HERBERT BOLKE by Victor Dana Johnson
My fathers name was Heinrich Gustav Leopold Bolke and he was born in Reatz Germany. My mother's name was Augusta Froelich and she was born near Newfield Germany. At least I think it was near there but I don't know what town it was. My parents didn't get married in Germany, they got married in Macoun, Saskatchewan, Canada.
I was born in Canada, January 25, 1909 in Macoun. I was two years old when my Dad immigrated to Montana. Both my parents became United States Citizens. My Dad became a citizen about 1917. My parents left Canada for free land being offered in Montana. They only had a quarter section in Canada. My Dad came from Benson, Minnesota. He had come to America by feeding cattle on a ship.
My parents did not know each other in Germany but they knew of each other. My dad knew one of my mother's brothers but he had not met my mother. My dad came to America first then his mother and dad came. They came to Minnesota and then my dad and his mother and dad went to Macoun, Canada. That's when my mother came over. My father and his father had a half a section between them. They homesteaded 320 acres. It was a dry farm land
I had a total two brothers (Arthur and George) and one sister (Erna). I'm the oldest boy but Erna is the oldest child (Herbert does not mention here that he has a younger brother Irwin who died as a baby in 1910.) In 1913 the railroad came through Dooley. We used lanterns to go to the barn to do chores. We had little kerosene lamps in our home which consisted of a small bowl with glass chimney. They burned kerosene. I would do my schoolwork by these lamps. I'd put one on the table and do my homework there. I would do my arithmetic and study my lesson at night. We took a bath about once a week, right by the stove. We put water on the stove and warmed it. Generally on Saturday night we all took a bath in the same water. We couldn't keep enough water for everyone to have their own bath. So one would get out and the next would get in.
In 1911 my dad moved from Macoun (about a 75 mile move) to Dooley Montana. It was in the summertime and they loaded everything in the hayrack, all the household belongings, stove, and two beds. It was all in the hayrack. They took the cow and tied it behind the hayrack. They crated up a few chickens and put them in the hayrack also that's how they came to the homestead at Dooley. It took them two days.
They had built the house the summer before. My dad went down and built the house. He had a neighbor there and they built the house and barn. So when they moved there the house was already built and ready for them. Most houses had a heating stove and a cook stove. The cook stove wouldn't keep the house warm. They didn't have a heatrola they had a kind of small pot bellied stove. Some were different. We had to keep the fire going overnight or everything would freeze up.
We used the Sears Roebuck Catalog for toilet paper. Every outhouse had a Sears Roebuck catalog. Women had a slop jar in the house. They all had it and that's the way it worked. We went to Brightson School about one and one half miles away. It was a good sized school room. They had around 35 children and one teacher for all grades. When I started to school I was about 6, this was around 1914. Erna was going before that, but Erna didn't like to go alone so I started early. Lots of people from Canada who lived close to the line came across to go to school there. John Campbell and his sister Jessie, that's Ed's brother and sister, they would come across to school
We walked to school, the Canadians were too far away to walk. One bunch came from the northwest. They weren't Canadians but they drove a team of mules on a wagon. They picked up some neighbors along the way and the whole wagon was full of kids. They had seats across it to sit on. They had 3 to 3 1/2 miles to travel. We didn't have school in the winter. We had school in the summer. When it got into December there was no school. You couldn't have school because of big snow storms. We were usually snowed in. Then school started again in the spring of the year. It lasted, oh I don't know, I don't think we had nine months of school
The Brightson School was the first one built in that area. Then when we got older (I was in the 4th grade or so.) we were transferred to another school. The township line ran to the west of us and it cut us off from the school. They built a school in our school district and it was even further away. They wouldn't let us go to the other one. We were at the far end of our school district and so we had about three miles to go to school. We got a buggy and we drove a buggy and a horse to school and then it got to where George was going to school too. We walked some of the time because horses were a scarce item and you needed them in the field. You couldn't take a horse away from the field work to drive it to school.
It wasn't everybody who had a saddle horse. Horses were valuable and used for working the field. My dad paid $225 for one horse he bought and bought another the next year for $200. I don't know what he did with the first team but he needed four horses to work in the field then he bought this other one and that made five.
The other school we went to was the Jefferson school. It was to the southeast across the fields about 2 1/2 miles walking. When I got older they put the school in the central part of the district. There were people who were living to the south and east and some of them were coming three miles or more. They had the schoolyard fenced. This so that they could ride their horses, drive their buggies to school and then release their horses during the day to graze. The Brightson School had a barn. It wasn't fenced so you put the horses in the barn. There was room for four horses. A barn instead of a bicycle rack.
When the horses weren't being used on the farm we drove a buggy and picked up other students on the way. One horse had a colt, we called Dick, and he followed us to school. Dick was a real pet to all the students. It followed them right up to the steps and one day some kids coaxed Dick up 3 steps and pushed him in between the desks and then couldn't get him to back up. The isle was too narrow to turn him around It was necessary to move the desks in order to get Dick out. Later I went to school in Dooley. This was the nearest town (5 miles). I worked for my board and room. I milked cows night and mornings, cleaned the barn and hauled hay. When the weather permitted I rode a horse home on Sunday to be with my family. Later I took a correspondence course in electrical engineering.
The big story I remember the most was on Christmas Day 1911. It was the year we moved to Montana. We moved in the summer of 1911. You have to have something to burn in the stove, wood or coal. The day before Christmas my father went to the coal mine which was in the neighborhood of twenty miles away. We called it the "Old Pierce Mine". That was a pretty nice day and my father went to the coal mine and he got a load of coal. On returning that evening it began to get dark and he was within one to one and a half miles from home when the snowstorm hit. He went right through the neighbor's yard. The storm hit pretty near all at once. Just the wind and snow came up so fast it was a blinding blizzard. My dad drove right through the neighbor's yard. He was so close to home that he was going to make it. The neighbor knew that he was coming and he was going to watch for him. He missed somehow. My dad was headed in a northeast direction and then he had to turn and go straight north. The storm got so severe, the way he tells it.
The left horse was just a little faster and dad had to keep shifting over and he didn't know for sure if he was on the road or not, he was just guessing. The team managed to get him turned a bit and made the major turn before they should have. He got just to the edge of his farm and he turned too much.
Then when he figured he should be getting close to home he kept going. Later he stopped and figured he could go back. It was storming so hard that he could hardly face it. He unhooked the team. He knew there was no use dragging the load any further. The horses were about worn out anyway. He waited and waited not knowing really what time of the day or night it was.
Father decided to start out with the team. He got on one horse and rode for a while. He went with the blizzard. He figured the storm would freeze him out if he stayed any longer. He kept going and he knew he was lost. He traveled about three miles through hilly country with deep snowdrifts in weather you could hardly see in. He dropped off of a snow bank. The horses went down, one on top of the other with dad on the bottom. He was in such a shape he couldn't get loose from the horse. He did manage to get his jack knife out and cut a strap and it released him.
After he got out from under the horses he helped to get the horses untangled and loose. They were still hitched up together. Once loose he got the top horse off the other one. The bottom one was just about done in and in such a shape it couldn't get out. He pulled the harness off and put it on the other horse and just left the other one there.
He went on and led the other horse. He kept going and covered about another three of four miles. He finally got close to where he figured there was some fencing and he followed this and pretty near ran into these people's front yard. It was 12 o'clock noon the next day. He was six miles from home. The storm had let up very little during all this time.
We lost one horse. Two years later one of the neighbors was cutting hay in a big gully down around there and he saw these bones laying there with horseshoes on them. My dad's team had shoes on the front feet. So we knew that was the horse we had lost. My dad says he could have lost his life. I myself went on this trip many times.
There were better roads when I grew up. I never got lost but I did leave a load of coal on the road a couple of times when there was such a blizzard Usually we were facing the blizzard and there were always high drifts. Usually the horses had had such a hard day that it was best to leave the load and come back for it later.
During snowstorms you shoveled the horses out so many times and often it was late at night and you would also wear yourself out. The horses are right down in the snow, down to their bellies. You have to shovel them out then the sled. Then you start to go on and you don't much more than move out and you are down in it again.
Generally, all this work wears you out. So if I was within a few miles of home and conditions were bad I would just unhook the horses and come back in a couple of days for the load. By then the weather was usually better. Then I would shovel it out again, hook it up and take it on home.
We farmed with horses for the last time in 1928. My Father died in 1929. He went to town after a load of seed He backed the team into the granary so he could get a load of wheat. The front wheels had to go over a sill, he had moved and was standing in the wagon box. I don't know what he was thinking. The top of the door was quite a way back from him. The horses gave the wagon a good hard push so the wheels will go up and over the sill, then they came back pretty fast. The top of the door caught Dad in the back and squeezed him in there. Well instead of just stopping and going to the doctor in town he went ahead and loaded the load of wheat, about 60 bushels. He didn't think he was hurt that bad
After loading the wheat he went to the elevator to weigh it. When he got into the elevator he almost passed out. He told the elevator man what had happened. The elevator man helped him to the doctor's office. They just left the team standing in the elevator. He passed out again in the doctor's office.
The doctor brought him home that afternoon and I was out working in the field. It was about noon when the doctor arrived. Dad kind of got up and walked into the house. He was sort of weaving as he walked. We got him into bed. I rode back to town with the doctor and drove the team home with the load of wheat. Father was in bad shape, he was paralyzed on one side, the left side. Later they put him in the hospital in Plentywood. There wasn't much they could do with him. We don't know what the matter was but he was hurt internally. I think if they had got him right into the hospital maybe they could have helped him. He had already loaded the wheat and hurt himself doing it. He remained in the hospital in Plentywood a couple of weeks before he was brought home. My Mother took care of him at home. He got so he couldn't sit up. I believe it was on 19 November when he died. That was in 1929.
I'm a rodeo man. I rode the calves on the 4th of July. I broke our horses, of course, they were barnyard colts. I've had some that were pretty wild broke them to work, hook them up and drive them. Never had anything get away from me. Some of the wild ones would kick everything to pieces. When they got wild I'd put crimp ropes on them and hobbles on the front feet. When they would start to run you would pull the rope and down they would go. It sure tames them down. I've seen those broncos fall hard, some of them were 12-13 hundred pounds.
I bought a lot of gas for about $.15 or $.16 a gallon. Then $.20 and $.25. I don't know how many miles to a gallon we got. If we had had these kinds of roads (1985) we would have done real well. We only had dirt roads with wagon wheel ruts and lots of hills. You would start in low gear and when it would get going fast enough then you could drop it into high. Fast enough was about 6 or 7 miles an hour, then you could pull it into high gear.
We had no speed odometer. You had no accelerator pedal. You pulled the speed down with your hand. The spark was on the other side of the steering column, a spark with your left hand and gas with the right hand. We did have a brake pedal. The brake wasn't in the rear wheels it was in the transmission. You would push on the pedal and tighten the bands around the transmission to brake the car. If you were going down a long hill you didn't ride the brake. You would put your foot on reverse to change it off so you didn't wear the brake band out. The low band wore out awfully fast. Then the brake band would wear out. The reverse band wasn't used that much.
In 1930 I got a tractor and sold the horses, we had so many horses (about 12 for field work). I got my first car in 1926, a Ford It was a model 'T'. The model 'T' never had a rumble seat. I paid $50 for that one. It was a 1914 touring car but they cut the back seat off from it, made a box in the back so it looked like a pick-up truck. So it was a model 'T' pickup. I had so many model "T's" (about 14 or 15) over the years. They ran up hill backward better than forward, because of the gas tank under the seat. You go up a hill and it gets so steep the gas doesn't feed into the engine. So you could turn it around and back it up the hill. You get a steep hill and only a quarter tank gas and try to go up hill and you would run out of gas. So you would get out, push it around to head it down the hill. Then get in and get it started and back it up the hill.
About 1932 1 left home because there were no crops. It all dried out, no work or anything. I went different places. I worked at the Fort Peck dam every summer for a while.
We grew oats, flax, wheat, but when it was dry, dusty and windy, nothing grew. We couldn't even feed the cows. In 1934 if anything came up it went to feed the cattle. 1934 was a pretty dry year. That was the beginning of the big drought. We had a light crop in 1935 but that was all. 1937 was a complete blow-out. You didn't have to go to Oklahoma for dust storms. I slept upstairs and many a morning I'd get up and walk to the window and leave footprints all the way as the dust was so thick. The sand had blown in during the night.
In 1935 I studied mechanics. My mechanical training proved valuable when tractors first came in. I enjoyed working and repairing them when necessary. In 1937 I worked at Fort Peck Dam. We were completely dried out.
In the fall I went with 2 other fellows to the northern part of North Dakota where the crops were good. We got work shocking grain, hauling bundles to the thrashing machine. We worked for $ 3 a day and our board and room. When finished there we went to Middle River, Minn. where they were still thrashing sweet clover. I worked there until December 1, for $1 a day.
From there I rode to Fargo, North Dakota with a fellow trucking cattle. In Fargo I enrolled at Hanson Auto School. I graduated in 1938. I saved my money all summer so I could go to school. I graduated in 1938.
I then returned home and worked at the Chevrolet Garage in West Montana repairing cars and tractors for $3.00 a day. I paid $1 a day for food and a bed to sleep in. The gas station was next to the Dance Hall so on Friday night I kept the gas pumps open and sold gas. When harvest time came Ed (Erna's husband) came to the garage and bought a truck. I wasn't satisfied with my job so I quit. There was a good crop that year and I could make more working on a combine.
In November 1940 all eligible men were required to register for the draft. George, Art and I went to the Dooley School and registered January 1, 19411 received notice to report for service at Missoula, Montana and from there I was sent to Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah. Here I took recruit training and was assigned to airplane maintenance. From there we were loading with orders to go to Pearl Harbor. While loading a heavy box I hurt my back and was put in the hospital.
I was in the Fort Douglas Hospital when the unit shipped out without me. However this was my lucky day. They were on the ship (USS Arizona) that was destroyed at Pearl Harbor with only a few survivors.
While at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake I met two young men who were returned missionaries for the L.D.S. Church. They invited me to go to Temple Square visitor's center. I was real impressed with what I learned there and what the fellows taught me about Mormon doctrine. Later I met Gladys and learned she was L.D.S. I wanted to go to church with her. We dated and talked a lot about the church. I felt the church was true but I didn't get baptized until I got out of the army. It wasn't until Nov. 30, 1944 that I was baptized I have a testimony it is true and have been active all the time.
On January 14, 1942 my mother passed away. I went home for her funeral.
On January 10 I was transferred to Fort George Wright in Spokane, Washington. After only two months I was sent to Davis Monson Field, Tucson, Arizona. I corresponded with Gladys and in June 1942, I got a ten day furlough and went to Salt Lake and while on furlough Gladys and I got married. We were married on June 6th, 1942 in Evanston, Wyoming.
In October Gladys rented her home on Coatsville Avenue, packed the sewing machine, bedding, dishes, clothing, etc., and bought bus tickets for herself and the girls to Tuscon, Arizona.
Housing was difficult to find but I finally rented a three room with bath apartment on the side of a café. (523 N. 4th Ave. Tucson) We went to the used-furniture stores and bought cots for the girls, bed and dresser, the stove, chairs and table, congoleum rugs for the floor. A neighbor loaned us an upholstered chair so with the sewing machine and a trunk we furnished our first home. Gladys made cute covers for the cots and they dressed up our living room. We managed real well. We were close to schools and could walk to church and shopping areas.
We enjoyed the winter in Tucson. Christmas was different with no snow but we still put up a tree and had fun. We made some very special friends while living in Tucson, some we still see.
In June 1943 1 was being transferred to Kansas and so we decided Gladys and the girls should return to Salt Lake. I bought an old car. We packed our belongings, sold what items we had bought there and our friend Percill Alvery drove Gladys to the family home.
I was only in Kansas for a short time when the Army permitted some to transfer into the mines. I applied and got transferred to the mines a Tooele, Utah. I was so happy to get home. I could commute to Tooele each day with a car pool. However as soon as "peace" was declared I quit and got work in Salt Lake.
My fathers name was Heinrich Gustav Leopold Bolke and he was born in Reatz Germany. My mother's name was Augusta Froelich and she was born near Newfield Germany. At least I think it was near there but I don't know what town it was. My parents didn't get married in Germany, they got married in Macoun, Saskatchewan, Canada.
I was born in Canada, January 25, 1909 in Macoun. I was two years old when my Dad immigrated to Montana. Both my parents became United States Citizens. My Dad became a citizen about 1917. My parents left Canada for free land being offered in Montana. They only had a quarter section in Canada. My Dad came from Benson, Minnesota. He had come to America by feeding cattle on a ship.
My parents did not know each other in Germany but they knew of each other. My dad knew one of my mother's brothers but he had not met my mother. My dad came to America first then his mother and dad came. They came to Minnesota and then my dad and his mother and dad went to Macoun, Canada. That's when my mother came over. My father and his father had a half a section between them. They homesteaded 320 acres. It was a dry farm land
I had a total two brothers (Arthur and George) and one sister (Erna). I'm the oldest boy but Erna is the oldest child (Herbert does not mention here that he has a younger brother Irwin who died as a baby in 1910.) In 1913 the railroad came through Dooley. We used lanterns to go to the barn to do chores. We had little kerosene lamps in our home which consisted of a small bowl with glass chimney. They burned kerosene. I would do my schoolwork by these lamps. I'd put one on the table and do my homework there. I would do my arithmetic and study my lesson at night. We took a bath about once a week, right by the stove. We put water on the stove and warmed it. Generally on Saturday night we all took a bath in the same water. We couldn't keep enough water for everyone to have their own bath. So one would get out and the next would get in.
In 1911 my dad moved from Macoun (about a 75 mile move) to Dooley Montana. It was in the summertime and they loaded everything in the hayrack, all the household belongings, stove, and two beds. It was all in the hayrack. They took the cow and tied it behind the hayrack. They crated up a few chickens and put them in the hayrack also that's how they came to the homestead at Dooley. It took them two days.
They had built the house the summer before. My dad went down and built the house. He had a neighbor there and they built the house and barn. So when they moved there the house was already built and ready for them. Most houses had a heating stove and a cook stove. The cook stove wouldn't keep the house warm. They didn't have a heatrola they had a kind of small pot bellied stove. Some were different. We had to keep the fire going overnight or everything would freeze up.
We used the Sears Roebuck Catalog for toilet paper. Every outhouse had a Sears Roebuck catalog. Women had a slop jar in the house. They all had it and that's the way it worked. We went to Brightson School about one and one half miles away. It was a good sized school room. They had around 35 children and one teacher for all grades. When I started to school I was about 6, this was around 1914. Erna was going before that, but Erna didn't like to go alone so I started early. Lots of people from Canada who lived close to the line came across to go to school there. John Campbell and his sister Jessie, that's Ed's brother and sister, they would come across to school
We walked to school, the Canadians were too far away to walk. One bunch came from the northwest. They weren't Canadians but they drove a team of mules on a wagon. They picked up some neighbors along the way and the whole wagon was full of kids. They had seats across it to sit on. They had 3 to 3 1/2 miles to travel. We didn't have school in the winter. We had school in the summer. When it got into December there was no school. You couldn't have school because of big snow storms. We were usually snowed in. Then school started again in the spring of the year. It lasted, oh I don't know, I don't think we had nine months of school
The Brightson School was the first one built in that area. Then when we got older (I was in the 4th grade or so.) we were transferred to another school. The township line ran to the west of us and it cut us off from the school. They built a school in our school district and it was even further away. They wouldn't let us go to the other one. We were at the far end of our school district and so we had about three miles to go to school. We got a buggy and we drove a buggy and a horse to school and then it got to where George was going to school too. We walked some of the time because horses were a scarce item and you needed them in the field. You couldn't take a horse away from the field work to drive it to school.
It wasn't everybody who had a saddle horse. Horses were valuable and used for working the field. My dad paid $225 for one horse he bought and bought another the next year for $200. I don't know what he did with the first team but he needed four horses to work in the field then he bought this other one and that made five.
The other school we went to was the Jefferson school. It was to the southeast across the fields about 2 1/2 miles walking. When I got older they put the school in the central part of the district. There were people who were living to the south and east and some of them were coming three miles or more. They had the schoolyard fenced. This so that they could ride their horses, drive their buggies to school and then release their horses during the day to graze. The Brightson School had a barn. It wasn't fenced so you put the horses in the barn. There was room for four horses. A barn instead of a bicycle rack.
When the horses weren't being used on the farm we drove a buggy and picked up other students on the way. One horse had a colt, we called Dick, and he followed us to school. Dick was a real pet to all the students. It followed them right up to the steps and one day some kids coaxed Dick up 3 steps and pushed him in between the desks and then couldn't get him to back up. The isle was too narrow to turn him around It was necessary to move the desks in order to get Dick out. Later I went to school in Dooley. This was the nearest town (5 miles). I worked for my board and room. I milked cows night and mornings, cleaned the barn and hauled hay. When the weather permitted I rode a horse home on Sunday to be with my family. Later I took a correspondence course in electrical engineering.
The big story I remember the most was on Christmas Day 1911. It was the year we moved to Montana. We moved in the summer of 1911. You have to have something to burn in the stove, wood or coal. The day before Christmas my father went to the coal mine which was in the neighborhood of twenty miles away. We called it the "Old Pierce Mine". That was a pretty nice day and my father went to the coal mine and he got a load of coal. On returning that evening it began to get dark and he was within one to one and a half miles from home when the snowstorm hit. He went right through the neighbor's yard. The storm hit pretty near all at once. Just the wind and snow came up so fast it was a blinding blizzard. My dad drove right through the neighbor's yard. He was so close to home that he was going to make it. The neighbor knew that he was coming and he was going to watch for him. He missed somehow. My dad was headed in a northeast direction and then he had to turn and go straight north. The storm got so severe, the way he tells it.
The left horse was just a little faster and dad had to keep shifting over and he didn't know for sure if he was on the road or not, he was just guessing. The team managed to get him turned a bit and made the major turn before they should have. He got just to the edge of his farm and he turned too much.
Then when he figured he should be getting close to home he kept going. Later he stopped and figured he could go back. It was storming so hard that he could hardly face it. He unhooked the team. He knew there was no use dragging the load any further. The horses were about worn out anyway. He waited and waited not knowing really what time of the day or night it was.
Father decided to start out with the team. He got on one horse and rode for a while. He went with the blizzard. He figured the storm would freeze him out if he stayed any longer. He kept going and he knew he was lost. He traveled about three miles through hilly country with deep snowdrifts in weather you could hardly see in. He dropped off of a snow bank. The horses went down, one on top of the other with dad on the bottom. He was in such a shape he couldn't get loose from the horse. He did manage to get his jack knife out and cut a strap and it released him.
After he got out from under the horses he helped to get the horses untangled and loose. They were still hitched up together. Once loose he got the top horse off the other one. The bottom one was just about done in and in such a shape it couldn't get out. He pulled the harness off and put it on the other horse and just left the other one there.
He went on and led the other horse. He kept going and covered about another three of four miles. He finally got close to where he figured there was some fencing and he followed this and pretty near ran into these people's front yard. It was 12 o'clock noon the next day. He was six miles from home. The storm had let up very little during all this time.
We lost one horse. Two years later one of the neighbors was cutting hay in a big gully down around there and he saw these bones laying there with horseshoes on them. My dad's team had shoes on the front feet. So we knew that was the horse we had lost. My dad says he could have lost his life. I myself went on this trip many times.
There were better roads when I grew up. I never got lost but I did leave a load of coal on the road a couple of times when there was such a blizzard Usually we were facing the blizzard and there were always high drifts. Usually the horses had had such a hard day that it was best to leave the load and come back for it later.
During snowstorms you shoveled the horses out so many times and often it was late at night and you would also wear yourself out. The horses are right down in the snow, down to their bellies. You have to shovel them out then the sled. Then you start to go on and you don't much more than move out and you are down in it again.
Generally, all this work wears you out. So if I was within a few miles of home and conditions were bad I would just unhook the horses and come back in a couple of days for the load. By then the weather was usually better. Then I would shovel it out again, hook it up and take it on home.
We farmed with horses for the last time in 1928. My Father died in 1929. He went to town after a load of seed He backed the team into the granary so he could get a load of wheat. The front wheels had to go over a sill, he had moved and was standing in the wagon box. I don't know what he was thinking. The top of the door was quite a way back from him. The horses gave the wagon a good hard push so the wheels will go up and over the sill, then they came back pretty fast. The top of the door caught Dad in the back and squeezed him in there. Well instead of just stopping and going to the doctor in town he went ahead and loaded the load of wheat, about 60 bushels. He didn't think he was hurt that bad
After loading the wheat he went to the elevator to weigh it. When he got into the elevator he almost passed out. He told the elevator man what had happened. The elevator man helped him to the doctor's office. They just left the team standing in the elevator. He passed out again in the doctor's office.
The doctor brought him home that afternoon and I was out working in the field. It was about noon when the doctor arrived. Dad kind of got up and walked into the house. He was sort of weaving as he walked. We got him into bed. I rode back to town with the doctor and drove the team home with the load of wheat. Father was in bad shape, he was paralyzed on one side, the left side. Later they put him in the hospital in Plentywood. There wasn't much they could do with him. We don't know what the matter was but he was hurt internally. I think if they had got him right into the hospital maybe they could have helped him. He had already loaded the wheat and hurt himself doing it. He remained in the hospital in Plentywood a couple of weeks before he was brought home. My Mother took care of him at home. He got so he couldn't sit up. I believe it was on 19 November when he died. That was in 1929.
I'm a rodeo man. I rode the calves on the 4th of July. I broke our horses, of course, they were barnyard colts. I've had some that were pretty wild broke them to work, hook them up and drive them. Never had anything get away from me. Some of the wild ones would kick everything to pieces. When they got wild I'd put crimp ropes on them and hobbles on the front feet. When they would start to run you would pull the rope and down they would go. It sure tames them down. I've seen those broncos fall hard, some of them were 12-13 hundred pounds.
I bought a lot of gas for about $.15 or $.16 a gallon. Then $.20 and $.25. I don't know how many miles to a gallon we got. If we had had these kinds of roads (1985) we would have done real well. We only had dirt roads with wagon wheel ruts and lots of hills. You would start in low gear and when it would get going fast enough then you could drop it into high. Fast enough was about 6 or 7 miles an hour, then you could pull it into high gear.
We had no speed odometer. You had no accelerator pedal. You pulled the speed down with your hand. The spark was on the other side of the steering column, a spark with your left hand and gas with the right hand. We did have a brake pedal. The brake wasn't in the rear wheels it was in the transmission. You would push on the pedal and tighten the bands around the transmission to brake the car. If you were going down a long hill you didn't ride the brake. You would put your foot on reverse to change it off so you didn't wear the brake band out. The low band wore out awfully fast. Then the brake band would wear out. The reverse band wasn't used that much.
In 1930 I got a tractor and sold the horses, we had so many horses (about 12 for field work). I got my first car in 1926, a Ford It was a model 'T'. The model 'T' never had a rumble seat. I paid $50 for that one. It was a 1914 touring car but they cut the back seat off from it, made a box in the back so it looked like a pick-up truck. So it was a model 'T' pickup. I had so many model "T's" (about 14 or 15) over the years. They ran up hill backward better than forward, because of the gas tank under the seat. You go up a hill and it gets so steep the gas doesn't feed into the engine. So you could turn it around and back it up the hill. You get a steep hill and only a quarter tank gas and try to go up hill and you would run out of gas. So you would get out, push it around to head it down the hill. Then get in and get it started and back it up the hill.
About 1932 1 left home because there were no crops. It all dried out, no work or anything. I went different places. I worked at the Fort Peck dam every summer for a while.
We grew oats, flax, wheat, but when it was dry, dusty and windy, nothing grew. We couldn't even feed the cows. In 1934 if anything came up it went to feed the cattle. 1934 was a pretty dry year. That was the beginning of the big drought. We had a light crop in 1935 but that was all. 1937 was a complete blow-out. You didn't have to go to Oklahoma for dust storms. I slept upstairs and many a morning I'd get up and walk to the window and leave footprints all the way as the dust was so thick. The sand had blown in during the night.
In 1935 I studied mechanics. My mechanical training proved valuable when tractors first came in. I enjoyed working and repairing them when necessary. In 1937 I worked at Fort Peck Dam. We were completely dried out.
In the fall I went with 2 other fellows to the northern part of North Dakota where the crops were good. We got work shocking grain, hauling bundles to the thrashing machine. We worked for $ 3 a day and our board and room. When finished there we went to Middle River, Minn. where they were still thrashing sweet clover. I worked there until December 1, for $1 a day.
From there I rode to Fargo, North Dakota with a fellow trucking cattle. In Fargo I enrolled at Hanson Auto School. I graduated in 1938. I saved my money all summer so I could go to school. I graduated in 1938.
I then returned home and worked at the Chevrolet Garage in West Montana repairing cars and tractors for $3.00 a day. I paid $1 a day for food and a bed to sleep in. The gas station was next to the Dance Hall so on Friday night I kept the gas pumps open and sold gas. When harvest time came Ed (Erna's husband) came to the garage and bought a truck. I wasn't satisfied with my job so I quit. There was a good crop that year and I could make more working on a combine.
In November 1940 all eligible men were required to register for the draft. George, Art and I went to the Dooley School and registered January 1, 19411 received notice to report for service at Missoula, Montana and from there I was sent to Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah. Here I took recruit training and was assigned to airplane maintenance. From there we were loading with orders to go to Pearl Harbor. While loading a heavy box I hurt my back and was put in the hospital.
I was in the Fort Douglas Hospital when the unit shipped out without me. However this was my lucky day. They were on the ship (USS Arizona) that was destroyed at Pearl Harbor with only a few survivors.
While at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake I met two young men who were returned missionaries for the L.D.S. Church. They invited me to go to Temple Square visitor's center. I was real impressed with what I learned there and what the fellows taught me about Mormon doctrine. Later I met Gladys and learned she was L.D.S. I wanted to go to church with her. We dated and talked a lot about the church. I felt the church was true but I didn't get baptized until I got out of the army. It wasn't until Nov. 30, 1944 that I was baptized I have a testimony it is true and have been active all the time.
On January 14, 1942 my mother passed away. I went home for her funeral.
On January 10 I was transferred to Fort George Wright in Spokane, Washington. After only two months I was sent to Davis Monson Field, Tucson, Arizona. I corresponded with Gladys and in June 1942, I got a ten day furlough and went to Salt Lake and while on furlough Gladys and I got married. We were married on June 6th, 1942 in Evanston, Wyoming.
In October Gladys rented her home on Coatsville Avenue, packed the sewing machine, bedding, dishes, clothing, etc., and bought bus tickets for herself and the girls to Tuscon, Arizona.
Housing was difficult to find but I finally rented a three room with bath apartment on the side of a café. (523 N. 4th Ave. Tucson) We went to the used-furniture stores and bought cots for the girls, bed and dresser, the stove, chairs and table, congoleum rugs for the floor. A neighbor loaned us an upholstered chair so with the sewing machine and a trunk we furnished our first home. Gladys made cute covers for the cots and they dressed up our living room. We managed real well. We were close to schools and could walk to church and shopping areas.
We enjoyed the winter in Tucson. Christmas was different with no snow but we still put up a tree and had fun. We made some very special friends while living in Tucson, some we still see.
In June 1943 1 was being transferred to Kansas and so we decided Gladys and the girls should return to Salt Lake. I bought an old car. We packed our belongings, sold what items we had bought there and our friend Percill Alvery drove Gladys to the family home.
I was only in Kansas for a short time when the Army permitted some to transfer into the mines. I applied and got transferred to the mines a Tooele, Utah. I was so happy to get home. I could commute to Tooele each day with a car pool. However as soon as "peace" was declared I quit and got work in Salt Lake.
HERBERT BOLKE by Victor Dana Johnson
My fathers name was Heinrich Gustav Leopold Bolke and he was born in Reatz Germany. My mother's name was Augusta Froelich and she was born near Newfield Germany. At least I think it was near there but I don't know what town it was. My parents didn't get married in Germany, they got married in Macoun, Saskatchewan, Canada.
I was born in Canada, January 25, 1909 in Macoun. I was two years old when my Dad immigrated to Montana. Both my parents became United States Citizens. My Dad became a citizen about 1917. My parents left Canada for free land being offered in Montana. They only had a quarter section in Canada. My Dad came from Benson, Minnesota. He had come to America by feeding cattle on a ship.
My parents did not know each other in Germany but they knew of each other. My dad knew one of my mother's brothers but he had not met my mother. My dad came to America first then his mother and dad came. They came to Minnesota and then my dad and his mother and dad went to Macoun, Canada. That's when my mother came over. My father and his father had a half a section between them. They homesteaded 320 acres. It was a dry farm land
I had a total two brothers (Arthur and George) and one sister (Erna). I'm the oldest boy but Erna is the oldest child (Herbert does not mention here that he has a younger brother Irwin who died as a baby in 1910.) In 1913 the railroad came through Dooley. We used lanterns to go to the barn to do chores. We had little kerosene lamps in our home which consisted of a small bowl with glass chimney. They burned kerosene. I would do my schoolwork by these lamps. I'd put one on the table and do my homework there. I would do my arithmetic and study my lesson at night. We took a bath about once a week, right by the stove. We put water on the stove and warmed it. Generally on Saturday night we all took a bath in the same water. We couldn't keep enough water for everyone to have their own bath. So one would get out and the next would get in.
In 1911 my dad moved from Macoun (about a 75 mile move) to Dooley Montana. It was in the summertime and they loaded everything in the hayrack, all the household belongings, stove, and two beds. It was all in the hayrack. They took the cow and tied it behind the hayrack. They crated up a few chickens and put them in the hayrack also that's how they came to the homestead at Dooley. It took them two days.
They had built the house the summer before. My dad went down and built the house. He had a neighbor there and they built the house and barn. So when they moved there the house was already built and ready for them. Most houses had a heating stove and a cook stove. The cook stove wouldn't keep the house warm. They didn't have a heatrola they had a kind of small pot bellied stove. Some were different. We had to keep the fire going overnight or everything would freeze up.
We used the Sears Roebuck Catalog for toilet paper. Every outhouse had a Sears Roebuck catalog. Women had a slop jar in the house. They all had it and that's the way it worked. We went to Brightson School about one and one half miles away. It was a good sized school room. They had around 35 children and one teacher for all grades. When I started to school I was about 6, this was around 1914. Erna was going before that, but Erna didn't like to go alone so I started early. Lots of people from Canada who lived close to the line came across to go to school there. John Campbell and his sister Jessie, that's Ed's brother and sister, they would come across to school
We walked to school, the Canadians were too far away to walk. One bunch came from the northwest. They weren't Canadians but they drove a team of mules on a wagon. They picked up some neighbors along the way and the whole wagon was full of kids. They had seats across it to sit on. They had 3 to 3 1/2 miles to travel. We didn't have school in the winter. We had school in the summer. When it got into December there was no school. You couldn't have school because of big snow storms. We were usually snowed in. Then school started again in the spring of the year. It lasted, oh I don't know, I don't think we had nine months of school
The Brightson School was the first one built in that area. Then when we got older (I was in the 4th grade or so.) we were transferred to another school. The township line ran to the west of us and it cut us off from the school. They built a school in our school district and it was even further away. They wouldn't let us go to the other one. We were at the far end of our school district and so we had about three miles to go to school. We got a buggy and we drove a buggy and a horse to school and then it got to where George was going to school too. We walked some of the time because horses were a scarce item and you needed them in the field. You couldn't take a horse away from the field work to drive it to school.
It wasn't everybody who had a saddle horse. Horses were valuable and used for working the field. My dad paid $225 for one horse he bought and bought another the next year for $200. I don't know what he did with the first team but he needed four horses to work in the field then he bought this other one and that made five.
The other school we went to was the Jefferson school. It was to the southeast across the fields about 2 1/2 miles walking. When I got older they put the school in the central part of the district. There were people who were living to the south and east and some of them were coming three miles or more. They had the schoolyard fenced. This so that they could ride their horses, drive their buggies to school and then release their horses during the day to graze. The Brightson School had a barn. It wasn't fenced so you put the horses in the barn. There was room for four horses. A barn instead of a bicycle rack.
When the horses weren't being used on the farm we drove a buggy and picked up other students on the way. One horse had a colt, we called Dick, and he followed us to school. Dick was a real pet to all the students. It followed them right up to the steps and one day some kids coaxed Dick up 3 steps and pushed him in between the desks and then couldn't get him to back up. The isle was too narrow to turn him around It was necessary to move the desks in order to get Dick out. Later I went to school in Dooley. This was the nearest town (5 miles). I worked for my board and room. I milked cows night and mornings, cleaned the barn and hauled hay. When the weather permitted I rode a horse home on Sunday to be with my family. Later I took a correspondence course in electrical engineering.
The big story I remember the most was on Christmas Day 1911. It was the year we moved to Montana. We moved in the summer of 1911. You have to have something to burn in the stove, wood or coal. The day before Christmas my father went to the coal mine which was in the neighborhood of twenty miles away. We called it the "Old Pierce Mine". That was a pretty nice day and my father went to the coal mine and he got a load of coal. On returning that evening it began to get dark and he was within one to one and a half miles from home when the snowstorm hit. He went right through the neighbor's yard. The storm hit pretty near all at once. Just the wind and snow came up so fast it was a blinding blizzard. My dad drove right through the neighbor's yard. He was so close to home that he was going to make it. The neighbor knew that he was coming and he was going to watch for him. He missed somehow. My dad was headed in a northeast direction and then he had to turn and go straight north. The storm got so severe, the way he tells it.
The left horse was just a little faster and dad had to keep shifting over and he didn't know for sure if he was on the road or not, he was just guessing. The team managed to get him turned a bit and made the major turn before they should have. He got just to the edge of his farm and he turned too much.
Then when he figured he should be getting close to home he kept going. Later he stopped and figured he could go back. It was storming so hard that he could hardly face it. He unhooked the team. He knew there was no use dragging the load any further. The horses were about worn out anyway. He waited and waited not knowing really what time of the day or night it was.
Father decided to start out with the team. He got on one horse and rode for a while. He went with the blizzard. He figured the storm would freeze him out if he stayed any longer. He kept going and he knew he was lost. He traveled about three miles through hilly country with deep snowdrifts in weather you could hardly see in. He dropped off of a snow bank. The horses went down, one on top of the other with dad on the bottom. He was in such a shape he couldn't get loose from the horse. He did manage to get his jack knife out and cut a strap and it released him.
After he got out from under the horses he helped to get the horses untangled and loose. They were still hitched up together. Once loose he got the top horse off the other one. The bottom one was just about done in and in such a shape it couldn't get out. He pulled the harness off and put it on the other horse and just left the other one there.
He went on and led the other horse. He kept going and covered about another three of four miles. He finally got close to where he figured there was some fencing and he followed this and pretty near ran into these people's front yard. It was 12 o'clock noon the next day. He was six miles from home. The storm had let up very little during all this time.
We lost one horse. Two years later one of the neighbors was cutting hay in a big gully down around there and he saw these bones laying there with horseshoes on them. My dad's team had shoes on the front feet. So we knew that was the horse we had lost. My dad says he could have lost his life. I myself went on this trip many times.
There were better roads when I grew up. I never got lost but I did leave a load of coal on the road a couple of times when there was such a blizzard Usually we were facing the blizzard and there were always high drifts. Usually the horses had had such a hard day that it was best to leave the load and come back for it later.
During snowstorms you shoveled the horses out so many times and often it was late at night and you would also wear yourself out. The horses are right down in the snow, down to their bellies. You have to shovel them out then the sled. Then you start to go on and you don't much more than move out and you are down in it again.
Generally, all this work wears you out. So if I was within a few miles of home and conditions were bad I would just unhook the horses and come back in a couple of days for the load. By then the weather was usually better. Then I would shovel it out again, hook it up and take it on home.
We farmed with horses for the last time in 1928. My Father died in 1929. He went to town after a load of seed He backed the team into the granary so he could get a load of wheat. The front wheels had to go over a sill, he had moved and was standing in the wagon box. I don't know what he was thinking. The top of the door was quite a way back from him. The horses gave the wagon a good hard push so the wheels will go up and over the sill, then they came back pretty fast. The top of the door caught Dad in the back and squeezed him in there. Well instead of just stopping and going to the doctor in town he went ahead and loaded the load of wheat, about 60 bushels. He didn't think he was hurt that bad
After loading the wheat he went to the elevator to weigh it. When he got into the elevator he almost passed out. He told the elevator man what had happened. The elevator man helped him to the doctor's office. They just left the team standing in the elevator. He passed out again in the doctor's office.
The doctor brought him home that afternoon and I was out working in the field. It was about noon when the doctor arrived. Dad kind of got up and walked into the house. He was sort of weaving as he walked. We got him into bed. I rode back to town with the doctor and drove the team home with the load of wheat. Father was in bad shape, he was paralyzed on one side, the left side. Later they put him in the hospital in Plentywood. There wasn't much they could do with him. We don't know what the matter was but he was hurt internally. I think if they had got him right into the hospital maybe they could have helped him. He had already loaded the wheat and hurt himself doing it. He remained in the hospital in Plentywood a couple of weeks before he was brought home. My Mother took care of him at home. He got so he couldn't sit up. I believe it was on 19 November when he died. That was in 1929.
I'm a rodeo man. I rode the calves on the 4th of July. I broke our horses, of course, they were barnyard colts. I've had some that were pretty wild broke them to work, hook them up and drive them. Never had anything get away from me. Some of the wild ones would kick everything to pieces. When they got wild I'd put crimp ropes on them and hobbles on the front feet. When they would start to run you would pull the rope and down they would go. It sure tames them down. I've seen those broncos fall hard, some of them were 12-13 hundred pounds.
I bought a lot of gas for about $.15 or $.16 a gallon. Then $.20 and $.25. I don't know how many miles to a gallon we got. If we had had these kinds of roads (1985) we would have done real well. We only had dirt roads with wagon wheel ruts and lots of hills. You would start in low gear and when it would get going fast enough then you could drop it into high. Fast enough was about 6 or 7 miles an hour, then you could pull it into high gear.
We had no speed odometer. You had no accelerator pedal. You pulled the speed down with your hand. The spark was on the other side of the steering column, a spark with your left hand and gas with the right hand. We did have a brake pedal. The brake wasn't in the rear wheels it was in the transmission. You would push on the pedal and tighten the bands around the transmission to brake the car. If you were going down a long hill you didn't ride the brake. You would put your foot on reverse to change it off so you didn't wear the brake band out. The low band wore out awfully fast. Then the brake band would wear out. The reverse band wasn't used that much.
In 1930 I got a tractor and sold the horses, we had so many horses (about 12 for field work). I got my first car in 1926, a Ford It was a model 'T'. The model 'T' never had a rumble seat. I paid $50 for that one. It was a 1914 touring car but they cut the back seat off from it, made a box in the back so it looked like a pick-up truck. So it was a model 'T' pickup. I had so many model "T's" (about 14 or 15) over the years. They ran up hill backward better than forward, because of the gas tank under the seat. You go up a hill and it gets so steep the gas doesn't feed into the engine. So you could turn it around and back it up the hill. You get a steep hill and only a quarter tank gas and try to go up hill and you would run out of gas. So you would get out, push it around to head it down the hill. Then get in and get it started and back it up the hill.
About 1932 1 left home because there were no crops. It all dried out, no work or anything. I went different places. I worked at the Fort Peck dam every summer for a while.
We grew oats, flax, wheat, but when it was dry, dusty and windy, nothing grew. We couldn't even feed the cows. In 1934 if anything came up it went to feed the cattle. 1934 was a pretty dry year. That was the beginning of the big drought. We had a light crop in 1935 but that was all. 1937 was a complete blow-out. You didn't have to go to Oklahoma for dust storms. I slept upstairs and many a morning I'd get up and walk to the window and leave footprints all the way as the dust was so thick. The sand had blown in during the night.
In 1935 I studied mechanics. My mechanical training proved valuable when tractors first came in. I enjoyed working and repairing them when necessary. In 1937 I worked at Fort Peck Dam. We were completely dried out.
In the fall I went with 2 other fellows to the northern part of North Dakota where the crops were good. We got work shocking grain, hauling bundles to the thrashing machine. We worked for $ 3 a day and our board and room. When finished there we went to Middle River, Minn. where they were still thrashing sweet clover. I worked there until December 1, for $1 a day.
From there I rode to Fargo, North Dakota with a fellow trucking cattle. In Fargo I enrolled at Hanson Auto School. I graduated in 1938. I saved my money all summer so I could go to school. I graduated in 1938.
I then returned home and worked at the Chevrolet Garage in West Montana repairing cars and tractors for $3.00 a day. I paid $1 a day for food and a bed to sleep in. The gas station was next to the Dance Hall so on Friday night I kept the gas pumps open and sold gas. When harvest time came Ed (Erna's husband) came to the garage and bought a truck. I wasn't satisfied with my job so I quit. There was a good crop that year and I could make more working on a combine.
In November 1940 all eligible men were required to register for the draft. George, Art and I went to the Dooley School and registered January 1, 19411 received notice to report for service at Missoula, Montana and from there I was sent to Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah. Here I took recruit training and was assigned to airplane maintenance. From there we were loading with orders to go to Pearl Harbor. While loading a heavy box I hurt my back and was put in the hospital.
I was in the Fort Douglas Hospital when the unit shipped out without me. However this was my lucky day. They were on the ship (USS Arizona) that was destroyed at Pearl Harbor with only a few survivors.
While at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake I met two young men who were returned missionaries for the L.D.S. Church. They invited me to go to Temple Square visitor's center. I was real impressed with what I learned there and what the fellows taught me about Mormon doctrine. Later I met Gladys and learned she was L.D.S. I wanted to go to church with her. We dated and talked a lot about the church. I felt the church was true but I didn't get baptized until I got out of the army. It wasn't until Nov. 30, 1944 that I was baptized I have a testimony it is true and have been active all the time.
On January 14, 1942 my mother passed away. I went home for her funeral.
On January 10 I was transferred to Fort George Wright in Spokane, Washington. After only two months I was sent to Davis Monson Field, Tucson, Arizona. I corresponded with Gladys and in June 1942, I got a ten day furlough and went to Salt Lake and while on furlough Gladys and I got married. We were married on June 6th, 1942 in Evanston, Wyoming.
In October Gladys rented her home on Coatsville Avenue, packed the sewing machine, bedding, dishes, clothing, etc., and bought bus tickets for herself and the girls to Tuscon, Arizona.
Housing was difficult to find but I finally rented a three room with bath apartment on the side of a café. (523 N. 4th Ave. Tucson) We went to the used-furniture stores and bought cots for the girls, bed and dresser, the stove, chairs and table, congoleum rugs for the floor. A neighbor loaned us an upholstered chair so with the sewing machine and a trunk we furnished our first home. Gladys made cute covers for the cots and they dressed up our living room. We managed real well. We were close to schools and could walk to church and shopping areas.
We enjoyed the winter in Tucson. Christmas was different with no snow but we still put up a tree and had fun. We made some very special friends while living in Tucson, some we still see.
In June 1943 1 was being transferred to Kansas and so we decided Gladys and the girls should return to Salt Lake. I bought an old car. We packed our belongings, sold what items we had bought there and our friend Percill Alvery drove Gladys to the family home.
I was only in Kansas for a short time when the Army permitted some to transfer into the mines. I applied and got transferred to the mines a Tooele, Utah. I was so happy to get home. I could commute to Tooele each day with a car pool. However as soon as "peace" was declared I quit and got work in Salt Lake.
My fathers name was Heinrich Gustav Leopold Bolke and he was born in Reatz Germany. My mother's name was Augusta Froelich and she was born near Newfield Germany. At least I think it was near there but I don't know what town it was. My parents didn't get married in Germany, they got married in Macoun, Saskatchewan, Canada.
I was born in Canada, January 25, 1909 in Macoun. I was two years old when my Dad immigrated to Montana. Both my parents became United States Citizens. My Dad became a citizen about 1917. My parents left Canada for free land being offered in Montana. They only had a quarter section in Canada. My Dad came from Benson, Minnesota. He had come to America by feeding cattle on a ship.
My parents did not know each other in Germany but they knew of each other. My dad knew one of my mother's brothers but he had not met my mother. My dad came to America first then his mother and dad came. They came to Minnesota and then my dad and his mother and dad went to Macoun, Canada. That's when my mother came over. My father and his father had a half a section between them. They homesteaded 320 acres. It was a dry farm land
I had a total two brothers (Arthur and George) and one sister (Erna). I'm the oldest boy but Erna is the oldest child (Herbert does not mention here that he has a younger brother Irwin who died as a baby in 1910.) In 1913 the railroad came through Dooley. We used lanterns to go to the barn to do chores. We had little kerosene lamps in our home which consisted of a small bowl with glass chimney. They burned kerosene. I would do my schoolwork by these lamps. I'd put one on the table and do my homework there. I would do my arithmetic and study my lesson at night. We took a bath about once a week, right by the stove. We put water on the stove and warmed it. Generally on Saturday night we all took a bath in the same water. We couldn't keep enough water for everyone to have their own bath. So one would get out and the next would get in.
In 1911 my dad moved from Macoun (about a 75 mile move) to Dooley Montana. It was in the summertime and they loaded everything in the hayrack, all the household belongings, stove, and two beds. It was all in the hayrack. They took the cow and tied it behind the hayrack. They crated up a few chickens and put them in the hayrack also that's how they came to the homestead at Dooley. It took them two days.
They had built the house the summer before. My dad went down and built the house. He had a neighbor there and they built the house and barn. So when they moved there the house was already built and ready for them. Most houses had a heating stove and a cook stove. The cook stove wouldn't keep the house warm. They didn't have a heatrola they had a kind of small pot bellied stove. Some were different. We had to keep the fire going overnight or everything would freeze up.
We used the Sears Roebuck Catalog for toilet paper. Every outhouse had a Sears Roebuck catalog. Women had a slop jar in the house. They all had it and that's the way it worked. We went to Brightson School about one and one half miles away. It was a good sized school room. They had around 35 children and one teacher for all grades. When I started to school I was about 6, this was around 1914. Erna was going before that, but Erna didn't like to go alone so I started early. Lots of people from Canada who lived close to the line came across to go to school there. John Campbell and his sister Jessie, that's Ed's brother and sister, they would come across to school
We walked to school, the Canadians were too far away to walk. One bunch came from the northwest. They weren't Canadians but they drove a team of mules on a wagon. They picked up some neighbors along the way and the whole wagon was full of kids. They had seats across it to sit on. They had 3 to 3 1/2 miles to travel. We didn't have school in the winter. We had school in the summer. When it got into December there was no school. You couldn't have school because of big snow storms. We were usually snowed in. Then school started again in the spring of the year. It lasted, oh I don't know, I don't think we had nine months of school
The Brightson School was the first one built in that area. Then when we got older (I was in the 4th grade or so.) we were transferred to another school. The township line ran to the west of us and it cut us off from the school. They built a school in our school district and it was even further away. They wouldn't let us go to the other one. We were at the far end of our school district and so we had about three miles to go to school. We got a buggy and we drove a buggy and a horse to school and then it got to where George was going to school too. We walked some of the time because horses were a scarce item and you needed them in the field. You couldn't take a horse away from the field work to drive it to school.
It wasn't everybody who had a saddle horse. Horses were valuable and used for working the field. My dad paid $225 for one horse he bought and bought another the next year for $200. I don't know what he did with the first team but he needed four horses to work in the field then he bought this other one and that made five.
The other school we went to was the Jefferson school. It was to the southeast across the fields about 2 1/2 miles walking. When I got older they put the school in the central part of the district. There were people who were living to the south and east and some of them were coming three miles or more. They had the schoolyard fenced. This so that they could ride their horses, drive their buggies to school and then release their horses during the day to graze. The Brightson School had a barn. It wasn't fenced so you put the horses in the barn. There was room for four horses. A barn instead of a bicycle rack.
When the horses weren't being used on the farm we drove a buggy and picked up other students on the way. One horse had a colt, we called Dick, and he followed us to school. Dick was a real pet to all the students. It followed them right up to the steps and one day some kids coaxed Dick up 3 steps and pushed him in between the desks and then couldn't get him to back up. The isle was too narrow to turn him around It was necessary to move the desks in order to get Dick out. Later I went to school in Dooley. This was the nearest town (5 miles). I worked for my board and room. I milked cows night and mornings, cleaned the barn and hauled hay. When the weather permitted I rode a horse home on Sunday to be with my family. Later I took a correspondence course in electrical engineering.
The big story I remember the most was on Christmas Day 1911. It was the year we moved to Montana. We moved in the summer of 1911. You have to have something to burn in the stove, wood or coal. The day before Christmas my father went to the coal mine which was in the neighborhood of twenty miles away. We called it the "Old Pierce Mine". That was a pretty nice day and my father went to the coal mine and he got a load of coal. On returning that evening it began to get dark and he was within one to one and a half miles from home when the snowstorm hit. He went right through the neighbor's yard. The storm hit pretty near all at once. Just the wind and snow came up so fast it was a blinding blizzard. My dad drove right through the neighbor's yard. He was so close to home that he was going to make it. The neighbor knew that he was coming and he was going to watch for him. He missed somehow. My dad was headed in a northeast direction and then he had to turn and go straight north. The storm got so severe, the way he tells it.
The left horse was just a little faster and dad had to keep shifting over and he didn't know for sure if he was on the road or not, he was just guessing. The team managed to get him turned a bit and made the major turn before they should have. He got just to the edge of his farm and he turned too much.
Then when he figured he should be getting close to home he kept going. Later he stopped and figured he could go back. It was storming so hard that he could hardly face it. He unhooked the team. He knew there was no use dragging the load any further. The horses were about worn out anyway. He waited and waited not knowing really what time of the day or night it was.
Father decided to start out with the team. He got on one horse and rode for a while. He went with the blizzard. He figured the storm would freeze him out if he stayed any longer. He kept going and he knew he was lost. He traveled about three miles through hilly country with deep snowdrifts in weather you could hardly see in. He dropped off of a snow bank. The horses went down, one on top of the other with dad on the bottom. He was in such a shape he couldn't get loose from the horse. He did manage to get his jack knife out and cut a strap and it released him.
After he got out from under the horses he helped to get the horses untangled and loose. They were still hitched up together. Once loose he got the top horse off the other one. The bottom one was just about done in and in such a shape it couldn't get out. He pulled the harness off and put it on the other horse and just left the other one there.
He went on and led the other horse. He kept going and covered about another three of four miles. He finally got close to where he figured there was some fencing and he followed this and pretty near ran into these people's front yard. It was 12 o'clock noon the next day. He was six miles from home. The storm had let up very little during all this time.
We lost one horse. Two years later one of the neighbors was cutting hay in a big gully down around there and he saw these bones laying there with horseshoes on them. My dad's team had shoes on the front feet. So we knew that was the horse we had lost. My dad says he could have lost his life. I myself went on this trip many times.
There were better roads when I grew up. I never got lost but I did leave a load of coal on the road a couple of times when there was such a blizzard Usually we were facing the blizzard and there were always high drifts. Usually the horses had had such a hard day that it was best to leave the load and come back for it later.
During snowstorms you shoveled the horses out so many times and often it was late at night and you would also wear yourself out. The horses are right down in the snow, down to their bellies. You have to shovel them out then the sled. Then you start to go on and you don't much more than move out and you are down in it again.
Generally, all this work wears you out. So if I was within a few miles of home and conditions were bad I would just unhook the horses and come back in a couple of days for the load. By then the weather was usually better. Then I would shovel it out again, hook it up and take it on home.
We farmed with horses for the last time in 1928. My Father died in 1929. He went to town after a load of seed He backed the team into the granary so he could get a load of wheat. The front wheels had to go over a sill, he had moved and was standing in the wagon box. I don't know what he was thinking. The top of the door was quite a way back from him. The horses gave the wagon a good hard push so the wheels will go up and over the sill, then they came back pretty fast. The top of the door caught Dad in the back and squeezed him in there. Well instead of just stopping and going to the doctor in town he went ahead and loaded the load of wheat, about 60 bushels. He didn't think he was hurt that bad
After loading the wheat he went to the elevator to weigh it. When he got into the elevator he almost passed out. He told the elevator man what had happened. The elevator man helped him to the doctor's office. They just left the team standing in the elevator. He passed out again in the doctor's office.
The doctor brought him home that afternoon and I was out working in the field. It was about noon when the doctor arrived. Dad kind of got up and walked into the house. He was sort of weaving as he walked. We got him into bed. I rode back to town with the doctor and drove the team home with the load of wheat. Father was in bad shape, he was paralyzed on one side, the left side. Later they put him in the hospital in Plentywood. There wasn't much they could do with him. We don't know what the matter was but he was hurt internally. I think if they had got him right into the hospital maybe they could have helped him. He had already loaded the wheat and hurt himself doing it. He remained in the hospital in Plentywood a couple of weeks before he was brought home. My Mother took care of him at home. He got so he couldn't sit up. I believe it was on 19 November when he died. That was in 1929.
I'm a rodeo man. I rode the calves on the 4th of July. I broke our horses, of course, they were barnyard colts. I've had some that were pretty wild broke them to work, hook them up and drive them. Never had anything get away from me. Some of the wild ones would kick everything to pieces. When they got wild I'd put crimp ropes on them and hobbles on the front feet. When they would start to run you would pull the rope and down they would go. It sure tames them down. I've seen those broncos fall hard, some of them were 12-13 hundred pounds.
I bought a lot of gas for about $.15 or $.16 a gallon. Then $.20 and $.25. I don't know how many miles to a gallon we got. If we had had these kinds of roads (1985) we would have done real well. We only had dirt roads with wagon wheel ruts and lots of hills. You would start in low gear and when it would get going fast enough then you could drop it into high. Fast enough was about 6 or 7 miles an hour, then you could pull it into high gear.
We had no speed odometer. You had no accelerator pedal. You pulled the speed down with your hand. The spark was on the other side of the steering column, a spark with your left hand and gas with the right hand. We did have a brake pedal. The brake wasn't in the rear wheels it was in the transmission. You would push on the pedal and tighten the bands around the transmission to brake the car. If you were going down a long hill you didn't ride the brake. You would put your foot on reverse to change it off so you didn't wear the brake band out. The low band wore out awfully fast. Then the brake band would wear out. The reverse band wasn't used that much.
In 1930 I got a tractor and sold the horses, we had so many horses (about 12 for field work). I got my first car in 1926, a Ford It was a model 'T'. The model 'T' never had a rumble seat. I paid $50 for that one. It was a 1914 touring car but they cut the back seat off from it, made a box in the back so it looked like a pick-up truck. So it was a model 'T' pickup. I had so many model "T's" (about 14 or 15) over the years. They ran up hill backward better than forward, because of the gas tank under the seat. You go up a hill and it gets so steep the gas doesn't feed into the engine. So you could turn it around and back it up the hill. You get a steep hill and only a quarter tank gas and try to go up hill and you would run out of gas. So you would get out, push it around to head it down the hill. Then get in and get it started and back it up the hill.
About 1932 1 left home because there were no crops. It all dried out, no work or anything. I went different places. I worked at the Fort Peck dam every summer for a while.
We grew oats, flax, wheat, but when it was dry, dusty and windy, nothing grew. We couldn't even feed the cows. In 1934 if anything came up it went to feed the cattle. 1934 was a pretty dry year. That was the beginning of the big drought. We had a light crop in 1935 but that was all. 1937 was a complete blow-out. You didn't have to go to Oklahoma for dust storms. I slept upstairs and many a morning I'd get up and walk to the window and leave footprints all the way as the dust was so thick. The sand had blown in during the night.
In 1935 I studied mechanics. My mechanical training proved valuable when tractors first came in. I enjoyed working and repairing them when necessary. In 1937 I worked at Fort Peck Dam. We were completely dried out.
In the fall I went with 2 other fellows to the northern part of North Dakota where the crops were good. We got work shocking grain, hauling bundles to the thrashing machine. We worked for $ 3 a day and our board and room. When finished there we went to Middle River, Minn. where they were still thrashing sweet clover. I worked there until December 1, for $1 a day.
From there I rode to Fargo, North Dakota with a fellow trucking cattle. In Fargo I enrolled at Hanson Auto School. I graduated in 1938. I saved my money all summer so I could go to school. I graduated in 1938.
I then returned home and worked at the Chevrolet Garage in West Montana repairing cars and tractors for $3.00 a day. I paid $1 a day for food and a bed to sleep in. The gas station was next to the Dance Hall so on Friday night I kept the gas pumps open and sold gas. When harvest time came Ed (Erna's husband) came to the garage and bought a truck. I wasn't satisfied with my job so I quit. There was a good crop that year and I could make more working on a combine.
In November 1940 all eligible men were required to register for the draft. George, Art and I went to the Dooley School and registered January 1, 19411 received notice to report for service at Missoula, Montana and from there I was sent to Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah. Here I took recruit training and was assigned to airplane maintenance. From there we were loading with orders to go to Pearl Harbor. While loading a heavy box I hurt my back and was put in the hospital.
I was in the Fort Douglas Hospital when the unit shipped out without me. However this was my lucky day. They were on the ship (USS Arizona) that was destroyed at Pearl Harbor with only a few survivors.
While at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake I met two young men who were returned missionaries for the L.D.S. Church. They invited me to go to Temple Square visitor's center. I was real impressed with what I learned there and what the fellows taught me about Mormon doctrine. Later I met Gladys and learned she was L.D.S. I wanted to go to church with her. We dated and talked a lot about the church. I felt the church was true but I didn't get baptized until I got out of the army. It wasn't until Nov. 30, 1944 that I was baptized I have a testimony it is true and have been active all the time.
On January 14, 1942 my mother passed away. I went home for her funeral.
On January 10 I was transferred to Fort George Wright in Spokane, Washington. After only two months I was sent to Davis Monson Field, Tucson, Arizona. I corresponded with Gladys and in June 1942, I got a ten day furlough and went to Salt Lake and while on furlough Gladys and I got married. We were married on June 6th, 1942 in Evanston, Wyoming.
In October Gladys rented her home on Coatsville Avenue, packed the sewing machine, bedding, dishes, clothing, etc., and bought bus tickets for herself and the girls to Tuscon, Arizona.
Housing was difficult to find but I finally rented a three room with bath apartment on the side of a café. (523 N. 4th Ave. Tucson) We went to the used-furniture stores and bought cots for the girls, bed and dresser, the stove, chairs and table, congoleum rugs for the floor. A neighbor loaned us an upholstered chair so with the sewing machine and a trunk we furnished our first home. Gladys made cute covers for the cots and they dressed up our living room. We managed real well. We were close to schools and could walk to church and shopping areas.
We enjoyed the winter in Tucson. Christmas was different with no snow but we still put up a tree and had fun. We made some very special friends while living in Tucson, some we still see.
In June 1943 1 was being transferred to Kansas and so we decided Gladys and the girls should return to Salt Lake. I bought an old car. We packed our belongings, sold what items we had bought there and our friend Percill Alvery drove Gladys to the family home.
I was only in Kansas for a short time when the Army permitted some to transfer into the mines. I applied and got transferred to the mines a Tooele, Utah. I was so happy to get home. I could commute to Tooele each day with a car pool. However as soon as "peace" was declared I quit and got work in Salt Lake.
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