and fifty miles to the nearest railroad which was north at Baker. The neighbors were established ranchers and then homesteaders of that area. The neighbors were spread out over a wide area at first.

There were country dances, many rodeos, school picnics, a few box socials, some Fourth of July picnics and baseball games to attend when one felt like socializing with one's neighbors and friends.

Speaking of school, Magnus received his elementary education in a country school in Carter County and then attended the Carter County High School in Ekalaka. After finishing high school he went to the Montana State College for one year where he studied Agriculture and Engineering. After getting his schooling he became a rancher.

In 1935 Magnus and Olive B. Dean were married on November 2nd at Plevna, Montana.

Olive is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Dean who came to Montana in July 1916. Olive was born at Grant, Iowa on June 18, 1915, so she was just thirteen months old when her folks got on a train and came west.

They settled on a homestead ten miles north of Ekalaka. There were quite a few neighbors in this vicinity. Some of them were; the Fisks, the Woolhisers, the Hufmans, the Mussers, the Larsons, the Crassens, the Elders, the Crosses, the Jacksons, the Berrys, the Bechtolds, the Halls, the Mulkeys, the Brufferts and the Nesses.

Olive's family encountered much the same problems as had her husband's family and we find that she enjoyed much the same type of diversions from the routine of keeping the farm and ranch going.

Besides farming and ranching her father also did some freighting with a wagon and four horses between Ekalaka and Baker. Some of her duties on the farm were to help in the garden, help with the chickens, milk the cows, pick wild fruit to be used in jellies and jams, make butter and help with the canning.

She attended the Cross and Fallon Creek country schools. At first there were just four or six months of school a year as that was all the school district could afford to spend on a teacher.

Olive and Magnus are members of the St. Joan of Arc (Catholic) Church at Ekalaka.

They have three children; Milton, Ronald and Stanley. There are four grandchildren; Steven, Karen Ann, Carla Rae and Tyler Lynn all children of Milton and Janice Markuson.

MR. AND MRS. BERNARD MARTIN

Frank Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Dave Martin and five children -Dayle, Russell, Wesley, Bernard, and Norval - came from Frankfort, S. D. by emigrant car in 1909. They filed homestead claims. They spent the first winter in the Art McClain homestead shack while Frank Smith and Dave Martin built their homestead shacks on their claims.

In 1910 Mr. and Mrs. W.P. Akers and son, Donald, came from Millette, S.D. and filed a homestead claim adjoining Frank Smith's place.

Then in 1911 Mr. and Mrs. B.T. McClain, parents of Art McClain, Mrs. Dave Martin, and Mrs. Ped Akers, came out from Frankfort, S.D. They lived on the Louis Grennam place for several years until they purchased the Jess Curry homestead.

Grandma McClain, as she was known, helped to deliver many of the babies in the neighborhood, while Mrs. Dave Martin was never too busy to help nurse the sick or to help a neighbor in need. She enjoyed nothing better than to plan a surprise birthday party or a housewarming or any kind of get-together. Many of our fondest memories of special parties can be attributed to her efforts.

Dayle Martin married Victor North and lived in Baker their entire lives. They had three children; Ruby, Robert, and Doris.

Russell married Marian Hanson, a teacher who came out here to teach the Sawyer School. They now live in Chico, California.

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Wesley and his wife, Eloise, and their daughter live in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Their son lives in Moscow, Idaho.

Norval and his wife lived in Spokane, Washington until his death in 1952.

Bernard married Mae Foltz who came out here from Minnesota to teach the Wills School. She taught school in Baker for several years and they were married in 1930.

It was during the thirties when money was scarce that dances were held at the Wills SchoolHouse. Everybody brought their children, the women furnished the lunch and the men all pitched in to pay the fiddlers. Usually it was Johnny Caldwell and Walter Schorsch who played for these dances. The schoolhouse was also the meeting place to celebrate community Thanksgiving dinners, birthday parties and showers.

Farmer's Union Co-Op Oil Company at Willard, Montana, 1939. Three Martin children; Joanne, Larry and Don.

Bernard Martin ran the Willard store which was then the Farmer's Union Co-Op Oil Co. from 1937 to 1942. In 1945 he purchased Duppler's Implement business in Baker and he handled the International Harvester line of farm machinery. In 1953 they moved to a farm at Marmarth, N.D.

The Bernard Martin family, 1956

Bernard and Mae have four children. Donald and his wife, Dorothy, have eight children. They live in St. Paul. Minnesota where he is Plant Superintendent of a silica sand plant. Larry and Connie have six children and they live in Basin, Wyoming where he is a member of the Taylor-Martin Appraisal Service. Joanne is now Sister Marie Bernard, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. She is a registered nurse and is currently attending the University of Minnesota working on her Master's Degree. Jim and his wife, Vernice, have one little girl and they live at Marmarth. Jim is employed in Bowman and he has also taken over the livestock part of Bernard's farming.

Bernard still farms Grandma McClain's place which he purchased in 1942. Mae is teaching in the Marmarth School.

ELIZABETH DRAGSETH MARTYN

My parents, the Stinus Dragseths, came from Norway and were married in Miles City, Montana. I was born there in 1895. About two years later my father bought a place near E nowlton from G. Terryl. My folks ranched there the rest of their lives.

I had four sisters and one brother. We went to school in the grades at Knowlton. Because of poor health I never went to high school.

I helped my folks with outside work, such as haying, heading the grain, riding for the cattle and milking cows. A/lost of my life was spent on the "old place."

When we sold the ranch in 1959 1 was married and moved to Baker.

MR.

AND MRS. COLE MATTIE

A brief history of my folks and their four children, the William Mattie family and a few of the many happenings of the early days.

We left our rented home near Pine Island, Minnesota and loaded three emigrant cars with our belongings in September 1910. Our destination was Bowman, North Dakota where we arrived a few days later. There was a strong south wind blowing great clouds of dirt; filling our eyes and mouths with it as we walked down the street. I remember my mother saying, "I’m ready to go back home now." The next day we unloaded the railroad car, bought some lumber and many things for our homestead home and prepared to leave In a couple of days.

We had brought with us some cattle and horses, so it took us two long days to reach our destination which was some 40 or 45 miles south and west of Bowman in the northwest corner of South Dakota near the Little Missouri River.

We lived in a tent while the house was being built. It was * 14 by 24 foot room with a box car roof. Years later we added * couple more rooms. We killed lots of rattlesnakes that summer.

There were many homesteaders coming in and soon there were "honyokers" on nearly every quarter section of land. These people came from all walks of life. There were teachers, nurses, carpenters, and farmers from the east and many more.

The next spring and summer we were busy building fences, breaking sod, putting in a few acres of crop and putting up hay. We did have many "get-to-gethers" such as choosing up sides for a ball game and eating lots of homemade ice cream. Some of the people had put up ice in sawdust which had been hauled from the saw mills in the Long Pine Hills. Our post offices were changed at times. One time we got our mail at Ashcraft, then at Gallop, then at Bullock. Our larger town was Camp Crook some 16 miles

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south of us, and was also on the Little Missouri River. "Crook" was quite a town back in those days, with a bank, a hospital, general stores, restaurants, a hotel and the old newspaper, "The Range Gazette."

We children went to school at the L.L. Painter home the first fall and then later to the old Moseley claim house on Gallop Creek. This building was made of logs and later burned down. Then we went to school at Mike Merrilanen's house which was also built of logs. It had two windows and a door. The roof was of dirt covered with scoria, but it was quite comfortable. We had to buy our own books.

The country at that time had free range and the stock ran at large. They finally organized townships. Ours was named "Granger".

We had some crops some years and very little on other years. Many homesteaders just stayed the 14 months and "proved-up" on the place, then sold their holdings and left leaving the "Hardier Souls" to develop the country. We bought out some of them and raised mostly cattle.

One incident, that I will always remember, happened to our neighbor rancher. He roped a gray wolf and dragged it a mile to our place presuming it to be dead. He removed the rope from the neck, but the thing began to breathe and was on its feet before it was clubbed down. That was the last one I ever saw although a few years later there was a real Killer Wolf, called "Three Toes," which took several years to get and then only after he had killed thousands of dollars worth of livestock. Another thing that I might note is about a neighbor of ours some three miles away, by the name of May,

broke sod with oxen. I saw him working many times. He also ground feed with a windmill. We had him grind feed for us at different times. The only thing about that was that you had to grind on a windy day.

We left the homestead in the fall of 1919, after the big drought and took over Granddad Mattie's farm in Minnesota. After Granddad's death I returned to the west in the twenties but none of the family ever returned to stay. They came only to visit. I liked "The Big Sky Country" and there is no place like it.

I went to Jasper, Minnesota to high school when I had finished the grades at the Painter School.

 

In 1931, 1 married Florence A. McManigal at Glendive, Montana. We became the parents of two children. One passed away at the early age of 1 1/2 years. Our daughter, Audrey R. Mrnak, lives in Havre, Montana. She attended the Baker schools for a number of years. She has three children

Yvonne, Duane and Darwin..

We are members of the Baker Congregational Church (United Church of Christ)

I am now retired and have lived here in Baker many years.

The following is a poem written by Louis McManigal, brother of Florence Mattie. It was published in The Dakota Farmer magazine over 30 years ago.

DOES NOT CARE TO ROAM

We are living in the Bad Lands

On a little piece of land

That was given as a homestead

By our generous Uncle Sam.

There's been years when crops were plenty,

There's been years when crops were lean;

But the year of 1936

Was the worst we have ever seen.

There was no grass for our cattle.

And the water holes went dry,

So we had to ship them early

Because we couldn't see them die.

Caragana bugs took our potatoes.

The "hoppers" took our wheat.

But we couldn't blame the little creatures,

For everything must eat.

So we had to make our living

In an entirely different way

By working on a project

Of the W P A.

But we will take it as it comes,

And do the best we can

To try to make a living

On this little piece of land.

So we are satisfied with old North Dakota,

And we do not care to roam

As long as we can have this piece of land

To call our home.

The Manigal's live near Ollie Montana iust across the line in N.D.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Maywald

OLLIE MAYWALD

I was born at Audubon, Iowa and when I was eighteen years old, in 1915, my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Rumelhart decided to come to Montana and take up a homestead because they wanted to have a home of their own. They settled fourteen miles east of Ekalaka. My parents moved to a farm in the Webster Community for a few years, then to a farm near Willard where they lived until my father retired and they moved to Baker. They lived there until my father died in 1941.

1 married Ford E. Kiser on July 22, 1915 at Baker, Montana. We were living on a farm owned by Chris Christensen north of Baker in 1929 when Ford died. I moved to Baker with my three sons; Arlie, Vergil and Donald Kiser, and lived there until I married Robert E. Maywald, nearly two years later.

Robert and I and family moved to a farm near Willard and lived there until the depression and drought struck the country. We moved to Dixon, Montana where Bob worked

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with the Indians through the Indian Agency. When the Government started building a Navy Base at Farraget, Idaho, Bob went to work there and we moved to Missoula, Montana. After working on this project for almost a year he came back to Missoula where he worked for fourteen years for the Government at Fort Missoula.

Bob and I had one daughter Helen Jean. Robert died October 15, 195 7. 1 stayed in Missoula for a while then moved to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho so I could be nearer Arlie and his family.

I have my own home here and take care of the yard myself. I belong to the Presbyterian Church, the American Legion Auxiliary, World War I Auxiliary, Rebekah Lodge and the American Associates of Retired Persons. So you see I have plenty of things to keep me busy.

I have six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

ROY AND ARIEL McCLAIN

Roy is a native of this area, having been born near Willard, Montan, on August 16, 1912. His parents were A.R. McClain and Anna Schade McClain. Roy's father had been living on rented land in South Dakota and his mother was a schoolteacher. They homesteaded near Willard in 1909 and started farming. Some of their neighbors were Ped Askers, Ward Wills, John Sikorski and Ed Blazer.

Roy received his grade school education in a rural school and later graduated from high school in Baker. Then he attended the Eastern Montana State Normal School in Billings.

In 1936 he married Ariel Ruth Cox in Baker. She was born at Knobs, Montana, on January 25, 1915. Her parents were Urvin E. and Bertha I. Cox. The family had homesteaded near Knobs in 1910, when Ariel's father, a school teacher, had decided he wanted to try farming. He found he liked the life very much.

Ariel received her elementary education at the Hilmont and Prairie Rose Schools and then graduated from the Baker High School. Until 1927 the rural school terms were only four months in the wintertime.

The Cox family lived through the hot dry summers, the cold stormy winters and the depression years. Their dam dried up in 1933 and the crops failed, but there were better times, too when Ariel rode horseback, used skis in the winter and swam daily in the summer.

She had the task of caring for the turkeys. She attended 4-H Club meetings and church services at the Knobs Hall. Her 4-H projects included cooking and sewing. She attended 4-H Camp at Opeechee Park. Another thing she enjoyed was carrying lunches to the men as they worked in the fields. She also had to help with the housework, so the time was well filled and passed quickly.

Neighbors to the Coxes were the grandparents, Peter G. and Kate Cox, Ed and Ann Knipfer, the Sipmas, the Howells, Minnie Nichols Idecker, Inga Hanson, the Tronstads, Bonnie Heyings and Emma Hermenson.

Both Roy and Ariel remember many pleasant times through the years when they attended dances, picnics, and Fourth of July Celebrations. Ariel recalls picnics at the Barber and Lates ranches and at the Opeechee Park near Ekalaka. Box socials were held at the Hilmont and Prairie Rose School.

Roy remembers the distress as well as the success of farming through the years; the drought, bad winters and struggles of the depressed 1930's.

He is now employed by the M & M Supply Company in Baker.

Picture given to the Baker Museum by Mrs. Beth McElfresh, 1971

W W. [Scout] McElfresh and wife [Beth Ash] at their first log cabin on Box Elder, near Sykes, Montana in 1909.

MR.

AND MRS. W. W. McELFRESH

The following is an exact reprint as it appeared in the Marmarth, North Dakota newspaper. October 21, 1905

A BEAVER WEDDING

The people of Little Beaver were somewhat surprised at the turn of affairs recently when all were made aware of the fact that the marriage of Miss Beth Ash and Mr. McElfresh, which had been planned to be one of the grandest weddings of the season failed to be executed according to the plan laid out by the good Mrs. Smith, owing to the fact that a minister could not be obtained in due time.

The couple left the bride's home on the morning of the 20th and drove to Yule where they enjoyed the hospitality of J. Lang and Son, driving to Sentinel Butte the next day, where they were quietly married at the residence of Justice Garner of that city. They then drove to the home of the bride's mother where a nice supper awaited them. Then came the event long looked for. The guests were given a short address by Mr. Spry who explained the situation.

The bride and groom were seated behind a closed door and at the close of the address the door was opened and Mr. Spry announced congratulations in order. At these words the crowd arose as one man. The bride was beautifully attired in white silk with an orange wreath, white gloves and white slippers. After congratulating the bride and groom the guests passed on in order and were seated at tables well filled with

 

 

Mrs. McElfresh of Sheridan, Wyoming gave this picture to the Baker Museum in 1971 Beth and Scout McElfresh in the dining room of their new home on Box Elder in about 1909

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roast fowl, pies and cakes of many kinds, beautifully designed. The table was decorated with fine artificial flowers made by Miss Avery. After the full courses had been served, with drinks, the tables were cleared and the dance begun, and did not end until daylight.

The presents given to the bride were of cut glass, fine china, silverware, etc. amounting to perhaps $200.00 but our space will not permit us to enumerate them.

Here we leave the bride and groom with best wishes and hopeful of a useful life.

MR. AND MRS. TIMOTHY E. McGINNIS

Timothy E. McGinnis and wife, Alice C. (Donohoe) McGinnis, were Minnesotans who lived in East St. Paul, Minn. in the early 1900's. Mr. McGinnis was engaged in home construction and was an expert paper hanger. People plastered and papered their walls in those days.

Some time during the summer of 1910, they decided to try their fortune farther west. They had friends in the Fertile Prairie area who had been their neighbors in St. Paul as well as friends from earlier days from around Clairmont, Minn. And so they came ... bringing their 4 young children, their household goods, "Mac's" professional equipment, including his vehicle which he used in his work, and his faithful mare, "Doll." "Mac" used to claim "Doll" was the smartest horse anywhere around, as she knew enough to walk away from a wire fence when an electrical storm arose.. Ha!

"Mac" came first to make necessary arrangements, and the family followed a little later, accompanied by Mrs. Elmer Hibbard, who had gone back to St. Paul on some business. She assisted with the children. There was a set of twin girls of around 5 years of age, a little boy, and another little boy, a babe in arms.

They were traveling merrily along, when all of a sudden the small boy seized Mrs. Hibbard's handbag, containing her ticket, money, etc; and threw it out the open window. Well! The conductor was speedily summoned, he notified the engineer, and he reversed his vehicle, and slowly returned along the track until they found the bag, undamaged. Fortunately they weren't crossing a river!

When they reached Baker, they set up housekeeping in a two room house near the tracks not far from the present site of the Hoke residence in Baker. Getting work in his line was not difficult, as Baker was "a-building" by then. They built a home for themselves in the house now standing next to the south from the present Alex Hamilton residence. Not long after this another son, Robert, was born there. The two little girls started school in Baker.

After a time, "Mac" got a yen for owning a piece of land of his own, so he settled on a homestead 9 miles north-east of Baker in the edge of the Bad Lands. His nearest neighbors were the families of Bob and Berry Morris, Tom Hanratty, Mike O'Donnell, Peter Flo, Frank Faus, Win. Wilfong, George Jenner, and Henry Jensen. The day they moved out to the place was not soon forgotten. Mr. Elmer Hibbard and another neighbor were helping move the furniture. When they were part way home, one of those fast moving brief electric storms blew up, and they were caught! It not only rained, it hailed!! They hit for the Hibbard home near by, but needless to say they got damp. They stopped and crawled under the wagon. It was soon over and they stopped at Hibbards to rest awhile. Then someone remembered the young pig in a crate that was on one of the loads. Out again! Although piggy was surrounded by a small drift of hailstones, he wasn't hurt, only frightened.

They soon went on but much damage to young growing crops resulted from the hail. One of the drivers remarked "wonder if the organ is hurt" to which Mae replied "The twins will soon knock the water out of that! " They got piano not too many years after that.

They did not go into the stock raising business, although they had milk cows, chickens, and for a time, a small band of sheep. They farmed and gardened. "Mac" purchased a steam engine and broke up land for neighboring owners. The following years brought them 4 more daughters.

Plenty of coal (lignite) and wood were close at hand. One of the important and hard jobs of our early settlers was getting out a supply of lignite coal from the mines in the Bad Lands. The veins of coal were opened up with scrapers and then the coal was loosened with picks or in some cases by dynamite. This was then loaded in wagons usually pulled by four horses and brought home and stored for the winter.

Many good times were enjoyed during the years on the place . . 4th of July celebrations, school picnics and programs, berry picking jaunts, visiting neighbors and entertaining them! They were a very musical family and there was a lot of music in the air. They even had a dance or two at the house.

As time went by with unkind winters and some dry summers, things did not seem so attractive. That 9 miles over prairie roads was a long drag in bad weather to have to shop or go to church, and the children were getting close to high school age, so they returned to town where "Mac" again took up his trade and Mrs. McGinnis gave piano and mandolin lessons. Church was now near and schools, too. The neighbors missed them but of course still saw them often in town. The family lived here until they moved to Great Falls where they lived the remainder of their lives. The twins went into teaching for a time and then married. Mr. McGinnis was a veteran of the Spanish American War.

The children were; Eloise (Mrs. Paul Stock) Cody, Wyo.; Alice (Mrs. Morrison) Fountain, Fla.; John E., Great Falls, Mont.; George F., Daly City, Calif.; Robert E., Tucson, Ariz.; Mary Ann (Schmidtt) deceased; Agnes J. (Hurst) Larson, San Bruno, Calif.; Constance (Kopetski) Cammeron, deceased; and Katharine (Carson) Tacoma, Wash.

CHARLES HARDING McKENZIE

Charles Harding McKenzie was born in Coronation, Canada on January 25th 1913 shortly after his father had passed away from an injury received while playing baseball. His mother, Annabelle Fryer McKenzie, brought her two little boys, Ray and Charles, to Montana where her mother was already living.

They lived in a dugout built into a hillside in the vicinity of Steve's Fork. It had one room, sodded up in front, bare dirt floor, a rickety table and bench and a slat bed covered with a straw tick. There was a spring not far away. The boys were left alone much of the time. Their mother rode a horse, which had been lent to her, and she went off to cook for ranch hands, lambing crews, harvesters, wherever she could find work. returning when she could with food and supplies. The boys had to keep the water bucket filled and hustle fuel for the camp stove. The dugout had to be tidy. Most of the day they played, walked the hills and hoped Mother would come again soon. When the sky darkened and the wind blew their bare feet flew as they fled for the shelter of the dugout. They often went to bed hungry.

Then Mother became the bride of Dan Geib, a sheep and cattle rancher of the Little Porcupine. After that there was plenty of food, Mother there to cook it, comfortable beds, warm cabin and a horse and saddle for each.

The boys went to school. Dan taught them to be good ranch hands. On weekends they often herded sheep or tended camp or busied themselves with chores about the ranch.

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A half sister and two half brothers joined the family circle and they made a happy group that included Harvey J. Reynolds, an old timer and teller of tales, who lived out in the bunkhouse and helped about the place. When the younger children were all in school, Gladys Rasmussen was hired to teach. She had grown up in a half dugout on Lodge Pole Creek west of Porcupine.

In the spring of 1934 she and Charles were married. They moved to a place on the Snowbelt Divide, got an FSA loan, some old sheep and a milk cow. Four children were born, Sharon, Bob , Jacqueline, and Karen Lynn. The family struggled through the dry years, grasshoppers, and winter blizzards. They sold cream, Gladys taught school, and Charles trucked on the side, but the toil was heavy. The FSA sold them out with a balance owing $764.00 which swelled to over $1,700.00 before it was paid off in 197 1.

They left the ranch. Charles worked at odd jobs including a session with the WPA. At Miles City he worked for the Milwaukee Railroad and as a lumber clerk. In 1957 Mr. Sweet, of Mitchell, South Dakota contacted Charles. He needed a manager for the Fullerton Lumber yard in Baker. Charles accepted.

The family moved to Baker, living in an apartment at the home of John and Nina Powell on Fourth Street. At one time Charles owed Louie LaCross of the Economy Grocery over $300.00 for groceries. In time he got squared away. The family survived. Nine grandchildren were born. Charles stayed with Fullerton Lumber Company until his death in 1969. He was an avid reader, liked books, music, and dancing. In his early years he had often ridden fifty miles to get to a dance.

He liked to work with his hands. His home was enhanced by drawers, cupboards and other conveniences he had built. On the rare occasions he could leave his business he liked to travel.

A memorial fund is established in his name at the Fallon County Memorial Hospital.

MR. AND MRS. ELWOOD R. McLEOD

I was born at Manhatton, Montana on January 22, 1908. My parents were Alexander Donald and Ella McLeod. They did not homestead but we lived on a farm and my father worked in the lumberyard at Three Forks, Montana.

1 did all the usual chores on a farm, working on threshing crews and other rural activities.

In 1919, at the age of about 12, 1 came to the area north of Baker. I came to Ollie by train and traveled from there by team and buggy to the home of Elmer Orton, which was located west of Ollie, Montana. Some of our neighbors were George and William Orton, Earnest Sanford and Lee and Vernie Hopper.

On May 25, 1923 1 was married to Maybelle M. Sutton, at a home wedding at the Sutton Ranch by the Reverend Phillipi, pastor of the Community Church at Baker. We had two sons; Jerry Ray, who was born December 6 and died December 8, 1937 and Donald Ray, born May 11, 1942. He graduated from Woodburn, Oregon High School in 1960. He served 8 years in the United States Navy and is now married and lives at Woodburn. He has two children.

My first job in Baker was in the Burns Brothers Garage. Later on when we moved to Oregon, we again met Leo Burns. He and his sister were living at Mt. Angel Towers. They lived there until Leo passed away.

In later years, I worked for the M.D.U. as well as for the Mellor-North Garage and for Ferman Loveless at the Baker Motor Company. When Mr. Sutton's health failed, our family moved to the Sutton Ranch where we lived until the place

Elwood McLeod and son, Donald, 1950

Maybelle McLeod and son, Donald, 1950

was sold. The Suttons then moved to Oregon and in 1951 we went west to join them. I am employed by the Souvain Motor Company.

We like Oregon very much and have made many friends here, but I still yearn for "The Big Sky Country. "

JACK AND MINNIE MELLOR

Jack Mellor was born in Central City, Colorado on August 3, 1885, the son of John and Rebecca Mellor. Central City is one of the old mining towns of Colorado.

Minnie Mellor was born at Red Field, Kansas on March 21, 1887, the daughter of William and Persis Steeley.

Minnie and Jack came to this part of Montana in 1909 in an emigrant car on the Milwaukee Railroad. They filed a claim on some acreage in Carter County north of Ekalaka near to the Charles Emerson and the Anderson Ranches. They wanted to be where there weren't so many people, as the land in Missouri was getting too crowded.

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They had all the usual homesteader's problems in getting established and Jack drove a freight wagon and worked as a ranch hand for Charles Emerson for a cash income.

In later years Jack and Minnie Mellor moved to Baker where they lived for years. They had six children; George, Max, William, Samuel, Kathryn Mellor (Agler) and John Lee.

JOHN [BUD] MELLOR

John Mellor was born in Baker, Montana on August 3, 1919. His parents, Minnie and Jack Mellor had homesteaded in between Ekalaka and the Medicine Rocks in 1909. They later moved to Baker where John was born. Their neighbors in Baker were the Bob Lowrey and the Jess Barstow families. John grew up and attended grade school and high school in Baker. After finishing high school he attended the University of Montana and is in the Life Insurance business.

He and Laura Wilson were married on September 25, 1940 in Moberly, Missouri. They have four children; Ronald, John, William and Marcia.

They have in recent years made their home in Billings, Montana.

ELDON MENGEL

Roy and Gretchen Mengel came to Montana in 1915 because there was free land and they had heard that the flax crops were good. They took a homestead claim at Apex, Montana and their son, Eldon was born there on April 3, 1916. In 1918, when Eldon was two years old, his parents moved to Fallon County and located just west of Baker.

When he was growing up, Eldon worked on his parent’s farm, and went to grade school and high school in Baker. He graduated from high school in the middle of the big depression. He raised poultry on his folk’s farm until December of 1940 when he entered the Army. He served over five years in the Army and received a Commission.

While in the service he was stationed in the United States, India, Burma and China.

When he returned home from the Service he worked for the Montana Dakota Utilities Company for one year as a lineman.

In 1947 Eldon and Guy Thomas formed a partnership and started the T-M Electric Store. He also married Christine Jesfield in 1947 at Billings, Montana.

Christine and Eldon had three children; Ray, Irene and Joan.

In 1957 he was instrumental in forming the Empire Broadcasting Company - KFLN Radio in Baker.

After the death of his wife, Christine, Eldon married Frances Kron on March 11, 1967 at Blue Earth, Minnesota.

He started the Triangle Supply store with Art Hepperle in 1966 and moved his other business out there so it would all be under one roof.

EARL C. [RED] METHENY

AND LUELLA G. MOSS METHENY

By Annabelle Metheny Mothersead

Earl C. (Red) Metheny arrived in Billings, Montana, from his childhood home in Maquoketa, Iowa, in February 1892, two months prior to his 16th birthday. He settled in the Clark Fork Valley of the Yellowstone River, across the river from what is now Bridger, then called Stringtown. As soon as he was of legal age he proved his claim to his homestead. After selling the homestead he went to Camp Crook, South