Holding a Claim
by Dorothy Crain
English III January 11, 1916
The task of holding a claim is perhaps not an easy one but I think it is a great deal of fun.
When I was about eight years old I went with my parents to New Mexico to hold down a claim. Our land was eighteen miles from town and we went back and forth in a lumber wagon. Our house was built up in less than a week. It consisted of two small rooms and a loft, which was reached by a ladder fastened to the side of the wall. Besides the house, we had a three sided barn and a cave to go in when it stormed. Perhaps one would think that life out on a prairie and eighteen miles from a town would be very tame and monotonous. It certainly was anything but this. Prairie fires, runaways, Mexicans and rattlesnakes saw to that. In the ten months that we were there we saw many prairie fires. In fact, we started on one day when trying to burn a fire guard around our house. When a fire gets started on the prairie it goes for miles and sweeps everything away in front of it and can be stopped only when it runs into a sand bed or something like that. We saw many rattlesnakes and killed several too. One real exciting experience we had was (finding) a huge rattlesnake under our trunk one day.
There are many interesting things which happen while holding down a claim, but I do not think that I would want to live all the time in a country where you never see a tree. I was certainly glad to come back to Illinois after only a ten month stay on a claim.
by Dorothy Crain
English III January 11, 1916
The task of holding a claim is perhaps not an easy one but I think it is a great deal of fun.
When I was about eight years old I went with my parents to New Mexico to hold down a claim. Our land was eighteen miles from town and we went back and forth in a lumber wagon. Our house was built up in less than a week. It consisted of two small rooms and a loft, which was reached by a ladder fastened to the side of the wall. Besides the house, we had a three sided barn and a cave to go in when it stormed. Perhaps one would think that life out on a prairie and eighteen miles from a town would be very tame and monotonous. It certainly was anything but this. Prairie fires, runaways, Mexicans and rattlesnakes saw to that. In the ten months that we were there we saw many prairie fires. In fact, we started on one day when trying to burn a fire guard around our house. When a fire gets started on the prairie it goes for miles and sweeps everything away in front of it and can be stopped only when it runs into a sand bed or something like that. We saw many rattlesnakes and killed several too. One real exciting experience we had was (finding) a huge rattlesnake under our trunk one day.
There are many interesting things which happen while holding down a claim, but I do not think that I would want to live all the time in a country where you never see a tree. I was certainly glad to come back to Illinois after only a ten month stay on a claim.
Holding a Claim
by Dorothy Crain
English III January 11, 1916
The task of holding a claim is perhaps not an easy one but I think it is a great deal of fun.
When I was about eight years old I went with my parents to New Mexico to hold down a claim. Our land was eighteen miles from town and we went back and forth in a lumber wagon. Our house was built up in less than a week. It consisted of two small rooms and a loft, which was reached by a ladder fastened to the side of the wall. Besides the house, we had a three sided barn and a cave to go in when it stormed. Perhaps one would think that life out on a prairie and eighteen miles from a town would be very tame and monotonous. It certainly was anything but this. Prairie fires, runaways, Mexicans and rattlesnakes saw to that. In the ten months that we were there we saw many prairie fires. In fact, we started on one day when trying to burn a fire guard around our house. When a fire gets started on the prairie it goes for miles and sweeps everything away in front of it and can be stopped only when it runs into a sand bed or something like that. We saw many rattlesnakes and killed several too. One real exciting experience we had was (finding) a huge rattlesnake under our trunk one day.
There are many interesting things which happen while holding down a claim, but I do not think that I would want to live all the time in a country where you never see a tree. I was certainly glad to come back to Illinois after only a ten month stay on a claim.
by Dorothy Crain
English III January 11, 1916
The task of holding a claim is perhaps not an easy one but I think it is a great deal of fun.
When I was about eight years old I went with my parents to New Mexico to hold down a claim. Our land was eighteen miles from town and we went back and forth in a lumber wagon. Our house was built up in less than a week. It consisted of two small rooms and a loft, which was reached by a ladder fastened to the side of the wall. Besides the house, we had a three sided barn and a cave to go in when it stormed. Perhaps one would think that life out on a prairie and eighteen miles from a town would be very tame and monotonous. It certainly was anything but this. Prairie fires, runaways, Mexicans and rattlesnakes saw to that. In the ten months that we were there we saw many prairie fires. In fact, we started on one day when trying to burn a fire guard around our house. When a fire gets started on the prairie it goes for miles and sweeps everything away in front of it and can be stopped only when it runs into a sand bed or something like that. We saw many rattlesnakes and killed several too. One real exciting experience we had was (finding) a huge rattlesnake under our trunk one day.
There are many interesting things which happen while holding down a claim, but I do not think that I would want to live all the time in a country where you never see a tree. I was certainly glad to come back to Illinois after only a ten month stay on a claim.
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