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O’Fallon Flashbacks

Copyright 1975 O'Fallon Historical Society, Baker, Montana. ALL RIGHTS RESEVED

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would come over and talk to us through the window, bring us what we needed from town. My sister was terribly sick, the rest of us weren't so sick. The only good thing about that was we couldn't go to school for three weeks. Then we had to move out and go stay with Granny while we fumigated the house to kill the germs.

Bill and Ethel stayed with Granny and went to the Spring Creek School. Ethel went to school there for 5 years, Bill three years and I started when I was 5 and went until Christmas time. One incident that stands out in my mind about my first school year was: Bille Lee, a foster child raised by Nate and Ethel Hamilton, in the seventh grade at the time, thought I had such a small fist, he just couldn't get over how little it was. He told me to double up that little fist and hit him in the eye as hard as I could. So I did. He came to school the next day with a very black eye. That spring when school was out Spring Creek School closed its doors for several years. Charles, Bug and Elinore Lee were ready for high school and it was more convenient for us to go to the Hay Creek School.

In the wintertime the only place we ever went was to the neighbors to play cards. Several of our neighbors, the Milt and Don Greens, the Howard Myers, and the George Osters, would get together for card parties. The playing usually started on Saturday night, play all night, stop for breakfast, which was

always hotcakes, and then play all day Sunday and head for home. In a couple of weeks, weather permitting, we would get together at the next place. Of course we kids had a ball. No one paid any attention to what we were doing. When we got tired we rolled up on the floor in a blanket and went to sleep. In the summer time most Sunday afternoons were spent playing horseshoe and target practicing. Uncle Fenner could always beat everyone shooting the bow and arrow. He could hit a silver dollar in the air with a 38, most of the other fellows were satisfied if they could make a tin can dance. Fishing was also a favorite pastime during the summer.

One Sunday the Oster family came to our house for dinner and some card playing. In the afternoon the men decided that they would go out and hunt some deer. We had some pine hills about two miles from the place and this was where they were going. George Oster had an old green pickup, they put an old car seat in the back and took off. George driving, Paul Oster and my dad in the front seat, three more Oster boys on the seat and one Oster and my cousin, Pete, kneeling on the pickup floor facing the boys on the car seat. (I better tell a little about Cousin Pete, he was my Dad's nephew from Minnesota.) Pete had left his wife and kids and come to stay with us, he was dodging his alimony payments. Everytime someone drove into the yard, Pete made himself scarce and no one ever came looking for him.

Well the hunters drove to the hills and came to a ravine with a snowbank on the other side that had to be crossed. After discussing the matter, George figured if he poured the gas to the old Ford he could make it through the snow bank and up the hill. He stepped down on the gas and they hit the snow bank, but--as it turned out there wasn't that much snow it was just bank. Well, George ended up with three broken ribs and a bent steering wheel, my dad went through the windshield and broke his nose for about the fourth time, the three fellow sitting on the car seat in the back were thrown out, unhurt, the two kneeling rammed their heads into the pickup cab and were knocked out cold. That ended the hunt right then and there, when they got back home they were a sorry looking bunch of hunters.

In 1954, the coal buckets and wood boxes and water buckets were put aside, as REA came into the community. Then in 1956, Mid-River Telephone Co-op brought telephone to the area. Some of the older people thought this was just too much of a luxury and would not sign up, but not too many years went by before these, too, decided it was a necessity. With the coming of the telephone less and less neighboring was done.

Bill Redman was killed in a pickup accident in 1953. Ted died in December of 1967. Ethel is married to Bill Myers and they live in Billings. They have two daughters, Barbara and Bonnie. Helen is married to Dick Rieger and they live on a ranch in the Ismay area. They have a son, Steven and a daughter, Dixie Lea.

 

The Rieger Family. Left to Right, Erna, Leon, Dorothy, Lorina, Edwin, Claudia, Ted, Elsie, John, Ruby, Ben, Phina, Robert, Marie, Richard, Lilly. Front Row, Adolph and Lydia [Parents]

ADOLPH & LYDIA RIEGER FAMILY HISTORY

This chapter in the history of Fallon County really all began in a small Dakota town on a blustery February day in 1910. Adolph Rieger had come to the Jacob Freier home at Mound City to marry the eldest daughter, Lydia. On the afternoon of the 14th the winds were building up, blowing the snow that was already falling heavy and fast. The wedding was to be the next day. As the day wore on it became apparent that no one would be able to come or go from the place. The minister was of course "snowed out" and the couple snowed in. Two blustery days passed and on the afternoon of the 19th the winds subsided, the minister arrived and the marriage took place. Adolph took his new bride to live on a small farm near New England, N.Dak. Times were hard but together they struggled through the usual trials of early marriage.

In March of 1917, Adolph, Lydia and their 6 children, Leon, Edwin, Lorina, John, Marie and Paul left N. Dak. and headed for Montana. They put all their possessions on an emigrant train, this included a few head of work horses, milk cows and farm machinery as well as their household goods. They arrived in Westmore where they spent a few days with Mrs. Riegers parents the Jacob Freiers. They soon found them a place west of Plevna, known as the "Pepper Place". The house had two rooms and a loft which was reached by climbing a ladder up the wall. The family continued to grow and soon 12 children and the parents were packed into the bulging homestead house. Water for cooking and drinking was hauled on a "stone boat and barrel" from about a half mile away. The well water on the farm was filled with alkali and was only good for watering the stock. Of course the family, like all their neighbors, used kerosene lamps and lanterns. If the fuel ran out there was the inevitable "fat light" (a makeshift candle made by putting some lard in a small container and a wick put in made from pieces of old underwear folded three of four times.)

 

 

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The trips to town for supplies or to church were made in a very elegant two seated buggy complete with top and side curtains for cold weather. Later it was replaced with none other than, what else but a Model T.

Adolph trapped muskrats and coyotes during the winter, the hides were sold to help buy food and clothing for the children. The older boys were now much help when they weren't at school.

The older children started to school in Plevna. A long trek on foot while the weather permitted and when cold weather came they were granted the luxury of a one-seated buggy and one horse. When the snow was deep the old horse pulled a small sled with some of the children riding and others frolicking along beside.

One of the older girls, Lorina or "Renie", as she was called recalls how her mother was always the last into the buggy when they left for the annual Christmas Program at the church. Each of the children said their little "piece" and usually because they were all blessed with good singing voices helped lustily in the musical renditions and then home where mother had arranged the dining room table with a new toy for each child. One year however the money simply wouldn't go around for extras so each got a scarf and a cap. What a disappointment!

Soon a new school was opened in the country near home and the children enrolled in the new Korth-Carrington School. The teacher was one Bessie Collete. Probably the school had a healthy enrollment of Riegers most of the time. There is a family story about John when he started school. The teacher was holding up flash cards and the children were responding in the usual first grade manner. Each child shouted the answers as the cards were turned. John who was shy anyway finally mustered the courage and when a picture of a ship came up he gave forth with a hearty " sheef " which of course was the German pronunciation. Since most youngsters were also German they realized his mistake and their teasing laughter drove poor little Johnny back into his shell.

Still the family kept growing! Now Ben, Dorathea, Claudia, Lillian and Richard joined the family ranks.

In the fall of 1924 the family moved to the Westmore area from the Pepper Place. That same fall there was an organized rabbit drive. A hundred or more people would surround a section of land and start walking towards the middle scaring up the rabbits and driving them towards the center, killing them with clubs and shotguns. About 3000 rabbits were taken from this section of land.

While farming in the Westmore area times were tough. The first year about 700 acres were planted to grain. Twenty bushels of wheat was harvested. Not even enough to feed the chickens. The next few years were good years, the yields were from 6 to 9 bushels. All the farming was done with horses. The horses had to be fed at the crack of dawn and then it was quite a chore to harness up around 20 head of workhorses. The Riegers would break horses for the neighbors. We would get to use the horses for one year for breaking them. We broke several head for Joe Dietz.

The house on this place was a mansion, compared to the one we had been living in. Three bedrooms, a bathroom which was utilized as a bedroom for Leon and Ed. There was barely enough room for a bed but it was a room! There was also a large living room, dining room, kitchen and hall and a large unfinished upstairs. In the fall this upstairs was filled with 100 lb. bags of flour and sugar, boxes of dried fruit along with pumpkins, squash and other things picked from the garden.

As the children grew older the "Federal Land Bank" was a monster that loomed up at least every other day. As holder of the mortgage this was the wolf at the door. Any little windfall that came was soon torn to shreds by a payment to the Federal Land Bank. What a happy day when the last payment was made!

Now the children were trudging off to Westmore School. Here teachers such as Mrs. Crow, Miss Hall and others which are long forgotten guided children in the halls of learning. in earlier years the little Riegers walked to school but soon the district saw fit to supply a school bus and hired Mr. Rieger or the older boys to drive it. If some dawdling child didn't get his chores finished in time he still walked the three miles to school.

There wasn't much grocery shopping in those days. What the farmers didn't grow was purchased on the little shopping treks on horseback when one of the children packed a pail of eggs or wheat and traded it for small items such as salt, vanilla and such luxuries as maybe a pennies worth of candy. When someone went as far as Plevna or Baker for shopping all day they would purchase a loaf of bread and a ring of bologna. "Store bought" bread was as much of a treat then as homemade bread is today. Eating in a cafe was unheard of.

Mr. Rieger tried many ways to make money to keep his family fe6 and shod. One time he shipped a carload of hogs off to Portland, but the prices were so low that they didn't bring enough money to pay the freight costs.

Butchering day was an ordeal which took place every fall and in between if the need arose. One steer and several hogs were slaughtered all at one time and then there was the cutting up, curing, sausage making and lard rendering and last but not least the delicious eating that came later. Cured hams and bacons, sausage, head cheese, liverworst. OH! the delicious smells that can come out of a smoke house.

In those early years a doctor at the house was a very rare occasion. Dorothy got pneumonia and the doctor came to attend her. Ben made several flying trips to the doctor in town. Once when he drank the water off the flypaper. (Black paper put in a saucer of water to poison flies.) His mother gave him something to make him throw it all up and had no ill effects. Another time he fell and ran a sharp knife into the back of his throat and risked the danger of bleeding to death but again came through.

Mrs. Rieger gave birth to all her babies at home with her mother as the midwife, except the last one. At the Higby place there were Elsie, Phina, Erna, Robert known as Bud, Ruth and Theodore. Teddy was, of all things, born in a hospital.

The Old Higby place was really the "growing up Place". There were so many happy times. Sledding on the snowy hills, digging tunnels into the hillsides. Never to be forgotten are the times the windmill was left pumping, the tank for watering livestock ran over and the whole hillside became a giant ice slide. Everyone found an old scoop shovel, sled or whatever and headed for the ice. Surely there were bruises, smashed fingers and bumps but who would care when the whole countryside rang with the shouts of laughter.

With so many mischievous minds at work the teachers, first at Westmore and later at the Hoover School just over the hill from home, must have been given a hard time indeed. There was the time John and other boys shellacked Miss Probert's chair. This poor teacher was also sport enough to climb on hands and knees into the door of the outdoor toilet when the Riegers, Reichers, Thayers and McConnell children built a snow tunnel to it with large blocks of snow. There were at one time eight Riegers at Hoover School which had an enrollment of about sixteen.

The whole family was very active in 4-H work. Mrs. Rieger and older brothers and sisters became leaders. Five of the family were awarded trips to the National 4-H Congress in Chicago. In their turns, Leon, Edwin, Marie, Paul and Lilly took the never to be forgotten trip on the train to the Windy City to meet Celebrities, dine in fine restaurants and

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stay in fine hotels. Most of the family also attended State 4-H functions in Bozeman and of course the yearly adventure to Opeechee Park for camp.

Many things happened as the Rieger Clan grew up. There were tricks played on each other, the neighbors or the animals. One such event involving five cows was really cruel but not unlike a bunch of country kids left alone on a Sunday afternoon. Seems someone, probably older boys tied the tails of 5 cows together with a good strong piece of wire. Someone got under a big cardboard box and came flopping along making any number of wild whoops. The poor creatures were scared out of their wits and each took off in a different direction leaving four tails securely wired to one cow. Stunts like this didn't go unpunished. Mr. and Mrs. Rieger were people of strong morals and strict discipline. The family belonged to the Plevna Congregational Church and was active in all phases of the church. All took their turn at choir and Sunday School. Mr. Rieger was for many years a member of the Men's Quartette as were Ed and Leon. To this day members of the family sing in the same choir and occupy pews in the now remodeled church.

Many interesting things happened to the largest family in Fallon County. There was the year they were granted free admission to everything at the Fallon County Fair. There was the huge box of store-bought cookies from the Manchester Biscuit Co. What a day of feasting that was!

While the family was still living near Westmore the first tragedy hit. While little Ruth was playing with her cousin there was a squabble about the little black kitten which Ruth, known as Tootsie, had always called her own. In the scuffle she fell off the front porch striking her head on a rock around the flower bed. There was considerable bleeding which her mother took care of. Mrs. Rieger sponged the wound with a solution of Lysol and water which was the standby first-aid and everything seemed fine. A month later Tootsie awoke with a headache which grew steadily worse and before the day was over she had died of a blood clot which had reached her brain.

The funeral was strange to the closely-knit family. This sort of thing always happened to someone else. The loss was great to the bereaved parents who never seemed to mind a neighbor child brought home to spend the night, but always noticed the emptiness when one of their brood was gone. To make matters worse the little one had passed away on her mother’s birthday, only one month after the difficult birth of the youngest child. The mother rallied to the need however of the rest of the children who always knew that their mother would be there in time of need along with the stern but loving father.

In 1932, just before the "dirty thirties", we had a fairly good crop and wheat sold for the high price of 29 cents a bushel. All the wheat was hauled to the elevator by team and wagon. Wheat would be traded for a ton of flour in the fall, this was to do the family for nearly a year. The price of flour in 1928 was $1.10 a hundred.

During the early thirties the government was buying up all the cattle in the country and destroying the older ones. There just wasn't any market for beef or pork. This was the time the Riegers started in the cattle business, by buying 20 head from C.C. Ayers for the total sum of $300. Feed was short and the 20 head of 90 lb. pigs that we had were all butchered and eaten.

All kinds of odd jobs were done to earn a little money. One job was the cutting of ice blocks and hauling them into Plevna and selling them to George Buergi. Buergi ran a store in Plevna and he used the ice to help keep his meat. He would pay five dollars a load. What he didn't use he would sell to his customers. Hauling ice paid for a 1936 Dodge truck.

Sometime after the arrival of Teddy, the last of 18 children, a decision was made to buy some land along

O'Fallon Creek. The only house on the "new place" was a small one-room shack which was soon expanded by moving another shack next to it. Part of the family moved here while some remained at the old place and for a number of years we farmed both places. Having the means to water a garden, about six or seven acres was planted each year into garden. Hundreds of melons were raised. In the fall when the melons were ripening a trip was made to Plevna and Baker with a 4 wheel trailer loaded with melons which were sold for a nickel a piece. Maybe the extra large ones ( 25 lb.) would bring 15 cents. This trip had to be made every other day. All the garden had to be hoed, this took many hours of hard work. From this garden hundreds of jars of vegetables were canned, and the ones that would keep were stored for winter use. As the children grew up and left home the garden size was also cut down.

In the fall of 1936 the children enrolled in the Ismay School. They drove a 1929 Model A car to school loaded with 9 to 11 children. The car didn't have power enough to make some of the hills so part way up the hill everyone but the driver would pile out and run along behind until the top of the hill was made. Then they would pile back in and on the way again.

Now the family was back to roughing it. Some slept on pallets in the rafters. Two railroad boxcars were moved onto the place and they were turned into girls and boys dormitories of sorts. A few years later a two-bedroom house was purchased and moved onto the place, an addition was built onto the house and then there was room once again for the remainder of the family. An artesian well made it possible to have running water in the house, this meant having a bathroom for the first time. What a luxury! No more treks to the outdoor outhouse. In 1948 a large light plant was purchased and then it was possible to have a deep freeze and refrigerators. This was quite a change over the icebox. No more hauling in ice and carrying out the water. But still had the fall chore of mining coal and hauling it into the coal shed for winter use. It usually took about 45 ton to supply all the houses at " Riegerville. " Along with hauling in coal, there was always some wood to gather and of course hauling out the many buckets of ashes.

By this time some of the older children were working at jobs away from home. Lorina had already married and was living in Ismay. Her husband, Milton Davis, was also part of the history of the county. His father arrived in Plevna in 1910 when Plevna was barely a town. Mr. Davis and Mr. Joe Steffes raced on horseback to stake out a homestead, only to find when they arrived that someone else had beaten both of them. They then homesteaded north of Westmore. Milton's Grandfather Powell also homesteaded near there. Milton went to school in the first school in Plevna, C.C. Conser was his teacher.

Probably the Riegers were the only family that could boast of a girls' and boys' basketball team, complete with subs. One item cut from a local newspaper stated, "The Custer County Cowgirls ended their basketball season by losing to the Rieger Sisters 30-25." There followed the statistics and scoring of the various girls which in itself wasn't much for history until one noted that out of the 30 points scored by the Rieger Sisters, Elsie had made 22. Her one-handed hook shot proved too much for her opponents.

In 1957 Mrs. Rieger was honored at a tea of the American Legion Auxiliary which was given for Gold Star Mothers. Even though the event was shadowed by memories of her son, Paul, who had been killed in action as a Lt. in the Second World War. Mrs. Rieger was thankful that her sons, John, Ben, Dick and Bud were all safely home, from the war. At the same time Mrs. Rieger had also been honored by being chosen Montana Mother of the Year. Besides being honored at various events she was also flown to New York City and entertained at the National Mother of the Year festivities.

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Another great event for the family came in 1959, when the members of the family who still lived in the area arranged a family reunion. People came from far and near bringing sleeping bags to sleep in the loft of the barn or wherever an available spot presented itself. Also journeying from afar came a man from the Saturday Evening Post, a Mr. John Bickel. For a couple of days he slept in the loft with the second generation of the Rieger boys and no one knew who the stranger was, each thought he was a friend of someone in the family. Mr. Bickel slipped away as quietly as he came. We didn't actually know what he was doing there until two years later of all things, was a picture of 76 Riegers labeled "Face of America" spread across a double page of the Saturday Evening Post.

Many friends who had gone to other parts of the country saw the pictures and sent letters and greetings. Even a Commander in Paul's unit in Europe saw the picture and sent a nice letter to Mrs. Rieger giving her details of the death of her son.

Eight years later another family reunion was planned for August. Mr. and Mrs. Rieger were living in Miles City with their daughter Phina and husband, Lyle Horr. Mrs. Rieger's health was failing and daughter Phina was a nurse. Mr. Rieger was in fairly good health, he had been working in his little garden during the afternoon, that night while preparing for bed he suffered a heart attack and died during that night. Mrs. Rieger followed her husband in death the following fall. Family reunions will never quite be the same again. Some of the family was already enroute to the homeplace for another good old family reunion when the news of the death of their father reached them. Others were still at home getting ready for the trip.

In the "Story of the Rieger Family" music played a big part in their lives. They had a small hill-billy band at first with Paul on the guitar; Claudia picking out chords on the banjo, Lilly on the fiddle and others on accordion; Hawaiian Guitar and scores of spoons being clacked for rhythm and the harmonies coming from combs and thin paper. Many a hoe-down rang through the rooms and rafters as the group grew. Vocals by Dot, Claudia, Lilly, Phina and all filled in where there were no chords. Dick and Lilly turned out to be great yodelers. When there was a town or community function whether church, County Fair or School there was always a number by the Riegers. All were musically inclined in one way or another, but Lilly proved to be able to put it to best use. Many were the night the dishes were being washed by the other girls while Lilly sat nearby strumming her guitar and singing songs that she had written. The big thing in the music came when Lilly, Claudia and Phina formed a trio in Miles City and sang on the local radio station for a year. When Phina was out of town taking her nurses training, Ruby filled in for awhile, but soon there were no more Sunset Valley Girls on the Sunday radio.

Mr. Rieger and some of his sons formed a partnership and bought more land. The horses having been retired by an old Rumely tractor, it was now time to replace the old Rumely tractor, the header and threshing machine with more powerful equipment. Several hundreds of acres were farmed each year. A caterpillar was added and the men built dams and dikes to improve the place. The two boxcars were moved to a spot under the cottonwood trees and made three units of tourist cabins, then a gas pump was installed and with this the Riegers had a little side business going.

As the children grew older they wandered to other towns and localities. The older boys Leon, Edwin and John spent time in C C Camps that grew up all over the nation. Paul, Ben, Elsie, Erna and Ted attended college. Some were married and the family grew. Lorina married Milton Davis

and they had three children. Their home is in California. Leon, was one of the partners, he was also County Assessor for years. Then sold his share of the ranch and moved to Plevna where he had an interest in a Service Station. He is now semi-retired and is presently the Mayor of Plevna.

Edwin is married to the former Emilie Singer and is living in the big house on the Ranch, which was split in two by Ed and Dick when Leon sold out. Ed and Mille have seven children, all are married except the youngest, Tanya.

John married an Olympia girl, Dorothy Dunlap, after his return from the war. They lived on the ranch until 1961, when he sold his share of the ranch to his brothers and moved away. They have three children. John has been working with the Fish and Wildlife. They are living in Oregon at the present time.

Marie married Rudy Diegel. They ranched and farmed near Glendive for several years. They have eight children, all married. Rudy and Marie left their boys to look after the ranch. They moved to Great Falls where they purchased a dry-cleaning and laundry facility.

Ben, married a young widow with two children, he worked for a lumber company in Miles City and Harlowton The last several years they lived in Billings, where Ben is employed by Grand Fence. They had three daughters. The oldest is married, the other two are in college.

Dorothy, while working at the State Orphans' Home in Twin Bridges met and married a young teacher named James Cain. They live in Big Timber now where Jim is in the real-estate business. They have three married children.

Claudia is married to Wesley Lausch and to this union was added seven children. They live in a cozy mountain cabin near Alberton, Montana.

Lilly, after work stops in Miles City, and with sister, Dorothy, in Twin Bridges, met and married Bob True, a young teacher from Spokane Washington, who taught in Plevna for several years. Bob's work took them first to Ennis, Montana then to Pasco, Wash. to work for Mr. Herman Jaeger, a former principal of Plevna Schools. Bob has spent this last year in Colorado getting his Ph.D. Their home is in Pasco, Wash. They have four children. Dick is married to the former Helen Redman of Ismay. They live on the "other half" of the home ranch. He is ranching and farming with the help of his son and also his daughter as right hand man when the need arises.

Elsie and her husband, Wilfred "Wolf" Henderson, live in southern California. They had twin boys, one of which gave his life in the services of his country. There are four other children, six in all. Elsie is manager of a Safeway lunch counter and her husband is in charge of trustees of California prisons, supervising work crews.

Phina is a registered nurse in a Billings hospital. She is married to Lyle Horr who is in the real estate business. They have two daughters and live in Billings.

Erna, after college married Leslie Miller who worked for an optical company in Miles City. They are living in Maryland where Erna is teaching and Leslie is affiliated with John Hopkins Hospital. They have three children and one foster child.

Robert, (Bud) is married to the former Betty Quincer, a Plevna girl. They now live on a ranch near Plevna. They have six children. Bud ran a Service Station in Plevna for several years and is now engaged in farming and ranching.

Ruby took several years of nurses training then married Ralph Hatch from Miles City. They are now in Billings and they have three children.

Ted attended college at the University of Montana. He is employed by the Forest Service. Ted is married to Arlys Engdahl, a Jordan girl. They live in Saint Marie, Idaho. They have three children. At the present time there are 65

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grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren, strung from one end of the United States to the other.

 

Lucille Hythecker Riley

LUCILLE D. [HYTHECKER] RILEY

Although my parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. F. Hythecker, homesteaded in the Fertile Prairie area east of Baker in 1908, I never lived on a farm. Father and mother were married in 1901 in Minnesota and came to Montana because they wanted some land of their own.

In 1912 my parents moved to town and I was born on June 28, 1915. 1 was born and raised in the same house in Baker that my mother owned when she died. There were seven of us children; Tony, Myrtle, Lydian, Bonita, Lucille (myself), Darlene and Frances.

My father died in 1931 and my mother married Michael Romey in 1939. He passed away in 1941.

1 went through the grades and high school in Baker, and was Salutatorian of my graduation class in 1933. After high school I attended Eastern Montana College at Billings. When I finished there I taught rural schools from 1934 to 1949. 1 was appointed County Superintendent of Schools for Fallon County in 1949 and have held that position for twenty-three years. I am now, 1973, President of the Montana Association of County Superintendents.

I attended the Baker Community Church until 1954 at which time I became a member of the St. Johns Catholic Church at Baker.

I can remember having fun sliding down Water Tank Hill on sleds when we were children. As we grew older we enjoyed going to Wildwood Park for rodeos and picnics * I attended a few box socials at Westmore when I was teaching school there.

I married Leo K. Riley in Baker on June 27, 1939. We have no children but being a teacher and a School Superintendent has kept me in touch with youth over the years.

Bob Robinson

BOB AND VESTA ROBINSON, OUR LIVES IN BAKER

I came to Baker, March 20th 1931, on a bleak and cloudy day. What a trip I had from Midwest, Wyoming, where I had formerly been employed as Booster Supervisor for the Standard Oil of Indiana. I drove up in a little Whippet sedan. I had inquired at Hardin as to the best way to get to Miles City and was advised to take the Custer cut-off in preference to going by way of Billings in order to save quite a few miles in distance. About halfway to Miles City I came to a stretch of road which had been surfaced with boulders varying in size from that of a base ball to that of a foot ball. In bouncing over those rocks I broke a rear spring and after another mile or so the other rear spring broke. I was in a real predicament. Fortunately there was a barbed wire fence along the roadside from which I borrowed a couple of posts and a quantity of wire and toggled up the springs enough to crawl into Miles City. There I left the car to be repaired and continued on to Baker on the Milwaukee train. I was met by Harry Mathews, Manager of the Gas Development Co. After that experience I wondered whatever prompted me to leave my job at Midwest. I stayed with the Mathews that night and the next day moved into the Baker Hotel, owned and operated by L. E. Baker. There I lived for about three weeks while Vesta made arrangements to have our household goods moved to Baker. In the meantime I rented one of Eph Keirle's houses across from the Economy Grocery. I recall that I paid $50 a month rent, which I thought was exorbitant, probably because I had been paying $6 a month in Midwest with gas, electricity and water included.

I presume one of the things that impressed me most when we first came to Baker, was the distances I had to travel in my work. In Midwest the wells were spaced 36 to a section, while in Baker they were 10 miles apart. I was totally confused in the directions too. I remember Harry Schroth taking me to Cabin Creek soon after I came. It was a cloudy, stormy day with most landmarks obliterated by the storm.

The first time I tried to go to Cabin Creek alone I wound up in a little town, which I later learned was Carlyle. I had turned east instead of west somewhere along the line.

This was at the beginning of the great financial depression and money was scarce, and most of the ranches were mortgaged to the limit. From 1931 to 1938, the wheat crop was hardly worth harvesting because of drought or hail or grasshoppers. I remember when our crews were working on the pipelines it was necessary to cover the picks and shovels at night to prevent the grasshoppers from eating on the handles. I have seen the grasshoppers in piles a foot deep where they lay stunned or dead from the impact as they flew against a building.

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Picture Loaned by Lena Linden, Grasshoppers in the Thirties

In those days we had to create our own fun and recreation. We used to use the old Legion Hall to play volleyball or indoor baseball and paid 10 cents a night for lights and heat. It wasn't uncommon for some of the businessmen to ask to borrow a dime for this purpose. Then, too, we used to go to dances and picnics and we had whist and bridge parties and once in a while we would go down to the Sand Rocks or over to Medora or to Ekalaka. Reminds me of that old song, "Not much money, oh, but Honey, ain't we got fun?"

I joined the Chamber of Commerce soon after arriving in Baker; I think it was called the Commercial Club at that time. At my first meeting I was introduced by Harry Schroth, as a chemical engineer and said that at Midwest my job was to put lime in the outdoor toilets. Sometime later I became secretary of that organization, and then president succeeding Larry Busch and Stewart Watt. The big objective of the club, at that time, was to publicize the old Yellowstone Trail as the shortest route from Minneapolis to Portland and try to get financial assistance from the legislature to hard surface the route. This highway is now designated as U.S. Highway No. 12 and is hard surfaced the entire distance. In the meantime we tried surfacing the road with scoria, a soft, red rock found in abundance in the hills around Baker. This worked fairly well but it soon wore out and had to be replaced.

Sometime during our stay in Baker I was elected as chairman of the Congregational Church Board. Some of the members of the board at that time were; Louise Schenck, Dr. and Mrs. Weeks, Esther La Cross, Bud Price and Mrs. Clyde Erther. Marge Severson was the organist and the Reverend George Meyer was the pastor.

Vesta, too, became involved with the Ladies Aid and the Church. She also worked with the Red Cross and served as local chairman of the financial drive, soliciting contributions

from all the business establishments and helped organize dances and other things to raise money.

In 1940 1 became Worshipful Master of the Masonic Lodge, succeeding Bill Harris and eventually joined the Shrine in Billings.

In 1950 1 was elected president of the Fallon County Fair Board succeeding Homer French. Other members of the board were Rex Flint, Larry Burns, Albert Fost, Irvin Keirle and Gene Hoff. I never got to serve in this capacity as I was transferred to Worland, Wyoming before assuming the office. So much for my civic activities but I must not forget I was also Field Superintendent for the Montana-Dakota Utilities Company in charge of pump stations at Cabin Creek and Little Beaver and also of the transmission of gas to various cities, the field and town border metering and for years in charge of drilling activities. The big excitement in my work came in 1936 when the M.D.U. discovered oil in the Little Beaver area. While this discovery eventually proved to be financially unprofitable, it caused a great furor of highly profitable oil production in the Northern part of the Cedar Creek Anticline.

We think of our 19 years in Baker as a period of great happiness, for it was there we made many life long friends and it was there that our daughter Meridith Lou received her elementary and high school education, graduating in 1944. 1 was Chairman of the School Board at that time. I recall that when I handed the members of the graduation class their diplomas Meridith kissed me and said, "Thanks 'pookie", a psuedonym of endearment that I had acquired somewhere along the line and her girl friends followed suit. Some of her classmates were Joan Loveless, Eva Jane Owen, Ruby North, Richie Russell, Trevor Swindal, Harry Young, and Aleta Hansen. In 1945 she enrolled at Bozeman College for one semester after which she transferred to U. of California where she married Esmond Carey, son of Edward and Cecil Carey and grandson of Auntie Markin one-time residents of Baker.

The Careys live in Castro Valley a few blocks from us, and we enjoy their closeness and the opportunity to observe the development of the grandchildren. There are four of them, Rob, Regan, Rene and Esmond.

As for Vesta and me, we enjoy fairly good health and are active in the Senior Citizens groups and I am a member of the Church Board, representing our Golden Age Club.

Carl Roget, 1920

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EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF CARL ROGET

By Carl Roget

Montana held a great deal of attraction for both of us in the early years of our marriage, and it still does. I gained a considerable amount of mechanical experience after working in the auto repair shops for Eph Keirle and Leo and Larry Burns, and also Mr. George Hough. I am grateful to them, as in those days of great depression, it was not easy for the business men or for the employees either.

In 1929 1 bought or was trying to buy 320 acres in the Willard area. The dust bowl and drought engulfed Montana for six years, as it did many other states. I was forced to give up the land. During this time I rented a house in Baker and worked as an auto mechanic.

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Roget

 

It adds to one's talents to learn more than one trade. When I worked for the Montana Highway I received an appreciation letter from the State Highway Commission February 29, 1936, as did the other field engineers, and maintenance forces. The Highway Commission instructed D.A. Mc Kinnon, State Highway Engineer, to convey a statement of their appreciation for the way in which the snow problems were handled during a very trying period. The members of the Highway Commission said we, the employees, had done a wonderful job.

Many reports came into their office regarding the efficient service the men had rendered. That their efficient work and whole-hearted cooperation had made the Montana Highway second to none.

One time I remember in particular was when we were plowing snow, it was 56 degrees below zero at five o'clock in the morning. That was the most frigid weather of my experience.

Another memorable occasion was when Sandy Repplinger and I took the push-plow, at five o' clock in the morning, from Baker. The snow was four feet deep on the level. At twelve o'clock noon we had made it to Willard all of fifteen miles.

After spending a half hour there eating our noon day meal, we set out for Ekalaka. We were compelled to make roads on the prairies as some of the cuts on the highway were filled with snow as much as twelve feet deep. To do this it took us three days and two nights, without sleep or food to reach Ekalaka.

Ekalaka had been snowed in for as much as a whole month. The huge steaks, which we ate at the Ekalaka Cafe, must have been the most satisfying in the whole world. They,

of the cafe, were as glad to see us as we were to see them, as their supply of flour was rapidly diminishing.

After working for the Highway Department for five years, we decided to go to Portland, Oregon. While there, I attended the Auto Body and Fender Trade School. With this knowledge I hoped to obtain a job. Disappointment was in store for me. Jobs simply were not available. Portland was held in the grip of the depression, too.

The next best move would be to go to Grand Coulee, Washington. Roosevelt (the great humanitarian) had found a way to provide jobs for the people. The erection of the magnificent Grand Coulee Dam had already begun when we got there. It would be a giant; generating electrical power and would provide irrigation for the desert.

The carpenters were in demand there and I joined them. My best talent I knew was in the field of mechanics, with this in mind we left for Oakland, California in 1939. My wife's sister, Alice, and her husband, Ed Butler, kept writing and urging us to come to Oakland. They stated that jobs were plentiful in California.

After taking the written test required for mechanics at the Alameda Navy Air Base, I passed with a 96 rating. I was very grateful for that.

My fellow workers were "happy- go - lucky" men, interested in one another. They seemed to be like a big family of brothers. Our foreman had a very congenial personality. He was well liked by every one of us.

Carl and Elsie Roget in their Wheat Field in the Willard Area, 1968

While working at the base, my wife and I decided to save our money and take a chance once more and purchase some land in Montana. This time our venture has proved to be successful. Now we have an investment for our retirement. We have a very reliable renter in Wilford Lindstrom and he is an excellent farmer.

Very few people, I am sure, have experienced the thrill of having a wild cat oil well drilled on their land. The Oil Company put every effort into making a successful well. They went down to 10,000 feet in depth. It was a gamble for them which cost them many thousands of dollars.

It was great fun and excitement for us. The tower standing there full of lights on the lone prairie added to the scenery.

One thing we must remember is that Oil Companies do a great deal of good for a state. They are willing to pay their share of taxes, but it is not fair to over tax them, either.

The Oil Company that drilled our well dropped the lease. We are happy to tell that another Oil Company has taken over our lease.

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Oil Rig on Roget Land in Willard Area

Like Chet Huntley says, Montana is a great country and we agree. May good fortune smile upon her always.

We are now living in Oakland, California in the house pictured on the snap shot. Our daughter, Lorene, is married and she and her husband, Frank Soles, live in an apartment in Oakland.

Ole Roget posed with horses and sled. His sister in sled, Mrs. ElmerAnderson and son, Aldon, sisterElla Roget and Stella Breckenridge in sled. Elmer Anderson who took and developed pictures in his home later accompanied this group for a visit.

Present Home

of Carl and Elsie Roget, 1972, Oakland, California

Lorene Roget, Daughter

of Carl and Elsie, High School Picture

First cars in the Willard Community were in 1916. Ole Roget poses with a couple. He homesteaded but in 1918 he went to war and others farmed. He had a burning coal mine on his place. The land had no snow in the winter. Following the war he chose to take care

of his parents in Minnesota. At the age of 75 he married a widow in Norway and went there to live.

JOHN AND KATHERINE ROGET

John was born in Murdock, Minnesota the 5th child of Jacob and Elizabeth Roget. He lived on the family farm and hired out to neighbors when not needed at home. Picking corn, pitching bundles and shocking was his specialty.

His sisters, Ella and Matilda, and brother, Ole, had come to Montana to homestead and this gave him a reason to go west. His younger sisters, Lillie, (Mrs. Tom Lunder) and Louise (Mrs. Carl Fost), tagged along and found their future husbands there.

John married Katherine Blake a farm girl in the Medicine Rocks community at a church wedding there in 1918. The first year they farmed for Ludwig Strommen in the Willard community.

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They returned to Minnesota where he worked many years on the railroad. A family car accident and a long time in the hospital separated the family. He came back to Mont. where he worked on farms when his health permitted and also was a barn man at Ft. Keogh at Miles City for several years.

Katherine (Mrs. Charles Sims) is retired and lives at Apache Junction, Arizona. The Roget's three sons; Francis is employed with a Utility Co. at Fayetteville, N.C., Dr. Gordon Roget at Woodbridge, CA. and Dr. John J. Roget at Belle Center, Ohio. Several of the grandsons are studying to become doctors.

The Roget brothers have made trips back to Montana to visit relatives on both sides of the family.

Dr. and Mrs. Melvin Rogstad Family, 1971. Left to right, back row, Marlys, Mark and Mary Lynn, Winnie and Doc seated.

DR. AND MRS. MELVIN ROGSTAD

I purchased the Optometry Practice from Dr. H. S. Procter and we moved to Baker on January 5, 1953.

i was born at Kremlin, Montana on January 12, 1920 the son of Mr. and Mrs. Severin Rogstad. My elementary and high school education were acquired at West Salem, Wisconsin, I attended the Pacific University at Forest Grove, Oregon.

Winifred Block and I were married on June 19, 1949 at Kandiyohi, Minnesota.

Dr. Rogstad's office in Baker.

At first we lived in an apartment in the rear of the office building for about a year. Being between two bars and downtown was not the most desirable place to live with three lively children, so we moved to a rented house of Postmaster and Mrs. K. 0. Lentz. A year later we purchased our home at 323 South First Street West from George Severson. Our neighbors were the Calvin Lunds, Sr., the L. Prices and the Christ Jespersons. We lived in that location until we moved to Miles City.

The Rogstad home in Baker.

While in Baker we belonged to the American Lutheran Church. Winnie belonged to the Baker Homemakers Club, which organization celebrated its twenty-fifth Anniversary while we were living in Baker. I remember that the Baker Men's Club provided many good times for all.

We now live in Miles City but I still have my practice in Baker and get down there twice a week.

We have three children; Marlys Ann, Mark Melvin and Mary Lynn.

ROBERT W. ROSE FAMILY

by Carol Rose Karch

Mercy Josephine Hall and Robert William Rose postponed their wedding in order that the latter could finish packing the emigrant car and get it on its way west. They were married June 30, 1910. Shortly after the ceremony they boarded the train for Montana.

Their destination was Ismay, a thriving town in those days. They arrived July 3 and found a hilarious Fourth of July Celebration underway.

Preparations were made for the 15-mile trek northeast to the "Homestead". Robert had registered his claim earlier, May 10, 1910, at Miles City.

A tent was raised over a wooden floor which was home while Robert and Jesse Smith built the house frame around it. Tarpaper was added later. A blue type building paper finished the inside, making it cozy. The well was dug in a draw below the house, while a sod barn was built for the horses, cows, calf, pigs and chickens.

Some homefolks from Wisconsin, Daisy Smith and Ada Thomas, sisters of Jesse, often came to keep Mercy company while the men worked. Their father, Volney Smith, Daisy and Ada's husband, Arthur Thomas, had homesteaded several miles to the north on Lawrence Creek. Jesse's homestead bordered the Roses. Joe and Lizzie Litturno lived just over the hill to the west.

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Robert W. Rose Homestead in the Coal Springs area, winter of 1911-12.

Late in August the sky became a smoky smudge and the sun a dull red ball. Forest fires raged in the western part of the state.

Word was received of the sudden death of Mercy's mother the following February. Mercy was persuaded not to risk the jolting train ride back to the funeral.

Bertha and Ferdinand Rose with their children-Ora, Frieda, Elsie and Earl-came in March. They located several miles east toward Cabin Creek. Because the family was pretty well grown, Bertha was able to act as mid-wife for Mercy.

That time came April 12, 1911, when a wee one made her appearance. She was called Josephine after her grandmother and mother.

Spring was a busy, happy time now. Robert broke up the sod for seeding; there was fencing to do; a garden to put in. Mercy had her hands full-cooking hearty meals for him; caring for the baby and always plenty of washing. The water was so hard it curdled and it had a brownish color. By putting large wooden barrels under the eaves they saved the rain water in which- sparingly- to rinse the clothes and wash their hair.

In July Pauline and Alice Hall, Mercy's sisters, braved the unknown and came out for a visit. There was good cry all around and plenty of catching up on home news. Pauline was impressed favorably enough with the country that she bought a half section of railroad land to the northwest of the Roses. Evidently their tales of Montana, after returning to Wisconsin, stirred the adventurous blood in another sister, Isabel. She came in September.

More and more folks were settling in the area as the year progressed. Quite a few of them came from Wisconsin and Minnesota. Since a spiritual need was being felt in the community, the Reverend Johnson of Baker organized the Coal Springs Sunday School in August, 1911, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt Sanborn. Mr. F. E. Wheeler was its superintendent. The Reverend C. S. Newsom was its first minister in 1915-16. It was the beginning of many pleasant gatherings.

Mrs. Frank Wheeler (Lucy) was sent for early the morning of Oct. 1, 1913, to help Mercy with the birth of her second child, Carol.

Doctors and hospitals were scarce and far away. However, the Elizabeth Hospital in Baker, established by the Misses Elizabeth Scott and Elizabeth Sanders, was operating in 1515. There Mother was taken to deliver her third child. Mrs. Louis Steumpges (Abbie) was confined at the same time. Her boy, Clark, was the first baby born in the hospital. Mother's daughter, Alice, born Oct. 2, 1915 was the first girl. She was a delightful baby and completely adored by all of us.

The R. W. Rose family, 1914. Robert holding Carol and Mercy with Josephine.

Alice Irene Rose

Every fall Dad, Jesse Smith, Greg Robinson and whoever else needed coal would locate a likely spot where the lignite was close to the surface. They'd load up wagon boxes of it and come creaking home. It was so exciting to see those huge hunks of glossy black stuff that seemed to be layered. If you happened to be lucky you'd see a perfect leaf imprint on some of the layers.

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After the first good snowfall the men would sally forth with their teams hitched to bob sleds to the "cedars" for fence posts and the winter's supply of firewood. The "cedars were really a native scrub juniper growing some few miles to the north and northeast. This was usually an overnight expedition and all of us who remained at home anxiously awaited their return. Fires of the "cedar" wood in the cook stove were so cheery-they'd crackle and pop and make you think the teakettle would soon boil.

 

World War I cast its shadow taking some of the younger men from the neighborhood. I couldn't comprehend what it was all about except to sense the gloom of the older folks.

 

Ground breaking for the Coal Springs Church, 1917, the two women are: Mrs. Greg Robinson and Mrs. R. W. Rose.

 

In the fall of 1917 the congregation of the Coal Springs Sunday School and Church voted to build. The meetings, being held in the Coal Springs School house, were out growing it. Every man in the countryside, who could, lent a good right arm in its construction. Even the Reverend R. Witaker, the minister, was a carpenter. Dedication Services were held May 19, 1918.

 

Going to Coal Springs Church, 1915, church was held in Coal Springs School at this time. Jesse and Mabel Smith, Mable holding Earl, Mercy, Carol and Josephine Rose and Mrs. Robinson, Greg Robinson and R. W. Rose. Picture taken at the (~?-X Heart Bar X or Robert Rose Ranch.

Usually the Smiths, Mabel and Jesse (we called them Aunt and Uncle), with their sons, Earl and Freddy, would stop by on their way to church. We'd all be ready and pile into one rig-a team and buggy or bobsled in winter. If it were the latter there'd be plenty of straw in the sled. Mother would have heated rocks or flat irons, wrapped them in paper, put them at our feet in the sled and covered us with a couple of fur robes. We were toasty warm during the journey. Sometimes it was so frosty it seemed we were enveloped in a cloud of steam.

When Mother's Day came, just before we left our place, Mother would look for a little white flower, moss phlox, which was sure to be in bloom by then, to wear to church.

Children's Day programs were another high light at the church. Recitations and songs were practiced and practiced before this wonderful day. These days were climaxed with a picnic at the church or someone's park.

The three Rose Girls at the ,?-Y Ranch in about 1920. Left to right, Alice, Carol and "Jo" with the cinnamon dog

The A. C. Woods had a magnificent picnic grounds near their log house. It was located in a tree-shaded draw near Pennel Creek. The ladies gathered at the house preparing sumptuous dishes to be placed on white table clothes that covered long boards laid on sawhorses out under the trees. Men would grind away at ice-cream freezers -always ready to taste the delicious stuff long before it was ready.

Between our place and Smith's was a grove of trees called "Rose Park" where picnics were held, too. Wild plums and Juneberries grew here for the picking.

But getting back to ice cream. Summer or almost any time was Ice Cream Time. I think everybody put up ice in the winter. It was a "must" for us. Dad had a sod building where he put huge cakes of ice and packed coal dust around and over them. It kept the ice frozen until nearly fall. All you had to do was to swish a little water over the cakes and the coal dust washed off.

Our enterprising Dads determined the neighborhood should have telephones. They got the proper telephone boxes and as I remember, ours was attached to the top barbed wire of a fence that ran up toward the Smith place. I'm not sure of the reception but it sufficed until they strung a special wire between the places. Almost everyone had a phone and each family had a certain ring. Ours was a long and two shorts. Much friendly visiting buzzed over the miles.

Dad was especially fond of his horses. He'd brought Old Dick and Billy out in the emigrant car-perhaps Lady, too. He acquired more as time went by and each had a name. Our brand was Heart Bar X (~2- X. Billy and Old Dick made a good team which we often hitched to the buggy.

Such an advent the Model T proved to be! Early in the summer of '17 1 could hear Mother and Dad "chewing the rag". Should Dad or shouldn't he go to Rieb's auction in Westmore and bid on the car. The day came-Dad went early. We waited and waited, always looking toward the

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