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O’Fallon Flashbacks

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

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My brother, Clyde, and I had a double wedding in Baker in 1917 at our Uncle Charles Silvernale's home. He was a blacksmith in Baker for years.

My wife was Flora Ives. We had no children. She died in 1930.

Another uncle of ours, Louis Conser, was editor of the Baker Sentinel.

We broke our sod with horses and plow and proved up our claims. We had very good years in 1915 and 1916. There was plenty of rain. As one old timer put it, "A good year every 1916 years. We have had ours. Well! The good with the bad". We enjoyed it.

We danced in Plevna and at the Clark School. We had box socials, picnics, and church whenever a traveling preacher came around. We sometimes had horse races and took trips to the Cedars north of Cabin Creek. These were all day trips.

Our winters were mostly cold and snowy and we didn't get rich farming. We were hailed out in 1919, so we "pulled up stakes" and went to Idaho to fight forest fires.

Back in Montana in 1922 we were involved in a pageant and set up a stone marker at Fritz's grave. He was a mail carrier on the Old Fort Lincoln-Fort Keogh Trail and was killed by Indians. This was just off the northeast corner of our land, known as "Dead Man's Butte". As part of the pageant, we reburied the bones. They were visible under the rocks where Senator Mc Cone, who found him, had buried him and recovered the mail left by the Indians.

The old Custer Trail crossed about there and went northwest across the George Mc Hoe's place and on west toward The Battle of Little Bighorn.

After 1925 1 went back to Minneapolis and worked for the Standard Oil Company and eventually ran my own oil and tire business for 30 years. After that I went into the steel manufacturing business, making radiator covers and custom steel products. I did this until I retired in 1969.

We live in our home on the westside of Cedar Lake in Minneapolis. We do quite a bit of hunting and fishing and are in good health. We hope to keep going for some time, yet. We still go to the old family cabin in northern Minnesota which was built in 1913. 1 got a nice buck there this fall.

We have made trips to Montana several times-one was a deer and antelope hunt. I love it out there and do hope to go again as many friends of the past are still there. I love the buttes and canyons on our land out there. The country has changed quite a bit since we settled there.

MR.

AND MRS. FRED STEEN

By Mrs. Gordon Steen

Fred and Andrew Steen came to Montana on April 1, 1908. They came by train to Beach, North Dakota from Hawley, Minnesota, where they lived on a farm with their folks and thirteen brothers and sisters. Any one who has ever been in Hawley can well imagine how desolate this country must have appeared to them.

They were able to get jobs hauling freight from Beach, North Dakota to Carlyle, Montana and work at the general store and post office in Carlyle.

Carlyle, at the time, was located about one mile north and east of its present location. Fred and Ed Slater worked at the store and Andrew worked for a neighbor doing farm work. They only worked there a short time.

Fred was just 21 on February 10, 1908. Andrew had been out the year before and had gone back to Minnesota a little discouraged. As soon as they arrived in Montana Fred and Andrew filed on adjoining claims in the Ollie area in 1908.

The first winter of 1908-1909 was very mild. All winter they traveled into the bad lands to cut cedars for fence posts. They went from one cedar pocket to another in search of the dead and seasoned cedars as they made the best posts. These posts are still in use in some of the fencelines on the farm at Ollie. They never used any overshoes all winter and Fred thought this must be the Florida of Montana, and this had to be the country to live in. He admits now that this country had some surprises in store for him, but being of hardy stock he has survived them all.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Steen, February 6,1930. Wedding picture.

Fred and Andrew Steen's homestead, tar paper shack.

After the first winter they kept three horses that belonged to two brothers from Canada, Ed and Henry Smale. The Smales wanted to go back to Canada and were glad to have some one take care of their stock. Fred and Andrew built a sod barn taking the sod from the creek bottom. The sod blocks were plowed 14" wide and 4" deep and as long as they could carry, usually two or three feet. The barn went up fast. They laid poles over the top and then threw straw and

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hay on the poles for the roof. Their claim shacks, which was mandatory, were built. After the claims were "proved up." they lived in one shanty. These shanties were built in the summer of 1908. In these one room shanties there was one bed, one chair, a wash stand, a cook stove, one window and the wash stand was made out of wooden orange crates or wooden apple boxes. In those days every thing was shipped in this manner. The crates were always put to good use as stands, cupboards and such. Mrs. Knudson from the Carlyle store gave them bedding.

"The sod barn," Fred laughingly said, "washed away the next spring." They mined coal 2 1/2 miles straight south and east from their homestead. They hauled coal all winter (1908-1909) and piled it in the field in the amounts they thought they would use. They then cut sod and covered over the coal. This was to keep the air from the coal so that it wouldn't slack (fall apart). The coal kept real nice - just like it came from the mine.

Beach was the hometown as Baker was just getting started. They were just putting the railroad through there.

On Friday, May 12, 1909, Ole Johnson, who ran the engine, Hans Jacobson and Oscar Olson, who owned the outfit, came to break land for Fred and Andrew. They had a steam engine (Buffalo Pitts) and pulled an eight-bottom plow.

This was a very heavy load in the heavy soil. They could break about fifteen acres a day. They worked part of Friday and all of Saturday. On Sunday they didn't work. There came a terrific wind from the east and that night it started to rain and it rained all through May. They were unable to break any more land.

Fred and Andrew only had about 20 acres of land plowed and this was on Fred's homestead. George Rustad, a neighbor, seeded this for Fred. The breaking cost three dollars an acre and they had to feed and keep the men. The summer of 1909 was spent with Andrew working for Oscar Olson on the breaking outfit and Fred staying and fencing the two homesteads. He also fenced Marie Rustad's homstead which joined theirs. She was a sister to George, Emil and Gilbert Rustad and was later married to Carl Rose. It was popular for women to "prove up" on claims.

In 1909-10-11-12 besides tending their land Fred worked for Christ Christenson with his threshing outfit. He tended the separator. Over these years at harvest time they traveled all over the area doing threshing for people. I'm sure there were many experiences one of which was - One Sunday evening. They had just started threshing. It was a nice moonlight night and the men were laying on the south side of the straw stack. Carl Moen the fireman had to keep the engine going. No one had a watch and Carl asked Christ Christenson, "When do I know when to get up and fire up the engine?" Christ pointed up in the sky and said, "When the moon is over here." So they slept. Carl woke up, decided the moon was right and got the men up to start the fire in the steam engine. They burned straw for fuel, getting it from a wagonload parked next to the engine. No sun! So they lay down and slept a while longer. Up they got again and fired up the engine. Fred was up and putting the long belts that ran the separator-threshing machine on the machine. No sun! They slept again. By this time they had run out of straw and had to carry straw from the straw pile when they were ready to fire up again. They learned that they weren't as experienced at telling time by the moon as by the sun.

In 1909 Fred and Andrew were anxious to lease more land around their homestead. The quarter to the west and south of them belonged to a doctor in Illinois. Fred wrote to him and obtained a five-year lease with the agreement that Fred would fence the land. The fence had to be round posts, just so long and with three wires on it. The doctor never saw the land so any thing would have done. Fred's dad once remarked that the fence looked "good enough to go around a church." They later bought this quarter section.

Andrew Steen and friend, Andrew on left.

The quarter to the south and east of Fred's was owned by Ted Brown. Brown lived with Fred for a while and they were asked to rent this land. Fred said he would fence it if Brown would furnish the material. Ted Brown "hooked" a ride to town with John Tatley, who was also a neighbor to Brown. On the ride to town Tatley offered to fence the field for nothing so Fred and Andrew lost this quarter of land. Later Fred "got wind" that Ted Brown did not own this land anymore. Fred was able to buy it through the Stondal Land Company at Beach, North Dakota. When the two brothers started to fence this land, which they purchased for $17.00 an acre, Mr. Tatley came out of his house and said in his rather loud, gruff voice, "Where did these Swedes (which was all he ever called Fred and Andrew) get the money to buy that land." But they now owned this land of which there were only twenty acres "broke" or plowed. They now had eight head of horses so they "broke" this quarter section with two sod breaker walking plows and four head of horses each. It took two or three years to get it into production for after it was plowed they let it lay for a year without seeding it.

In 1912 they had a well dug. The drilling rig was a rig which was propelled by horse power, two horses walking around in a circle, turning the drill bit into the ground much as the pony rides at the fair. This well did not turn out. The well that is still in use was hand dug by Fred. The pick marks can still be seen at the bottom of this thirty-foot well.

In 1917 they needed a stock well so they hired a man named Orrie Carter who did the drilling with a gas-propelled rig. He drilled the well which is a very good well with an abundance of water good for livestock but not so good for human consumption due to its high sodium content.

The quarter which was owned by the doctor made a good horse pasture but there was no water. Instead of making a dam to catch water, Fred used one of his good buys which was 600 feet of pipe purchased from a theatre at Beach which had burned. Fred often wondered what they had used it for as it was a big pipe, 1 1/4" in size, but anyway they had gotten it for "little of nothing." They ran the pipe from the well by the barn all the way to the horse pasture. All went well until the first cold day in the fall when the pipe froze and there they were. Still no water! So they took the horses out of the field, of course. The next year the pipe was in such disrepair that the water never reached the pasture. It all went out the holes in the pipe. Fred did try to fix the pipe by wrapping it with rubber and twine but it was of little use.

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1912 was a heavy snow year. Fred and Andrew went home to Minnesota at Christmas time. George Rustad took care of their horses. They came back in January and decided they could just as well have stayed in Minnesota, as the weather was so poor.

The summer of 1912 Anna Steen (Wang), their sister, came out to spend the summer and see what the pioneer life was like. She was only 18 and brightened up the place quite a bit and did the cooking for the brothers.

Fred Steen's ftrst threshing rig, 1916 or '17.

In 1913 Fred started his business. He purchased an old steam engine from Nels Norbens of Carlyle. Nels was a surveyor who also helped people locate their claims. This engine was a Buffalo Pitts steam engine. Next he bought a new Avery Separator called Yellow Fellow. All this was bought on time. The equipment was all under the Steen name, one half was Fred's and one half was Andrew's. Andrew had no interest in machinery at all, so it was up to Fred to operate it. Andrew was very concerned about the "note" they had signed for the machinery and worried about it a lot. Fred was more confident and he did pay for it the first year.

The separator was new and cost $1,000.00. The steam engine, water tank and cook car cost $700.00. Fred had bought this at Beach from a man named Ulffers. The fireman was Sten Wiman. John Jensen also worked for him. These men became good life long friends. At first they would thresh their own, then the neighbors, who were the Wangs, Chris Rosts, Tatleys, Gilbertsons, Carl Moens, Billingtons and the George Rustads. Then they went east of Wangs, then to the Carlyle-Ollie area where they stayed this first year (1913). This first year they didn't have the cook wagon and each farmer fed the crew. Fred said, "Talk about a stampede. The first there got the food as the houses were so little and very inconvenient. "

In 1914 Fred figured to have his sister, Jenny, and Marie Rustad cook for the crew in the cook wagon. He planned to feed four times a day; breakfast at 5 a.m., dinner at 11 a.m., lunch at 3 p.m. and supper at 7 p.m. That didn't work so good because the men would get too hungry before dinner, as they couldn't eat much breakfast on first arising. The next year 1915 they fed five times a day; breakfast at 5 a.m., lunch at 9:30, dinner at noon, lunch again at 3:30 p.m. and supper at 7 p.m. or later.

Meat was hard to keep so had to be gotten almost every day. Bread was baked every day and fresh butter was churned, too. There was a milk cow which went along and had to be milked both night and morning. The girls usually did this. The cow provided fresh milk, butter and cream.

A typical menu for the threshing crew was: Br6akfast; bacon or side pork, potatoes, pancakes, bread and butter, and coffee; lunch -coffee, meat, sandwiches, cake or cookies; dinner - meat, potatoes, coffee, vegetable, dessert; lunch sandwiches, coffee; supper - same as dinner.

The Steen brother's header and header box, the grain was cut with a header, Andrew drove the header. It was like a swather but using six horses, three on each side and they pushed the header ahead

of them, it was guided by moving a sort of paddle like thing, moving the horses around a corner. Grain was elevated into a wagon called a header box. From the header box it was stacked in large stacks and threshed whenever the threshing outfit came through. "Tom" and "Jerry" the team owned by Fred and Andrew was the envy of the community. This team could out work any other team. Notice the fly covers or nets on the horses. These were used to keep the flies off the team.

Hannah Steen, sister

of Fred, milking the cow. The cow was tied behind the cook car. She provided fresh cream, butter and milk for the crew. She had to be milked both night and morning.

Fred threshed like this for these years. He had hired 10 teams and had a team of his own which was used to haul the water for the steam engine.

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Fred Steen's threshing machine ready to move. The cook car was fastened on behind.

In the summer of 1919 there was a complete drought, so there was no threshing to be done at all in this area. Christ Christensen talked Fred into going north of Carrington, North Dakota, as there was supposed to be a big crop there. They went to look, and it looked good. They came home and shipped their threshing rig by train. It cost a $1000.00 to unload. When the rig got there the wheat was standing tall in the fields and no one had cut his wheat because all of it had rust in it, and there was nothing in the heads. They unloaded, though, and Fred went north to a town called Barrow where they got a small run. They hadn't taken any of the girls along so Fred hired a man called Charles Mc Clure to cook. He was a good cook but very "mouthy" and not liked by any of the men.

Elmer Wang was on this run. A good man and Fred's right hand man. Elmer and Fred stayed and baled hay and shipped it back to Montana. They all came home in October and Elmer almost froze to death as he rode back with the wagons, hay and horses. Fred drove back in his 1913 Cadillac car with the steering wheel on the right side.

Fred had left his threshing rig in North Dakota. In 1919 some friends wrote that he should come and the sisters and wives would do the cooking. So they went back to thresh. The sisters were two old maids and had no idea as how to cook for threshers. They did not prepare enough food for the men so they quit. Fred was desperate but found a husband and wife to cook. The couple fought a lot. Drinking seemed to be the problem. They cooked supper and breakfast and Fred fired them. Then one of the bundle haulers cooked for one day.

Fred heard of the Proudy sisters. They were two girls who had quit another threshing crew because the boss wouldn't provide enough provisions. The older girl was about 24 years old and her sister was about 18 years. They took over, cleaned, bought groceries and took the load off Fred as far as the cooking was concerned. They had a good run and at the end of the 1920 harvest, Fred sold the rig to Christ Christenson.

Through these years Fred's other brothers, sisters and his folks came to visit. They thought it great fun even if it was a little inconvenient. Brothers Adolph, Albert and a younger brother, Henning, all worked for Andrew and Fred.

Fred bought a gas-powered engine in 1920 but left it in Montana when he shipped back to North Dakota. When he returned to Montana he bought another good Avery separator from Frank Haige who lived at Carlyle. He threshed until the time combines came into being.

The Steen brothers, 1922, Henning, Albert, Fred and Andrew at the present Gordon Steen farm.

Some of the men who came to help Fred came with their own team and rack. They came mostly from Cabin Creek. They were very dependable men and could always be counted on. Some of them were; the Ferrels, the Pratts and the Kinseys. The going wages of the time were $3.00 a day for a man and $2.00 a day for team and rack. This included room and board and was considered good wages. The going rates for threshing were; wheat-10 cents a bushel; oats-6 cents a bushel; barley-8 cents a bushel and flax was 4 cents a bushel. These prices stayed the same as long as Fred threshed, which was 19 years.

Besides the cook car, Fred built a bunk car as a sleeper for the men to sleep in in bad weather, otherwise thev would "sack out" in the hay stacks, on the ground, in the wagons, in the barns or any place that was handy. There were two rows of bunks on either side of the covered car. This was pulled by a team of horses. Fire was a big worry with the men sleeping outside. Smoking was the main cause of fires.

Hannah Steen, Laura Wang, Jenny Steen, Fred Steen in front.

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The men were always fed well, and Fred depended on his sisters from Minnesota. They were a big help to him and they were anxious to earn money by doing the cooking. The first year Jenny Steen and Marie Rustad, who was a long time friend from Hawley, Minnesota, cooked. Other sisters who helped out were Emma, Marie, Hannah and Myrtle. They came two at a time to spend the summer and fall during the span of the threshing years. The girls would rise at about 4 A.M. to prepare the breakfast. They slept in the cook car on a rollaway bed. They would bake bread every day, prepare lunch, then dinner, lunch again and at last the supper. All this was done in a cook car which was 10 feet wide and 20 feet long. The stove stood in the back end of the car. One long table ran the length of the car. This was for the men to sit at while eating. Fred's place was at the end of the table. The benches at the table also ran the full length of the table. One was fastened to the wall so the table when not in use could be against the wall. The other bench would then fit under the table.

There was a long opening in the roof above the stove. This opening was a drop door which could be opened or closed. A screen was over the opening to keep out insects and when it was open it let out a lot of the heat and cooking odors and grease. The girls appreciated this as you can imagine how warm it would get in there. The girls also had to drive the team when the car was moved from place to place. On long hauls it was attached to the engine and pulled. The girls received $3.00 a day, each, and this was a top wage. Many experiences were had by these girls. At other times other girls were hired, one was Laura Wang (Holder).

Laura Wang [Holder] taking a bath in the old wooden wash tub.

Laura worked in the cook car for one year. She tells of one instance. It seems that they had mixed up the morning batch of bread and had it rising. The word went out to move, so the team was hitched up and away they went. By the time they had arrived at their destination the bread had risen, of course, and had run all over and on to Laura's best sweater. Being a little disgusted, Laura grabbed a wad of dough and tossed it at the first fellow who came by. This started a very sticky dough fight. Now they look back on this fight with much pleasure although it was very "sticky" subject, at the time.

In 1914 Fred went to Beach, North Dakota for parts and met Anna Hanson with whom he was acquainted and who later became Mrs. Chris Sherva. There was a young girl with her, Corrine Erdahl, who was later to become Mrs. Fred Steen.

Anna Hanson Sherva worked for a minister's family, The Reverend Gigstad, pastor of the American Lutheran Churches at Beach, Carlyle and Ollie.

Corrine Erdahl came to America from Bergen, Norway in the fall of 1923. She was just 18 years old and spoke only Norwegian at the time. She came with a friend, Enga Storaker. In Norway they were raised together and attended the same school. They came by boat to Quebec, Canada, then by train to Beach, North Dakota. The two girls had many exciting experiences, having some understandable problems because neither of them spoke English, but Corrine laughs about and remembers these times as quite good.

The two girls came to Beach because Enga had an uncle who lived near Golva, North Dakota. He paid their fare, almost $200.00 each, and in return they would work for him and his brother. They were met in Beach by the banker, Ole Eteltwet, who took them to his home where they rested, then he took them by car to the uncle in Golva. Their working for the two uncles did not work out too well, so both girls went back to Beach to work.

Corrine worked for a banker by the name of Thomas Hudson. For her work she received $16.00 a month. Her wages were later raised to $28.00 a month with no days off unless asked for. Corrine had learned the English language to some extent so decided to have a change of scenery. She went to Minneapolis, Minnesota as a maid and general housekeeper.

Inga had married and remained in Beach. Corrine's employer in Minneapolis was Orrie Whitehead. The family had five girls and if she could get them to dry the dishes she was lucky. She had to attend to the cooking, cleaning and washing. It was a large two-story house with the maid's room on the third floor in the storage area. There were five bedrooms upstairs, a large dining room, living room, sitting room and kitchen on the main floor. The washing and ironing were done in the basement. Quite an undertaking for one young girl.

For all of this responsibility Corrine received $40.00, later $53.00, per month with her room and board. She had every Thursday and Sunday afternoon off as well as a two-week paid vacation. She worked for this family for three years, from 1926 through 1928. Mr. Whitehead, a real estate man, began to feel the tightness in the economy even at this time, and at one time he couldn't pay Corrine her wages for three months, but when he did pay her he even paid interest.

In June of 1928 she bought train fare to New York City and took a boat to Bergen, Norway to visit her family. She stayed nine months and then returned to Minneapolis with a friend, Margaret Verner. They both found jobs at $60.00 a month. Corrine worked as a chambermaid who waited on the table, dusted some and just sort of waited on the family. This was not such hard work and paid more.

Fred Steen had been corresponding with Corrine and had asked her to help his sister, Hannah, find a job, which she did. Jobs were beginning to be hard to come by as the economy was beginning to slow down.

On February 6, 1930 Fred Steen and Corrine Erdahl were married in the Norwegian Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They went to visit Fred's folks for about a week, traveling in Fred's Graham Page automobile. This was a fancy new car and was quite an auto.

They headed for Montana and a new home and a new life. The roads were only dirt and there had been a lot of snow, after which there had been a February "Chinook" and the

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water and mud were terrible. Between Bismark and Mandan, North Dakota the water was running across the road so bad that it even came into the car and got some of their clothing and luggage wet. It was Washington's Birthday and every thing was closed for the holiday. They stayed overnight at Bismark. On the rest of the way home they were stuck a lot. By Richardton, North Dakota they really got into trouble and were stuck in the mud so badly that they had to hire a team of horses to pull them out. It cost them three dollars for this service. By this time they were running short of money and Fred had to leave his gold watch as a "token of good will" (ha) in order to get some gas. He later got the watch back.

The house was a nice one which had been moved from Ollie and fixed up with a kitchen, living room and bed room.

A new bride has many adjustments to make, but a bride in 1930's had obstacles to overcome which were much greater. With the 30's came the depression and on its heels came a severe drought.

Fred tried every thing, if you raised a small crop the price was wrong. There was drought, grasshoppers and continued depression. Fred remarked, "Everything you did was wrong". But, they kept on milking the cows, separating the cream and raising chickens and turkeys. They would pick the chickens and turkeys carefully, wash their feet, wrap the heads, pack them in barrels and ship them to Chicago. Turkeys were a good price-53 cents to 58 cents a pound. All you had to do was to be willing to do the work involved in raising these birds.

During these "hard times" people in and around Ollie became very discouraged. Some of them "pulled up stakes" and left, so began the decline of Ollie and Carlyle.

In these years Fred and Corrine had three children. Charlotte, born January 10, 1931; Gordon, born April 12, 1934 and Robert who was born April 1, 1938 and who died five days later. He is buried in the Ollie Cemetery.

Andrew had never married but had his place separate from Fred's. In 1935 he contracted and died of pneumonia. This was a very sad loss for Fred. His place was sold to his younger brother, Henning Steen.

Fred and Corrine survived the 30's and then came the 40's and World War 11. All the young men went off to war. R.E.A. came through and so came the conveniences which electricity brought. There were also some very good crops.

Neighborhood gathering, left to right, back row, Carl Moen, Fred Steen, Henning Steen, Mrs. Adolph Steen, Jenny Steen, Elmer Wang, Mrs. Austin Jesfield, Mrs. Elmer Wang, Austin Jesfield, Adolph Steen and Victor Berg-Front row, Gordon Steen, Bennie Jesfield, Alan Wang, Donald Steen, Charlotte Steen, Le Roy Wang and Dulane Wang.

 

During the war the cry went out for scrap iron. Full of patriotism they loaded all the old steam engines and tractors on a train as the people of Ollie watched. Thus an era and a way of life left Ollie by train.

Corrine remembers many good things about her life with friends and watching her family grow up. One thing she can do without very nicely is the poor roads that were blocked by snow through large parts of the winters and only being able to get out by horse back or by team and wagon.

In their late years, Fred and Corrine retired to Baker. Charlotte married Robert Bergstrom, they have three children; Gordon is on the home place. He married Lois Ovitz and they have four children.

So now, as Fred and Corrine sit in their living room watching their colored television set as the Astronauts land on the moon, they reminisce as if in a dream, of their many years and of all the progress and changes they have seen and wonder what the Lord has in store for the rest of this century.

 

The Henning Steen family, 1947, Baker Lake in the bac ground, left to right, Henning, Austine, Don and Gloria in fro nt.

MR.

AND MRS. HENNING STEEN by Austine Jesfield Steen

Henning Steen was born on May 22, 1903 at Dale, Minnesota to John and Johanna Steen. He came to Ollie, Montana in 1922 and worked for his brothers, Andrew and Fred Steen. He married Austine Jesfield, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Austin Jesfield, on November 13, 1929. Austine was a twin. Her sister Christine, was married to Eldon Mengel.

After marriage Henning and Austine farmed the Andrew Steen place and bought this farm in 1946. They purchased a home in Baker in July of 1960 and sold the farm to a nephew, Francis Madler, in 1968.

Austine graduated from high school in 1928, then worked at the J. C. Penney store and Teacher's Agency in Baker. After moving to Baker she worked in the Fallon Assessor's and Treasurer's Office for eleven years and one year at the T. M. Electric store.

The couple have two children; Gloria (Mrs. Roy Pauley) and Don who married Nadine Everson and now lives in Australia.

The Henning Steens survived the 1930's which brought drought, terrific snow storms, closed roads and illnesses. In 1950 the roads were plugged and a kind neighbor, Lyle

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(Bunny) Tennant opened the road to Baker and even plowed out the yard for them. That same day Gloria was rushed to Miles City, eighty miles away, for an emergency appendectomy. The day after she returned home another snowstorm completely blocked all roads for several weeks. God provided every need.

Son Donald graduated from the Baker High School in 1948. He bought the former June Billington farm in 1951. He was the manager of the Mackay and Mackay Ranch at Ismay, Montana for 12 years. The family moved to western Australia in 1965 where they bought two ranches with leases to coastal land.

Gloria graduated from the Baker High School in 1957, and from the Acme Beauty College at Billings, Montana. She was a beautician in Baker for 2 1/2 years before moving to California where her husband owns the Tria Chic Coiffures Beauty Salon.

JOSEPH M. STEFFES

My parents, William and Catherine Steffes, came to Plevna, Montana in 1910 and took a homestead. 1, Joseph, was born in St. Lucas, Iowa on June 17, 1889 and came in an emigrant car to Montana and located eight miles south of Plevna. I filed on a homestead and kept busy in proving up on the land, such as erecting buildings and building fences. It seemed there was always a shortage of moisture in the summer and some of the winters were hard and cold and we always welcomed a Chinook.

During the depression wheat was 28 cents a bushel and beef sold at 3 cents a pound. The neighbors were from one to two miles apart. Some of them were the Chauncy Ettles, The Joe Wenzes and the Bill Thielens.

I had gone to elementary and high school in Iowa and to Duluth, Minnesota to learn the harness trade, before I came to Montana.

In 1914 Rose Doonan and I were married at Ipswich, South Dakota. We had eleven children; William, Gertrude, Bernard, Leo, Raphael, Marie, Carrol, Lawrence, Francis, Joe, Jr. and Margaret Mary. I have thirty three grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren all of which are well and happy.

We are members of the Catholic Church and always attend it faithfully.

As of now, 1973, I am retired and am enjoying the fruits of my labor.

 

 

MRS. WILLIAM STIEG [JESSIE]

I was born in Marinette County, Porterfield, Wisconsin Oct. 23, 1897, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Seth Rawn. In 1905 my parents wanted to file on a homestead so they found land ten miles northeast of Mott, North Dakota. They had some stock and also farmed. I attended grade school in Berry Township of North Dakota and then went to high school in Mott. After graduating from high school I worked as a postal clerk and a telephone operator.

As a child I had to help with various chores around the farm and also had to help with the house work. Everybody worked in those days.

William Stieg and I were married on January 3, 1921 at Mott, North Dakota.

My husband had filed on a homestead in 1919 or 1920. It was twenty-three miles southwest of Baker, Being a World War I Veteran, he never had to live on the land. In 1923, when I was 26 years old, we came to Montana and bought section 10-4-58 and then we later traded the homestead for forty acres of water rights on section 14-4-58. Our neighbors were the Art Kuchns, the George Mortons, the Carl Holmes and the Bill Johnsons.

We had plenty of problems in getting established but we did have some time for some pleasures, such as dances at the Willard Hall and the Martin School, church at the Baker Community Church in Baker, picnics at O'Peechee Park, Ekalaka Park, Wildwood Park and Medicine Rocks. The Fourth of Julys were usually celebrated at one of the above mentioned parks.

My husband and I had five children. They are; Betty Mae Stieg Tagge, William H. Stieg, Arlene Gay Stieg Beach, Helen Louise Stieg Ayers and Arthur G. Stieg. I have seventeen grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

I am retired now but manage to keep myself occupied and I do some traveling and visiting.

Henry and Tina Stenerson

HENRY AND TINA STENERSON

On February 27, 1889 Tina Olson arrived at the home of her parents, Ole and Ellen Knutson Olson, at Menomonie, Wisconsin. The family lived in the city.

She is now retired and is living with her daughter, Everal, in California, but her memory is very keen. She relates that after finishing the grades and high school she attended the Dunn County Normal School. After graduating from this course she taught school in the rural or country schools for a few years. She attended summer school at the Normal to prepare herself for teaching in the lower grades. She taught again in the country before she got a job teaching at Elk Mound, Wisconsin teaching the first, second and third grades. From there she went to Holcomb and Ridgeland, Wisconsin to teach.

In June 1917 Tina was married to Henry Stenerson and they came west to farm at Willard, Montana. She was asked to substitute at the little country school at Willard, which she did as the teachers were often called home or quit. She was always available, as substitutes were hard to get. She loved teaching very much and gave of her time,in teaching summer Bible Schools.

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The county school superintendent gave her the authority to give her students their eighth grade examinations to finish up their year. This was quite an undertaking for her as she had graduated from Normal School in 1907, had taught school for ten years before her marriage, so it had been quite a while since she had gone to school. From then on she substituted off and on at Willard.

Four daughters joined the family; Everal, Camilla, who died as a child, Helen Mae and Shirley. There are five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Henry Stenerson passed away in the mid-sixties.

While living in Montana, home began on the farm. For several years Henry ran a grain elevator in Baker and was the postmaster and merchant at Willard before retiring to the West Coast. There he worked in the carpenter trade and as an overseer of apartment buildings.

Being a country schoolteacher was an interesting experience for Tina. That is where she met her husband. The real test came when she came as a bride from a rather large city in Wisconsin to the prairies of Montana. This was a test in many ways, but as she says, "Where there's a will, there's a way".

They had their good times, made many friends, struggled through the depression, hail, sleet, snow and blizzards. She asks herself if it was worth it. Yes! Their children were really happier than the children are nowadays. It took so much less to make them happy. She feels that her children had a good "bringing up". It took so little to make their eyes sparkle and shine. The Christmases were so much fun to get ready for. They said their little verses and were happy to get some soap or other small gifts. Yes! It was a happy time in spite of it all.

These sons and daughters have a wonderful heritage in spite of every thing.

Tina is thankful she learned so many things even if at times they were learned the hard way, but really, "Wasn't it worth it"?

Social life at first was connected with the Lutheran Church at the Willard Hall, with the school or just traveling to Baker. The Stenersons were Charter Members of the American Lutheran Church. They also attended dances at the Willard Hall, picnics at the Medicine Rocks, rodeos and 4th of July celebrations at O'Peechee Park and always the Fallon County Fair. The family usually carried a lunch basket when going to the fair.

Their closest neighbor was John Zeilstress whose children, Mary and Frank, Tina taught in school.

In 1932 one of the Stenerson daughters and several other students were ready for high school. The family rented a large house in Baker and thirteen persons lived in the house. Eight of them lived in the three rooms upstairs and did their own cooking. There was only one bathroom downstairs and the house rule was all lights out at 10 P.M. Many problems arose with this arrangement. One was when every person except Mrs, Stenerson came down with the chicken pox. These were depression years.

One time the Stenersons thought a Sunday drive and evening supper at the farm would be fun. It was the 50th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Shreve. The day was lovely and a trailer was hooked on behind the family car for 26, most of them students, from Willard who were going to school in town, to ride in. Their parents were expected to be at the party. The wind came up and many of the parents did not come. The Stenersons thought there would be time for the pancake supper which they had planned before starting back to town. For three days the group was snowbound. Edwin Nelson, a young man who had lived with the Stenersons for years, and Mr. Stenerson drove to Willard in a sleigh and reported to town and to some of the parents the plight of the group. Beds were made on the floor and milk soup, mush and pancakes were the diet for the bunch.

One of the school memories of some of Mrs. Stenerson's former pupils was of the quiet prayer time each day. She directed several plays at the Willard Hall. One time Leonard Bergstrom was a statue in a play. The time came for him to dress and no costume. Mrs. Stenerson took off her slip. The statue had a costume and the play went on.

The day of the Eighth Grade Examinations arrived. Marion and Raymond Fost, Edward Moscrip and Everal Stenerson were ready for the tests. All but Everal had the mumps. The tests were given anyway and not until Everal was in a play in high school did she get the mumps.

It was April 19, 1918 that Henry and Tina Stenerson became parents of their first child, Everal. She was born on the present Richard Opp place north of the Willard Store. She attended school sometimes when her mother was the teacher. Her classmates through all eight grades were Marion and Raymond Fost and Edward Moscrip. All four of them graduated from the Baker High School in 1936.

In 1936 and 37 Everal assisted her father as postmaster and in the Co-op Store at Willard. In 1937 she was married to Donald Halsey, son of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Halsey of the Willard community. They lived at Baker for several years until Donald entered the service in World War II. He was killed in action.

The Stenerson family moved to the coast and Everal went along to be near her folks. She married Harold Brauning, a former resident of the Roundup country. They have two sons, Van and Danny. The family resides at Eureka, California.

Helen, now Mrs. Helen Rye, lives in Tacoma, Washington and Shirley, now Mrs. William Ferhoich, is living in Cornichael, California.

After being gone for over 30 years, Everal brought her husband to Fallon County, the country she so loved as a child, and wondered why she hadn't been back before. It was fun remembering the picnics at Medicine Rocks when she had carved her initials in the sandstone sides and coming back and finding them after all those years.

Having married in the depression there was very little money for extras so friends would plan picnics together or an evening of cards. There wasn't that extra 10 cents each for a night at the picture show. Going to a dance at Plevna, Ismay, Ollie or Fertile Prairie and Willard was a real treat and the tickets were only fifty cents a couple.

Today's life is different and the families have missed a great thing which the parents shared so much with others.

MR. AND MRS. RAYMOND R. STEVENS, SR.

My parents, Thomas and Malinda Gromerly Stevens, were residents of Sibly, in Oscelola County, Iowa, where they lived on a farm. That was where I joined the family on March 15, 1897.

In 1915 my family came west to Montana and located on a homestead 18 miles north of Billings. I came in 1916.

1 received my grade school education while still in Iowa. As a boy I helped around the place and was much interested in baseball and played a lot of it.

I did my hitch in the service during the lst World War and then I worked in an elevator at Windsor, North Dakota. I also operated a garage for some time at Cleveland, North Dakota.

In 1927 1 was married to Julia Bartkowski at Jamestown, North Dakota. She was the daughter of John and Catherine Bartkowski who farmed near Courtenay, North Dakota which was about thirty miles from Jamestown.

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She was born on Jan. 19, 1904 and received her elementary education at "The Little Red School House" in the country.

She then enrolled at St. John's Academy of Jamestown where she took a business course as well as studying English. Later she worked as a bookkeeper at the Jamestown Laundry.

After Julia and I were married I worked at the elevator at Windsor for a time, then we moved to Marsh, Montana which is north of Glendive. I was employed by the Bagley Elevator there for six years. While we lived there Mrs. Stevens was active in 4-H work and Homemakers Club activities.

We lived in Miles City for a time then on to Baker by car where I again worked for the Bagley Elevator. In all I spent 21 years as a grain buyer. We arrived in Baker on August 5, 1938. We encountered no problems in getting settled and established here.

My next work was in the Fallon County Court House where I served as County Clerk and Recorder for twenty years and five months.

During the years we had acquired a family of three boys and two girls. The two youngest children were born in Baker. All of them are graduates of the Baker High School. They are; Orville of Baker, operator and owner of The Baker Furniture Company, Raymond, Jr. an architect in Denver, Colorado, Joyce the wife of Dr. D. Sowl of General Hospital at Boulder, Colorado, Gerald, a car mechanic at Boulder and Cathleen, an Arts and Crafts teacher, at Montrose, Colorado.

Mrs. Stevens worked as Nurses Aid at the Baker Elizabeth Hospital; as clerk at the Rexall Drug for a few years and as Deputy Treasurer for five years. She then held the position of bookkeeper for the Fallon Memorial Hospital for fifteen years. She retired in March of 1971.

Julia and the children are members of the Roman Catholic Church and she is an active member of the Altar Society and the Catholic Daughters of America.

I belong to the American Legion Post No. 35 of Baker, Montana and have served as Post Commander.

My wife and I are now retired and are still residents of Baker. (1973)

MRS.

PAUL STOCK [ELOISE J. McGINNIS]

Along with my twin sister, Alice F. McGinnis, (Mrs. Russell Morrison), I first greeted this world, on August 4th, 1908 in St. Paul, Minn. There we lived with our parents, Timothy E. McGinnis and wife, Alice C. (Donohoe) McGinnis, along with a small brother, John, a baby sister, Margaret, who did not survive, and a baby brother, Georgie, who was a babe-in-arms when we came to this vicinity in 1910.

We girls were in our 5th year when our father decided he wanted a piece of Uncle Sam's land. Encouraged by friends who were already located here, we left St. Paul and came to Baker, Montana. My father, Tim - or Mae, as he was more often called by friends, was a building contractor - carpenter by trade. He set up in Baker for a time and earned enough to settle on a homestead about 9 miles northeast of Baker.

We had begun school in Baker, but after we moved to the homestead, my father, along with the other neighbors put up a good sod schoolhouse where their children went to grade school. A good frame building was erected later on. It was known as the Morris School. Our neighbors were Bob and Berry Morris, Tom Hanratty, George Jenner, Mike O'Donnell, and Walter and Henry Jensen.

During the days on the homestead, we often enjoyed neighborhood picnics, dances, musical sessions, visiting and entertaining neighbors and many 4th of July celebrations.

After fighting the vagaries of nature and long distances to town, the family returned to Baker as the older children were reaching high school age. Another son and 4 daughters had been added to the family.

I began high school in Baker, Mont. but my sister Alice and I then went to Riverton, Wyoming, where we graduated from high school. I did work at various colleges, graduated from the University of Washington, and spent some time at the Arthur Murray School of Dance.

I taught school for a time in Wyoming and became interested in writing. Among my works were textbooks used in Wyoming Schools, 2 books of children's stories, along with many short-stories for children, educational articles for magazines, and parts of the Wyoming Course of Study.

In 1930 1 was married to Lynn Jensen, but this marriage ended in divorce. I later was married to Paul Stock, a Cody oilman. Mr. Stock held a great deal of stock in Texaco. We were active in many philanthropic enterprises, including the Yellowstone Boys Ranch, College of Great Falls, General Rose Hospital of Denver and the Goettsche Foundation of Thermopolis, Wyo. I am presently Vice President of the Paul Stock Foundation which assists worthy college students and issues scholarships.

Mr. Stock succumbed to cancer May 9th, 1972 at Cody, Wyoming. He was a mayor of Cody and a veteran of World War 1. 1 worked in public relations in the W.A.C. during World War II.

I now live at our home in Cody, Wyo. from May to December, then travel to the Paul Stock Ranch at 6300 E. Sunrise Drive near the Catalina Mts. in Tuscon, Arizona, for the winter season. I am a Roman Catholic.

MRS. MARY R. BOLTON STOCKFISCH

I was born at Tyndall, S. Dakota on Nov. 18, 1893. My parents were Mr. and Mrs. William Bolton. They homesteaded 2 miles west of Westmore, Montana, where they arrived on Nov. 18, 1910. They came because they desired a different place to live, a place of their own. Their location was 22 miles from Baker, Mont. They traveled by passenger train.

I had completed my grade school education while at Tyndall and had reached the age of 17 when we came to this area. I remained at home as there was plenty of work and farm chores to be done as well as helping care for younger children in a family of 10 of whom I was the eldest. We had many neighbors, but there were three that we knew best: The Bassey, the Rieb, and the Brennan families.

On Feb. 6, 1911, I was wed to Phillip J. Rieb at Miles City. We had three children: Margarite J. Rieb (Baker); Mable K. Rieb (Berger); and Phillip W. Rieb. Both daughters now live in Miles City and the son lives in Anaconda.

I never had any other line of work in all these years besides that of homemaker and its duties.

On May 18th, 1921, 1 was married to Wm. F. Stockfisch at Baker, Mont. We continued to live on my farm a short distance from Westmore for 27 years after which we sold out and moved to Miles City to retire. I had no children by my second marriage.

During the years in Tyndall I can remember the box socials at the schoolhouse. Later, after settling in this area we found pleasure in attending dances in various schoolhouses and at Westmore, Ismay, and Plevna as well as many picnics at those places and at Ekalaka and at Opeechee Park. There were rodeos at Westmore and we must not forget the 4th of July celebrations at these towns as well as at Miles City.

I have 11 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren by my first marriage.

In spite of dry seasons and some cold, snowy weather

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and the depression years of 1930 to'37, we survived it all to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary on May 18th, 1971. My husband passed away on July 17th of that same year. I am now retired.

Home

of Ludwig Strommen, Picture loaned by Marion Hanson, left to right, Sig Berntson, John and Katherine Roget, Mr. Strommen, George Christenson and Miss Olga Konorski, a school teacher and homesteader.

MR. AND MRS. LUDWIG STROMMEN

by Marion Hanson

Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig Strommen had come from Norway and settled in the Willard community. They returned to their native country to visit and she became so ill on the boat that she was unable to return. He continued to farm and later married Lillie Lunder, widow of Tom Lunder, and they retired to Miles City.

Sig Berntson married a widowed sister of the first Mrs. Strommen and they lived near the present Sportsmans Dam. The family was active in Church affairs and the children attended the Lunder School.

John Roget came from Murdock, Minn. to visit his sisters Mrs. Albert Fost and Mrs. Elmer Anderson. He worked as hired man and was married to Katherine Blake, a daughter of the George Blakes, of the Medicine Rocks community. Three sons joined the family; Francis, a welder electrician, Gordon and Jerome, both Doctors of Medicine.

George Christenson never married. He was hired out for several years on Albert Fost's threshing crews. He was interested in the mechanical line.

Miss Olga Konorski came to the community to teach and took a homestead. She had a horse and rode several miles to school. She left the community to teach in other places. Butte, Montana was her retiring home. She still retains her land in Fallon County.

FRED STRAUB

by Mrs.

Ed. Schueffele

My parents were Fred and Magdalena Krueg Straub. My father was from a family of 11 children and my mother was from a family of 9 children. Their parents had taken advantage of the offer of Kathrina The Great, Queen of Russia of German heritage, to farmers in Germany to settle the vast prairies in colonies or Dorfs in south Russia. They later lived in Neulustdorf near Odessa, Russia. Fred Straub was born March 14, 1885 and Magdalina was born May 23, 1889. They were married Oct. 4, 1911.

 

 

Golden Anniversary

of the Fred Straubs, 1961.

We came to this country July 23, 1914, when I was 4 months old, having been born March 26, 1914, and my sister was 2 years old. We went to Bremen Germany from Neulustdorf. From there we sailed, via Ocean Liner Fredrich (der Grosse) the Great and landed at Baltimore, Maryland July 23, 1914. From there we went by train to Eureka, South Dakota where we stayed with my dad's uncle, Henry Straub. There my father worked for $4 and $5 a day digging basements.

In March of 1916 my parents moved to Vananda, Mont. to take up a homestead. The soil was poor and good water was hard to find. After several attempts they located a good well. This well was dug by hand and was fed by a spring, so they built a dam below it and managed to have a good garden. While they were living there Dad worked for a rancher by the name of Stromstead.

Having lunch in the field at the Fred Straubs.

In September 1919 we moved to a farm northeast of Plevna, the former Charley Clark place, which they rented. Danny Thielen lives there now. Here my sister and I started to school. Since our parents both spoke German with us at

 

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