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O’Fallon Flashbacks

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

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Mayor and Treasurer of Plevna and for many years served as trustee of the Plevna School district.

The couple had eight children; John, Jr. of Billings, Anna Hannah of Seattle, Helen Buzzetti of Billings, Mary Muth of Santa Ana, Calif., Agnes Munsell of Miles City, Joe of Whitefish and Charles of Billings. Frances died when she was young. There are 24 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.

Mrs. Weinschrott now lives in her home in Baker. She is 85 years old and in good health. She still enjoys crocheting, making quilts, baking fancy breads and playing Whist and Canasta with her friends.

NICHOLAS WELLENSTEIN

Mr. and Mrs. John Wellenstein, parents of Nicholas Wellenstein, owned the first brick building, a hotel, twenty three miles southwest of St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Nicholas, "Nick," was born at Albany, Minnesota on April 4, 1897. He attended school at Albany and Business College at Mankato, Minnesota.

In 1917, at the age of 19, he came to Plevna, Montana on the Milwaukee Railroad. At Plevna he started working at the State Bank and continued working there until the depression when the bank had to close. This bank has since paid out every dollar plus $1.10 interest.

In 1920, for entertainment, they would go for walks on the railroad tracks. There was no electricity, just kerosene lamps, the water had to be hauled in cans, there were no inside bathrooms so it was quite a contrast from what he had been used to in Minnesota where they had had electricity, indoor plumbing and hot water heating.

On June 27, 1922 Nicholas married Merva Ridgway in the Catholic Church at Plevna.

Merva Ridgway was born at Camp Crook, South Dakota on January 18, 1889. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Ridgway, homesteaded there in 1895. Her father was the original part-owner of Tipperary, a horse which they claimed had never been "rode", not even by Bob Askins, the Worlds Champion Rider from Ismay.

"Nick" was Town Clerk and Treasurer of Plevna for many years. During that time the swimming pool was built, water works were put in and the gymnasium and high school were built.

After the bank closed in 1931, he started writing insurance and opened a Grocery Store. While still at the bank and all the farmers were praying for rain, those at the bank had to pray for all the farmers, too, as everybody owed the bank in those days.

Now when looking back to those days and looking at Plevna today (1973) it is a good feeling to know the town will soon be out of debt except for the school which indebtedness should be paid for in six years.

It gives Nicholas great personal satisfaction knowing that his family has helped in all those years to bring better living, and schooling, not to mention the five churches that are all paid for.

"Nick" and Merva had five children; Eugene, Patricia, James, Richard and Robert. There are eight grandchildren: Vickie and Nickie Wellenstein, Douglas, Joan and Janet Wellenstein, Sammy Pat Durham and Thomas and Nancy Wellenstein.

KARL AND ERNA [KRUEG] WENZ

Karl Wenz was born to John and Johanna Wenz on their homestead south of Plevna on May 30, 1911. He was the fourth of eleven children, nine boys and two girls. He went to school at the Prairie Park School in District Number 66. Because there were so many in the family he was hired out to do various jobs as soon as he was old enough. In 1931 he went to work for George J. Buergi who owned a farm, grocery store, hotel, garage, and restaurant in Plevna. Mr. Buergi raised his own animals for meat for the store and restaurant and every few days Karl would have to go out by himself to butcher an animal, dress it out, and bring it in to the ice cooler. Then he would have to cut the meat as it was needed. This is very primitive compared to the way it is handled now. It is an indication of the many changes that have come about in a lifetime. He also clerked, cleaned up, helped out in the garage and was general handy man, working from six in the morning until as late as eleven at night. All this for $35.00 a month. It was certainly a well-rounded education. From 1933 to 1937 he drove truck for R-B Freight Lines which was owned by George Buergi, Jr. and Gerald Rickard. This line was based in Aberdeen, S. D. and was sold to Barber Truck Lines of Aberdeen. Dec. 27, 1936 he married Erna Krueg of Plevna.

Erna was born on her parent’s homestead Feb. 2, 1914. After her father's death during the 1918-flu epidemic her mother moved the family to Plevna. Here Erna went through grade school and high school. After graduating from high school she worked for a year trying to save some money to help her go on to college. In the fall of 1932 she enrolled in Billings Normal School which is now Eastern Montana College. In the fall of 1933 she started teaching. After that teaching qualifications were raised and two years were required to teach. With times as hard as they were it was a financial struggle to get through one year. Her first school was the Dry Fork in District 33. There were 16 children enrolled in eight grades. The first graders were Reinhold Straub, Marie Louise Tunby, and Albert Oswald. And the eighth graders were Emma Straub and Johanna Straub. In 1936 she went to the Prairie Rose School and after three years here she went to Plevna to teach the third and fourth grades for the next three years.

After their marriage Karl and Erna lived with her mother in Plevna. For a time Karl operated the Farmer's Cooperative Cream Station in Plevna. Cream stations are a thing of the past. The farmers supplemented their income by milking cows and selling the cream. The cream was tested at the station for butterfat content and shipped out to a processing plant. At the same time, being a farmer at heart, he leased a few acres of land to do a bit of farming. In 1941 he took over the management of the 0 & M Grain Elevator (now Baker Grain Co.) in Baker and they moved to Baker in 1942 when Erna gave up teaching because their first child, Warren, was born June 17, 1943. They bought the Couser house which has been remodeled and belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Raymond O'Donnell. The Wenzes paid $2000 for the little house and sold it for $4000 and the next owner sold it for $6000. Times were changing rapidly and prices went higher and higher.

Finally a break into farming came for them when Carl Losing offered them the lease of his land north of Baker where they moved in 1946. While they were living here the second son, Douglas was born on July 31, 1946. In 1949 they bought some land from Hugh Stark and since there were no buildings on this land and Warren was ready for school they built a home in Baker which they later sold to the First Baptist Church for a parsonage. Bradley was born Oct 29, 1949 and was a month old when they moved into this house and was 15 years old when they moved to the Pleasant Avenue house. At the same time Karl took over the Mobile Bulk dealership and operated it as a sideline to his farming until 1954 when he and Eldon Rasmuson operated the Standard Service Station in partnership and later he took it over alone until 1959.

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Karl was elected County Commissioner in 1949 and served through 1954. Many people will remember the winters of '49 and '52. Both winters had record-breaking amounts of snow, wind and cold. In 1951 the county crew (3 men) started to plow snow in October and were still plowing in March. The county road funds were depleted and Federal and State governments assisted financially and with large equipment to help clear roads and bring feed in for livestock. A book could be written about events that took place during these times. In 1955 Karl was elected to the State Senate and served two years. In 1957 the family moved to Helena as Warren served as a senate pageboy.

After 1959 Karl gave up his other interests and concentrated on his farming operation. Douglas joined his dad in this when he returned from military service.

In 1961 Erna went to work in the courthouse and was appointed deputy county assessor in 1963. In 1967 she was elected county treasurer and in 1971 she became deputy treasurer.

Karl and Erna were both baptized in the Congregational faith and confirmed in the Emanuel Congregational Church of Plevna. In 1966 they transferred their membership to the Baker Community Church and are both active in the various activities of the church.

Warren C. Wenz; was born in Baker June 17, 1943. He graduated from the University of Montana, Missoula with a degree in business and is a graduate of the U. of M. Law School with honors. He is also a public accountant. He married Susan Judge of Dutton, Mont. Sept. 26, 1970. They reside in Great Falls, Mont. where he practices law with the firm, Marra & Wenz.

Douglas J. Wenz was born in Baker July 31, 1946. He enlisted in the army after graduation from high school. He served in Germany with NATO armies in the Signal Corps. After returning from the services he attended Montana University at Bozeman for several quarters and then went into farming with his father. He married Randi Kay Bergstrom March 14, 1970. She is the daughter of Robert and Charlotte Bergstrom. They live in Baker and have one son, Damon.

Bradley W. Wenz; was born in Baker Sept. 29, 1949. He graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in business in 1972. He married Sharen Mirehouse of Augusta, Mont. June 17, 1972. He is employed by the Federal Land Bank in Billings where they make their home.

GEORGE AND MAUD WEST

George Alvin West was born at Auburn, Nebraska on February 25, 1875 to Mr. and Mrs. Harvey West. In 1892 he moved with his parents to Alliance, Nebraska where he grew to manhood. He engaged in farming and later worked as a brakeman and conductor on the Burlington Railroad out of Alliance. On September 29, 1899 George and Maud Emory were married. In 1912 the couple moved the family to Hot Springs, South Dakota where George was engaged in the draying business.

In 1916 George and his oldest son, Leon, and a friend, C. 0. Brady, emigrated to Ollie, Montana in wagons drawn by mules and horses. Here he did dray work. He hauled water in cream cans and barrels at 25 cents a barrel to supply water for the little town. He met the daily train and hauled freight, hauled coal, wood, ashes and anything else that needed to be hauled. The rest of the family arrived in Ollie by train in July.

In 1921 George, Maud and family moved to Baker for school advantages.

During his residence in Baker, George was active in carpentering, cement work and a variety of other jobs that were available. For many years he was sexton and hand dug many graves. He was stricken with a stroke while working at the new Catholic Cemetery. He was eighty years old at the time.

George West and one of his grandchildren.

Maude West was well known around Baker. She kept boarders and roomers, for many years was manager of the Ladies Ready to Wear of the J. C. Penney Company, and served many years on the election board.

After her husband's death she spent six years in Billings where she did much sewing. Her specialty was dress alterations. In 1964 she moved to Moorcroft, Wyoming where she lived with her daughter, Marguerite Wham, until she passed away later that same year.

Maud West with one of the grandchildren.

George and Maud West had five children.

Leon Emory West was born on July 22, 1901. After receiving his schooling at Ollie and Baker, he went west for employment. He worked in construction in Oregon for a time, then he moved to Burns, Oregon where he was head mechanic in the Ford Garage. He married a schoolteacher and they lived in Burns until Leon's death in 1961. There were two

 

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daughters born to this union; Linda West Larson and Judy West Morgan.

Bernard Lester West was born on October 8, 1004. He also went west after finishing his schooling at Ollie and Baker. He was killed while working with a construction crew on December 19, 1929.

Marguerite West (Wham) was born on July 17, 1906 at Alliance, Nebraska. After attending school at Ollie and Baker she worked as a telephone operator and as a Department Treasurer for four months. In 1929 she and James Wham, who was manager of the Sawyer's Store, were married in the West's home in Baker. Jim was transferred to the Glendive Sawyer's Store in 1930 and in 1932 they moved to New Castle, Wyoming where they lived on a ranch. In 1941 they moved to a ranch near Moorcroft, Wyoming which was owned by Jim's brother. Later they bought a ranch of their own near-by. After Jim's mother passed away they moved to Jim's family home where they cared for Father Wham who was unable to live alone. He died in 1961.

Marguerite and Jim had two children; James D., Jr. and Edith Wharn Wood.

Vernon LeRoy West was born in Ollie, Montana on March 14, 1914. He attended grade school and high school at Baker. He married Edna Thom, a nurse, in Baker where he worked for the Sawyer's Store. He was Manager of Sawyer's Stores in several cities and then he was killed on June 5, 1961 while working for the "Hi-Ball" trucking firm. They had two children; Tom West and Janice West Gumpf.

Wayne Woodrow West was born in Ollie, Montana on February 21, 1918. He was killed by a runaway horse on August 20, 1929 at the age of 11.

Jack D. Westrope at his place east of Miles City, Montana, he is the son of Olga and Fred Westrope.

JOHN FREDERICK WESTROPE

In 1886 and 1887, T. R. Westrope and Skragens shipped 5,000 head of cattle to Miles City, Montana. From there the cattle were trailed to Skragens Creek, near Fallon Creek, west of what is now Willard, Montana. Together, Westrope and Skragens built a sod and rock house in which they lived. The winter of '86 and '87 was extremely severe, and spring found the partners with only 500 head of cattle left from a herd of 5,000.

T. R. Westrope gave his share of the remaining herd to his partner and returned to his 640-acre ranch near Audubon, Iowa, where he died in 1902. Later in 1915, T. R. 's son, John G. Westrope, came to Montana with his son, Fred, and the rest of his family. They returned to the house Fred's grandfather had built, but all that was left standing was the fireplace-a grim reminder of a hard winter.

John Westrope bought his land in the fall of 1915, consisting of the Breckinridge place, the Joe Votruba place, and Bill Pratt place. John's son, W. T. Westrope, bought the Axel Bergwell place, and his daughter and husband had the Red Rock Spring section.

In 1931 Fred Westrope married Olga M. Anderson and they had a son, Jack D. Westrope, now residing in Miles City. Fred and Mattie still reside on their farm just south of Willard. Their grandson, Clinton Westrope at Miles City, is attending Junior College at Miles and also has a full-time job with a T V and Radio station there.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME by Esther Bailey Wheeler

I'll never forget a stormy night in October 1915, when I was teaching in Montana.

My sister, who taught some distance from me had been visiting for the weekend, and my fiancé and I had taken her home. We were traveling in a covered buggy drawn by two spirited buckskin ponies. We left her home about four o'clock, each wearing a buffalo hide overcoat and had plenty of robes, driving straight south to Westmore. The sky was leaden when we left but long before we got to town, it was snowing so hard we couldn't see the horses-the flakes came like a massive white wall. It was pretty dark and confusing because a white blanket of fresh snow soon covered everything. It was rough riding, too, and we were sure we were in and out of a ditch several times as we often nearly tipped over. My fiancé would quickly throw his weight this way and that to help keep the carriage upright.

We were both too frightened to speak for a while. Then he said, "I think I'll get out and find our bearing. I'll have to go over the dashboard and feel my way along the horses' side. You stay put, honey. Everything's going to be all right." He gave me a quick kiss and let go of my hand for the first time since it started to snow.

We often heard of folks getting lost in a snowstorm in that country and freezing to death. The humidity was so dry one did not realize the danger of freezing.

He stopped the horses and when he got to their heads, he called back through the storm "The horses have turned completely around, I think. It's too dangerous for us to travel. We'll have to wait here or they'll take us home over steep buttes and through creeks. I'm afraid the horses will run away and turn us over."

"What can we do?" I called through my tears.

"I'll unhitch the horses and tie them to the buggy wheels. They seem to know we are lost and that's why they act so excited."

He did this and then climbed back into the buggy, and snuggled down beside me. "I think the only safe thing for us to do, honey, is for us to just sit here and wait for morning."

The occasional whinny of the horses and the eerie howl of a wolf way off, or coyotes much closer, added to the atmosphere that was already charged. Earth and sky were one. I was wearing a new stiffly boned corset and my sides just ached. It seemed we sat in that white space for hours and hours.

"Let's recite poetry; it will help to pass the time. Do you know any Shakespeare or Browning?" I asked him.

"I learned a little in high school." Then he added, "How do I love thee-let me count the ways. "

It may have been one of the coldest proposals in history but really, it was the warmest. Neither of us closed our eyes but peered constantly into the east for the first ray of dawn.

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"Listen! There's a train whistle. Now I know we're not on the road. Look! It's getting pink over there and I do believe the snow is letting up."

As soon as the horses were hitched back to the buggy and the rig turned around, the team seemed to know they were headed for home, a warm barn, and some good hay.

When we drove into the farmyard, a hired man ran out to meet us and took the horses. It was so good to be home. Soon it was evident that no one there had even been to bed. Folks said it was a sudden storm such as the early ranchers had never before experienced.

I never stopped answering questions until my friend gave an announcement party for me a few days later.

Editors note; Esther Baily, the daughter of the Reverend and Mrs. F. C. Bailey of Kasata, Minnesota, came to Plevna, Montana in 1914 to teach a rural school in that vicinity.

Lloyd Wheeler in his Overland car, 1922.

MR. AND MRS. LLOYD WHEELER

My parents were Frank and Lucy Wheeler and I arrived at their home in Litchfield, Minnesota on December 17, 1897. Later, in 1909, my parents had a wish to get out into an open, free country and as they possessed a spirit of adventure, they came west and homesteaded ten miles north of Plevna, Montana. There they took up farming and possessed enough cattle to cause a few problems, such as an occasional argument with the neighbors over water rights for the stock.

During my boyhood years, I walked a mile to the Coal Springs School, did much horseback riding and helped with the farming activities. On reaching my "teens", I broke a lot of so-called "wildhorses" for riding and driving.

I received my elementary education at the Coal Springs School. I did not attend high school but George Warner, an early day teacher of the area, taught high school subjects at Coal Springs. In later years I went to a Mechanic's School at South Bend, Indiana. I then became an automobile mechanic.

We met a number of problems in getting established on the homestead. There were years of insufficient moisture, some long, severe winters and we had to haul our water. We didn't seem to mind the distances which we had to travel as we had more time than money to go places. Oh! Yes! The Depression! A never to be forgotten experience and memory.

We had many good times, though. We attended religious services at the schoolhouse as well as at the various homes in the community. Then there were the dances, sometimes with box socials held in the homes or at the school. I did not dance except when it was necessary to take my girl somewhere. There were lots of rodeos. I consider them better than those of today. We also had neighborhood picnics held under the cottonwood trees along Cabin and Pennell Creeks. The Fourth of Julys were great! We made up ball games, rode horses which had been "brought up" fresh off the range, played games and of course we ate. Naturally, there was always a world of good food to eat.

I was married to Mona Holbrook in 1924 at Plevna, Montana. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Holbrook who also lived in the area north of Plevna. Her parents moved to Baker and made their home there for a number of years. One time my wife and I constructed a good sized horse drawn sled. We kept warm in it by using a buffalo robe that belonged to my parents.

Horse drawn sled made by Lloyd and Mona Wheeler, 1925, left to right, Mona and Lloyd Wheeler, Albert and Wanda Geving.

Besides the Holbrooks, we had my Uncle " Dit" Sanborn, Archie De Graff, A. 0. Woods, Homer Giles and Jim Thompson for neighbors.

We have two sons. Grant and his wife, Bobbie, with two daughters, live in Denver, Colorado where he is employed by General Motors Chevrolet Company, and where he is active in church work.

Les, his wife, Wilda, and their two sons live in Bozeman, Montana where he has been a lineman for nineteen years for the Montana Power Company. He also works with young people in sports.

Mona and I are now retired and are living at 1814 West Beal D, Bozeman, Montana..

EDITH WHITE WILEY

My father, Waren J. White, filed on a homestead in March 1910, and our family came to Baker in an emigrant car in September of that year. My two brothers were Barton and Nelson White.

The homestead was about five miles south of the old Willard store and post office, where we got our mail until the mail service was established along the highway from Baker to Ekalaka. Then our home was the distributing mail center for all the neighbors for several more years until the Calumet route was established. This was sort of a meeting point for all

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the news, gossip, help your neighbor and visiting on mail days. The visiting and exchanging of news eased the loneliness for all concerned.

 

The Warren White sod homestead shack, about five miles south of Willard, left to right, on the roof, Glen Ellingson, Art Severson, Barton White, Nelson White, middle row, Fred Kohler, Mrs. Warren White, Lois Epley [Holmes], Mabel Koehler, sitting, Jack Severson, Charles Epley, Warren White, Mrs. Severson and grandchild Albert Brown, children, Edith White and Ellingson children.

I have only vague and hazy memories of the earlier years. Times were hard, food and supplies came from Baker which was twenty miles away, firewood was gotten from the pines near Ekalaka and coal was hauled from many miles west of us. Dad laid in a winter's supply of what was essential in the fall, and all the neighbors got supplies for each other whenever anyone went to town. I remember that yeast and flour were borrowed back and forth a lot.

Christmas gifts were mainly whatever our relatives sent. Montgomery Ward and Sears and Roebuck Catalogues were our shopping centers, but money was "tight" and we were happy to get a little candy, an orange and clothes from Santa. Holidays were spent at the neighbors in turn and provided a chance to get together, to visit and to play. Nobody had much nor expected much, but people were happy and all "in the same boat", with high hopes for "next year to be better".

I can remember a Christmas when a neighbor with seven children was sick and couldn't get to town for gifts or supplies or anything for the children for Christmas. The Christmas package from relatives was late and things looked pretty bleak. On Christmas Eve we drove to their place in a sleigh. They had decorated Russian Thistles for a tree, and we three "kids" had each given one small gift from our pile and scrounged around until we had something for each child, and a cake and a small can of tobacco for the parents. We stayed for supper and what joy we gave those youngsters who shared in the food we brought and the gifts of love and sharing.

Getting a school was a problem, but at last one was available. It was built by neighbors and had homemade tables and benches for a few years with a "hodge-podge" of books and grades at first. Miss Jessie Mc Gilvary (a homesteader, herself) taught the first four months term. She rode horseback from near the Medicine Rocks back and forth each day. The students came from miles around on foot, with buggies, horseback and with wagons. There were about twenty-seven of us all told. The bigger pupils helped with the little ones, and all were happy to be in school and happy to have playmates.

My mother had been a teacher, so we had been taught at home. I started in the third grade in that early school on a section north of Will Johnson's homestead. The school was a social center for programs, card parties, dances and various meetings. Later they moved the school near Art Kuehn's farm, and the Will's School was built on a corner of my dad's farm. Now it sets along the highway near the Glenn Moore farm.

A favorite pastime at school was "gopher-moring" which involved many trips to the toilet, with the "gopher-string" passed from one to another in turn.

High school days, Sybil Vincelette [Traweek] and Edith White [Wiley].

After finishing elementary school in the Will's School under Miss Edwina Eichenberger, I went to high school in Baker, graduating in three years. I went to summer school in Billings, passed the teacher's examinations and taught the Myhre School for my first years teaching. The next year I taught the Lincoln School south of Plevna. Then I began going to college a while, teach a year, college again, until I graduated from Eastern Normal (School) College at Billings in 1928.

I taught in small towns after that, such as Whitetail (where I met my husband), Broadview (what fun), then to Roundup, Bridger, Plevna, (married while there) and a move to the Fort Peck Dam country in 1935 where Jack, my husband, works, and have been here ever since.

I attended college whenever I had a chance, did substitute teaching and in 1941 was called back to teach in Nashua while World War II was on. Jack was in the service from 1942 to 1945. He was in Special Service and stationed in Europe at a supply depot most of the time.

I taught in Fort Peck for six years after the war, then back to Nashua's fifth grade. I got my B. S. degree from Eastern Montana College in 1954 and have a half-year graduate work. I quit teaching in 1968 due to a vision problem and with thirty-seven years teaching behind me.

I have kept busy as a Girl Scout and Brownie Leader for nearly fifteen years also a Junior Auxiliary Leader, for ten years. I have my membership in Eastern Star, Charity Chapter #60 at Baker, belong to American Legion Auxiliary for twenty-three years, am a Daughter of the American Revolution and a P.T.A. member for twenty years. I have been a member of the Montana Education Association for twenty-five years, A L C W church group, Eastern Montana Alumnus, Garden Club and was asked to Who's Who in Education this past year. (1972)

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College days, Vivian Fulton [Castleberry] and Edith White [Wiley].

I am now the owner of the Warren White homestead and am a tax-payer in Fallon County and am a member of the O'Fallon Historical Society.

IDA GUNDERSON WILD

I was born in Minnesota and Mother brought me to the homestead late in 1908 when I was six weeks old. I started school in Baker when I was seven years old, walking the mile from home and carrying a lunch. Mother said she never knew for sure if I got there until I returned in the evening because we lived over the hill from town. A "Hot Lunch" program was started in the Baker schools sometime during the time I was in the grades by "Old Dad Seeley" who was the janitor. He prepared and sold hot soup at noon for 5 cents a bowl. The basement furnace room was used for the dining place. In cold weather it really added to our cold sandwiches.

After graduating from high school I attended the Eastern Montana Normal School at Billings. After receiving my teacher's certificate I taught five years in Dawson, Sheridan and Fallon Counties. My last term was at the New Lincoln School located about five and a half miles south west of Baker.

I lived in the schoolhouse, going out on Monday morning and returning Friday after school. During the fall, possibly in early November, one of my pupils, Dagrum Johnson, who was in the third grade, became very ill. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Johnson, took her to the Baker Hospital where she was operated on for a ruptured appendix. In a few days she passed away. Her mother had come from Northern Norway Pot too many years before and insisted things should be cared for similar to the ways done in Norway. Mrs. Ferdy Carlson, my mother, Mrs. Albert Gustafson and possibly some others got together and made all the burial clothes. Julius Bessert made a cedar coffin and the women padded it and lined it with white satin. Some other material was used to cover the outside. Then there was the grave to dig and my brother, Sam, and Joe Lee went to the cemetery and dug the grave in the hard frozen ground. The funeral services were held at our home. Extra chairs were borrowed to seat the people and many other preparations were made. Those were some difficult days.

The winter of 1935-36 was one of the worst anyone had ever experienced. Early in January on a beautiful, sunshiny Monday morning George, my brother, took me to school in an old pickup. There was just a skiff of snow on the ground. Early in the afternoon a strong wind and dark clouds came rolling in and by 2:30 quite a bit of snow was coming down. In a short time the parents came and took the children home. I hurried and carried in several buckets of coal from the shed that was at least 125 feet away. The storm raged all night. I got up at four o'clock in the morning and threw another bucket of coal on the fire to keep from freezing. In a day or two there was a snowdrift larger than the school building between it and the coal shed. The school building was very cold and felt like a corncrib in the terrific wind. I spent most of my time carrying coal and tending the fire. I stayed up until 12 o'clock and was up again at 4 in the morning. I had to get up as it was too cold to stay in bed. This went on until Friday afternoon when George came in a bobsled to take me home. The storm was still so bad that the visibility was almost nil. The air was filled with snow. George put the horses in the barn and covered them with blankets as they were nearly exhausted from their I I mile trip. I was certainly thankful to get home that night. The next morning over the Yankton, South Dakota Radio Station, our school superintendent, Mel Schneider had it announced there would be no rural schools open the coming week. Practically everything in the community was at a stand still. The week the schools were closed had to be made up and our school ran until June tenth.

In 1936 John Wild, a native of Des Moines, Iowa and at that time Drilling Superintendent for the Montana-Dakota Utilities Company, and I were married. We bought and remodeled a home on the east side of Baker. In 1945 we decided to go into business for ourselves, sold our house and moved to Bozeman, Montana. We were there about a year when we sold out and bought another Night Club in Helena, Montana where we spent twenty years. We sold that business in 1966 and returned to Baker.

I had owned the forty acres joining Baker since 1936. In 1956 1 started the Gunderson First Addition to Baker. There are sixteen beautiful homes there now. The Catholic Church has a block and the new Baker High School has a goodly portion of this complex. So far two more additions have been added to the city. All water and sewer lines are put in before any lots are sold and it is the only part of Baker that is zoned for residental property. The avenues are named for the male members of the Gundersons. I still have some more land and there can be more additions as the town grows.

In 1967 John and I built our new home and we plan that to be our headquarters during our Golden Years. Hopefully, we will do a little more traveling to add a little spice to the interesting and good years we have already lived.

GENEVIVE ELLEN WILLIAMS

I, Genevive Ellen Williams, was born to Louis and Ellen Moore Williams in Renvile County, Minnesota on May 30, 1882.

I received my education and grew up on a farm in Nicolet County, Minnesota. I had to help on the farm when I was old enough. My duties were to help raise a garden, ride for the milk cows and get up early in the morning and bring in the work horses.

On June 21, 1905 1 married Lewis R. Williams at New Ulm, Minnesota, and on June 30, 1905 we came by train to Wibaux, Custer County, Montana. We settled in the Willard vicinity south of Baker, where my husband worked for the neighbors and farmed. There was plenty of grass for livestock but the winters were often severe. There was usually much snow and sometimes it got as cold as forty below zero. It was

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seventeen miles to the post office at Ekalaka and eighty miles to Wibaux.

Geneuiue Williams.

Some people who helped to make Fallon County were the folks at Willard and Webster. They put up buildings with post offices and stores which were the gathering places of the people and for the many activities it takes to make a community. These places were where the men gathered to talk about schools, where people voted and where many ministers of many faiths came to conduct services. These services were very welcome to so many. I think Willard had a very good beginning and is still there but Webster has been gone for many years and we did miss it when we were back there.

I have heard people say that Mr. and Mrs. Albert Fost were wonderful people and that they never did hear Albert Fost say a word against anybody. Without him and his fruit trees, Fallon County would not have been the same.

I remember our first harvest which was very good, but just as it was ready to harvest, my husband came down with typhoid fever. The neighbors all came in and cut the grain and threshed it, so we had our year's living.

There was a little German-Swiss lady by the name of Mrs. Brunner who loved to have me talk German with her. She also was a mid-wife and delivered three of my children without the help of a doctor and took care of me and the family while I was in bed.

It never did seem very lonely for many people would stop for the night on their way to Baker and bring the news. There were so many people who were ready to help in any way they could.

We had six children: Elmer Lewis, Doloris Rumelhart, Rachel Offerdahl, Joan Savino, Francis Palmer and Clyde William. I also have sixteen grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

WILLMAN-JASSAUD STORY by John Willman

Mrs. Fred Jassaud (Mary) came to visit the John Hastys in 1907. This was where the A. W. Bickles presently live. Mr. Hasty met her in Fallon with a buckboard, since the Milwaukee had not yet been built this far.

Liking the country, she filed a soldier's claim for my grandfather, who had served through the Civil War.

The first I remember of Montana was getting off the passenger train with my mother at midnight in Ismay, being met by Daddy Boor who ran a meat market for Ned Eggleston in Ismay. No sidewalks, nothing but mud and rain. Crossing the borrow pit of the railroad, Daddy Boor cautioned my mother to take care at the same time she landed in the mud and with my face in the mud. I was five years old at the time.

After a few days my Grandfather showed up with the emigrant car with one cow, one horse, household goods, mower, rake and so forth.

Getting moved out to the homestead, my granddad made camp down on the first flat or a creek bottom. Shortly a rider came through and told him he would have to move camp or he would get washed away. The house was built that summer. My grandmother, grandfather, mother, aunt Emma and myself wintered there in the house that's still standing.

The Jassaud homestead.

All travel was by horse at that time, of course, with a twelve mile trip to Ismay, since there was only a sign post and siding at Westmore, until 1910.

On one trip in the winter time my grandmother, mother and I were stopping at the Hasty place, the creek was frozen over hard and the barefooted horses both got down on the ice. My grandmother, who grew up in pioneer days in Michigan, always had a way out of any trouble. She told my mother to put the laprobes down under the horses, and thereby got across the ice.

About that time (I was six years old) a prairie fire showed up one night over the western hills and my folks,knowing nothing about fighting prairie fire, went out with a wet sack apiece and started pounding fire. Of course the fire went right around behind them and they had to do it over again. This kept up until Ned Eggleston with his crew, John Hasty and his crew showed up to fight the fire. The men told our folks to go back to the house and if it wasn't too much trouble, to make a lunch for them. Asked what they wanted, one said "Lemon Pie". So those women went home and made lemon pies. Some time later the boys pointed the fire into the hills and got it out, came to the house and ate their lunch. At that time my aunt came from outdoors and told the boys the cats had licked the frosting all off the pie, but they said "Bring it in, and we'll eat it anyhow." And they did.

Several good years followed, until 1919 dried out the country. Everybody had to start over. Then later 1926 did the same thing, which was about all the real trouble, until the "Hungry Thirties", and that really thinned out the country.

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Some stayed by pure nerve, some didn't have enough to get out with. Most of them are still here, or their families.

Mrs. Willman, (my mother) who had filed more or less as an investment, learned to like the country so well, she remained here until her death in 1960.

I still remain on her homestead, farming it along with the Jassaud land.

MRS. MADGE WILSON

My parents, Evelyn and Sam Longnecker, homesteaded in Minnesota in 1879. I was born in Walnut Grove in 1881. I attended school in Morgan and Albert Lea, Minnesota becoming a teacher.

In 1904 Albert Gregerson and I were married. We had two children, Evelyn and Genevieve. Albert died in 1914,

Genevieve and Evelyn Gregerson, 1920.

My parents and I decided to come to Montana in 1915. We had a boxcar because we had our furniture and my mother's and father's stuff. We lived in Plevna, building a house there in 1915 on a lot next to my sister who was Mrs. Fred Dugan. Mr. Dugan had a general store near the post office.

I could write a lot about my life in Montana those first years but it would be of no interest to anyone now. My friends are all gone.

I taught school in Fallon County from 1916 to 1940.

While I was teaching the Ohlrich School in 1918 and 1919, my children and I attended the Coal Springs Church. My children were in a program on Children's Day. I remember one big church party. It was a chicken pie supper.

There were many picnics in that area, but I did not attend any of them. They were put on by the Non-Partisan group.

The Holbrooks and I picked the June berries, buffalo berries, chokecherries and wild plums every fall.

I surely do know all about burning lignite coal in my home and also in the stoves of all the schools in which I taught. Our coal came from a mine about four miles away and men hauled coal for many days.

Wedding day of Mr. and Mrs. John Wilson, 1920. Left to right, Johnny Wilson, A. Doggett, Effie Doggett, Madge Wilson, Elmer Wilson, John Wilson, Evelyn Gregerson, Christ Ross [behind Evelyn], Mrs. Ross, Archie Wilson and Guy Wilson.

I married Mr. John Wilson in 1920. We lived on a farm nine miles from Baker. Some of our neighbors were the Halls, The Rosses, the Cooks, the Thompsons and the Vincelletes. I remember the men driving to Ekalaka for a year's wood supply. It took two days to make the trip with two teams and wagons.

Mrs. Evelyn Wilson, my daughter, is a nurse and lives in San Diego, California. My other daughter, Genevieve (Mrs. R. C. Welch), lives on an avocado ranch 13 acres near Poway, thirty-five miles from San Diego. She and her husband are both teachers but Gene retired last year. They have three children all married. She has six grandchildren. One daughter and husband are missionaries in Bogota, Colombia, S. A.

My stepchildren were Elmer, Guy, Archie, Ethel and John Wilson. Ethel is Mrs. 0. A. Soderling of Yakima, Washington. Elmer and Guy are dead. John lives in Grass Valley, California and Archie in Seattle, Washington.

I have seven grandchildren and three step-grandchildren and eighteen great grandchildren and one great, great grandchild.

I live in an "Old Folkes Home" in San Diego but spend a lot of time on the ranch.

EARL WISEMAN

Earl Wiseman, the son of Luther and Ella Wiseman, was born in Palnupa, Missouri on December 10, 1906. In 1914, when Earl was eight years old, his parents came by train to Baker, Montana. At first the family lived in Baker where Earl worked at the Bowling Alley setting pins. He also sold newspapers. Although he was a busy boy he did find time to play with friends at times.

Later the Wisemans moved to a farm in the Fertile Prairie vicinity east of Baker where Earl was kept busy helping his father on the farm. He attended the rural school until he finished the elementary grades. After he had grown up, Earl became a well driller and welder for the Montana Dakota Utilities Company.

Alice M. Parent and Earl were married in Baker on October 6, 1928.

Alice is the daughter of Louis and Auxilia Parent who lived in St. Martin, Canada, Province of Quebec where she

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was born, April 11, 1908. In 1914, when Alice was six years old, her folks came to Montana to settle on a homestead in the Bisher community which is south of Baker.

The Parents had come to Montana from Canada because they wanted to have land of their own and establish a home. They experienced hard winters, poor roads, not too good transportation to the town which was a long ways off. Their neighbors on the homestead were Frank Mains, George Emilson and Cap Zink.

Alice enjoyed all the social activities such as picnics, rodeos, Fourth of July celebrations and such, but her first love was dances, both in the country and in town.

Her education was acquired in the rural school of her neighborhood and her high school education was gained in Baker. After coming to Baker, Alice worked as a waitress in cafes.

The Wisernans had five children: Leona Mae, Dalbert Earl, Russell, Duane, Alice Faye and James Dale. There are ten grandchildren.

Earl's church preference is the Community Church and Alice is of the Catholic Faith.

JOHN AND MINNIE WOLENETZ by Byron Wolenetz

My grandparents, John Wolenetz and his wife Minnie Wolenetz, were born respectively and respectfully in the bordering states of Wisconsin and Illinois. From their ancestors they inherited their agricultural abilities as well as travel "itchy feet" and their desire to follow Horace Greeley's advice "Go west, young man, go west!"

Intensive farms have small acreage and big buildings. Every available acre must produce its limit in bushels, barrels, gallons, quarts or pounds. Even the corners and fence lines produce plums and other small fruits from thickets and vines. The gardens are fringed with cherry and mulberry trees, and orchards produced their bushels of apples, peaches and pears. The intensive farmer's fruit shelves gleamed with cans of meat, fruit and vegetables canned by thrifty house wives and daughters. It was a busy thrifty life that required labor from sunup to dark, from early spring until late autumn. It was on a farm of 120 acres of this description that my grandparents found themselves located three years after they were married and there they lived until my dad, his older brother and young sister had attained the ages of eleven, nine, and half past two.

The farm owner was among the lucky ones to draw an allotted Oklahoma homestead in the Oklahoma Rush Homestead Act, and moved on. At first renting their farm to my grandparents who were tenants until they became owners. During this time the Dakota Homestead Drawing took place and Grandfather's number was counted among the lucky winners. After a trip to see his described land in said drawing, he decided that he would be more lucky to wish good luck to someone who liked Bad Lands and desert better than he. However he went on to see lands in Colorado. He visited and explored lands on his way to Denver and saw advantages in the "Wide Open Spaces", which could not be had in such restricted areas as Iowa was rapidly becoming.

The Northwestern Railroad was being surveyed and built past the 120 acres which he had just purchased. The railroad continuing its way west to Sioux City and a bus line being built east across Iowa to Chicago and cars were also appearing in the market. These new methods of travel brought an influx of new workers, some honest workers and some who worked honest men out of their accumulated possessions. In other words, my grandparents felt it was a good time for them to move out and on toward the setting sun. A Mr. Earnest Wright from Eastern Iowa thought their little 120 acres farm could be made just right to fit his family needs. It was only one-half mile from school. Schools were located two miles apart and held spring, fall and winter terms. The winter terms were from November to April, during which time the boys and girls who were old enough to be useful in farm activities acquired their education.

So, the 120 acre farm had a new operator, and March first, regular farm moving day, found my grandparents temporarily located on a nearby farm of 40 acres including another set of big buildings, and small acreage.

Montana, 1909, had been a state for 20 years and its boundary lines had designated it the third largest in the Union. The Indians had been subdued and placed on reservations. Vigilante Days and Custer's Last Stand were history, trappers and hunters had ended buffalo days, miners had been located in the Rockies, cowboys were happily riding the range in a last stand to hold Montana as a cattle country for the big ranches, who now held sway. Montana was being exploited as the last frontier and chance to attain free government lands as homesteads. So Gramp and Herman, his near neighbor, with tickets to Hardin, Montana boarded the Northwestern train at Sioux City, Iowa, to see this great land of promise. They rode all day and night and awoke the next morning just as the sun was coming up and they saw a little town built around a lake. This was Baker, Montana, Montana's Gateway on the Milwaukee Railroad Yellowstone Trail. They liked the looks of this little town and its surrounding country and marked it as the main stop on the way back.

Arriving at Hardin they were not impressed by the icy and snowy reception of mountains to the west and saw little of interest to them at Hardin, so they spent little time in returning to Baker. They found Baker to be a small town of some 350 population of friendly people who welcomed all new comers. They registered at the only little hotel in town and there met a man who was a rancher from the south country who had been located in this part of the country for a little over one year.

Gramps rode with Mr. Gross on his return trip the next day. They followed the Wibaux-Camp Crook road to Ekalaka, the little inland town named for the Indian princess, Ekalaka. So far they liked the Little Beaver Valley as their first choice and promised themselves a look see on their way back to Baker. They spent the night at Ekalaka, with their host. Early the next morning they went on their way to Alzada. Mr. Gross took them around to see the ranchers and newly settled homesteaders. The old time ranchers did not welcome them. They called the new settlers "Honyocks", which means undesirable citizens. Undesirable because according to the last census Montana had plenty of settlers, in fact too many since they were taking land which was needed for their cattle and sheep ranches. Here indeed was a land of great open spaces. Few or no fences, roads or schools. In fact the land of extensive agricultural pursuits, small homes, and big acres. Gramps decided this was a little too extensive for his family of three kiddies, who yet had education and life problems ahead of them.

He turned around and headed back for Baker. He was on his own now and walked most of the way catching only occasional short rides, because most travel except town trips was made by horse back. After three days of such going he again was looking at the Little Beaver Valley country 26 miles southeast of Baker. Dark over-took him at a neat little tarpaper home occupied by a traveling salesman, his wife and little son. He was made most welcome, given a good meal and bed. The next day they showed him the only land left which was open for settlement, all homestead land had been taken and only squatter land was left. They were squatters and "Honyocks" themselves.

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Gramps liked the valley and also its people. In fact they seemed to be his kind and a family lived on every 320, so neighbors were plenty and most had families of growing children. Gramp sent a letter back home that this was the promised land for him. He stayed several more days looking around and then decided that if he was going to get in, even on a "Squatter's Claim", he would have to hurry before it was all squatted up or down, since a Squatter's Claim could be held only by actual occupancy and home improvements.

The land was first located and claimed by plowing a furrow around it and placing stakes with your name at each corner. It could be held by the occupant tax free until surveyed and filed on as a homestead and a title of ownership granted to the occupant. This was not objectionable to Gramps because he felt he could stand it without paying taxes for a few years and be happy here among friends he could soon acquire. Schools and other necessary improvements would soon be coming with families on all sides.

Gramp acquired 4 forties straight in a line and two forties jutting out to the south making the new farm somewhat the shape of a corn cob pipe. This made only 240 acres, but it seemed the best that was to be had.

A furrow plowed around the piece of land and Gramp's brand placed on the stakes soon declared the intention for its new occupant, even though it was a farm without title, section or number. Next came the test for a well. Good water was found at 29 feet, then a basement was excavated for the new house. An old shack was located and moved to the eastmost 40, which faced the Camp Crook Trail and also gave them the new friends for neighbors.

With this accomplished he sent for the family. The family arrived early in the spring. They took a look around and wondered if Gramp was wearing green glasses when he first landed. A frost had turned green things to brown. They thought of the pretty green lawns, gardens and early June in the Iowa homes, and became a little homesick, but at least here was adventure. After having breakfast they were soon on their way. Gramp had loaded lumber for curbing for the new well, and the pump they had brought from Iowa, and some other necessary things.

As they neared home they were surprised to see a new lumber shack on the second forty west of that where Gramp and Uncle Elmer had started their improvements. Here was a new and unwelcome situation which required immediate attention.

This intruder on Gramps 2nd 40 said Gramps had failed to mark the land properly as every 40 acres should have a marker at each corner. He must have been one of those bloodsuckers who thought he smelled money. Gramp called him J. P. Varment, the J. P. stood for Just Plain Varment. A settlement was made. The J. P. V. would get $125.00 actual cost of the new tar paper covered 10 x 12 shack and gave Gramp a receipt to assure he wouldn't try that same trick on other white settlers who might try to locate in our valley.

The well was dug by hand and curbed with a wooden curbing. The pump was put in and the boys became a walking windmill for several years or until the regular 20-foot tower and wheel took their places. It afforded water for house use and stock since no creek ran through the place.

Before the government surveyed the land, Gramp exchanged a mowing machine to neighbor Johnson for an adjoining 80 acres to the bowl of his corn cob shaped land, making it the fully 320 allotted to him by U. S. Homestead Act and a much better shaped farm. After three years of being a Squatter, the Government surveyed the strip and corrections in fences and farm lines were made. Homesteader claims were filed and my grandparents became Homesteaders instead of Squatters, but were still known among Old Timers as " Honyocks ". Lignite coal, free for the digging and hauling was their first fuel.

During this time a new schoolhouse had been built by subscription and state help. The first term was taught by Mrs. Charles Hamilton. The second term 40 pupils were in attendance and this required a man teacher. Clarence Yokley, another young bachelor homestead neighbor, took over and did a very good job. My Dad and his brother both attended. This schoolhouse was centrally located which made it one half mile from my father's home. It served as a general meeting place, elections were held in it and both grandparents acted as judges, and clerks of elections here. Grandmother was clerk of the school board and later she became one of its teachers.

Much of the valley was broken up and put into small grain and binders were replaced by headers then combines, and the grain shocks disappeared, trucks hauled the grain to market and extensive farming came about.

Farm papers and magazines of every description and direction are to be turned to home demonstration, 4-H clubs and Boy Scouts, co-op farm organizations took place. Fairs are held every fall. Custer County was divided into 4 counties. The new ones were: Wibaux, Fallon, and Carter. All are good-sized counties.

Every farm family exhibits its grain, vegetables, pastry and arts of every sort at their county fair. It is our big event of the year. It is usually held the last of August.

My grandparents were both very allergic to mortgages, so no mortgage was ever placed against their homestead.

Grandfather passed away in the fall of 1942, but Grandmother still made her home in the same little ranch home that was built.

Finally came depression and wars. Our young men and women were first in line to do what they could to win the wars and peace. Big machinery took the place of manpower. Mothers went to work at relief and Red Cross Work, and even took over the teaching jobs during the shortage of teachers, among them was my grandmother, who also became my rural teacher.

Now my brother and I do her farming and caring for her stock while she lives in retirement on the homestead during the summer months.

We now have electricity in our homes, T. V. sets, telephones and radio. Butane and natural gas have taken the place of lignite coal. Most farmers have leases, comfortable homes are being built. Our acreage are getting bigger and more substantial and oil industry is being developed.

Extensive farming is the order of the day. Farming and ranching has become Montana's most important industry.

Bozeman is our college of agricultural pursuits, is turning out students who must and will carry on the work of caring for the hungry and helping our big state successfully feed and care for this world in the exciting atomic age-and who knows what next?

This material was compiled from sources I received from the Golden Jubilee Booklet published by the Baker Chamber of Commerce, the Golden Jubilee Edition of the Fallon County Times, June 19, 1958, and from private interviews of citizens residing in the town and vicinity of Baker, Montana. The second part of the paper is an actual account of the homesteader days which I obtained from my grandmother, Mrs. M. K. Wolenetz.

Editor's note-This paper was written as a thesis by Byron Wolenetz while he was attending college at Bozeman. He now teaches Math in the Baker Junior High School.

Mrs. M. K. Wolenetz has since passed away.

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BETH CONSER WOOD [MRS. WILLIAM WOOD]

I arrived in this world in the state of Minnesota in January of 1889. My parents were Louis A. and Nettie Conser. When I was nine years of age in 1908, my parents decided to leave Minnesota and migrate westward, where my father hoped to possess himself of a piece of land in a developing area.

So they set out with myself and two younger brothers, Eugene and Hugh, who was just one year old. They traveled over the Milwaukee Railroad and lighted down at Ismay, Montana, where we lived for a year, while father established a town newspaper. The following year we moved to Baker, where he once again established a newspaper, "The Baker Sentinel".

Then, in 1910, the family moved on to a homestead 1 1/2 miles southeast of Plevna, Montana. They did not go into the stock raising business, but engaged in farming. All during my childhood years I enjoyed playing with other children, going to school and after coming west, riding horseback, attending 4th of July celebrations, with the band music, the races and the fireworks, as well as other picnic days.

I had started school in Minnesota, continued in Ismay, later in Baker and then in Plevna. One of my memories is of walking the 1 1/2 miles cross country into Plevna with our neighbor children; Carl, Tillie and Emmet Rabe. There were times when the going was pretty rugged during bad weather. One day a rattlesnake struck Tillie, but the fangs didn't penetrate through the folds of her stockings around her ankle. There were also joyful occasions when the whole family, along with Uncle C. C. and Aunt Lettie and Hattie, made expeditions into the area south of Plevna to gather plums and berries. So many happy times and a few less amusing, such as when little brother, Hugh, fell on his hands and knees into a bed of cactus in our yard, and when my mother killed a rattle snake in the garden with a hoe.

Several years later, what a thrill it was when Dad bought an Overland Car! I learned to drive it over the rutted trails, over the country side and on the roads graveled with scoria from the local hills.

Another joy was taking piano lessons from Mrs. Ed Lentz after we moved back to Baker. She was the aunt of my schoolmate, Irene Lentz, who in later years became widely known as "Irene", the Hollywood dress designer.

I completed grade school and entered high school in Baker and have many memories of those days. I recall our German Teacher impressing on our minds the fact that the German word "Ich" was not pronounced "ick". Ha! So hard to get the correct accent! Then there was the declamatory contest in which I recited Kipling's "Ballad of East and West", which I probably would not have remembered so well except for the fact that I lost the decision. Our girl's BasketBall Team was all rigged out in black sateen bloomers and white middy blouses. Our graduation exercises had to be canceled because of a measles scare, but sympathetic Baker people gave us a party anyhow.

After graduating from high school, I spent a most rewarding and pleasurable year at the University of Montana and later a summer session there. My first year of teaching was spent at the Myhre School south of Baker. I have many happy memories of the experience as I received such wonderful cooperation from the parents who desired all necessary supplies and equipment for their children. We gave a box social and dance to earn money to purchase a Victrola and records, some people even came down from Baker. I next taught 2 years at Plevna. Some of my coworkers were: Marcela Knox, Lorene Hibbard (now Mrs. Mike Kirschten) Esther Wheeler and principal, Lee Meyer, and his sister.

In the fall of 1919, I became acquainted with William S. Wood, who came from Illinois shortly after World War I. He had come to Baker to teach. He organized and taught in the Commercial Department of the Baker High. We were married in December of 1920 at Baker. During the following years we lived in Baker, where our two eldest sons were born. We enjoyed life in Baker, taking part in social affairs. With other young married couples we formed a Bridge Club, we also attended dances at the Masonic and Hubbard Halls.

In 1923 we moved to Wisconsin where Bill went to Normal School and obtained a degree in Education He secured a position as Commercial Teacher at the Washington High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We moved there in 1925 where three more children were added to the family circle. We continued to live there while we reared and educated our children and Bill followed his profession. In February of 1959 Bill suffered a heart attack while at school and despite the best efforts of the rescue team, died enroute to the hospital. It was most fortunate for me that our two younger children, John and Marjorie, were still at home. They are now in the Eastern United States. They manage to get home once a year and I do have Don's and Bill's families closer and Bob is only seven miles away.

I have made frequent trips to visit my children in their homes as well as to the homes of my sister, at Reno, Nevada and my brothers at Bozeman, Montana, Phoenix, Arizona and Winnetka, Illinois, along with a trip to California, where I had a wonderful visit with old time friends, from Baker. Our children are:

Robert Louis-born in Baker, is now an engineer with Me Donnel-Douglas Company of St. Louis, Missouri and has worked on the Phantom jets and on the Mercury and Gemini projects.

William Colso-born in Baker and is a graduate of Marquette University Medical School and is now a Physician and Surgeon at Delavan, Wisconsin. He also served 4 years in Army Medical Corps in World War II.

Donald E.-went from high school into the Air Force as a pilot. After the war he returned and went into business as manager of a service station in a suburb of Milwaukee.

John R. graduated from the University of Wisconsin and served two years in Army Intelligence. He is now employed in the Treasurery Department of the United States in Washington D. C.

Marjorie Beth Mendoza, her husband, a former Army Captain, is a sales representative for I B M in Atlanta ,Georgia.

ROBERT LEE YOKLEY

Robert Lee Yokley was born in North Carolina on September 27, 1866. As a boy he migrated to Texas and became a cowboy. He came north, with the trail herds of cattle, to Montana and Wyoming for the 101 Ranch outfit. In 1890 he took up squatter's rights on what became his ranch 30 miles south of what later became Baker and was then in Custer County. In 1893 he returned to Butler, Missouri and married a girl he had known before. He brought her back to Montana and established his own ranch and permanent home. Her name was Elizabeth Johnson.

Four children were born to this union-Howard C. Yokley, Robert L., Jr., Laura M. (Owen) and Wilma who died at an early age. All the children were born at the ranch without a medical doctor. A mid-wife officiated. The early schooling of the children was in Ekalaka. Upon Bob's being elected County Commissioner, to represent the eastern district of Custer County, the family moved to Miles City where the children completed their high school education.

Yokley was one of the big cattle operators of the area. At times he had two large bands of sheep and hundreds of cattle.

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He served two terms as Commissioner of Fallon County after it was formed.

He passed away on April 25, 1948 at the age of 81 and was buried in the family plot in the Custer County Cemetery at Miles City. Upon his passing this area undoubtedly lost its champion elucidator of amusing cowboy yarns of doubtful veraciousness.

DENZIL R. YOUNG, SR.

Denzil was one of the first homesteaders in the Fertile Prairie country. In 1909 he came to Montana with his parents, filed on a homestead, then returned to Minnesota to obtain his degree in law at the University of Minnesota. He returned to Baker to practice law.

Shortly there after, he became a member of Company " I " and served as private in the war with Mexico. He then served in the First World War and was discharged with the rank of Second Lieutenant. On his return to Baker he was associated with his uncle, P. C. Cornish, in the practice of law. He took an important part in the formation of Fallon Post 35 American Legion of Montana and was one of the few members to maintain continuous membership for twenty five years. He was also County Attorney for Fallon County at different times.

In December of 1920 Denzil Young and Dorothy Hurley were married at Baker. Dorothy's parents were homesteaders in North Dakota. She attended the State Teacher's College at Valley City, North Dakota. She had come to the Baker, Montana vicinity in 1919.

Two children were born to Denzil and Dorothy; Denzil, Jr. of Baker and Ellen (Young) Scheller of Hillsboro, Oregon.

The children grew up in Baker and both attended the grade schools and graduated from high school here. They also attended the Baker Community Church.

Denzil, Sr. died suddenly of a heart attack on January 15, 1955.

Dorothy, who had been a schoolteacher before her marriage, took up school teaching again. In 1965 she retired and now makes her home in Hillsboro, Oregon. During her life, Dorothy has tried to meet the challenges of life, following the ideals and examples set by her parents, loving home life with husband and children, feeling blessed by observing the children and grandchildren following and improving the pattern.

HOMER AND ELLA YOUNG by Florence Young Haagenson

My father and mother, Homer and Ella Young, would be honored to share a place in the "0 Fallon Flashbacks".

I can remember traveling by covered wagon in Minnesota and Iowa when I was five years old. Later, my mother, two brothers and I came from Browns Valley, Minnesota by train to Montana. My father came ahead a short time before by freight train with the stock. When we arrived at Baker one of my uncles, A. W. Cate, was in town, getting a load of lumber to start building their house. He met us, and we rode fifteen miles of winding roads and steep hills to his home. They lived in the upper part of the barn, the hayloft, until their house was built. It was a hot October day, and we were seated on top of the lumber. My brothers and I would get down and walk behind the wagon when we became tired of riding. My brother, Lloyd, was eleven years old, brother, Mervin, was seven, and I was nine years old. It was dark by the time we got to my uncle's home.

In a week or so our father arrived with our stock. They were driven to their destination by horse back, of course, as there were no cattle trucks in those days. It was not until 1915 that we got our first Model T Ford. What a treat that was!

Homer and Ella Young, wedding picture, 1896.

 

My folks filed on a claim in 1909. We were allowed 320 acres or one-half section of land. It was located eleven miles south of Baker, adjacent to the old 101 Road. This road led to the 101 Ranch, one of the largest ranches in the territory. For miles around there was nothing but prairie land. In the distance one could see a sheep wagon nestled in the sagebrush or beside a hill for protection. Nearby was the sheepherder, with his sheep dog, tending the large bands of sheep numbering into the thousands. There were also a few cattle ranches dotting the prairie. This was the time of disputes between the cattlemen and the sheepmen. We were called "the Honyocks" when we started setting posts and stringing barbed wire in order to determine our section lines.

Baker was barely two years old with less than a dozen buildings at that time. That first winter in Montana there was a lot of snow. We lived in a tent until it got too cold then we moved into a tar roofed, tar papered shack which was fourteen feet square. It wasn't much warmer than the tent! This shack was owned by my uncle, Hosa Cate.

Homer Young's homestead, 1910,

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When spring came my father had bought the lumber to build the house and barn, and had hauled it to our claim. Our house was 16 by 24 feet. It was not very warm as we had only a cook stove for heat at first. Later we bought a coal heater- scarce item at that time. We used lignite coal which my father went several miles to dig. It would take nearly a day to get a load of coal. Some of this coal burned fine but some of it was "green" and wet and when burned would cause a liquid known as creosote to run down the stove pipes. He would also go several miles to find wood to burn, which consisted of dried, fallen trees. The coal and wood had to last through the winter as there wasn't a chance of finding wood after the snow had fallen.

The first year we didn't have school as the school district did not have funds for more than five or six months. Later on, I can remember that we had thirty-four students in one room with one teacher.

Some of our relatives came to Baker before we did. They had also filed on claims. I had four uncles and three aunts who were my mother's brothers and sisters. All were married, except for two uncles, and had families of their own, so there were cousins and more cousins as the years went by.

Our community was called the Minnesota Valley because we all lived in Minnesota before we came to Montana, and it was in Custer County at that time. After the counties were divided we lived in Fallon County. My mother wrote the Minnesota Valley News for the Fallon County Times for many years.

My mother's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kreager, had also come to Montana. Grandfather Kreager had been here just about a year when he had a tragic accident. He was killed by a run-away team of horses while coming home from town one day.

Before my father drilled a water well, we hauled water by the barrel on a stone-boat pulled by a pony. Many of you may not know about stone-boats. They were made like a sled, having two runners with boards nailed across the top, and were quite difficult to pull. A piece of strap iron was nailed to the front of the slant-wise cut runners to keep the runners from wearing out so soon. We hauled the water from the spring for drinking and from a nearby creek for other uses.

My mother always grew a garden. We would put the root vegetables in the "root cellar" to keep them firm through the winter. In the fall we went several miles to pick plums, chokecherries and buffalo berries to make jams and jellies with. My father would butcher a couple of hogs and a steer in the fall-so-the ranch provided the meat.

There was no church as yet, and services were held in our house or at the school. After a few years a church was built. It was small but served the purpose. Mother and we three children seldom missed Sunday services, and mother usually held a church office. My aunt's father, Mr. Noftsker, was the minister.

For recreation in those days, we had picnics. The men played horseshoes and had baseball games. We also had house parties and dances about every two weeks in the winter and also on the Fourth of July. Every one took turns having them. My three uncles, Frank, Fred and Andy Kreager, furnished the music for the dancing. There was always some one to "call" for the square dances. We danced until it was time to go home and milk the cows and we thought that was too early to quit. We also had box-suppers, pie socials and raffles, which were a lot of fun. We went several miles to these social gatherings by team and buggy, by sleigh and even on horseback sometimes. The driver would stop along the way to pick up neighbors and usually had a load by the time he arrived at the dance. There were times when my brothers and I walked five miles to a dance, but we usually caught a ride home with relatives or neighbors. If the snow was deep enough some of the couples came several miles on skis,

In the night or early morning, when the first faint light dawned over the eastern hills, we could hear the lonely call of a coyote. This was possibly a signal to its' mate to come and share its prey which could have been a jackrabbit or the carcass of a colt or calf. Coyotes were a menace to the rancher as they killed the young animals. The ranchers set traps or shot them.

In a few years my parents had a beautiful shelterbelt of trees growing on the west and north of our house, as a protection from snow and cold. The house was remodeled and more living space added, and more land was acquired for grazing purposes.

Our "latch string" was always out for friends, relatives, or someone unlucky enough to be caught in a blizzard. The freighters, who traveled for miles into Baker after groceries and supplies to last all winter, stayed over night with us going to town and the next night on the return trip. They would buy several hundred pounds of flour and sugar, large wooden boxes of crackers and large sacks of coffee beans. Everyone had a coffee grinder in his home to grind the coffee by hand. They bought kerosene by the barrel for their lamps and lanterns.

We didn't have a telephone to call a doctor or call our friends, but every one knew his friends for miles around, and some how would get together for a "shingling-bee" if someone needed a new roof or roof repairs. The men would also exchange help at harvest, threshing and branding time. The women came along and helped with the cooking. It was fun doing these things together. My mother's sister, Clara Cate, was a mid-wife. She delivered several babies and took care of the sick.

In the twenty-three years my parents lived on this homestead, which over the years had become a ranch, my father continued to improve it. It became a neat landmark that people referred to as "The Pretty Place". Then ill health took him from us, at the early age of 64 on March 18, 1932. My brother, Lloyd, then bought the place from our mother and continued to manage it as our father had done. Two of our father's mottos were; "Work before pleasure" and "There's a place for everything and everything in its place". We three children tried to abide by these words.

After a few years my brother became ill and had to sell the old homestead. It was sold to a neighbor. It has been vacant for several years now, and all that remains is a weather-beaten, ramshackled place which was once a "Happy Home".

I have only one uncle living who is nearly 86 years old. He is Frank Kreager of Seattle, Washington. My mother and both my brothers are gone. Of all the old-timers in my family the only ones left are cousins.

Russell Haagenson and I were married in 1918. He had come to Baker in 1915. We have three daughters, one son, nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

My parents faced their problems and joys hand-in-hand, managing those early days well. These times and memories, we look back on and call them "The Good Old Days".

LLOYD R. AND MARJORIE F. YOUNG by Donna Young Freimark

Lloyd R. Young born November 13, 1897, Forest City, Iowa came to Baker as a young man 12 years old with his parents Homer and Ella Young, one brother, Mervin, and a sister, Florence. They homesteaded 12 miles south of Baker.

It was on a Halloween Night in 1913 when Marjorie Ferris, born February 24, 1901 arrived in Baker from Belle

Fourche, S. D. with her parents, Charles and Belle Ferris, and 6 brothers and sisters. She drove one of their three wagons, while her brothers trailed 30 head of horses.

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Lloyd and Marjorie Young, 1941.

Lloyd and Marjorie were married in Terry, Montana September 24, 1922. They lived on the Charles Ferris place one mile west of Baker until they decided to try their luck in California. They left Baker with their son, Melvin in 1924 in a Model T for Oakland, California. There Lloyd was a carpenter and a second son, Charles, was born.

"Peek-a-boo" Dad.

They returned to Baker in 1926 in a Model A which took them 11 days to make the trip.

Their home in Baker was Lloyd's "bachelor shack" on the Lake Road until they decided to move back to his father's homestead 12 miles south of Baker. Here 4 more children were born Donna, Milo, Royal and Doyle.

Lloyd was a "tinker" of all trades, his cattle brand was K 2, also a neighbor to all who needed him. During "tough" times he did carpenter work in town.

Marjorie was a "doer", canning, sewing, crocheting, and working in the harvest field.

Through the depression, grasshoppers, hail, dust and crop failures, they lived for 32 years.

In 1958 they sold the farm to Jimmy O'Connor and moved to Miles City, where they bought 20 acres and became retired farmers. Here they continued doing what they both loved best, gardening, raising chickens and visiting the children and 10 grandchildren. They later moved into town where Lloyd passed away October 9, 1966. Marjorie still lives at their last home, 805 N. Custer in Miles City.

Rear view of the Lloyd Young house in town.

Four of their six children live in Miles City; Melvin, retired Chief of Police, now working for Nolley's Welding; Charles, operates Charlie's Welding; Donna, is secretary for First Lutheran Church; Milo, passed away in 1958; Royal, works for his brother, Charlie; Doyle, a welder, now lives in Billings, Montana.

RUTH YOUNG

Only a twenty-three year Montanan,

but still love the state.

I came to Lambert, Montana in 1948 to teach Primary grades and also to get my husband into a different climate as I had heard Montana was a good place for asthma patients. In 1950 1 came to Baker to teach in a country school and have been here most of the time since.

Now I had better start at the beginning. I was born in 1903 to Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Kerr at Mattoon, Illinois and joined a two year old brother. My parents didn't like the climate so decided to move to North Dakota. Father got a claim and later bought more acres. Father brought a box car of furniture, machinery, cows and horses to Hurdsfield, North Dakota. Oh yes, two teams of mules were brought, which he later sold.

On April seventh, 1907 Mother, brother and I arrived at the boxcar station in a blinding snowstorm. At that time the railroad only went two towns past this one with their mixed train. Father met us, carrying me down the railroad, track to the Section House which he had rented from a bachelor section boss who retained one room for himself.

Father had got a big barn built on the claim when the section boss decided to marry and wanted the house. We moved into the carriage house and haymow of the new barn. Later they bought a house to go with the barn at the edge of town.

I was educated through the grades and some high school subjects at Hurdsfield, then finished high school at New Rockford and with others help I decided to be a teacher. The first winter I taught near home and also the following four years. I spent the summers attending Summer School at Valley City.

I was given the name of a school west of the river which I later taught and where I met my husband, Perry Kono. The next fall we were married. After four years of poor crops on rented land we decided to move to one of my parent's farms. Here again there was not enough rain. The hot summers with grasshoppers and bad blizzards in winter killed many wild

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animals and birds. After two years we moved to town and Perry found other work.

We had lost two baby boys by death and in 1936 had a third boy whom we named James David. I was called back to teaching by a shortage of teachers when James was seven.

My husband's asthma was worse and he said if I got a teaching position in Montana he would go with me. I got the position at the Lambert School. Here I met a man who told me a story. This man explained that he was working in North Dakota one time for a newspaper as a printer's devil. (He knew the Board had hired two teachers from North Dakota.) His cow wouldn't stay within the fence so he put her on a lariat near the church. One Halloween night this young man and others had taken the rope from the stake and fastened it to the church bell rope so when the cow grazed to the end of the rope, the bell rang. They watched and was the Judge angry!

The deacon or Judge as he called him was my father, I told him. I could faintly remember a young man who many times came to my parent's house to play the piano and he often came to his bosses. Now this man was one of the Board of the Lambert School.

The next year, I taught in N. D. and expected to teach in a town school but after some misunderstanding the County Superintendent at Baker got my name and pleaded with me to help her out, so I have taught fourteen years in Fallon and Carter Counties, which were from forty miles from town to seven miles.

My son's father died from a heart attack in Baker in 1953 when James was sixteen.

In 1955 Mervin Young and I were married. The next year we moved to Billings and stayed for over two years. Moving back to Baker I started to teach school again. When he was sick in November 1960 1 got a substitute teacher. After the operation he lived for three months.

My son married while in the service of the U. S. and now has a boy and two girls.

I taught twenty-five years in North Dakota and Montana and now as I'm older, have been baby-sitting. I like to be with children.

MARY ZEILSTRA

This story told to Marion Fost Hanson a school mate of Mary's at Willard School in the early 1920's.

Mary's parents were John and Helen Zeilstra. She was born March 1, 1909 at Miles City and came to the Willard community in 1914. Her father bought the ranch of Mr. Whiley of Miles City who had several such holdings in the country. They came down by train and out to the place by wagon. It had been a sheep ranch before the country was homesteaded, but they farmed there. Her mother was a nurse, and helped deliver many babies in the area. In 1923 her father was badly injured in a cave-in at a coalmine, and was no longer able to farm. In the summer of 1924 they sold out and moved to Miles City, where her parents lived for the rest of their lives.

The winter of 1919 was very cold and stormy. Her parents taught her and her brother, Frank, at home until there was a school at Willard. Mary was in the 4th grade by then.

She had a saddle horse and helped with work on the farm and in the house. For school they drove a buggy. Her high school was in Baker and Miles City and she went on to Eastern in Billings. She taught school two years.

On December 25, 1928 she married Adolph Smith and they had four children; Gerald, Gordon, Barbara and Reed.

All are married-three still in Montana and one in Ohio. There are 12 grandchildren.

The family attended the Methodist Sunday School at Willard. Very few picnics could be recalled once a circus in Baker and very few movies. They enjoyed fire works at home on the 4th. She remembers when the first World War was over her father bought some flags in town and she and her brother walked to the Wm. Moscrips and told them the war was over. Their other neighbors were the Henry Stenersons.

Willard School, 1921.

In recent years she has cooked for school lunches, 4-H camps and in the hospital. She is now retired to the Flathead Lake area and assists at times her son and his truck gardening. They make occasional visits to her brother Franks at Miles City. In 1973 she brought her husband out to the Willard community and looked up former school friends. Francis Burke Tronstad was one she had chummed with before moving away.

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Plowing up the prairie, loaned by the Museum.

Old Timers, Matt Monroe marked X, Alex Hamilton at the extreme right, loaned by John LaBree.

Baseball team of Ollie, Montana, 1949-1950, back row, left to right: Bob Lund, George Kunkle, Allan Wang, Hubert Rustad, Victor Berge and Collen Cameron, front row: Charles Shepherd [manager], Clyde Brown, La Vern Ralph Shepherd, Terry Cameron, Jerry Smeltzer, Ed Kunkel and a Dalthrop boy. Loaned by Dessa Shepherd.

Trout plant at the Rush Hall Ranch Dam, June 1963, by the S CS.

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Drilling for oil at Medicine Rocks south

of Baker, loaned by James Bruce.

Harvey Kile, loaned by John Willman.

June 1, 1929 flood

of the Little Missouri River at Marmarth, North Dakota, loaned by Iona Phebus.

Sign at the Martin Gunderson Ranch south

of Baker, loaned by Ida Wild.

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Early day picture at the Mulkey ranch, loaned by Jean Hamilton.

At the Hunter ranch north of Ekalaka about 1920, loaned by L. Price.

Martin Gunderson family, taken in 1970, loaned by Ida Wild.

Mr. and Mrs. George McHoes, 1920, loaned by the Museum.

Dick and Gertie Olson, son, Lawrence on horse, they homesteaded in the Willard Community. Gertie was a sister to Jim Murphy, she died in 1910 and is buried at Plevna, loaned by Margaret Murphy Anderson.

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Service garage north

of the tracks, explosion in 1944, happened at night or someone might have been hurt. Loaned by Hazel Bethel.

Wagons full

of grain taken to Baker when Mel Wheeler was running elevator, loaned by Wanda Geving.

Coming into Baker from the south, 1915, picture taken by Elmer Anderson, loaned by Olga Westrope.

Buffalo at the Krokker ranch, 1939, loaned by Coleman Krokker, Jr.

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Picture advertising Baker, Montana for County Seat

of Fallon Coun

Early day Ekalaka, loaned by Eunice Finch.

Part of the crew which built the high school, the First National Bank, extended and put the second story on the old Baker State Bank and built the Ed. Lake Building at Baker. Loaned by Lyle Washburn.

Clearing away snow on First Street West in front

of the Economy Grocery and Lewis LaCross Buildings after the big storm on January 11, 1938, loaned by Hazel Bethel.

Harvesting on the Hans Marker place north of Baker in the Big Hill country, 1913, Albert Geving on the tractor and George Olsen on the first binder, loaned by Wanda Geuing.

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in the contest between Ekalaka and Baker for County Seat, 1913.

Bob Askins, 1932, at Billings, loaned by the Museum.

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