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FALLON COUNTY

O’Fallon Flashbacks

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

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distance. We managed to get there and when we did we found a little hay for the sheep and some coal and a slab of bacon for us. My companion was Colin Munro, the regular sheepherder. The glass was all out of the windows and, to put it mildly, it was colder than "hell." I believe I was the coldest and hungriest sixteen-year-old kid in the country for the next two days, as Alex could not get out to get me. Colin was trying to cheer me up by saying there were pigeons in the shed and we could have pigeon if the blizzard didn't break up soon. If you have ever been around a band of sheep you will understand how it had to be the longest three days of my life, and that it finished my sheep herding days as I just "couldn't cut the mustard."

On May 29, 1955 Bernice Schell and I were married in the German Congregational Church in Plevna. We have three children; Thomas, Christine and Sandra.

We now live in Denver, Colorado where I work for the Frontier Airline.

Bernice Schell Schenck, 1951.

BERNICE SCHELL SCHENCK

I was born February 16, 1933 at the farm-ranch home of my parents, the Gottlieb Schells, which was south of Plevna.

My childhood years were spent on a farm northwest of Baker where our neighbors were the Bill Geving, the Charlie

After Horace and I were married we operated the Baker News Stand for several years then we moved to Chester, Montana where we were in the Hardware Business from 1961 to 1965. In May 1968 we moved to Denver when Horace went to work for the airline.

Christman, the Mike Thielen and Bently Sinclair families. I grew up during the 30's when the Great Depression was on and things were pretty tight. I recall the winter of 1951-1952 when the snow was "belly-deep" to a horse. The only way my folks could get to town was with a team of horses pulling a sled. Another incident I can remember all these years is the time we "kids" had an experience with a "run-away" horse and buggy going home from school. The horse jumped the fence and threw us all out, and we had to walk the rest of the way.

Farm home of Gottlieb Schells where Bernice grew up, 1940.

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George and Mabel Schettler's 40th Wedding Anniversary, taken at the home place, left to right, back row, Elmer Schell, Hazel Schell, Mabel Schettler, George Schettler, Mary Ann Moore, Glenn Moore. Children, Sharon, Kelley and Gail Moore.

Mr. AND MRS. GEORGE SCHETTLER

George A. Schettler was born in Winona County Minnesota and came to Montana in 1916 where he filed on a homestead in the Webster Country. He served in the U. S. Navy from 1917-1919. After returning to Montana he "proved up" on his homestead and worked on various ranches until 1926 when he and Roy Corey bought the Ped Akers place which is about five miles south of Willard. In 1927 he bought Roy's share and this was the Schettler home until retirement from the ranch in 1953.

In 1928 he married Mabel Kessler who taught school in Carter and Fallon Counties. She was born in Cass County, Missouri, where she was reared and educated. In 1925 she came to Montana and began to teach at the Medicine Rocks School which was a summer school. While teaching here the second summer she met George who was threshing for Art Oxfords where she boarded.

This school faced the beautiful Medicine Rocks and was about a mile and half from the Rocks. This was a favorite picnic spot and a lot of Indian Lore was associated with the Rocks which covered about a section of land (now a State Park). She also taught the Pine View, the Tie Creek, and the Tee Dee schools. In Fallon County she taught the Tommerdahl School and boarded with the Martin Tommerdahls. This school was in the Webster community and the Parent, Olinger, Korneychuck and Tommerdahl children attended.

Kearney Rice had the Webster store and post office. Above the store was a large hall which was used as a meeting place for community affairs, dances, card parties, receptions, and church services.

Mabel also, taught the Lunder, the Willard and the Morton schools, all of which were within driving distance from her home. None of the schools mentioned are being used.

Recently she tried to locate the spot where the Medicine Rocks School stood and all she found was part of an old bedstead and a foundation of the home. No sign of the school or road that was the main road between Baker and Ekalaka could be found.

Some of the years on the ranch were hard and money was very scarce but the neighbors were wonderful. Some of the neighbors included the Ed Blasers, the John Cretsingers, the Mart Cretsingers, the Art McClains, the Dave Martins, the Charles Coreys, the A. M. Shreves, the Anthony Schorschs, the Charles Voss, the William Bergstroms and the Sikorskis.

Many of the winters were long and hard. For days or even weeks at a time the roads were impassable. At times like these the mail was often hauled by sled and teams. Many nights passengers and the mail had to stop and spend the night at the Schettler home for the ranch was just half way between Ekalaka and Baker. A sign in front of the place said 19 1/2 miles to Baker- 19 1/2 miles to Ekalaka. (Before this Frank Smith had run a halfway house just a half-mile north of their place but they had moved away.)

The mail man always brought the first class mail into the house and slept with it beside his bed which may have been on the floor for many stayed at times. Even when traveling by truck 20 miles was a long distance. They cut across country to find the least snow, cutting fences or letting them down as they went.

One evening after school when the roads had been plowed out the Schettlers decided to drive to Baker for supplies. At the Willard hall they overtook Orville Speelmon who was skiing from his ranch south of Ekalaka to Baker to go by train to Miles City where his daughter was critically ill in the hospital. Needless to say he was glad for the lift and they were glad for the company.

Summertime were often hot and dry. They experienced hail, drought and grasshoppers. The worst of the grasshoppers came like a big, black cloud rolling in from the east. People thought it was smoke from the oil wells but it came closer and closer and the Schettlers were in the very worst part of it. Within minutes after they hit on Sunday afternoon the garden was eaten down to the ground. The crops were good but not mature so over 3/4 of the heads were eaten. It was cloudy and cool so the hoppers stayed four days and when the sun got warm' on the fourth day they began to swarm like bees, hitting the sides of the house making it sound like hail hitting. They finally rose and left just as they'd arrived but left destruction behind, such as rough pitchfork handles. Everything had been attacked. When one drove on the trails or road a streak was left as the grasshoppers were so thick on the ground. The children couldn't walk across the yard or be outside. People from Baker came to see what it was like. They couldn't believe the reports. Anyone who hadn't seen it couldn't believe it. The Coreys, Schorschs, McClains and many others were in their path, also.

One Fourth of July is well remembered. Many of the people from the community went to a celebration at Opeechee Park east of Ekalaka but the Schettlers had company so stayed home. About 1:30 a cloud came up from the southwest. In a few minutes it began to hail. And How! Windows were broken, roofs ruined and crops which were very good were laid low. The next day the hail measured two feet or better in the draws.

George and Mabel Schettler had two children. Mary Ann, and Hazel. Mary Ann is a nurse. She married Glenn Moore in 1953 and they make their home on the ranch. They have three children, Sharon, Kelly and Gail who go to school in Baker.

Hazel is a teacher. She married Elmer Schell in 1957 and they make their home in Casper, Wyoming where Elmer is employed by the U. S. Geological Survey.

The Schettlers retired from the farm in 1953 to Baker where they'd maintained a home from 1944 when their older daughter entered high school. George continued to work at the farm for some time and Mabel taught in the Baker schools until retiring in 1971.

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The Edmund Scheuffele family, 1960.

MR. AND MRS. EDMUND SCHEUFFELE

Ed Scheuffele was born at Long Lake, South Dakota. His parents were John and Bertha Scheuffele. He grew up and went to school at Long Lake.

In 1928 Ed's parents purchased the Joe Riley place west of Baker, Montana where Ed and Louise Straub met and were married on July 26, 1934. The Reverend Hauser officiated at the wedding. The wedding supper was held at the John Scheuffele home after a perfectly beautiful day. The evening was beautiful and, while the adults were singing and visiting on the porch and the children were playing on the hill near by, a full moon came up adding a final touch to a perfect day.

Ed and Louise Scheuffele's first home on the Jesse Cooper place.

Ed's and Louise's first home was on the Jesse Cooper place. This was during the depression and dry years, so they had to harvest thistles for feed for the cattle, but since they had water for a garden they were able to raise lovely vegetables.

The snow was deep the day their son Victor was born. Ed had to shovel a lot of snow before they finally got to Baker. This was in February of 1937. When Victor was two years old they moved to the Blakemore place. The crops were good that year but got harvested by a hail storm that moved through.

Ed Scheuffele and his favorite team of horses on the Blakemore place.

In 1940 they moved to Plevna where Ed and Otto Hirning went into the garage and gasoline business, servicing cars and selling Litening Gasoline. Reuben was born in 1941. In 1943 Otto and Ed moved their business to Baker where they were the Case Dealers, did mechanical work and handled Texaco products.

The twins, Raymond and Robert, were born in November of 1943 and Shirley was born in January of 1948. By this time the Scheuffeles needed a bigger house, so they purchased their present home from Emil Ravey.

The Scheuffele home in Baker.

There were many happy times when the children were growing up and entering school and later graduating from high school. Victor went to college in Billings and now lives in Glendive where he is Highway Engineer. He and his wife have four children.

Reuben attended Jr. College in Miles City and is now a mechanic at Seattle, Washington where he and his wife and two children live. The twins went into the Armed Services after working in the oil fields for a while. Raymond joined the Navy. He and his wife and three girls are in Bozeman where he is finishing a course in Electronic Engineering. He will graduate in the spring of 1973.

Robert was in the Air Force where he spent some time in Vietnam. He and his family live in Lynwood, Washington where he works for Allstate and his wife owns a Beauty Shop. They have two boys.

Shirley is married to Leslie (Bud) Strangford. who farms and ranches near Mill Iron, Montana. They have two children.

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Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Schopp.

JACOB AND CAROLINE SCHOPP

by Rose Sieler

Jacob Schopp, was born in Odessa, Russia on May 11, 1876 to Jacob and Margaret Khen Schopp. He came with his wife, Caroline, Nee Frier, and three children, Elizabeth, Caroline and Adam, to America in 1903. They lived in Bridgewater, South Dakota for a few years and, then they came to Montana in 1912. They settled on a place which was owned by Paul May and is now the Clarence Wenz home. There was nothing on the place except a shack but after seven years the land belonged to them. They came by train and unloaded at Westmore. Then began the struggle of getting the livestock and lumber to the homestead for it was still winter in April.

The family lived in a 14 by 16-foot shack where they all slept on the floor in the one room. As soon as the ground could be broken up, the sod house was built which was the family home for many years.

The Schopp family's sod home.

With three horses and a walking plow Dad Schopp prepared 15 acres of new land which was planted to wheat and oats. The planting was done by hand. Later a little land was planted to flax.

To help with the finances the boys and Dad Schopp sold cedar posts for fencing and dug coal and sold it. The coal was usually used to pay for the groceries.

There was always a big garden and a watermelon patch. Many times the melons were hauled home with the buggy and later in the summer some were stored in the barley or wheat bins on top of the grain. Instead of eating just a slice of melon a whole melon was enjoyed. In later years, after the advent of the Model T, the car was loaded with melons to be hauled home. Once the door of the car opened and all the melons rolled out. A 36-lb. melon went to the Fallon County Fair one year.

Elizabeth Schopp with the big hill where the Schopp family did a lot of skiing.

There were no "store-bought" toys, but the family had fun anyway. The big hill behind the house was a built-in-ski resort and much time was spent in skiing in the winter. Other entertainment were baseball, corn husking, checkers, dominoes and crocheting. They did not need exercise as the farm chores kept everyone muscular. Hauling water in a barrel helped build muscles, too.

As time went by other buildings were built, such as a big stone barn, part of which is still in existence. As the family grew, Mr. Schopp had a new house built. Mr. Melchoir was the architect.

The new home

of the Schopp family.

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All of the Schopp children attended the Lincoln School which was about two miles away.

Neighbors to the Schopps were the John and Jake Ludwigs, Grandpa Ludwig, Frank Shaw and Lewis Armsworthy.

There were nine children in the Schopp family, seven of which grew to adulthood, namely; Elizabeth (Mrs. Edward Hoffman), Caroline (Mrs. William Wagner), Adam who married Anna Singer, Fred who married Kathryn Christman, Anna (Mrs. Herbert Christman) died in 1934, Christian (Chris) who married Emma Singer died in 1972 and Rose (Mrs. Arthur Sieler).

Mother Schopp died on June 27, 1935 at the age of 56 and Dad Schopp died on November 5, 1955 at the age of 79.

There are 28 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

Louisa Straub, 1915.

LOUISA STRAUB SCHUETZLE

I, Louisa, was born in New Lustdorf, Russia of German parentage, in 1894. My father, Fredrich Straub, was a farmer and a blacksmith in Russia. He was also a Deacon in the church. I received my education in New Lustdorf and was a seamstress and a teacher while there. I can remember helping on the farm and skating on the lake when I was young.

Leaving our homeland in 1914 was a heartrending decision to make, knowing we would never see our family again. Two of my brothers, some friends and I left on the long fearful journey to America in 1915, when I was 19 years old. We were desperately seasick coming across the ocean. The days slipped into weeks before we arrived at Ellis Island, New York where we took trains to Eureka, South Dakota. We had an uncle living there.

I worked at the Eureka College until I met Christ Schuetzle, and in 1916 we were married and moved northwest of Plevna, Montana to live with my in-laws. We built a shack about a mile from the home place and later we built a two-room house. In 1927 we purchased the large Charley Millard home and felt lost in such a huge mansion. Much later we moved into Plevna where Christ died in 1954.

Mr. and Mrs. Christ Schuetzle, 1916.

Those first years were a real trial. How I longed for some of those lush forests, roses, lilacs and the huge pond. Here we only had coyotes, dust storms, thistles and the cattlemen who terrorized the new settlers. I remember how they, when Christ had left on an errand, would come tearing up to the door of the shack, shooting their guns and yelling, scaring the children and me almost out of our wits. Never would I let on how frightened I was. They would scatter our small herds and whenever they pleased they would butcher one of the steers for themselves. One time they beat up my brother-in-law and left him to die. He crawled into a dry well and stayed there for two days before he crawled out and worked his way home.

The day some of our men became Citizens of this fine country, the cattlemen came to the school house and made fun of them and their poor English.

During World War 1, people hated us "foreigners". I remember the day one man pushed our car off the road with his Model T, cursing as he did so, leaving us to try and get ourselves back on the road as best we could. He was also one of the dirty foreigners.

In World War II we lost our son, Vernon, in Italy. He was killed when he was heading a convoy of prisoners and the convoy became mired in the mud. He got out of the truck and stepped on an enemy mine and was killed.

My fondest memories are of the little Congregational Church on the prairie which was later moved into Plevna. Every Sunday we'd sing praises to God and visit. Those gatherings kept us going and our faith in God kept us physically and mentally sound.

I enjoy living in Plevna. My favorite hobby is raising flowers, which I grow inside as well as out of doors. I also raise a garden which is much too big for me. I travel when possible. I have taken an airline to Salt Lake City, Utah, although I said no one would ever get ME off the ground, and I enjoyed the trip very much.

I do enjoy company dropping in to visit and my church gives me the spiritual food to sustain my sometimes ailing body.

We had seven children; Robert of California, Elsie of Dickinson, Vernon who was killed in Italy, Lilly and Art both of Plevna, Helen of Miles City and Rueben of Salt Lake City.

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Mr. and Mrs. Christ Schuetzle and family, back row, left to right, Elsie, Robert, Vernon, front row, Lilly, Louisa, Christ and Art. Two after thoughts, Helen and Rueben not in picture.

William Schultz

WILLIAM F. SCHULTZ

By Anna Loran Schultz

William Schultz came from Rockham, South Dakota. When he and his wife separated all three children; LeRoy, Donald and an adopted daughter Mary, went with their mother.

After Donald finished high school he came back to live with his dad. They lived in town and farmed seven miles south of town with the Gundersons and Munsells as neighbors. Mr. Schultz plowed up some ground for a garden spot so that some of the less fortunate families could come and plant gardens. Some of those families who took advantage of this were the Gotlieb Freimarks, the George Shucks, and the C. B. Lorans. Every two weeks we went out to hoe our gardens. We made a fun day of it. After the gardens were hoed we had a potluck dinner and then played softball in the afternoon.

The first winter Donald was back he took extra studies at the Baker High School, then he went to Billings and took more courses in order to become a weather man for the government. He and four other men were sent to Swan Island, They were supposed to be there four months, but the ship was sunk right after they landed and it was six months before they got off. After that he was sent to a remote part of Alaska. When he got back from there his teeth were all loose and he had to have a lot of dental work done. He joined the Navy but became terribly ill and had to spend about a year in the hospital in Washington.

Cabin Creek School was moved into Baker and used as a studio until it was remodeled into a home.

When World War II started Elmer Schneider, who was a photographer, had to go to the service. William Schultz took over the studio and ran it with my and my daughter's, Rose Loran Varner, help. After a few years Schneider came back and moved his studio to Miles City. Bill, as he was called by his friends, bought an old school house at Cabin Creek and moved it to Baker. This was his studio for years until the block building was ready to move into. Later the studio was remodeled and became our home. Bill Schultz and I, Anna Loran, were married in 1949.

Cement block building, Schultz Studio

Several years went by before Chet Dreher and his wife took over the studio. After remodeling the house again, we did some traveling.

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Mr. and Mrs. William Schultz

In 1962, on Thanksgiving Day, William F. Schultz passed away. I still live in our home.

Merl Scoles

A. MERL SCOLES

As told to Leona Scoles, his wife

I was born August 6, 1891 at Warsaw, Indiana.

In 1898 the family came to Bangor, South Dakota. I well remember the first night in South Dakota. I got the croup and Dad had to spend his last five dollars to pay the doctor. In Indiana we loaded an emigrant car with some household goods, a barrel of flour, a barrel of salt-pork, two bushels of buckwheat flour, one pig, two cows and a dog. This was our supply of food for the winter. My mother was so homesick. When she would write to the folks at home she would send me to town with a couple of eggs to pay for the postage to mail her letter.

Because of severe winters we had a spring term and a fall term of school, which added up to six or seven months of school each year. By the time I got through the eighth grade I had had fourteen different schoolteachers. When not in school it was my job to herd the sheep. The cattle had to be herded too, as there were no fences. My sisters herded the cows.

We lived on rented farms and in 1905 we moved to the Franks Place. The house was made of Russian Brick. The walls were two feet thick. Russian Brick is made of mud and course hay.

In August of 1910, my father came to Fallon County and staked out a homestead. He bought an emigrant car in which he put a team of horses, a wagon and haying machinery. In Baker, Hosey Cate was available to haul homesteaders to the open lands. This day Mr. Cate had in his wagon Sid, Millicent and Abby Clark, Albert Hansen, Ole Gunderson and Dad (C. B. Scoles). They all staked claims within a radius of five miles.

Dad and a hired man built us a house, then returned to South Dakota to harvest our crop.

In October 1910 the family came to Montana, bringing a carload of cattle and a divided car with horses at one end and household goods and machinery at the other.

Now we really had to work. We built a one wire corral for the cows to hold them at night and herded them during the day. Early in October we had a blizzard and some of the homesteaders lost their milk cows because they had staked them out. They never did find them. Our one wire held ours.

Dad and I hauled lumber from Baker to build a barn. We also had to get some hay cut to feed the stock during the winter.

Picture loaned by Eunice Finch - Typical sheep shearing crew.

In 1912 our barn was struck by lightning and once again I hauled lumber from town, but we had our first wheat crop to haul to town. Money was scarce so I joined the Gene Turberville sheep shearing crew. We used sheepshears and a good man could shear one hundred or one hundred and ten sheep in a day. The best I ever did was ninety-five and that almost got the best of me. In 1913 1 sheared with the Dick Foster Crew. After that I mostly did small bands for the farmer neighbors.

In 1912, 1 also homesteaded four miles south of Dad's place. We worked the farms together, and threshed our grain with horsepowered threshing machines.

In 1912, when there was a homesteader on every half section, (excepting for the railroad sections) we did not lack for entertainment. If someone had a tough horse, the community would gather on a Sunday and "pass the hat" for a purse to be given to the man who could ride the "bronc."

There were quite a few bachelors around our

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neighborhood and since Mother was a good cook, we always had company for Sunday dinner, and a ballgame or game of horse shoe was always in progress. In 1912 our first school house was built and then we had a Basket Social to pay for the music for the dance which followed. Some of the musicians were Millicent Clark, Louis Stuempges, Glen Bush and Beatrice Hall.

In August 1918 I was drafted and spent the time until February 1919 at Camp Lewis, Washington.

Putting up hay, 1911. Bill Seaman on the ground, Merl Scoles on the wagon, Albert Johnson on the stack.

Dad bought a half section of land four miles north of the homestead and in June 1919 1 was married to Leona Brownson and started my household in the old home. In 1930 we sold my homestead to the government and bought the home place. Using my four-horse team I earned enough money off the farm to pay for the land. Farming was poor pay because of the drought. I worked on the county roads and in the oil and gas fields. In 1923 1 worked at the first oil-drilling rig in the Little Beaver Field, skidding machinery into place and pulling stuck cars out of the gumbo holes. From time to time I have worked in the gas fields, building dams, laying pipelines and later as a water pumper to the Little Beaver Booster Plant. I have watched the oil field develop from bare gumbo to a maze of fifty miles of oiled roads.

The oil and gas work has -been a great help. When farming was poor, I could usually find a job there to help out. It helped me to raise my family of eight children and give them schooling. That was in the age of horse power. Now big machines have taken.over and my working days are done. Anyway! No regrets!

Our childrens names are Walter, Dorothy Scoles Minard, Bonita Scoles Blaisdell, Lloyd, Mariam Scoles Carpa, David, Florence Scoles Porter and Robert. We have a total of thirty six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

GEORGE AND MARJORIE [SIEBERT] SEVERSON

I was born at Anoka, Minnesota in 1916. My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Severson, were ranchers on the Huntley Project near Pompey's Pillar, Montana. I attended elementary school at Pompey's Pillar, high school at Worden, Montana and the Montana State University at Bozeman, where I graduated in 1940.

1 came to Baker in 1940, at the age of 24, as the County. Extension Agent for Fallon and Carter Counties. In 1941 I married Marjorie Siebert, a schoolteacher, at Williston, North Dakota.

George and Marge Severson and sons, Jerry and Bob, at Baker, 1948. L. Price home in background.

Marjorie's parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. 0. Siebert, had migrated from Illinois to the Williston area in 1906, where they took up homesteading. Marjorie was born at Williston in 1912. There she grew up and attended school until she finished high school, after which she attended the University of North Dakota for two years then she transferred to the University of Minnesota, where she graduated in 1935. In the fall of 1937 she came to Baker to teach the first grade at the East Side School, as it was called then. She taught the first grade for two years and then both the first and second grades for two years.

After Marge and I were married we lived in Baker until I joined the Navy in 1944. 1 served in the Navy (World War 11) until 1946. After my discharge from the Navy, my family and I returned to Baker when I bought out the Baker StockYards, and began buying hogs, cattle and sheep. We had two sons born at Baker; Jerry in 1942 and Bob in 1944. Eventually I took up ranching with my headquarters at Miles City. We moved to Miles City in 1947 where I practiced the ranching business for 25 years. Just recently "Marge" and I have retired and bought a Condominium in Billings. This will make us a nice home to return to in between the many trips we plan to take.

We attended the Methodist Church in Miles City and during our years in Baker we attended the Baker Community Church where "Marge" enjoyed being the organist for nearly 20 years.

While in Baker I was a member of the Lion's Club, the Baker Men's Club, served as president of the Commercial Club and am still a Member of Baker Masonic Lodge.

Marjorie is a Past President of the Baker Women's Club, Past President of Business and Professional Women's Club and was a member of the Baker Homemaker's Club. She is still a member of the Baker Order of Eastern Star.

Although the boys have left home we enjoy seeing them often and seeing the two grandchildren, Scott and Craig, sons of Jerry and his wife Holly.

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WILLIAM F. SHEEHAN

Emmet and Florence Seeley Sheehan moved from Wisconsin to Baker Montana in 1911 and took up a homestead because they wanted to start on their own. Their son, William Freeman, was born at Baker on March 30, 1914. Their neighbors were William C. Sheehan, grandfather of "Bill" and the William Bruce family.

"Bill" attained some of his schooling in Baker and some in Tacoma, Washington. He went to college in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He was graduated from the Baker High School in 1933 and he and Margaret Engstrom were married at Baker in 1935. In 1935 and 1936 Bill attended the Northwestern Bible School. He enjoyed this because he had always been an active member of the First Baptist Church of Baker.

Margaret and Bill had nine children; all of them born in Baker except the oldest, she was born in Minneapolis.

While in Baker he worked at the Baker Drug, for the French Dairy, at the Post Office, was a Mobile Oil Agent, at the Creamery and was Custodian and bus driver for the Baker schools for ten years.

In 1961 he passed his Bar examinations and has practiced Law in Baker, Virginia City and Philipsburg, all in Montana. He is the Granite County Attorney and the Philipsburg City Attorney and he owns the Flint Creek Abstract Company in Philipsburg, Montana.

After they left Baker, Margaret passed away.

The names of their children are: Esther, Ruth, Florence, Helen, William, Jr., Kathleen, Margaret, Patricia Kay and Michal Fay. The last two children are twins.

William Sheehan raised his family in Fallon County during the 30's, 40's, and 50's. The First Baptist Church was the center of their family life and most of their social life and as he says in his letter, " I will always be grateful to the Lord for all the good neighbors over the years.

GORDON AND ARRABELLE SHEPHARD

Gordon E. Shephard, the son of J. A. Shephard and Elizabeth Harrison Shephard, was born at Humbolt, Iowa on January 24, 1888.

He attended grade school and high school at Humbolt and then went to college at Dakota City, Iowa to become a druggist.

As a child and young man, Gordon took pleasure in swimming in the river, playing baseball, fast ball and going to his grandfather's farm with his Uncle Chriss.

Gordon is of the Unitarian Faith.

He and Arrabelle Grant were married at Princeton, Minnesota on April 30, 1910.

Arrabelle was born on August 4, 1887 at Princeton, Minnesota, the daughter of Ben and Bessie L. Grant. Arrabelle or "Belle" grew up and got her elementary school and high school training at Princeton. Later she went to college at Missoula, Montana.

The Grants lived in a small town where she loved to swim in Green Lake, slide down hill, skate, and go into the woods to pick wild flowers and fruit.

In 1910 Mr. and Mrs. Ben Grant came to Montana by railway train and settled on a homestead 25 miles north of Baker. "Belle" was 23 years of age at the time. Ben always wanted to live on a farm, thus their reason for coming to this vicinity.

The Grants were of the Christian Science Faith.

B. D. Grant owned the building in Baker where the old post office was located many years. After the new post office was built the Fallon County Times moved into that building.

Gordon and "Belle" Shephard ran the Lake Side Hotel for a period of time.

The Shephards had two sons; Harrison G. and Royal R. There is one granddaughter and two great granddaughters.

CHARLES F. SHEPHERD

by Dessa Prouty Shepherd

Charles F. Shepherd was born in Carrol County, Iowa in 1893 to Eli and Martha J. Shepherd. When Charles was still quite young his folks moved to Boaz, Wisconsin where he grew up on a dairy farm. He attended grade school and two years of high school at Boaz, after which he finished high school at Richland Center, Wisconsin. He also attended the University of Wisconsin.

After getting his schooling he went back to Boaz and was a rural mail carrier for about two years.

In 1916, Eli and Martha Shepherd moved to Ollie, Montana and bought the Riggs place, the Stuart Ranch and another section of land near by.

First Post Office and store at Ollie, Montana. Lee Greiner first Postmaster and Mrs. Lee Greiner first Postal Clerk.

Charles drove a Model T Ford out in August of 1916 to visit the folks and decided to stay. Being a Civil Service Man, he had his Civil Service credit transferred to Ollie, Montana where he clerked in the post office until he was appointed Postmaster June 19, 1917.

In 1918 Charles was drafted into the army and Clara Sherva clerked at the post office for him while he was gone. He left Baker for the army on June 24, 1918 and served in World War I until March 21, 1919.

He helped his folks on the farm that summer and in the winter of 1919-1920 he taught the Horse Creek School.

Charles and I (Dessa Inez Prouty) were married December 29, 1919. After we were married I took care of the post office and helped there most of the time until he retired January 31, 1955.

The spring of 1920 Charles bought the butcher shop, cream station and ice house from Norman Rost, and had Fay Shepherd work for him. They butchered their own meat and had a large walk-in locker, which was kept cool by ice which they had put up in the winter. He delivered fresh meat to the threshing crews who had their own cook cars, and to other places in the country. In November he sold this business.

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Butcher shop float for Farmer's Picnic Parade at Ollie, August 1920, Charles Shepherd, Fay Shepherd and Al Hoverson.

In 1921 Charles farmed with his folks again and I continued working at the post office.

The summer of 1922 we had a big three day Fourth of July celebration at Ollie. Earl Vance, a World War I Air Force Pilot and a friend of Charles, came from Great Falls with his little three passenger plane and took people for rides at three dollars each. He stayed with us during the celebration, and before he left he took Charles, myself and Charlotte, our daughter, for a ride over the town and surrounding country. At this celebration we had a parade, ball games, rodeos and also an open pavilion was built where we danced each night.

In the early days of Ollie, when the train crew all lived there, we had a famous ball team. On one occasion the Northern Pacific Railroad put on a special train on a Sunday and took nearly all of the Ollie people to Glendive to a ball game.

About 1922, special train from Ollie, Montana to Glendive, Montana for a ball game, just about the whole town of Ollie went.

That same summer Charles and I went to Beach, North Dakota to a celebration. There was also an Ollie baseball game there that day and a special train had brought the fans from Ollie. We drove up in the Model T Ford with the top down. On our way home a bad storm came up-lightning, thunder and pouring down rain. Charlotte was just about 1 1/2 years old. We got as far as the middle of the street in Carlyle and really got stuck. We left the car there and waded through the mud to the depot and waited for the train to come and take us to Ollie. We partly dried out in the depot but didn't get to Ollie until three A.M. So far as I can remember we didn't even catch cold.

Charles bought the telephone business at Ollie and Carlyle in 1923. He spent several evenings learning to climb those telephone poles, where no one could see him, but it wasn't long until he could really go to the top of them. He did nearly all the line work and maintained the phones. When the weather was nice he took Charlotte along. One day when they were out west of Carlyle a storm came up. Charles had just gotten down off a telephone pole and back to the pickup where Charlotte was, when lightning struck the pole and tore it all to pieces.

At one time we had thirty-five business phones in Ollie besides the residence phones and phones in the country and at Carlyle. We had two operators at Carlyle and two at Ollie.

When the depression came in 1929 and 1930, business was bad and many people couldn't pay their telephone bills, others didn't and still others had their phones taken out. In order to keep the business going we put the Ollie Central Office in the Post Office and took care of it ourselves. In 1945 we discontinued the business and a toll phone was put in A. F. Slater's house.

During the years from 1920 our family was growing up. They attended school at Ollie and all three girls graduated from the Ollie High School as we had a four-year accredited school then. Betty and Dorothy attended Eastern Montana College at Billings. They also taught country schools. Betty continued college and teaching. Larry attended grade school in Ollie and Baker and graduated from high school in Nashua, Iowa in 1960.

Charles, the four children and I all belonged to the Ollie United Brethren Church. The U. B. Ladie's Aid also put on an oyster supper once a year to make money for the church. There were usually a number of people from Baker who attended these dinners.

During the years from 1923 to 1969 we had good times and bad. On April 28, 1928 my Grandpa Greiner passed away. He was working in the field that morning and evidently didn't feel well for he drove the tractor home and into the yard, stopped it and was dead at the wheel.

Charles also lost his father that March.

The depression lasted through the thirties and we had several years of drought, grasshoppers, dirt storms, no crops and no feed. The government bought cattle for a "little of nothing". In 1927 we had hail so no crops again but there was plenty of feed.

Charles and I had been married at the Prouty home one-mile south of Ollie by the Reverend L. L. Thayer. Clara Hopper and Fay Shepherd were our witnesses. We have four children; Charlotte, Elizabeth, Dorothy and Larry.

Charlotte married Randolph Perry. He was an elevator man at Terry for twenty years and Charlotte was 4-H leader for fifteen years. They had two children, Phyllis and Donald.

Phyllis (Mrs. Dennis Irion) is a R.N. Surgical Nurse and her husband is a Captain in the Air Force. They have one son, Kevin.

Donald married Kathy Stabio. He is a barber and both he and his wife are truck drivers. They have two sons, Charles and Jason.

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